The actual problem with chronic tinnitus isn’t just that you have a ringing in your ears. It’s the constant non-stop ringing, that’s the real issue.
At first, this may be a mild noise that’s not much more than a bit annoying. But the ringing can become frustrating and even incapacitating if it continues for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s crucial to have some tips you can rely on, tips that make living with tinnitus less difficult. When you’re lying in bed, having difficulty falling asleep because you keep hearing ringing from your left ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.
Your Tinnitus Can be Made Worse
It’s beneficial to remember that tinnitus is frequently not static. Symptoms manifest themselves in spikes and valleys. There are times when your tinnitus is minimal and practically lost in the background. At other times the sounds will be shrieking in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to ignore.
That can leave you in a rather frightening place of uncertainty. You might be so concerned about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting that you get a panic attack while driving to work. That panic attack, in and of itself, can trigger the very situation you’re concerned about.
Tips For Coping With Tinnitus
The more you know about tinnitus, the better you can prepare for and manage the effects. And management is critical since tinnitus has no known cure. With the appropriate management, there’s no reason that chronic tinnitus needs to negatively impact your quality of life.
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 rooftops: it’s very loud and obvious when it first starts but by the end of the storm you stop paying attention to it and recedes into the background. It’s the same basic concept with TRT, teaching your brain to move that ringing into the background of your attention where it’s easier to dismiss.
It can take training to master this method.
Get Your Brain Distracted
One of the reasons that tinnitus can be so infuriating is because your brain is continuously searching for the source of that sound, attempting to alert you to its presence. So supplying your brain with more (and varied) stimuli to focus on can help. You could:
- Take a bubble bath and read a book.
- Have music playing while painting a picture.
- Enjoy some time outside listening to the sounds of nature.
You get the idea: Your tinnitus might be able to be decreased by engaging your brain.
Meditation, as an alternate approach, helps you focus your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your focus away from your tinnitus. Another advantage of meditation, at least for some people, is that it can lower blood pressure which is a common cause of tinnitus symptoms.
Manage Tinnitus With a Hearing Aid
Hearing aids that help reduce tinnitus symptoms are already being developed by numerous hearing aid companies. This option is very convenient because they are small and out of your way compared to other approaches. The ringing will be managed by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.
Make a Plan (And Follow-Through)
Having a plan for unforeseen surges can help you control your stress-out reaction, and that can help you decrease certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from worsening them). Pack a bag of useful items to bring with you. Anything that will help you be more prepared and keep you from having a panic attack, like making a list of helpful exercises, will go a long way toward management.
The Key is Management
Chronic tinnitus is a condition that has no known cure. But management and treatment of tinnitus is a very real potential. These daily 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