Any tips for living with Tinnitus?

Dear June



I have had tinnitus for 11 years and have no problem living with it. My tinnitus is intermittent but at times is very bad and affects my hearing. Some years ago I participated in a study with 19 other tinnitus suffers at the University of New South Wales. When I saw how badly other people are affected I realised that I had to make a conserted effort not to allow the tinnitus to affect my daily life. Days can go by when I don't have any ringing in the ears but at times it is so bad that I can't concentrate and have just learnt to live with it. Frank

I have had tinnitus for 15 years.  I take niccotinic acid in large doses.  This is vitamin b3.  A script is not needed anymore.  It increases peripheral circulation - particularly to the brain.  The side effect is ‘flushing’…. head,  and upper body flushes due to blood vessels opening up.  It can be uncomfortable but after all these years I would miss the flushes if they didn't happen after I take the tablets.  I take up to 3grams per day (12 tablets) They also help in reduction of cholesterol. (you need to take the 3grams per day for it to be effective as a cholesterol reducer) 
I have learned to live with it.  Have tried most things except hypnotherapy or going on a program through a hospital  Nothing available where I live (Hunter Valley) and trips to Sydney are difficult as I work.  Probably the worst thing you can do when you have it - is talk about it!!  Automatically makes you think about it and then the noise is very obvious.  I have it in one ear and I am mostly deaf in that ear.  

Compared to the US and UK, Australia is very behind in anything to do with Tinnitus.   Mine started after getting balance issues, headache and earache after being around loud music.  Then after a couple of incidents through my headset at work in a call centre (a loud crackly phone call and a few weeks later a loud clunk/bang sound through my headset) I am left with very loud tinnitus, hyperacusis and all the assocoiated anxiety/depression etc that goes along with having to go through a court case for Workers Compensation, only to lose because they cleverly destroyed my faulty headset and cleared the “safety device” so neither of these could be retested.  I try not to let Tinnitus reule my life.  It is at a constant of 6/10 and the only time it changes is after I have been around loud noise and then its about a 9 or 10/10 for anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days.   This affects my balance, makes me nauseous, gives me earache and the only way I can deal with this is to lay down until it settles down again.  After having this for 3 years, I have had to teach myself ways to cope.  I just make sure that I am not in a totally silent environment so I always have some type of masking noise around me, be it tv or radio or if Im at the computer I use nature sounds.  I use custom made earplugs if I have to go into noisy environments, and while I have had to dramatrically change my lifestyle as I can no longer participate in my hobbies of karaoke and going to football due to the noise factor, I cope as well as I can.  I also see a psychologist  who has helped me cope with these changes as I can no longer work so have gone from someone who has worked for 25 years to now having the concentration span of a flea which makes it difficult to remember things at times.  I avoid caffiene, salt and alcohol and other than my 5mg of blood pressure medicationa day  and 2 herbal capsules for natural menopause relief a day, I avoid any others that are ototoxic.  I no longer sit and feel sorry for myself as there are people much worse off in the world than me.  I do need to find something I can do at home in a quiet environment, or in an emvironment that I can control the noise level in, but there is obviously a life lesson in this for me that I am still trying to work out.  :)