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How do you cope with tinnitus? I suddenly developed one a few days ago and am devastated.
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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Oof, that's rough.
For temporary relief, you can find stuff on YouTube that plays sounds at different high pitched frequencies. You'll still be hearing the sound but having it come from an external source can provide relief (at least for some people). Noise machine apps have options for different "colors" of noises, so you can experiment and try to find something that works. Also, I can't explain it at all but for some reason this music does something for me.
Don't assume that it'll get worse or that it'll always be as bad as it is now. If it's still there when you're 40, let 40 year old you deal with it. If it sticks around, you'll learn to live with it. My experience was that it's worst when you first get it because you're not used to it, you don't have any tools for coping with it, and you can't accept it.
Take it day by day. If you can deal with it for just one day, then you can apply that to every day. So all you have to worry about is today.
But I'll tell you, shit sucks. There's an herbal supplement in the US that's marketed as helping with tinnitus. It doesn't work, and I knew it wouldn't work, I saw the word "homeopathic" on the label and I knew exactly what it meant. I bought it anyway. My dad suffers from it too, and I saw the same one in his medicine cabinet.
I think my case is relatively minor, too, but I can remember being that desperate for a moment of relief. But for me it's faded into the background and I usually don't notice it. Tbh I've come to find it almost handy, in that it's a way of my body providing feedback to tell me when I'm stressing myself out. Kinda like that thing with old folks where they can tell a storm coming because it makes their joints ache. The sensation itself is just a sensation, it's annoying and unpleasant, but my experience is that what makes it really bad is when you have other thoughts attached to that. And the good news is that it's possible to change the thoughts you associate with the sound even if you can't change the sensation. It just takes time and mindfulness.