Silence is Golden! (Tinnitus)

Member Name: hugnluvable

Product:	Tinnitus
Date:	11/08/01 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: NONE!

Disadvantages: See below!

If you said to someone that there were noises in your head they’d think you were mad! I hear these noises but NO WAY are you going to find me (or anyone else with tinitus) in a mental asylum.

Instead you’ll most probably find me in my room playing the clarinet or piano in a practise room somewhere at university.

So here I am studying for a degree in Music! I love it! And I have few troubles on the course (apart from listening – on a bad day!). I’ve faced the fact that I’m not deaf, I can hear and there is nothing that I can do to overcome it – apart from putting my mind off of it.

Tinnitus is a hearing disorder when a person suffers from noises in the ears. It could be ringing, rustling, two-tones or shattering. I suffer from the latter.

I discovered I had tinnitus during my GCSEs before I had my French and Music Aural/Listening exams. I always knew there was something wrong with my ears but never really paid attention to it – until I realised that it was affecting my Music in terms of Aural exams etc. So my Mum dragged me to the doctors and they also told me that I had a vacuum in my right ear (very painful at times) and I had sinusitis, he referred me to the Nose, Throat and Ears department at my local hospital – but I never went!

I still have problems at university - with listening exams etc but I very rarely tell anyone about it (its not really as big a deal as having no hearing whatsoever!) Sitting nearer to the speaker/piano wont help either because the sound is internal and can be very distracting sometimes!

Meeting people with simular problems though is sooo helpful. It shows you that you aren't the only person who suffers from it. One of my good friends lost his hearing at the age of 18 and also suffers from tinnitus - and he shares the same feelings that I have towards the whole noises in the head situation! Sharing your views and problems with othe
rs is very comforting - expecially if they know exactly what you're going though as well!

I gave my friend an example the other day of the constant sound that I hear ALL THE TIME and she said to me that if she had to hear it all the time that she'd go mad! But you get used to it and I see it as the norm now!

The thing that really frustrates me is that I have never experienced SILENCE. When everything is still, this ringing is still in my ears! Some people say that Tinitus is psychological and that its all in the sufferer’s head and that doctor’s can put another sound into your head to put your mind off of the original ringing noise. But I think that wouldn’t solve any problems – instead it would create another one! (If anyone can prove otherwise please please please leave a comment – I would love to hear any solution!)

I feel that tinitus is a distortion of the ear. There are many people who suffer from tinitus due to ears being damaged and/or other hearing problems but its not just old people who suffer from it – unlike what many think!

But I feel tinitus has contributed towards my personality and made me who I am. I’m very chatty, enthusiastic, active and outgoing (maybe loud as well!). Its my way of distracting myself from the sounds I hear. I’d rather listen to everything else around me, voices, and sounds - oh and probably the sound of my own voice! It never occurred to me until a few months ago, when I had a long conversation with my Mum, that studying music could be another way of denying my disorder. Music is my first love and I don’t know how anyone can cope without it!

Although I say I’m not deaf – I’m sometimes easily distracted due to the ringing and won’t hear or catch what someone has said to me. Now… I have read other people’s opinions about hearing disorders in Dooyoo that it really gets on their nerves w
hen people don’t repeat what they have said and I have to agree with them! Please – if you have said something and are asked to repeat it please don’t say “Don’t worry about it” or “Its nothing important”. Because to us it is! I have learned that with my friend who is deaf – although he has a hearing aid its still hard to catch on with what others are saying.

So there it is! My experience of Tinitus. They say “Silence is Golden” well to me Silence is priceless!

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