...is what I am, having developed it suddenly four months ago.  I've
been to two ENTs, had an MRI. blood tests, and the diagnosis is:

1. We don't know what caused it.
2. It may go away; it may be permanent.
3. There is really no proven treatment.
4. Most people eventually "adjust" to it.

Researching this through the ATA and Jack Vernon's and Kevin Hogan's
books, plus Googling everything I could find, led me to the following:

1. There are dozens of purported treatments, but none has been proven
scientifically to be effective.
2. The mechanism of tinnitus is unknown.
3. There is no established causal connection to hearing loss.
4. TRT seems to have faded as "the answer".
5. There is a new treatment called Neuromonics that sells you an MP3
player with music and additional sounds, along with something like the
directive counseling of TRT for $5K.  No independent scientific proof
that it works.
6. A lot of people do seem to habituate to it eventually, but a lot of
people don't.
7. There does not seem to be a systematic research program that is
being pursued anywhere.  But there are a lot of one-shot studies, most
of which are flawed.
8. There has been tremendous vitriol in discussions in the past on this
newsgroup although a lot of that seems now to be gone.
9. Not only is the mechanism unknown, but so is that triggering cause
in many cases.  Some people develop it after noise exposure,
infections, physical trauma, medications.  But some people -- like me
-- can not really identify a triggering event.  We just wake up one day
and -- bingo (or should I say "hssssssssss") -- you have tinnitus!

Well, given that there is nothing I can do about it, perhaps I will
"adjust".  I hope so.  Jim Chinnis said that he started habituating
after he just gave up trying to find a cure and facing that fact that
there was nothing he could do.  It does seem that the more you think
about it, the worse it gets.

But it is very hard to not think of a constant 24/7 noise.  And it
certainly is discouraging that there is so little that is known about
it.

The only positive thing about my experience with this demon is that I
think I have a much better appreciation for other people's problems and
suffering.