tinnitus

Greetings to all. There are millions of Americans who suffer from tinnitus, also called ringing in the ears. Tinnitus can come or go, be loud or soft, mild or downright nasty. I've had tinnitus since 2019. At first, it would come and go, but more recently, it has gotten worse, now remaining constant. I'm creating this forum so that other membes of this comunity who may have the samecondition can come together and talk about how they cope with this phantom noise, share resources you may have found, and ideas for managing tinnitus. I hope that this forum is helpful to you.

Here are my ways of coping with tinnitus, depending on how bad it gets. To give you a real live example, right now, it sounds like I've got a cricket in my left ear. Other times, it can sound like a high ptched squeal. Most of the time, I use nature sounds with msic in the background to drown out the phantom noise. Sometimes, listening to an audio drama works. to, and while that may not completely drown out he ringing, it does help me not to focus on it.

Everyone does suffer from tinnitus to some degree. As far as I know, it stems partly from our own nervous system so we can't really prevent it entirely. But yes, those static noises that they call white or pink noise etc., or nature sounds may be effective to help ease the ringing and focus better. You may also try to calculate your tinnitus frequency and make your brain used to it by listening to sounds with close frequencies. There are several websites that enable you to do that.

I've never tried doing that, as my tinnitus varies in pitch from a soft sound that I hardly notice, to a high pitched squeal that drives me bonkers!

I see...
You could give it a try and at least find the frequencies that bother you the most.

I do know this. If I'm exposed to loud noise, like music blasting hrew speakers for any lenghth of time, that's when the phantom noise flares up.

I have it, and just don't stress about it. I did that and things just got worse for me. Mine was just a wooshing sound, but I really don't like to talk about it because then I get stressed. I don't know if this is tinnitus or not, but sometimes if it is quiet or enough or there is nothing for me to do, I have this band of weird frequencies that are very pressing in my ears. It's not really annoying, just thought that I woudl mention it here because it is kind of related to tinnitus, maybe it is

I forgot to mention why I think I hear the wooshing noise. My veins are very close to the skin and it pulses with my heart so I think I am just hearing the blood going through my veins, and when I was stressing about it, my veins would pop more. It would just cycle and go around. It doesn't happen anymore.

Tinnitus can take on several different sounds, frm ringing to clicking, to roaring, hissing, and the swooshing sound you mentioned.

Yes, happens to me as well. Sometimes.
-- (aldenmaster):
I forgot to mention why I think I hear the wooshing noise. My veins are very close to the skin and it pulses with my heart so I think I am just hearing the blood going through my veins, and when I was stressing about it, my veins would pop more. It would just cycle and go around. It doesn't happen anymore.

--

Often, when the place is deadly silent, like, no sound whatsoever, I here a kind of whirring noise, like a vintage desktop computer. I've had this for as long as I can remember. Could this be related to tinnitus, or is it just a natural thing? Is it more common with blind folks? Or, could it be that the human brain has a sound, but it can only be heard in dead silence, much like how starlight can only be seen in near-pure darkness?

Its possible this could be ringing in your ears. As I said before, ringing in the ears can take on several different forms. For example, in my left ear, the form I hear sounds like a cricket chirping.

For me, my kind of ringing in the ears sounds like an old TV set. That high freaquency sound. With the kind of problems I’ve been having with my ears, the ringing has gotten louder. Someone on another platform said, that if the ringing continues for along time, you can lose your hearing, or it’s a sign of that, I don’t knowhow true that is.

Is it constant, or does it just happen randomly? It happens randomly for me, but I kind of like it. If the sound of a vintage CRT TV is how I shall lose my hearing, then it's a sweet way for my hearing to go in my view.

It’s constant. Though when it started it was random. Interesting that you like it, it drives me mad sometimes.

I'm not sure if ringing in the ears for a long time can make you lose your hearing, but I do know that its a sign of hearing loss. The ringing can also be caused by other issues, such as ear wax build up.

Mine is like constant high pitched sound with some clicking like an old vinyl at times.

It is true, I had it and nothing was done about it, now my left ear is screwed

i could tell you what it is but i'm too afraid of being criticized
what I can say is that it's not just related to the nervous system it also has other things much beyond

Back in the days I started researching gabapentinoids and GABA Modulators (mainly loads of benzodiazepines) like clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam or other alprazolam and I've to say that benzos with strong anti-convulsant effects are more reasonable option to choose from than intense anti-anxiety effects that alprazolam provides. I also considered a highly addictive potential of short, medium and long-acting benzos. These long acting ones like clonazepam or diazepam are safe to use in moderation - up to three times a week. Despite using benzodiazepines since 2019, I did not experience any withdrawal symptoms but the massive tolerance has unfortunately kicked in. According to benzo equivalence table, 4 mg of clonazepam represents 80 mg of diazepam - that's a very high dose for someone who did not use any drugs from this group.
How does clonazepam reduce tinnitus? It is related to GABA B agonism. :D It means, that all the signals and impulses from our CNS slow down.
Common effects of all benzodiazepines are drowsiness, anti-anxiety effects, being indifferent to anything that happens around, and sedative properties (depending on dosage). When it comes to addiction, tapering down the high doses of benzos is worse than alcohol or methadone / fentanyl withdrawal - as the people say - keep that in mind.
I used pregabalin for over a year - constantly. Pregabalin works completely different than benzodiazepines (it has something in common with calcium channels, but it is still a mistery for specialists). It helped a little, but I mixed the recreational doses of it with benzos. The pregabalin itself is not enough. Two biggest advantages of it are fast increase and decrease of tolerance and very interesting alternative for traditional antidepressants (mainly SSRIs or SNRIs).
For now I keep trying medical THC use (with CBD as well), and despite of versatility of cannabinoids I think, that it's not worth it...
I have Meniere's disease and a hearing aid helps a lot on a daily basis. I took clonazepam over a month ago - so it is not as scary as it seems. ;)
Take care.