With chronic tinnitus, it isn’t the ringing in your ears that’s the real issue. It’s the continuous never ending ringing, that’s the real problem.

Initially, this might be a moderate noise that’s not much more than a bit irritating. But after a day or a week or a month, that ringing or buzzing can become aggravating, frustrating, even incapacitating.

That’s why it’s vital to have some tips you can rely on, tips that make living with tinnitus easier. When you’re lying in bed, having trouble falling asleep because you keep hearing ringing from your right ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.

How You Can Exacerbate Your Tinnitus

It’s important to keep in mind that tinnitus is commonly not static. Symptoms present themselves in spikes and valleys. Sometimes, your tinnitus may be an afterthought, lost in the background of daily life. At other times the noises will be screaming in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to disregard.

That can leave you in a pretty scary place of uncertainty. Maybe you even get panic attacks while driving to work because you’re worried about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting. That panic attack, in and of itself, can trigger the very episode you’re concerned about.

Tips For Coping With Tinnitus

The more you understand about tinnitus, the better you can plan for and manage the effects. And, because there’s no known cure for tinnitus, management of symptoms is essential. With the proper management, there’s no reason that chronic tinnitus needs to negatively impact your quality of life.

Think About Tinnitus Retraining Therapy

Several treatments for tinnitus involve some form of tinnitus retraining therapy (or TRT). The sound of rain on a roof is a common analogy: very apparent at the start of a storm, but you stop paying attention to it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound fades into the background. It’s the same basic strategy with TRT, teaching your brain to move that ringing into the background of your attention where it’s easier to ignore.

It can take training to master this method.

Distract Your Brain

Your brain is constantly looking for the source of the noise and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so frustrating. So supplying your brain with a variety of different sounds to concentrate on can be really helpful. You could:

• Take a book to the park and listen to the birds while reading.
• Take a bubble bath while reading a book.
• Do some drawing or painting while playing music.

you get the gist: engaging your brain can help you control your tinnitus.

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 benefit of meditation, at least for some, is that it can decrease blood pressure which is a known cause of tinnitus symptoms.

Consider a Hearing Aid For Tinnitus Management

Hearing aids that help decrease tinnitus symptoms are already being manufactured by a number of hearing aid companies. Hearing aids are an ideal option because you put them in and can forget about them the entire day, you won’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly use an app. The ringing will be handled by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.

Have a Plan (And Stick to it)

The impact of some tinnitus episodes can be minimized, and your stress reaction can be controlled if you have a practical plan for any spikes in your symptoms. Consider having a “go bag” containing things you might need. Anything that can help you be equipped for a tinnitus spike, even creating a list of helpful exercises will be beneficial because it will keep you from having a panic attack!

The Key is Management

Chronic tinnitus is an affliction that has no known cure. But that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t regulate and treat their tinnitus. Make certain you are managing your tinnitus not suffering from it by utilizing these tips and any others that you find helpful.

Call Today to Set Up an Appointment

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