Get Relief From Tinnitus With These Tips

Woman with her eyes closed trying to get relief from tinnitus with retraining therapy.

With chronic tinnitus, it isn’t the ringing in your ears that’s the real issue. The real issue is that the ringing won’t stop.

The continuous noise, possibly rather modest in volume, might start as little more than an annoyance. But after a day or a week or a month, that ringing or buzzing can become aggravating, frustrating, even debilitating.

That’s why it’s critical that if you are coping with tinnitus you adhere to some tips to make life easier. It can make a huge difference if you have a plan when you’re lying in bed unable to fall asleep because of the buzzing or ringing in your ear.

How You Can Exacerbate Your Tinnitus

Chronic tinnitus, after all, is commonly not a static condition. Symptoms manifest themselves in spikes and valleys. Sometimes, your tinnitus might be an afterthought, hidden in the background of daily life. At other times the noises will be shrieking in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to dismiss.

That can leave you in a pretty frightening place of uncertainty. You may be so worried about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting that you get a panic attack while you’re driving to work. That panic attack, in and of itself, can trigger the very episode you’re worried 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. There’s no reason that your quality of life has to suffer if you establish the proper treatment.

Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy

Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a common approach to tinnitus management. The sound of rain on a roof is a common analogy: it’s very loud and noticeable when it first starts but by the time the storm is ending you stop focusing on it and recedes 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 ignoring them.

Mastering this technique can take a bit of practice.

Get Your Brain Distracted

Your brain is continuously searching for the source of the sound and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so frustrating. So supplying your brain with more (and varied) stimulation to focus on can be helpful. You could:

  • Play music while you paint a picture.
  • Take a bubble bath while reading a book.
  • Bring a book to the park and listen to the birds while reading.

You get the gist: Your tinnitus may be able to be decreased by engaging your brain.

Alternately, many individuals have discovered that meditation helps because it focuses your attention on something else, your breath, a mantra, and so on. Another advantage of meditation, at least for some people, is that it can lower blood pressure which is a known cause of tinnitus symptoms.

Manage Tinnitus With a Hearing Aid

Numerous hearing aid companies have manufactured hearing aids that help reduce the ringing in your ear. Hearing aids are a great solution because you put them in and can forget about it the entire day, you don’t need to carry around a white noise machine 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)

Having a plan for unforeseen spikes can help you handle your stress-out reaction, and that can help you decrease certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from worsening them). Pack a bag of useful items to bring with you. Anything that will help you be more prepared and keep you from panicking, like making a list of practical exercises, will go a long way toward management.

The Key is Management

There’s no cure for tinnitus which is usually chronic. But that doesn’t mean that individuals cannot 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.



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

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.

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