Tinnitus Relief

Having been diagnosed with tinnitus nearly fifteen years ago I, like many other tinnitus sufferers, thought that my life had fallen apart. During the first two years I was certain that I would never be able to enjoy my life as I once used to and struggled to come to terms with that fact.

My tinnitus symptoms were, and still are, a high-pitched ringing noise in both ears and a slight hearing loss due to listening to loud music at a concert without protecting my hearing. Having researched and written about tinnitus extensively, it is apparent to me that those symptoms are much the same for approximately 90% of all tinnitus sufferers. Not all of those 90% have damaged their hearing at a concert, but in nearly all cases some form of hearing loss is the root of the problem.

Sadly there is still no complete cure for tinnitus, despite many websites offering "miracle cures for tinnitus". It is very important that a tinnitus sufferer accepts that fact and doesn't waste time and money in the hope that the noise will go away completely. It is a much better idea to start using what help is available, and the great thing is that most of that help costs nothing and is more a case of making changes in your lifestyle and your home and working environments.

So what help is there? Personally I don't believe in herbal remedies or medications that claim to specifically treat tinnitus. What is true is that they can help you with an underlying problem such as depression, and that the benefits of feeling better due to the medication taking effect can greatly reduce tinnitus. The reason for this is simple: tinnitus' worst enemy is stress. The more stressed you are the louder you perceive your tinnitus to be. If you are depressed you will naturally feel more stressed about life in general than you would if you weren't depressed.

Your general wellbeing also affects tinnitus. The healthier you are the less strain your body has to deal with. Changing to a healthier diet, stopping smoking, the less caffeine you intake and learning to relax on a regular basis all help you reduce and take control of tinnitus. If you can find ten minutes every day, preferably at the same time each day, and just concentrate on relaxing you will soon notice that your tinnitus is substantially reduced around about the time you are relaxing and for quite some time after. Try and add more ten-minute pockets of relaxation each day if you have the time.

Avoiding silent environments if at all possible is vital in reducing and controlling tinnitus. Many tinnitus sufferers who have damaged hearing are afraid of noise as they fear making their hearing even worse and tend to seek out silent environments. This is the worst thing a tinnitus sufferer can do. Instead, add sounds to a silent environment - especially music. The idea is not to drown out the tinnitus with loud music, but to distract yourself from hearing your tinnitus noise by having music at a low volume in the background. Even listening to the radio or having the TV on at a low level volume can have the same effect. Once you start to implement these techniques you soon begin to notice your tinnitus much less.

If you google "tinnitus", most sponsored links, i.e. adverts, offer various cures. These really do not work. There are also books written in many cases by doctors who don't suffer from tinnitus who therefore don't understand some of the more subtle ways of reducing tinnitus. If you google "take control of tinnitus" or "tinnitus reduction" you are more likely to find books, blogs and articles that look at the real ways of reducing tinnitus. Spend some time reading the information available and try some techniques. Not all techniques work for everyone and some techniques work for some people but not for others. It really is a case of "trial and error".

Tinnitus will only disturb or annoy you if you let it. I haven't been bothered by tinnitus for over ten years now. I use all of the above techniques, and many others, to keep my tinnitus under control. You can most definitely do that too.