Living with Tinnitus

For as long as I can remember I have had a ringing or a type of buzzing noise in my ears, of course I never really thought too much about it as there is always noise around us so I was oblivious to the fact it was only me who could hear it.

The TV gives off a humming noise, the Microwave a whirr, flies buzzing around and just everyday noises we take for granted – that is what I thought it was, everyday noises which everyone could hear.

It was only when I moved out of my parents home that it really annoyed me, there was always noise around me there so I noticed it less but moving in with Paul and being in the house alone I began to realise that this noise followed me even when there was no everyday busy noises.

Tinnitus is the term for hearing sounds that come from inside your body, rather than from an outside source.

It’s often described as “ringing in the ears”, although several sounds can be heard, including:

• buzzing
• humming
• grinding
• hissing
• whistling – NHS.UK

I did eventually go to the doctors for this when it began to keep me awake at night, they saw no problems with my ears and I was advised to wait it out to see if it went away and to take note of the times it became worse.

I noted it was worse when I was tired and stressed, or if I was beginning to become poorly, the ringing in my ears was almost a tell tale sign when I was getting a cold or about to become ill.

I wasn’t ever worried about the noise as it didn’t come with hearing loss which others sometimes suffer from this condition but it could be irritating, especially when trying to sleep or concentrate.

There are herbal treatments which I tried temporarily and making sure my ears were wax free also helped a lot. There is no single cure which works for everyone so there is a lot of trial and error; Sound therapy, counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy and tinnitus retreating therapy are among a few of the tinnitus treatments available.

Thankfully this was something I actually outgrew a few years ago when I had the children….or perhaps it is that they are just so loud that I can’t hear them?

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