Question: It is difficult for me to learn how to sleep with tinnitus. does anyone know how to control tinnitus? I really appreciate ones who have same experience with me can share any thing .

Answer: That's the problem, tinnitus requires that you relearn many things that have become second nature such as relaxing, concentrating and sleeping.

Tinnitus causes anxiety and most importantly we grow to hate and fear the tinnitus. We become obsessed with the sounds and focus on them to the exclusion of many other things.

For instance, if we awoke at night before tinnitus we would ponder for a moment and then seek comfort in the warm covers and soft pillow and ooze back into sleep.

Unless we were so totally wired and stressed out on something that we just lie there thinking about it and worrying about it and seeing that we can't get to sleep...

Like the sound of tinnitus...

So, the secret is to retrain our minds and to take control of them rather than let tinnitus control us.

The simplest method is to use a sound machine of some kind with a pleasant noise that we can listen to. Set it, not for loudness, but for quietness. Just perceivable below the sound of the tinnitus.

Now focus on its sounds rather than tinnitus. Make that a habit, whenever you hear the tinnitus, stop listening to it and listen to the other sounds. Keep practicing until it becomes a habit to listen to another sound.

When you hit the hay, relax. Take many slow deep breaths and concentrate on that, not the tinnitus. Listen to other sounds. And slowly drift into sleep. It's possible. Have you ever fell asleep on a train, bus, subway or in a room with a loud TV playing?

Why should tinnitus be any different. Why, because we hate damn sounds and they are driving us crazy. But that is an attitude not a fixed reality. We can adjust our attitude to accept that tinnitus exists with us and that we don't have to hate it and drive ourselves crazy with those feelings. When we let go of that anguish which we have chosen and instead choose to ignore it, it becomes easier to live with and for me it has become softer and gentler.

So, when you hear the tinnitus at night, just consider it another noise and forget about it. Go back to sleep.

You see, it is your own attitude that you have to learn to control. It is your own mind that you have to relax and steer into calmer waters. You are either the master of your mind steering it to where you want to be or you are a helpless victim of your own lack of control being tossed about in a storm of confusion.

Tinnitus makes us forget everything we've learned about self-control and being in charge and we have to start over again as little babies relearning how to live.