Over time many people habituate (get used to) their tinnitus. Their brain learns to adjust to the presence of tinnitus and gradually stops responding to it. In practical terms, that means they become less aware of the noise.
But a significant number of people with tinnitus don’t get used to it. There are many reasons for this, but the outcome is that we remain distressed, and that can lead to real suffering.
Two of the main reasons we can struggle to habituate to tinnitus are worrying, and focus.
Sometimes tinnitus seems so challenging that we struggle to live the life we want. We end up in a cycle where our tinnitus distresses us, so we focus on it, so it distresses us even more, so we focus on it… Does that sound familiar?
And, of course, we worry. That’s completely natural – everyone worries to some extent. Initially we worry whether the tinnitus is a symptom of something more sinister. Then, once we are reassured it isn’t a tumor and are told “you have to live with it” we start with a new set of worries “how can I live with this forever?” “how can I concentrate on work – I’ll lose my job?” “how can I manage on so little sleep?!”.
This worry and focus drives us to resist our tinnitus. We become determined to fight it. We use noise generators to mask it and try distracting ourselves with endless activity. We center our lives around how we can avoid making our tinnitus worse, turning down social occasions, avoiding both quiet and loud places, and becoming irritated with the kids when they have their music or TV on too loud.
But all that effort we put into trying to reduce our tinnitus, or not make it worse, actually keeps it front and center of our attention. Maintaining all this effort to keep our tinnitus at bay is absolutely exhausting!
The Bee Empowered course for Tinnitus takes a very different approach. Through a series of practices, we learn how to accept that tinnitus is present (it is anyway, whether we accept it or not!). We stop trying to control our tinnitus, and instead learn to control how we respond to it.
It makes a life-changing difference as these past students will tell you:
“Lisa is a wonderful instructor. She is very skilled and knowledgeable about mindfulness practices and tailored the sessions to my specific needs. She taught me so many useful practices and exercises that have helped me deal much healthier with my tinnitus.”
“I owe Lisa a debt of gratitude not only for her coaching support, but for the patience, kindness and understanding she gave me. Lisa is truly a remarkable teacher.”
“this whole process has been an eye opener, a valuable life enhancer…I have no hesitation in recommending Lisa and the course.”
To book onto the next course starting 7th February Click Here
Got questions? I’d love to hear from you! Drop me an email at Lisa@thehearingcoach.com