The Therapy Guy
The Therapy Guy
Living With Tinnitus
In this episode, we discuss tinnitus, what is it, and what you can do to help yourself or someone who is living with tinnitus.
In this episode, I mention a hearing clinic that we work with and a charity that works with those experiencing tinnitus.
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Hello, and welcome to the Therapy Guy.
My name is Alan and today I
want to talk to you about tinnitus.
Now, tinnitus is something that I
see quite regularly in my clinic.
It's a problem that a lot of us
experience in our lives and it's something that
we can struggle with from time to time.
So today I'm just going to give you
some brief overviews of what tinnitus is, how
you can help yourself, what you should do
if you start experiencing symptoms of tinnitus.
And then sort of some things that I
do and some suggestions I give to the
people that I see that are experiencing tinnitus,
I'm finding it quite overwhelming to live with.
So, first, what is tinnitus?
Tinnitus really is the term for the sensation
of hearing a sound without an external source.
You can hear it in your head, you can
hear it in your ears, that sort of thing.
And it may be different.
There are people who experience ringing
sounds, humming, whooshing or buzzing it's
lots of terms like these are used to describe it.
It can be to do with the bloodstream,
the blood flow, such as pulsatile tinnitus.
There are different forms of tinnitus
that we should be aware of.
Sometimes these noises can come and go, sometimes
they can be continuous again, sometimes it can
be very low, and other times it may
seem overwhelming and difficult to get rid of.
Also, you might get it in one ear.
Both ears, you may get it
in different parts of your head.
It may be difficult to pinpoint.
And this is part of the problem.
It is part of the reasons a lot of
people struggle is because they can't pinpoint it.
It varies from person to person and it's
very difficult then for people to get this
generic thing that's going to work for everybody.
Experience in tinnitus can for some
people, be quite debilitating for others.
People use it, they adapt their lifestyle,
they get used to it, they manage
the symptoms through different ways.
Who gets tinnitus?
Well, tinnitus is really common, at least roughly
around 30% of people will
experience tinnitus at some point.
But it can be more than that, because sometimes we live
through it for quite a few years before we actually report
it or before we actually take notice of it.
It's no different to most other physical illnesses.
What happens is we wait until the last one, we
can't take it anymore before we go and see a
GP or before we report that we're experiencing this.
Roughly the number at the moment is
about one person in every eight is
going to experience tinnitus at some point.
Tinnitus can be more common
in people who have lost hearing
or have other ear problems.
But of course it can affect the
soul, loud noises, these sort of things.
We can get these ringing sensations.
If you go to a music event or a gig where
the music is really loud, you can leave that and then
you can start to hear that ringing in your ears.
What cause is it?
Well, we don't really know.
That's the answer.
We know that it's not really
a disease, it's not an illness.
It can change, obviously, to do with
some sort of change in our life,
whether it's physical or sometimes emotional things.
I see a lot of stress and anxiety
exacerbate the feelings and the perception of tinnitus.
Whatever sounds it is, we're unsure of why people
end up with us, although there's obviously some generic
things where people have been working heavy machinery, but
that normally indicates damage to their earring and that
sort of thing, which is really great.
Nowadays we have all these different mechanisms and
health and safety for protecting our hearing.
On a personal note, I worry about the effect
that headphones, earbuds and the earplugs that people can
have in the future, especially with the young children
and teenagers now listening to music, the loud music
and listen to directly, and the damage that might
cause over a long period.
Obviously, if there's changes to your hearing, you
might experience an infection, or there might be
some sort of injury there to that hearing,
or just something in general.
This can affect how your brain responds to
your hearing, to what sounds are coming through.
So what can happen at times is that
the brain can sort of try to make
up these sounds for what it doesn't hear.
People say, you know, they can be aware of a
lot of these noises of the tinnitus after something,
or like a cold or the flu or ear infection.
While they're experiencing that, they've got
this blocked feeling in their ears.
For some reason they can feel that.
Which is why some of the things I'll be
suggesting in a minute about what you should do
when you start to experience that could help.
Fortunately for most people, they can live with it.
It's at a manageable level.
So for most of us, we can adapt our lives we
get used to it no different to anything else we overcome.
We are, as a species, quite adaptable.
What you really should do first is contact your GP.
So contact your GP, go along, get a hearing
test, be referred to ear, nose and throat.
So the ENT, they can have a look, go to
a local hearing clinic, there's lots of hearing clinics.
I would personally search for one that has experience
in tinnitus that can check your ears for ear
wax, make sure there's nothing physically wrong in that
way with your ears that they may have to
remove nowadays safely and easily.
And then obviously, if you need any sort
of advice and guidance, the audiologist that you're
seeing there will be able to help you.
I work with a clinic here in Plymouth and they
do some fantastic work and they help a lot of
people with alternatives by helping make sure that there's no
wax in your ears, by checking your hearing system, and
by giving you or providing equipment that you may need.
If there isn't here an issue there.
They give lots of fantastic advice and guidance.
And what I'll do is I'll drop a link to
that place in the blurb underneath this podcast today.
The most important thing, once obviously you've ruled out
any medical factors you've had your hearing assessed, is
to listen to what the specialist is describing.
Some people feel difficult about struggle with
hearing aids, that sort of thing.
It's a sign.
So it's no different to getting your
first pair of glasses or anything else.
But persevere keep trying.
You may struggle at first to wear your
hearing aids because there's something new, because there's
something different, but there's lots of these different
modern hearing AIDS now that will totally help
you to obviously manage your tinnitus, if that
is the equipment that you need.
There are other things that you can get
that you can maybe help your sleep.
Sort of white noise, background noise, machines that go
underneath your pillow and they produce noise that the
brain can focus on rather than tiny.
