With chronic tinnitus, it isn’t the ringing in your ears that’s the real problem. The real problem is that the ringing doesn’t stop.
Initially, this may be a moderate noise that’s not much more than a little annoying. But the ringing can become aggravating and even debilitating if it continues for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s essential to have some tips you can rely on, tips that make living with tinnitus easier. When you’re lying in bed, having difficulty falling asleep because you keep hearing buzzing from your right ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.
How You Can Exacerbate Your Tinnitus
Chronic tinnitus, after all, is often not a static condition. Symptoms present themselves in spikes and valleys. Sometimes, your tinnitus may be an afterthought, lost in the background of daily life. at other times, that ringing could be as hard to ignore as a full-blown, personalized symphony.
That can leave you in a rather scary place of anxiety. You may be so worried about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting that you get a panic attack while driving to work. And the very panic attack brought on by this worry can itself trigger the tinnitus.
Tips For Coping With Tinnitus
The more you know about tinnitus, the better you can prepare for and control the effects. And management is critical since tinnitus doesn’t have a known cure. With the correct treatment, there’s no reason that chronic tinnitus needs to negatively affect your quality of life.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is One Option
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a standard strategy for tinnitus management. The sound of rain on a rooftop is a common analogy: 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 principle to teach your brain to move the tinnitus symptoms into the background of your thoughts so you will have an easier time tuning it out.
Mastering this method can take some practice.
Distract Your Brain
Your brain is continuously looking for the source of the sound and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so frustrating. So giving your brain more (and varied) stimulation to focus on can help. Try these:
- Have music playing while painting a picture.
- Enjoy some time outside listening to the sounds of nature.
- Read a book while taking a bubble bath.
you get the gist: engaging your brain can help you control your tinnitus.
Meditation, as an alternate approach, helps you concentrate your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your focus away from your tinnitus. Some people have found that meditation decreases their blood pressure, which can also help with tinnitus.
Manage Tinnitus With a Hearing Aid
Hearing aids that help minimize tinnitus symptoms are already being manufactured by several hearing aid companies. Hearing aids are an ideal option because you put them in and can forget about them the entire 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 take care of the ringing for you.
Have a Plan (And Follow-Through)
Having a plan for unforeseen spikes can help you control your stress-out reaction, and that can help you minimize certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from exacerbating them). Consider having a “go bag” containing stuff you may need. Anything that can help you be prepared for a tinnitus surge, even making a list of helpful exercises will be beneficial because it will keep you from panicking!
Management is Key
There’s no cure for tinnitus which is often chronic. But that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t manage and treat their tinnitus. 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
