Anyone living with tinnitus will tell you that getting a good night's sleep is one of the hardest and most frustrating things about the condition. For me, tinnitus likes to make itself known every second of the day. It's a complicated beast, but I'll do my best to try to explain what living with the condition is like for me.
For starters, as you are probably aware, I have constant 24/7 tinnitus, however what I hear is not consistent:
- Volume: this changes regularly, often reactionary to a change in external noise - frequency, tone or volume - but it also likes to change things up just because it can. Sometimes the volume of my tinnitus becomes so loud, I can barely hear anything else - even when directed to the "good" ear!
- Frequency: again this changes regularly, but as yet I haven't been able to figure out why. The lower the frequency, the less intrusive I find it. When it becomes high pitched, it gives me that same shudder as nails down a chalkboard.
- Sound: holy moly, there are so many! I have the standard static, vacuum cleaner, and car alarm sounds, but then there's some that are really hard to pinpoint. These are the best descriptions I can come up with - that whine that used to accompany the test card of the girl and the creepy clown; there's one that sounds like a bad sci-fi alien tractor beam; and often a musical tune that just can't make out the words to. I also often have more than one of these sounds occurring at the same time.
I was pointed to this really interesting article by someone in my support group that gives examples of how the world sounds to someone with tinnitus and hearing loss. If you are reading this and are not affected by these issues, please go and have a listen to some of the examples; if you do live with either condition, you might find it helpful to explain to others how your tinnitus sounds (I identified four of the twelve examples as being sound I hear).
Because each person's experience of tinnitus is different, the hearing therapy designed to help relieve stress and lessen the intrusion needs to be tailored to the individual.
My partner was all too aware of the impact living with tinnitus as having on my mental health, particularly in regards to sleep deprivation. I've had bouts of insomnia since I was 14 years old, the longest lasting three weeks with no or little sleep (two hours a night was the most I could manage in the final week of that nightmare). He's the type of person who wants to be able to offer solutions and genuinely improve my life for the better. He'd spent a lot of time researching different solutions and came up with one that has changed my life so drastically, it's tipped the balance my mental health so that I now experience far more good days than bad.
His solution was the Sound Oasis Therapy System which has over 20 preloaded sounds that can be used to distract and mask the sound of tinnitus. Since using this my ability to fall asleep has been completely altered and has even "cured" my bouts of insomnia generally. I cannot recommend* this machine highly enough if your tinnitus is affecting your sleep. There are other alternatives such as apps and playlists but I'd never got on with them very well - although I would suggest trying these as I know people who rate them very highly. Ultimately, there is no sure fire way of addressing the issue of sleep that works for everyone or works every time. I'm a big believer in sleep hygiene and routines, to aide a restful night and the switching on of this little black box now forms part of that.
I can, finally, sleep.
*I have not received any form of payment/reward/free items to promote this product. This is my personal opinion and not affiliated with Sound Oasis in any way.
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