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I wrote this relatively recently in another comment. I think it applies here: I have tinnitus. I got it from going out too much. I wasn't the biggest party-har

I wrote this relatively recently in another comment. I think it applies here: I have tinnitus. I got it from going out too much. I wasn't the biggest party-hardy individual, but there were moments where I went out quite a bit. During that time I lived in Amsterdam and loved parties for: music, social experimentation and doing whatever. I wasn't too much into the drugs/alcohol thing. I think during my 'going out phase' I was above average in terms of how many times I went out to clubs. This period lasted for 4 years. It was 6 months of agony, then I started to ignore it. It wasn't a conscious decision, the ignoring happened automatically. I only have the high pitched ringing in my ears when it's quiet. It literally feels like a curse though, I can't hear silence. 5 years later, I found out something remarkable (and I hope there's a researcher willing to test this with me and other tinnitus people). It was an accident to figure this out. When I do the Wim Hof Method, for just a brief moment it's silent. I can kind of have an idea why, since it's silent during an oxygen starvation moment (breathing all your oxygen out and then not breathing for another 2 to 3 minutes). But for me it was a life saver. Why? Because if I really want to experience true quietness again, I can do the Wim Hof Method and experience about 10 to 20 seconds of quietness per 5 minutes. My curse is lifted. It's not perfect, but good enough for me. If you have tinnitus and want to learn the Wim Hof Method from me, feel free to reach out [1], my email is in my profile. [1] My time is limited, I can teach up a total of 6 people for free who also have tinnitus. If you send an email, I'll put you in an online session with 1 to 2 other people (who also responded to this, so they're all from HN). After 6 people, I need to charge for my time. And please, leave the spots open for people who actually have tinnitus. Don't fake it, there are probably (hopefully) videos online on how to do the Wim Hof Method. Final note: learning the WHM to alleviate yourself from tinnitus is an experiment. It worked for me. It may not work for you. Also, learning the WHM you need someone to be physically there to be a 100% sure about your physical safety (normally that would be me). And you need to be in an otherwise healthy condition. I'm not a doctor, and this invitation is for entertainment purposes only.

hvidgaard 7y ago
Is it like described here (https://thoughtbrick.com/wim-hof-method/wim-hof-method-power-breath-exercise-explained/ https://thoughtbrick.com/wim-hof-method/wim-hof-method-power...)? I've had tinnitus for 25 years, and sometimes I wish I could be free of it, if only for a while.
- mettamage 7y ago
  Edit: if you are going to do this by yourself, please do let us know in this thread how it went for you! I hate to be an anecdotal n = 1 'experiment'. Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. There are some articles written about it [1], but I wonder if they go into the risks of the technique (I don't think so, I was one of the people in the experiment). Yea, it's exactly as described there. The tinnitus will be temporarily gone in step 3 (when you hold your breath). Or at least, that is the case with me. It'll come back after you took your breath in step 4. So it's a temporary relieve, unfortunately. In any case, there are a couple of checks you can do to see whether step 3 is working as intended. 1) You are capable of holding your breath for more than 1 minute and 30 seconds. Note: if you go over 2 minutes, you might want to have someone by your side who can shake you a bit. I sometimes faint around 2 minutes and 10 seconds, I wake up without assistance as well though, but better close of small risks. Shaking works quite well (there was one case where I saw it almost fail, the person was unconscious for 3 minutes and then got to consciousness after 3 minutes of being shaked, normally it takes about 10 to 20 seconds, except for this one case). This is a hard requirement. 2) You feel a tingling sensation in your hands, feet or body. This is not only my experience, it's almost everyone's experience who did this. So this is a semi-hard requirement. 3) After doing this for 2 rounds, it is my experience that my body naturally understands how this type of breathing works. I naturally get into a flow of things. In a sense, I can only describe it is "my body is breathing like my life is depending on it". It's a very rare sensation, and definitely not similar to swimming under water and almost running out of air. This is not a hard requirement at all. [1] https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379 https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379
  - mistermann 7y ago
    > Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. I will also offer an anecdotal experience. I went to a "breathwork" seminar once that involved doing a form of hyperventilation (but without the breath holding part which is what Wim Hof also incorporates I believe?). I've always been a severe skeptic about this sort of spirituality woo woo, but of 10 people in the room, a significant number experienced what could only be described as full on psychedelic experiences, and my experience was similar enough that I don't doubt for a second that what they were saying was true, it was an eye opening experience to say the least. That said, after the session was over, the instructor quietly mentioned that during the process, I had gone into some sort of a mini-seizure, and for over a month after that I had pretty severe and constant migraine headaches, as well as significantly elevated blood pressure. I never bothered to research it afterwords, and I certainly will not be engaging in that practice again (as much as I would like to), but has anyone else ever heard of such a possibility for some minority of people?
jplayer01 7y ago
> I have tinnitus. It was 6 months of agony, then I started to ignore it. It wasn't a conscious decision, the ignoring happened automatically. I only have the high pitched ringing in my ears when it's quiet. It literally feels like a curse though, I can't hear silence. My tinnitus generally doesn't bother me on a psychological level, so I feel fairly lucky in that regard. I just wish I didn't have it all the time and I end up drowning it out with music. I'd kill to be able to experience actual silence again when I'm trying to sleep or just want to sit around and relax.
- mettamage 7y ago
  Unfortunately, this silence only lasts for 20 seconds per "breathing round" max, in my experience.
- jitendrac 7y ago
  My tinnitus is high pitched but not loud enough to ruin my life, It took almost 6 months to overcome the mental trauma. Making some hard-ruled habit worked, I meditate every day morning and have a good walk of an hour in evening. I almost never skipped walk unless it is raining. I have same desire for experiencing silence, silence is golden.
Chris_Chambers 7y ago
Apparently HN loves paywalled sites so much that now they upvote literal paywalled comments to the top of the page. Yeah, no one’s paying you for exclusive access to your short paragraph about Wim Hof or your lengthy pyramid scheme/cult recruitment video seminars, it’s one or the other and in both cases you’re a trash human being. Get bent you cretin.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
scottlocklin 7y ago
FWIIW I've always had tinnitus, and the Wim Hof Method does absolutely nothing for me regarding tinnitus (pretty cool trick for athletics though). Glad for you you've found some relief, but the other side of the coin is if you eventually get used to it.
- mettamage 7y ago
  n = 3 I figured, if it doesn't work, at least people learn a semi-useful skill.
tylercubell 7y ago
I also have tinnitus from chronic ear infections when I was a child. I find that the WHM doesn't get rid of the high pitched hum but temporarily adds a white-noise-like sound on top of it.
- mettamage 7y ago
  Thanks for your input. While it is anecdotal, I'm happy to see n = 2 :)

