Tinnitus Monthly
Ask Diallo — or Tell Your Story

Ask me anything — or just tell me your story

I am not a doctor. I am someone who has lived with tinnitus for more than three decades and has spent a long time reading the research carefully. If that is the kind of answer you are looking for, ask away.

And if you do not have a question at all — if you simply want to set down what this has been like, and have someone who understands it actually read it — send me that instead. You do not owe me a question.

Part of what makes tinnitus so heavy is how private it is. Nobody else can hear it. People who care about you run out of things to say. Doctors who cannot fix it sometimes stop engaging with it. Being heard properly, by someone who has been in it a long time, turns out to matter more than most of the advice floating around.

Some people want to be heard by one person, not by the world. That is a complete reason to write, and it is what happens by default here: nothing you send is published unless you specifically ask me to publish it. If you want this to go no further than the two of us, it will not.

Every month I answer a few of these in the issue, and sometimes I publish a story on its own — only ever from people who ticked the box saying I could, and never with your name on it unless you tell me otherwise. If a question is one I cannot answer well, I will say so rather than guess.

What I can and can’t help with

Ask me about

  • What has and hasn’t worked for me across thirty-odd years
  • A study, device, or claim you’ve seen — and whether the evidence holds up
  • What to ask an ENT or audiologist, and how to push back when you’re brushed off
  • Sleep, attention, and the night-time loop
  • Nothing in particular — you just want someone who gets it to read what you wrote, privately
  • Living with it as a veteran — service-connected tinnitus has its own particular weight

I can’t do these

  • Diagnose anything, or tell you what treatment to take
  • Interpret your audiogram or test results
  • Advise on medication, dosages, or supplements
  • Replace your doctor, audiologist, or therapist — I can only help you get more out of them
  • Handle VA claims or ratings — that’s genuinely a job for a VSO or an accredited representative
If you are in real distress, please don’t wait on me. Tinnitus can be genuinely hard to bear, and this page answers questions once a month. If you are struggling to cope, or having thoughts of harming yourself, talk to someone today. In the US you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) any time. It is free, and you do not have to be in crisis to use it.

Two ways to reach me

Pick whichever suits what you’re sending. Both land in the same place and both carry the same promise.

Best for a question

Use the form on this page

Quick, one screen, and the tick-boxes let you tell me exactly what I may and may not do with it — so I never have to write back and ask. If you start typing and have to stop, your draft is saved on your own device and will still be here when you return.

Best for a story

Email it — take as long as you like

A story wants to be written like a letter, not typed into a box. Write it in whatever you normally use, over as many sittings as it takes, and send it to:

hello@tinnitusmonthly.com

So I don’t have to write back with questions, put a line or two at the end telling me:

  1. Whether I may publish it — and if so, anonymously, or with a first name or initials
  2. Where you’re writing from, if you’d like that mentioned
  3. Whether you’re a veteran, if that’s part of your story
  4. Whether you’d be open to talking it through on a recording one day

If you forget all of that, it doesn’t matter. I’ll simply ask.

If typing is the hard part

Just talk instead

Record a voice memo on your phone — five minutes, no script, however it comes out — and email me the file at the address above. For many people this is far easier than typing, and it is often better: you say things out loud that you would edit out in writing.

Or send a question right here

Only used if you allow publication below.

Readers like knowing how far this reaches.

Never published, never sold, never added to any list without your say-so.

All four are off by default. Leave them all unticked and this stays strictly between you and me.

Ticking the recorded-conversation box only starts a conversation. Nothing is recorded, and nothing is ever published, until we have talked it through and you have said yes to that specific thing.

I read every one, all the way through.

What happens after you send it

  1. I read it. All of it — however long it is.
  2. If there is something I can answer well, you hear back from me directly.
  3. If it belongs in an issue, I ask you first. Nothing is published unless you have said it can be.
This is not medical advice. Answers here reflect personal experience and published research, nothing more. Diallo Kantambu is not a physician, audiologist, or licensed healthcare provider. Nothing on this page establishes a clinical relationship, and no answer should delay you seeing a qualified professional.