Unilateral Tinnitus Habituation

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Patty Walker - 29 May 2004 14:14 GMT

Just a question. Is it more difficult to habituate to unilateral tinnitus?
As I stated in my first post to this ng, I have had my tinnitus for many
years but it has only become very loud (or I perceive it that way) in the
past year. Many thanks for all the advice that I have received from those
that are trying to help me. It is discouraging to me too Bill, that I have
not spontaneously habituated to the noise. Today is not a good day for me,
it seems louder than ever upon awakening. Maybe it's because I am 'thinking'
about it. Who knows? :-(

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tinnymama - 29 May 2004 18:55 GMT

Unilateral or bilateral should not make a difference. There are other
factors that are much more important in habituation.

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Patty Walker - 29 May 2004 20:10 GMT

Would you mind telling me what the other factors are? I am open to any
suggestions or advice.
Regards,
Patty

> Unilateral or bilateral should not make a difference. There are other
> factors that are much more important in habituation.

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tinnymama - 30 May 2004 04:30 GMT

Patty,

Not being totally familiar with your case, I cannot be specific for you,
but will give you some general factors.

Some of it has to do with individual involvement of the limbic system
which is responsible for our emotions and primal needs such as hunger.
The stronger the limbic system involvement which is also the emotional
reaction is to tinnitus, the more difficult it is to habituate. When
emotions run high it triggers a response in the limbic system and the
autonomic nervous system which results in insomnia, restlessness,
distractability, and decrease in positive emotions.
This is a scientific way of saying that you are stressed out and
discouraged and the pattern is hard to break. Not every person with
invasive tinnitus responds this way. If you are one who has this
response, the habituation is more difficult. This tends to snowball.

In actuality, the degree of severity of your tinnitus is somewhat of a
factor in habituation, but your emotional make-up is probably more of a
factor.

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Glynne Gilmore - 22 Jun 2004 05:44 GMT

> Patty,
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> factor in habituation, but your emotional make-up is probably more of a
> factor.

I believe this is true in my case. Thanks for the post.

Glynne

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francispoon - 25 Jun 2004 07:33 GMT

> Just a question. Is it more difficult to habituate to unilateral tinnitus?
> As I stated in my first post to this ng, I have had my tinnitus for many
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> it seems louder than ever upon awakening. Maybe it's because I am 'thinking'
> about it. Who knows? :-(

I have also found it difficult to habituate to a T that is accompanied
by somatic discomfort. Several months ago when I posted my symptoms
in this ng, all the advice i got was 'habituation and habituation'. I
tried it without success. It was like learning to suffer in silence.
But thanks to Jim Chinnis and Murray in this ng, I was finally helped
to discover that I had been suffering from (1)excess inner ear fluid
production. Then later on, Jim alerted me to the existence of
(2)possible seizure in my brain. After taking steps to remove the
somatic discomfort in my head, which could have been generated by both
(1) a/o (2), I have now found that habituation to my T during the bad
days to be a natural extention of my day to day life routine.

So my advice to you is:(1)Check if you are experiencing somatic
discomfort first, and if you did, should take steps to have it
removed, and (2)change your friendly doctor when he is not fixing you
up properly. I stayed with those friendly ENT doctors in China for
too long, at the cost of prolonged incompetence-induced suffering.

FP
===========

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