hvidgaard 7y ago

Is it like described here (https://thoughtbrick.com/wim-hof-method/wim-hof-method-power-breath-exercise-explained/ https://thoughtbrick.com/wim-hof-method/wim-hof-method-power...)? I've had tinnitus for 25 years, and sometimes I wish I could be free of it, if only for a while.

mettamage 7y ago
Edit: if you are going to do this by yourself, please do let us know in this thread how it went for you! I hate to be an anecdotal n = 1 'experiment'. Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. There are some articles written about it [1], but I wonder if they go into the risks of the technique (I don't think so, I was one of the people in the experiment). Yea, it's exactly as described there. The tinnitus will be temporarily gone in step 3 (when you hold your breath). Or at least, that is the case with me. It'll come back after you took your breath in step 4. So it's a temporary relieve, unfortunately. In any case, there are a couple of checks you can do to see whether step 3 is working as intended. 1) You are capable of holding your breath for more than 1 minute and 30 seconds. Note: if you go over 2 minutes, you might want to have someone by your side who can shake you a bit. I sometimes faint around 2 minutes and 10 seconds, I wake up without assistance as well though, but better close of small risks. Shaking works quite well (there was one case where I saw it almost fail, the person was unconscious for 3 minutes and then got to consciousness after 3 minutes of being shaked, normally it takes about 10 to 20 seconds, except for this one case). This is a hard requirement. 2) You feel a tingling sensation in your hands, feet or body. This is not only my experience, it's almost everyone's experience who did this. So this is a semi-hard requirement. 3) After doing this for 2 rounds, it is my experience that my body naturally understands how this type of breathing works. I naturally get into a flow of things. In a sense, I can only describe it is "my body is breathing like my life is depending on it". It's a very rare sensation, and definitely not similar to swimming under water and almost running out of air. This is not a hard requirement at all. [1] https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379 https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379
- mistermann 7y ago
  > Note: this technique has some risks. Especially when you practice by yourself. The biggest one is that scientifically speaking, experts are a bit unfamiliar with it. I can only offer anecdotal experience. I will also offer an anecdotal experience. I went to a "breathwork" seminar once that involved doing a form of hyperventilation (but without the breath holding part which is what Wim Hof also incorporates I believe?). I've always been a severe skeptic about this sort of spirituality woo woo, but of 10 people in the room, a significant number experienced what could only be described as full on psychedelic experiences, and my experience was similar enough that I don't doubt for a second that what they were saying was true, it was an eye opening experience to say the least. That said, after the session was over, the instructor quietly mentioned that during the process, I had gone into some sort of a mini-seizure, and for over a month after that I had pretty severe and constant migraine headaches, as well as significantly elevated blood pressure. I never bothered to research it afterwords, and I certainly will not be engaging in that practice again (as much as I would like to), but has anyone else ever heard of such a possibility for some minority of people?

jplayer01 7y ago

> I have tinnitus. It was 6 months of agony, then I started to ignore it. It wasn't a conscious decision, the ignoring happened automatically. I only have the high pitched ringing in my ears when it's quiet. It literally feels like a curse though, I can't hear silence. My tinnitus generally doesn't bother me on a psychological level, so I feel fairly lucky in that regard. I just wish I didn't have it all the time and I end up drowning it out with music. I'd kill to be able to experience actual silence again when I'm trying to sleep or just want to sit around and relax.

mettamage 7y ago
Unfortunately, this silence only lasts for 20 seconds per "breathing round" max, in my experience.
jitendrac 7y ago
My tinnitus is high pitched but not loud enough to ruin my life, It took almost 6 months to overcome the mental trauma. Making some hard-ruled habit worked, I meditate every day morning and have a good walk of an hour in evening. I almost never skipped walk unless it is raining. I have same desire for experiencing silence, silence is golden.

Chris_Chambers 7y ago

Apparently HN loves paywalled sites so much that now they upvote literal paywalled comments to the top of the page. Yeah, no one’s paying you for exclusive access to your short paragraph about Wim Hof or your lengthy pyramid scheme/cult recruitment video seminars, it’s one or the other and in both cases you’re a trash human being. Get bent you cretin.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

scottlocklin 7y ago

FWIIW I've always had tinnitus, and the Wim Hof Method does absolutely nothing for me regarding tinnitus (pretty cool trick for athletics though). Glad for you you've found some relief, but the other side of the coin is if you eventually get used to it.

mettamage 7y ago
n = 3 I figured, if it doesn't work, at least people learn a semi-useful skill.

tylercubell 7y ago

I also have tinnitus from chronic ear infections when I was a child. I find that the WHM doesn't get rid of the high pitched hum but temporarily adds a white-noise-like sound on top of it.

mettamage 7y ago
Thanks for your input. While it is anecdotal, I'm happy to see n = 2 :)