Anyone successful in dealing with Tinnitus?

Elizabeth, I am one of the morons they call a Doctor and I have tinnitus and love my music. Essentially. as you say, it is untreatable as things stand. That, by the way is not Doctor's fault. It is if they charge you large amounts of money with no results, but then I work in the NHS in the UK, so that does'nt apply.
Some simple observations of country doctor who has been working for 30 years. There really is no substitute for experience.
1) Symetrical tinnitus developing in your 50's 60's, is unlikely to be clinically significant. It represents hair cell degeneration in the Cochlea, usually, but not always accompanied with some hearing loss, mine is'nt. As it is degenerative and you can'nt transplant cochlears, there is no great cure on the horizon. I offer to refer to ENT specialists, but say to my patients, they are unlikely to offer any help.
2) Unilateral tinnitus is, in my view always worth investigating with an MRI, to exclude a benign tumour called an Acoustic Neuroma
3) Most people are'nt that troubled by tinnitus as it is a constant sensory input. To insult you all with some grade school philosophy of perception, the brain is designed to seek change in sensory input, not constant ones. You need to see the Tiger walking through the trees, not the trees.
4) A few people are driven absolutely crazy by tinnitus, to the point of suicide. That is very difficult. The definitive solution is surgical ablation of the Cochlea, but it makes you stone deaf of course. You can try white noise generators, they may help a bit. There are newer behavioural theray techniques, that are said to help, I have no experience with them
5) and most important, if you have tinnitus, AVOID EXPOSURE TO LOUD NOISE. I shouted so you would hear. Tinnitus sufferers are very sensitive, in my view, to further deterioration due to noise exposure. So be careful if you enjoy live Heavy Metal.
I would also be careful about ear syringing for wax. I have seen it start or worsen tinnitus, I do'nt know why.
Lecture over, let me know if you disagree

All affected should be aware that there is research to regrow cochlear hair, and so far researchers have been successful in growing more (not re-growing after apoptosis or complete deafness) cochlear hair in mice (a mammal) as of 2-3 years ago, under certain laboratory conditions. They know regeneration is possible, and therefore there is hope.

See http://audiology.advanceweb.com/Article/Regrowing-Hair-Cells-in-the-Human-Cochlea.aspx and http://depts.washington.edu/hearing/InnerEarHairCellRegeneration.php

David12:

Do you have an alternative to syringing for ear wax? I've not had the experience of it aggravating tinnitus, and it certainly improves my hearing, if done from time to time.

John

Ack there you go, simple country Doctors do'nt know all the latest research. The Cochlear hair growth project sounds interesting, though as you know it is probably a long way from day to day clinical application.

john I try to advise tinnitus sufferers not to get syringed. An ENT colleague has confirmed he has seen the same result from syringing, on occasion. I tend to recommend warmed olive oil repeated for over a week. That can be interspersed with baking soda in a little water, though that can cause reactions in the ear, as can many of the proprietry brands of wax softeners you can buy at your pharmacy. If that fails you can go for simple aural toilet, where you use a little hoover gadget to clear out the ear.

I've been to three dr.s and one told me that ear plugs make it worse. Well, I had been wearing those for years at work and I stopped. I did notice some improvement. I started wearing noise suppression headphones and that helped further. (If you're a tradesperson, these are highly recommended) There is a therapy available (neuromonics) but it's $5k and not covered by insurance.