Tips for Supporting Someone with Tinnitus
Watching a family member or friend suffer from a debilitating health condition can make you feel powerless. You want to help them, but you might be unsure of what you can do to support them. Tinnitus can destroy a person’s quality of life. Often with tinnitus, it can cause stress, anxiety, and sleep becomes extremely difficult. Tinnitus is a complicated health problem, and even the person suffering may not know how other people can help them. We have gathered a list of tips on how you can help someone you care about suffering from tinnitus.
Understanding Tinnitus
The first thing you should understand is that tinnitus is an invisible illness. You may look and act perfectly fine, but inside you are suffering. Unless you have experience tinnitus, you won’t truly understand what a person experiences with is, especially when it is severe. People with tinnitus typically experience anxiety and stress, and it is often challenging to complete even the simplest task because the ringing in your ears distracts you all the time. You can help by learning to understand what they are going through.
Show Compassion and Empathy
To understand what your family member or friend is going through, educate yourself by reading and watching videos about tinnitus. Tinnitus is when you hear sounds (usually a ringing), and there are no external sounds around you. Tinnitus is a symptom of other conditions, such as hearing loss, a head or neck injury, Meniere’s disease, or temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ). To help your family members or friend, start by talking to them about what their experience is with tinnitus and how they feel. They will appreciate someone they know, and trust cares so much about them.
Helping Your Friend or Family Member
The best way to help a friend that is feeling anxious or depressed from their tinnitus is to suggest ways to help them relax. Go for a walk, try a yoga class, find a relaxing hobby like crafting, aromatherapy, meditation, joining a book club, and more are all fantastic ideas to help someone relax. You and your friend or family member need to find out what works best, and it could be more than one option that works!
Using Distractions
Often, if there is a distraction nearby, such as background music or TV, someone with tinnitus will be able to tune out the tinnitus sounds they hear. Listening to other sounds that someone finds relaxing can help the person cope with the bothersome sounds they always hear in their ears. Many people with tinnitus find a white noise machine helps at night to relax and help with sleeplessness.
If you have a friend or family member that is suffering from tinnitus, have them make an appointment with us and learn about all the ways we can help. We are available at 864-881-1663 and have four convenient locations in Simpsonville, Greer, Travelers Rest, and Greenville.