Some people might obviously play
music in the background.
If I try to sleep as your brain and your hearing
system will try to focus on that and try to listen
in for a lot of people, it obviously helps.
Also, we might try to change the
habits that we are so we might
avoid noisy environments, difficult or crowded environments.
While, yes, I think there's a benefit in doing this.
While I think we should be sensible with the
level that we're listening and the level that we're
exposing our hearing system to, I normally encourage people
to live their lives is normally impossible.
Talking to somebody, okay, is going
to be really key here.
Getting the right advice, whether it's from an audiologist from
a therapist like myself, I notice that stress and anxiety,
the worry and the fear of that change, of what's
going to happen, just exacerbate the perception of the tinnitus
and the noise that you hear.
Now, normally a rush to go out and have a
look and see if the cures and if you look
into Google, please don't do this, but if you look
on Google, there is a plethora of different curls, things
promising to take your tinnitus away and just encourage
you basically to part with your money.
At the moment, unfortunately, there
is no cure for tinnitus.
Yes, different things help different people, but please be
really cautious about where you spend your money.
Look and research reputable websites and associations
that can give you independent, impartial advice
and are experts on it.
Step away from the Google. Obviously.
You've got the NHS websites, you've got
the British Tinnitus Association, the BTA.
They are a charity who work extensively and
do lots of good work around tinnitus.
And there's lots of different advice
and guidance on their website.
And again, what I'll do is I'll put a link
in the bottom of this podcast in the blurb area.
It can also be leave us with feelings of
being quite anxious, unknown noise, this perception that we
can't seem to get rid of at times.
Again, what I said is talking to a
therapist who's had experience, who's trained in some
mindfulness techniques and relaxation techniques, they can offer
advice and guidance about what they can do.
We want also somebody that's had some tinnitus retraining
knowledge so they can help people and give you
advice about how you can think and manage your
alternatives in a slightly different way.
The best thing we can do is try to reduce the
stress and anxiety that we feel in general in our lives.
I mean, not only will that benefit us as a
whole, but it will definitely benefit the perception and the
sound of the noise that you're hearing and allowing people
to actually know that you're not alone.
There are other people out
there experiencing the same thing.
There are people out there who do understand and
do have knowledge and skills to help you.
Obviously using your hearing AIDS if
that is what you need.
If you have some sort of damage or
loss to your hearing, then that's important.
And again, what I encourage you to
do is build up to it.
So if you struggle to wear your hearing aids all
day, wear them for an hour, take them off, wear
them for another hour or whatever it is, and just
gradually increase the use that you can.
If you struggle with putting them in for 8, 10, 12
hours a day, I know for myself that's what I
do, I use my hearing AIDS when appropriate, I put
them in for a certain period of time and I
take them out again and I mix and manage them.
And gradually, over a period of time, it's got longer
and longer, easier and easier for me to wear them.
But we're all different, obviously.
Sleep is something that gets impacted
quite a lot with tinnitus.
Sleep in general affects our emotional health.
Sleep affects how we feel the next day.
It's not rocket science, really.
If we have a good night's sleep, we feel
better, we feel more energised the following day.
So it can be difficult to fall asleep
at times with obviously ten of us.
But in order to do that, we have to
get our minds and our bodies relaxed as possible.
Now, there's lots of different things you can do here.
There is obviously relaxation techniques, there
are mindfulness techniques, there's breathing techniques.
Please don't give up because there's a whole
range of stuff that you can try that
will have different success rates on different days
depending on your circumstances, et cetera.
You can try some herbal relaxation things.
One thing we don't want is for you
starting to have to rely on some medication
or some sort of treatment from the doctors.
We need that as a last resort and the
doctors will be quite resistant to giving you sleeping
tablets over a longer period of time.
So we have to encourage you to have
some new skills for dealing with that.
Falling asleep, having some relaxation
in whatever way is possible.
So as I said, there are lots
of different things that you can try
CBT again I would look for a therapist
who's trained and helpful, has knowledge, intended us
mindfulness techniques which are really useful to us
all at different times anyway.
Tinnitus retraining therapy, that's a structured way to
you managing your tinnitus and it gives you
different ways of dealing with things.
I use lots of different techniques for the people that
I see and it has to vary, it has to
be adaptable to each person and what their experience and
what they feel is their situation at that time.
Obviously taking care of your hearing,
getting regular cheques, all that.
Things that should be something that
we should all be doing really.
We do quite often go for dental, checkups for the
eyesight, when do we ever pay attention to our hearing?
If you can encourage and get used to going having
your hearing checked regularly, that would be great too.
What I really want to get through in this podcast
is people struggle but lots of people manage, lots of
people can adapt their lifestyle to leaving the tinnitus.
There's lots of help and support there for you.
Don't give up.
It can be easy to get
down despondent if something doesn't work.
Look for and get the expert advice that you
need to help with your tinnitus to help with
your situation, whether it's from a hearing loss and
you need equipment and advice around that.
Seek a local audiologist, someone who's got
the expertise and knowledge to help you
if you're suffering from stress and anxiety.
And seek a therapist that has experience again to
support you in the way that you need.
If you need any advice, if you need
any guidance, please don't hesitate to contact me.
As always, I'm here to answer any questions in the
best possible way and I know the colleague that I
work with a fantastic audiologist, as I said about here in Plymouth
he'll be more helpful with your questions and I'm sure
that if I haven't got any answers, I will get
the information you need from him to help you in
whatever way that we both can.
For now, I want you to stay safe, go
well and look after yourselves and please don't hesitate
to come back and listen to another podcast.
Thanks for listening today and it's me, Alan.
Sign off as a therapy guy for today.
Bye for now.
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