Every brain injury leaves a life long remainder injury. Tinnitus is not the only long term symptom. Think of it as a scar. Many different injuries and illnesses leave lifelong scars.

The longer you fret about your tinnitus, the harder it is going to be to learn to ignore it.

I can stop at any time during the day and listen for my tinnitus. It is always there, sometimes louder than other times. But, I can ignore the loudest tinnitus just as well as I can ignore the less annoying tinnitus.

The only time it is a problem is when I am trying to hear something that is of a similar pitch. That is rare.

You don't need to feel guilty about the way you feel, markneil.

When I had my TBI, my GP told me I would have been better off losing both my legs. Just because our injury is largely "invisible," doesn't mean it isn't devastating, difficult and utterly life altering.

As for the blasted ringing, sure it's not immediately, physically lethal, but it can take an enormous toll on one's psychological health.

Although I have damage that makes it difficult for me to ignore/filter sounds, I am pretty good at pushing the tinnitus out of my mind. Still, my ears RINGGGGG 24/7 and there's noway to ignore, completely, something that persistent and annoying.

Heck, it's like being locked in a closet with Paris Hilton, Justin Beiber, Honey Boo Boo, Don Cherry (goggle him, Yanks),Donald Trump and Al Gore. Noway are you coming out of there 100% sane.

I had tinnitus appear as a symptom weeks after receiving my last concussion. It was occasional at first, then became more frequent and long-lasting. If I remember correctly the last time I heard it was likely almost a year post-concussion. I think I've heard it once or twice since then, and not for long. So it is possible for it to go away in my experience. It's good to have a bit of hope, but I think the advice to focus on the symptoms you can improve through diet, treatments, therapies, etc. is where you should try to focus your energies. I found through treating other symptoms, the tinnitus eventually went away, albeit it took a long time.

TBI tinnitus can go away, mine is certainly less severe than it was after 5 months. When I eventually get normal sleep I reckon it will reduce more. The brain does heal it just takes time and I don't think anyone can tell you tinnitus is for life because we all heal at different rates.

the brain does heal to a certain extent after an injury and to a lesser extent after several injuries so,etimes. In rare cases such as football players with many many injuries to the head happen over and over and over encephalopathy can set in and then the brain doesn't heal. But those are very rare cases, some have had tinnitus on this board for decades and I think it is safe to say that there is not going away.

Hi there, my MVA happened about 1 year ago and I had TBI-induced tinnitus. I have noticed in the past few months that it IS getting better. I also had hyperacusis which aggravated the tinnitus. As a result, I purchased musician's earplugs with a 15 and 25 filter. My son plays in a band and this way I can now go and see his perfomances (with the 25s). I use the 15s for crowded malls, restaurants, etc. Hope this helps. My hyperacusis has also improved over the past few months.

With Mark says the best thing to do it is try to ignore Tinnitus after a MBTI.

That said I have seen my fair share of ENT's here in NYC. Not to give you promising advice however 1 patient had hearing loss and horrible Tinnitus the first 6 months and fully recovered a year later. His hearing returned to normal and Tinnitus vanished. A rare yet true story.

Another well documented case as screen write Tom Sadyak who directed Liar Liar. His Tinnitus passéd around the 6 month mark as did NY Rangers All-Star Mark Staal at the 10 month mark. I think a good hall mark might be the 1 year mark. After then recovery is relatively unlikely or so i'm told.

A good start is to visit an ENT and document your hearing levels. I would STRONGLY recommend an Otoacoustic emissions test which measures your inner/outer hair cells. Tinnitus is usually directly correlated to damaged hair cells from the impact to your head.

As far as my own experience, i'm nearly 5 months post concussion and my Tinnitus is not as noticeable as it was in the beginning. The first 3 months can be awful.

Hope this information is of value. Best thing however is to try and not focus on it. Much easier said than done.

I also forgot to add that the following might be useful the first 6 months upon Tinnitus onset:

1. Cod liver oil 2x daily
2. Lots of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries
3. NAC pills 2x daily
4. Neurofeedback/BioFeedback
5. Light Exercise.

Mark has a good vitamin regimen which can address.

What's NAC pills ? I am taking a B12 supplement and cod liver oil capsule once a day, eating berries and getting lots of sleep..I don't have time for any exercise as I have to go to work and support a family and I have to make sure I get good sleep in the remaining time..my tinnitus is nowhere near to where it was in the first 2 months and has clearly improved but has not completely gone away..I am 5 months into this and although there is a possibility for it to go away I am not waiting for that to happen and instead letting habituation happen...I have to face a couple of road bumps everyday to and from my office and I wonder if they are contributing to my tinnitus in any way as I have some head sensitivity to those bumps..

the more sleep I get the better it is. but then it gets worse as the day goes on and so do I. but at 7 years nothing is going away that's here. that is hard to cope with.