Meditation and tinnitus

Neuroscience
1

Do any other meditators here have tinnitus?

My story: when I was 16 I suddenly lost hearing in my left ear. I developed tinnitus in that ear. It was pretty bothersome, but eventually I got used to it and it no longer bothered me.

Fast forward 32 years and I started getting tinnitus in the right ear as well. It felt like it was a much more difficult struggle this second time around. With bouts of anxiety, depression, insomnia and even suicidal thoughts.

To try to cope with the anxiety brought on by the tinnitus, I tried taking anxiety meds. In less than a week, I had a bad reaction to the medication and spent a night in the hospital. So I needed a different way to regain my mental health and fortitude. Some way to help keep my attention from snapping back to the discomfort and causing what I now know as “Dukkha”.

Thankfully, I was still able to practice meditation and I am glad to say that 18 months later I feel a lot better and the Fitmind meditations were a big part of that. Especially the 30 Days of Meditation and Bliss course. I have completed that one probably 5 or 6 times now! The 4Rs were an eye opener for me. It’s an amazingly simple way to build the attention “muscle”.

Practicing Yin Hot Yoga was also a huge part of my journey to feeling better.

The act of sitting with discomfort and just letting it be there seems to be a big part of dealing with tinnitus, chronic pain and other neurological conditions. We can learn to train our attention away from the discomfort and regain control when it seems to automatically snap back to that area of the body. It is a beautifully simple (yet not easy) alternative to frustratingly fighting it and generating suffering.

What’s your story?

1 Like
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I don’t have tinnitus to that degree, but I do have a constant low ringing that’s been there for years from too many loud concerts and power tools without hearing protection when I was younger.

For a long time I handled it by constantly keeping something on in the background. TV, podcast, fan, music, anything so I wouldn’t notice it. Strangely, the more I monitored it, the louder and more intrusive it seemed to become.

Meditation changed my relationship to it more than the sound itself. I stopped treating it like an emergency signal that needed to be checked every few minutes. Once that cycle loosened up, it faded into the background a lot more often. The sound may still be there, but the layer of resistance and vigilance on top of it loosened significantly.

Also appreciate you sharing the harder parts of your experience. I imagine people reading this will feel less alone because of it.