With chronic tinnitus, it’s not the ringing in your ears that’s the real issue. It’s the constant non-stop ringing, that’s the real problem.
The constant noise, perhaps somewhat modest in volume, may start as little more than an annoyance. But after a day or a week or a month, that ringing or buzzing can become irritating, frustrating, even incapacitating.
That’s why it’s essential that if you are living with tinnitus you adhere to some tips to make life easier. It can make a huge difference if you have a plan when you’re lying in bed unable to fall asleep because of the buzzing or ringing in your ear.
Your Tinnitus Can be Exacerbated
Chronic tinnitus, after all, is frequently not a static condition. Symptoms manifest themselves in spikes and valleys. There are times when your tinnitus is mild and virtually lost in the background. At other times, that ringing could be as hard to dismiss as a full-blown, personalized symphony.
That can leave you in a rather scary place of anxiety. Maybe you even experience panic attacks while driving to work because you’re worried about your tinnitus flaring up during a meeting. And the very panic attack brought on by this worry can itself trigger the tinnitus.
Tips For Living With Tinnitus
You will be in a better position to plan for and control tinnitus the more you know about it. And management is the real key since tinnitus has no known cure. There’s no reason that your quality of life has to suffer if you establish the proper treatment.
Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a standard strategy for tinnitus management. The analogy that gets floated around most often is the sound of rain on your roof: it’s very loud and noticeable when it first begins but by the time the storm is ending you stop paying attention to it and fades into the background. TRT uses the same concept to train your brain to move the tinnitus symptoms into the background of your thoughts so you will have an easier time ignoring them.
Perfecting this technique can take some practice.
Get Your Brain Distracted
Your brain is constantly searching for the source of the sound and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so aggravating. So supplying your brain with a variety of different sounds to focus on can be really helpful. You could:
- Have music playing while painting a picture.
- Take a book to the park and listen to the birds while reading.
- Take a bubble bath and read a book.
You get the gist: engaging your brain can help you control your tinnitus.
Meditation, as an alternate path, helps you focus your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your attention away from your tinnitus. Another advantage of meditation, at least for some people, is that it can reduce blood pressure which is a known cause of tinnitus symptoms.
Manage Tinnitus With a Hearing Aid
Numerous hearing aid companies have manufactured hearing aids that help minimize the ringing in your ear. Hearing aids are a great solution because you put them in and can forget about it the whole day, you don’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly use an app. You can relax and let a discreet hearing aid deal with the ringing for you.
Make a Plan (And Follow-Through)
Making a plan for unexpected surges can help you control your stress-out reaction, and that can help you reduce certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from exacerbating them). Pack a bag of practical items to take with you. Anything that can help you be equipped for a tinnitus spike, even generating a list of useful exercises will be good because it will keep you from panicking!
Management is Key
There’s no cure for tinnitus which is usually chronic. But control and treatment of tinnitus is a very real potential. These everyday tips (and more similar to them) can help make sure you are living with tinnitus, and not suffering from tinnitus.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303565/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5050200/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17956798/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4447068/
https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008664