If you are struggling to hear speech, or if you or anyone close to you thinks you may have a hearing problem, you ought to have your hearing tested and if necessary be prepared to use a hearing aid. There is evidence to show that improving the hearing of people with a hearing loss and tinnitus can actually reduce the noticeability of their tinnitus.

Could You Benefit From A Tinnitus Masker?

A specialist may think that you might benefit from wearing a noise generator or 'masker' - a device that looks like a behind-the-ear or an in-the-ear hearing aid and which puts a noise into the ear. Indeed some people might get benefit from 'combinations' - a masker and a hearing aid together. Noise generators can be expensive - certainly don't think of buying one privately unless you've had at least a month's free trial and are sure it helps.

Talk to your doctor if you feel that any drugs you are taking are making your tinnitus worse. There are usually several different drugs that can be prescribed for a particular condition, so there is a good chance that your doctor will be able to change your prescription to one which has less effect on your tinnitus. But don't ask him for a drug to cure your tinnitus - because there isn't one!

Similarly, if you find that certain food or drink or even smoking seems to make the tinnitus worse you could try doing something about them. But only think about making changes to your diet, drinking and smoking habits if you are sure that they are having an effect on the tinnitus. Trying to change what you eat simply to find out if there is any effect is more likely to produce negative results and focus your attention on the tinnitus counter-productively. And trying to give up smoking may be an additional stress that you could do without.

Don't Let Tinnitus Take The Fun Out Of Life

Be self-indulgent for a change! Take time to do things that you find absorbing. Sit back and plan some 'good times' - some treats for yourself. Try and take up opportunities to be more involved in active pursuits rather than in passive pastimes. All these things should reduce the opportunities you have for paying attention to the tinnitus. Perhaps you could become involved in helping others who have problems that are worse than yours - being helpful and useful to someone else is usually good for your own morale and esteem as well as theirs. Try to learn that life is too short to think that it's going to be ruined by tinnitus.

Consider going to a self-help group if there is one near you. You'll find that you are certainly not alone in having tinnitus - lots and lots of other people have it. But of course you're not to know who has it because tinnitus isn't at all 'visible', whereas a lot of other conditions are. One benefit of a self help group is that with more people looking for effective tinnitus remedies, there are more opportunities to find something that actually helps. Consider taking along your copy of the Tinnitus Miracle report and asking if any of the members have used any of the remedies covered in it. But don't feel guilty if going to a self-help group isn't your cup of tea. Many people get little out of being with others who have tinnitus simply because it reminds them that they have it themselves. They can manage better by not being so reminded, which is fair enough, although there may be other aspects of attending a self-help group that they could find beneficial.

If you find the tinnitus seems more noticeable in quiet situations, consider ways in which you can make yours more noisy. Perhaps leaving on the radio to provide background noise, or wearing a personal stereo with headphones playing your favorite music - not too loud of course!. Most modern radio alarm clocks have earphone sockets and timers which allow you to listen to the radio through the headphones while you are dozing off to sleep, with the radio switching itself off automatically at a preset time. If headphones are too uncomfortable, you could try under-pillow speakers.

I hope by now you have begun to see what is a central dilemma in coping with tinnitus. The more you are interested in your tinnitus and the more you are pursuing ways of lessening its effects, at the same time the more you are likely to be paying attention to it and treating it as something significant. You have to be able to strike a balance between finding ways of helping you notice tinnitus less but which don't make you notice it more because they are keeping the tinnitus at the forefront of your mind.

I think you should try to avoid eliciting sympathy from others because you have tinnitus. Of course, it is nice to hear people make sympathetic noises, but in my experience the less people are concerned on your behalf, the less they are likely to remind you of your tinnitus, and the less likely you are to sensitize yourself to it.

Try not to feel guilty that you are not coping with tinnitus, or you are not doing as well as you feel you should be. Stop feeling guilty that you are a 'nuisance' to your family. Expect them to share some of the burden for a while. After all, they haven't got the tinnitus to put up with. By all means let them read the articles you have about it so they understand what it is you are going through. But remember that although sharing the load may mean putting up with a bit of extra irritability in you for a while, it doesn't mean asking you every day, 'What is it like today, dear?'