Dear members who suffer from tinnitus

[soundinmotiondj]

I've never worn ear plugs whilst listening to music out, I imagine it's not as enjoyable?

The musician plugs are *almost* transparent....and comfortable enough to wear for 8+ hours straight. Overall, I find that loud music is MORE enjoyable with the plugs in. I do not get as fatigued from the loud music. My ears do not ring. But, I still get the "chest thump" from the loud music.

[DennisHuiberts]

I'm suffering from tinnitus for quite some years now and I want to share some of my knowledge and experience.

My tinnitus is present since a few years, but at one moment, it increased a lot. Fought a lot with depressions and such and decided at one time to quit making music, not go to parties and keep the music listening to an absolute minimum (time and volume wise). This made it even worse. Music was, and is, a big part of my life and such drastic changes didn't help me at all.

I talked a lot with my E.N.T. specialist ("ear doctor") and he told me that these drastic life changes are not the way to go. The controversial thing about tinnitus is, is that it is caused AND cured by sound/music. People with tinnitus know what I mean, because background noise or music masks the ringing in the ears.

I also asked him about treatments and diet changes. Tinnitus gets worse when you're experiencing high blood pressure in the ears. Things like salt, caffeine etc. increases blood pressure. So I asked my physician if it would help to change my diet to stay clear from these substances. His answer was: "no more than with other people". Everyone needs a proper diet, but don't expect life changing results when you turn into a health guru.

So the key word to cope with tinnitus is moderation. Don't let fear be the main argument for life changing decisions! I can't stress this enough! The quicker you accept this, the quicker you get on the road to dealing with tinnitus. Depression increases the tinnitus also, so do the things that make you happy and make you enjoy life. If listening to music makes you happy, I would encourage everybody with tinnitus to listen to music instead of banning it completely (with moderation ofcourse).

For future parties/gigs, custom mold earplugs are a real life saver. I use custom molded Etymotic earplugs with the ER-25 dB filters and a night out is not a dealbreaker for my ears anymore. They're also good for performing, although I prefer in ears (personal choice though).

I hope this helps anybody.

[Louie_V]

Get youself a good set of alpine plugs.

I'm actually trying to convince my boss that we need to start selling these thinks up at the front registers. I got a pair and on the days that i remember to put them in i actually feel better.

[Tommi Bass]

Oh I feel for you. I've been djing since 1992. Never had a problem. I listen to music very low when not playing out in the clubs as to save my ears.

[mattmangrease]

I got it from swimming in a pool.... You learn to live with it, but the first few weeks can be very rough. What really sucks though for me, is that I can no longer lay on my left side and watch a movie or tv, as my right ear (the affected ear) is a bit muffled, and simply will not hear higher frequencies such as a hi-hat.

[Jacek]

oh thats a bad thing... i wish you could have a good health soon... take rest and follow the doctor prescription.

[soundinmotiondj]

I talked a lot with my E.N.T. specialist ("ear doctor") and he told me that these drastic life changes are not the way to go. The controversial thing about tinnitus is, is that it is caused AND cured by sound/music. People with tinnitus know what I mean, because background noise or music masks the ringing in the ears.\

My ENT suggested taking a NSAID (e.g. ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc) both BEFORE and AFTER exposure to the noise. He explained that this will help to reduce any inflammation that could lead to longer term damage. I typically take something after an event to help with the aches & pains of the load in/out process...and I have added a does before the event as well. Overall, the musician's earplugs make a much more noticeable difference.

I tried the "masking sound" approach when I first noticed the ringing. It's OK. But over time I found the noise approach to be more annoying. AND my wife wasn't a fan of the noise either. At the suggestion of my ENT, I switched to using Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction techniques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindful...ress_reduction

In short, it is a process of using meditation to focus on the ringing, and then learning to ignore the sound. It sounds a little wacky at first, but it really does work.