Tinnitus

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

tinnitus is widely known for putting some people over the edge.
background noise is your friend.

Very true.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Thank you everyone for your good and helpful responses. I'm working with her partner to help manage this.

kc, thank you for your post below. In the last year+ she's had to deal with a lot. Death of her father, death of her brother's wife and then death of her brother, she had to become the guardian for her nephews, recently death of her partner's father, and now her mother isn't doing so great. A lot on her plate, I'll recommend she see a psychologist.

Thank you again.

Originally Posted by kcf7z

As an otolaryngologist, I treat people with tinnitus daily. People do have a broad range of reactions to it. The first step is a proper audiologic assessment which sounds like has been done. As ear physicians and surgeons, this is a tough one for us to treat because no one thing helps in everyone.

Stress makes it worse and her stress over the condition is likely making it so. I have found that patients that respond this way often have underlying issues that counseling often plays a role. I have had patients with suicidal tinnitus that have benefited less from anything I did and more from what a psychologist or psychiatrist could offer. Exploring what is going on in her life holistically outside of the tinnitus itself may provide benefit.

Also, there are tinnitus rehabilitation centers around the country that specialize in difficult to manage tinnitus using biofeedback and special noise-canceling hearing aids. This is a manageable condition and hope should not be lost; however, each person responds to different management strategies in different ways.

[Arizona 911]

I've had Tinnitus for over 10 years. I have been a machinist since 1985 and never wear ear protection. Also playing drums for years with monitors next to me didn't help either. The only time the ringing bothers me is sometimes after a quick nap the pitch of the ringing will change. One ear will be low frequency and the other will be high. It makes me feel off balance. I can't hear certain frequencies. I can't hear crickets chirping. High pitch noise like speaker feedback really hurts. I have heard of people going crazy from it but it doesn't bother me much. I hope she can come to terms with it.

[kcf7z]

That is an inordinate amount of stress that few could handle well. I think that even without the tinnitus a counselor/psychologist would be great for her to talk with. Encourage her that this is a successful route to help this problem. Sometimes people don't see the connection to stress and seemingly unrelated things like tinnitus.

Godspeed to you and her.