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It's been called distressing, debilitating, frightening, and William Shatner said it almost drove him to suicide. It's tinnitus - noises in the ears. Rock stars like Sting and Pete Townshend have it; but it doesn't just affect musicians: one in seven of us have tinnitus. I've got it, and the other six of you should think yourself lucky.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People is making considerable noise about tinnitus this week, saying doctors aren't trained to deal with it.
When I told my doctor about it six months ago, she looked defeated and sent me to a specialist, and when I told him, he looked defeated. It's incurable.
What's it like? Well, apparently, I'm lucky. Some people have the crunch of a road crash forever inside their heads. Others have fireengines at full belt. My tinnitus is...well, it's a hiss. A flutter. The sound a radio makes
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| It’s not just musicians like Sting who have tinnitus: one in seven people suffer from it |
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when it's not tuned in. The effect is that it makes office meetings with more than one person difficult to handle. I've no idea why. Others say it affects their relationships, and a third of sufferers say it damages their sex lives.
There are devices you can buy which make a sound that repels the tinnitus sound - thus, one might think, replacing one noise with another. Yoga and relaxation are said to help. For me, being busy works best. Sitting idly makes it worse. And alcohol is a great healer. Two stiff G&T's and I can't hear a damn thing.
The answer to tinnitus lies where tinnitus lives - inside our heads. I began to cope with it when I stopped taking it seriously. Imagine you enjoy it, and you do. Almost. Ignore it, and it goes away. Almost.
There are some things you simply don't hear if you don't want to, like a spouse going on about picking up the dry cleaning. I don't want to hear my tinnitus so I don't hear it. Almost.
RNID helpline 0808 808 6666; tuneouttinnitus.org.uk
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 2, 2007
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