Does anyone actually lose their mind because of tinnitus?

[Sue]

Actually, on the serious side...I do believe you can lose your mind!  I have heard that there have been cases of suicide because of extreme tinnitus.  One of our newscasters in Portland, several years ago (actually I read her story and then noticed I had the smallest of hisses in my ear.... ) had a major feedback in her headphone/earbud/whatever you call them, and it blew out her ear so bad that she has the worst case of tinnitus that OHSU in Portland has ever seen.  I remember the comparison that they wrote about in her story.  They said, "Imagine that you are sitting on your front porch reading your book, and two or three fire trucks pull up beside your house with their sirens blaring, and they never leave."  She has suffered terribly from her tinnitus.  She is on disability and she misses her work in TV very much.  Most of us are fortunate that it is an annoying problem, and a few of us are unlucky to be the ones who truly are "suffering from tinnitus".  My sympathies.  Try a loud fan in your bedroom.  It may help.

Unfortunately, once tinnitus sets in, it rarely leaves.  

Hang in there,

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Well Vincent Van Gogh... he went totally loopy ... but then he did not have people in the internet to to chat with and gain support...

Who knows if he had an acoustic neuroma or not???

One theory was his tinnitus was caused by lead poisoning being that his artworks were loaded with lead paint. He was the eccentric artist who sent his ear to his girlfriend... so there is one example who lost it...

There was an entire expressionist movement based on his work. To think that he may not have been just expressing himself but painting what he actually saw...

Hang in there ...

DHM

DHM

[Keri]

Hello,
My tinnitus has gotten better post op (still there a bit).  I had translab 8 weeks ago.

I hope all gets better and improves for you soon.

Keri

[Sue]

This is interesting.  You never know what's on the Internet!  Famous people with tinnitus.



http://members.fortunecity.com/nrbq1/tinnitus.html

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[moe]

I often wear an earplug:
••When my husband unloads the dishwasher

Your husband empties the dishwasher? You're lucky.......

Seriously, my tinnitus is probably not as bad as yours. Mine is a  high pitch squeal, 24/7,  (used to be a scream) on a deaf ear  and that is just NOT FAIR.
It is a daily challenge. I'm able to sleep through it, thank GOD.
And as I've said many times low dose xanax helps tone it down. Gotta go to a shrink, though.
Maureen

[DLM4me]

I often wear an earplug:
••When my husband unloads the dishwasher

Your husband empties the dishwasher? You're lucky.......

I'd show any man the door if he thought he was above doing housework.  Sorry, but being born with testicles is simply NOT a good enough reason to exempt a person from doing housework.

But back to tinnitus...I have Xanax (I use it for sleep), and have tried over the past month or so using a low dose during the day for the tinnitus...but it didn't help.  At all.  I wish it would!

[cindyj]

...so quiet in the AN ear, yet SO loud...

Cindy

(my husband washes our dishes by hand every night, can't seem to get him interested in a vacuum cleaner, however )

[moe]

DLH4me,
Sorry the xanax didn't work for you. Like I said, it toned it down from a scream to a screech, so it's better than nothing!
OOOOHHHHHH I hit a nerve with the dishwasher, didn't I??
What can I say-my husband was the last of 4 boys and the best behaved, so he was well......spoiled. I blame his mother.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks,you know?
He's a good man though, so that counts for something.
Maureen

[cin605]

Does anyone actually lose what?

[Crazycat]

Someone mention me?

 I have it bad on my AN side but have learned to suppress it. It really doesn't bother me.

[Lupy]

Having only recently been diagnoised with AN, and as a PhD psychology student, I have been looking into CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and tinnitus. There seems to be some really effective techniques available... Even a study you can partake in at YALE among other places.

http://www.yaletrials.org/clinicalTrials/displayTrial.asp?nctID=NCT00724152&pageID=1&row=1

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00724152?cond=%22Nervous+System+Diseases%22+AND+%22Hearing+Disorders%22

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17253549

[pauline]

HA - love the topic name!  There are many days I think I am going to lose my mind because of tinnitus and hearing distortion!
Mine is so loud and many pitches.  All the above responses are great - when I attend a concert, it does help to have an earplug
or a noise cancelling earphone.  Bose has the ones that go right in your ear so it is not obvious.  Much luck to you.
You learn to live with it eventually because you have to! 

Paula

[bambi81]

Yeah, I have it pretty bad in my right ear.  It drives me nuts.  Funny story, (funny now....)  last night I was in the bedroom watching TV and on the internet, when all the sudden, I started hearing ringing in my GOOD ear!!!!  I sat up in a panic!!!  I am so terrified now, that I only have one good ear, what if something happens to it?  I ran into the living room and started crying to my boyfriend.  He calmed me down on the outside, in the inside I was still crying....  We agreed I'd call the doc in the morning (when there is NOTHING he can do about it anyways!!!).  When my boyfriend came to bed, he laid there for a minute, and then said... "I hear it too!!!!" It turns out it was my computer!!!!!  I was  so relieved!!!!

[Rivergirl]

Tinnitis is my new normal, I hate it.  I have come to the realization it is not going away, wish it would.  I do love my sound machine, love the wterfall and the rain ones but then all that water dripping makes me want to pee.............just can't win sometimes.

[moe]

That's a funny one with the computer noise
How were your MRI results, today Whitney?
maureen