I actually, eventually, found a cure for blocking out noise from the house when I am trying to work from home.
I now were a pair of the squidgy ear plugs (look like blue tac) called 'worlds Finest Natural Ear Plugs (earplugsonline.com) and a pair of over the head ear defenders called 'Delta Plus' (bright aluminous yellow/green). The ear defenders are comfortable and fit very snug against the ear.
The 2 together don't block out everything - but its the nearest I have come. I have a real problem focusing with noise.
Someone told me recently that its impossible for me to block all the noise anyway as apparently you not only hear through your ears, but through some little bones in your head too. So its probably the best I am going to find, unless I have a sound proof room, which I would dearly love.
Hope it helps someone else still looking.
Jules
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Julesgettingthere
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Hi Jules (just messaged you BTW). I use the wax earplugs to shut out noise ; they mould perfectly to the shape of the ear without being too intrusive. And the Boots ones are so big I tend to cut them in half and still have enough wax for two ears !
Yes Jules, just ask for Boots own make wax earplugs.
They're much too big for me so I cut them in half with sharp scissors so that one earplug is enough for both ears.
Manipulate them between your fingers to soften the wax, then gently work them into your eardrum 'til they've moulded to a comfortable shape.
I find them really comfortable and they make it impossible to hear a thing. But remember you won't hear the phone or the doorbell ring if you're at home !
I dont think i was ever any good at abbreviations !
You know the tests where the neuro asks you to find words hidden among others, i couldnt find one and guess what it was .... it was TBi ... what i fool i felt.
I spoke to the OT yesterday about maybe looking for re training to possibly find a new job. He talked sense, he put it to me more delicately, but what he was saying was if i am struggling with what i am trying to do now i dont really hold much hope of learning something new and if i use up my energy on this then i will not have the energy for the job i am still managing to hold so far, and it may jepordise it. True words. I am comfortable with plodding for now then.
Something funny for a change ! - I had my breast screening yesterday, (not that thats funny, its not, its very serious, but the scenario ending was). I am not blessed with the biggest of boobs (shrinking even more now with age !) and there really isnt anything to squash to scan, add to this my back and neck will not twists in opposite directions easiy (and you have to move your head away from your chest when they scan, the poor nurse had to call another in to help her grabble for a bit of boob to scan while the other almost had me in the air trying to get my back in position ! Ren asked me if everything went ok and i gave up trying to explain why it was so like a Fawlty Towers sketch.
Rens getting me those ear plugs tomorrow - do they really block EVERYTHING ok Cat ? if so i will be over the moon.
You poor thing having that in your life 7 years ago. I had a worrying time after a scan showed grey areas but eventually they said it must have been an overlap on the film. My reaction at being called into a room and sitting with 3 medical people being told they had maybe found something was bizarre. Because i just expected them to say 'its just a routine recall' i think i went into a bit of shock. To be honest, i had so many other medical issues I thing i just thought 'yep, that will be right, lets be ill with this too'.I just smiled and nodded, devil may care. Odd isn't it how we behave.
Yes, i think of my nurses as the angels. I keep thinking i would love to meet the ambulance crew who picked me up to say thank you - but probably never will now.
I didnt sleep last night, so cat napping through the day today - sand in my eyes.
Cat-napping is all the day's been fit for here with so much heavy rain and thunder storms. I've been nipping in & out all day trying to do jobs in the garden ; managed to get the begonia plugs planted in trays but have to keep them covered in case they drown !
Even got the heating on tonight to get the washing dry ! xx
Hope all is still ok for those begonias with this horrid weather - I think i know the flower (huge full blooms, lovely).
Pip have written and said the are ok with me and they have renewed for a further 4 years. I do wonder what my world will be in 4 years.
Did i tell you DVLC took my licence about a year ago, even thou the crash was way back in 2010. I had to change my name/address and i told them about the accident and the drugs i am on. Because i admitted one of the tablets makes me drowzy they withheld it. They sort of blame this, they say also, 'medical evidence' i think they are reading about PTSD and Walkergate hospital. I was about to be assessed by Disability North ? but they cant assess now because i dont have my licence. I have appealed it and got the GP on board with a supporting letter. The acknowledge this, but its now a year and they still havent decided. Good job i dont need the car for work. By the time i get it back/go for an assessment i would have forgotten how to drive !
Sort of finished painting my wooden floor - thick shiny white gloss with 12 oblong blocks of vivid colours (pink, red, yellow, green and purple). I am thinking if i could start again i would paint them in circles instead as it looks very similar to the plastic mat we used to use in the game Twister - do you remember twister ? Phew, thats something i will never be able to do again. oh well.
Rens looking at buying some window boxes for upstairs for ivy to grow down the house wall - cant find anything unusual - any ideas ?
Hope you are well and your day was good.
PS:
I missed my therapy at walkergate hospital today - i got the time mixed up. It was at 11 am but i read it as 1 pm. I am always doing this with numbers, my old job was in finance, i must have been making mistakes left and nright without knowing it - nobody said anything, its quite embarrassing/sad aint it.
Thanks for sharing my new headphones have just arrived and they're great. Hubby bought me some little (not very effective) earplugs which fall out all the time, but the new headphones keep them in. I'll have to get down to Boots and get some of the ones Cat mentions I feel like a teenager - people must wonder at me walking about outdoors - they probably think I'm an aging rocker......maybe I am
Me and Ren often look at each other in the evening and laugh and say 'there are no ADULTS around, it feels as if the kids have been left in charge and no body is here to say stop it'. Aging Rockers are cool.
I use ear plugs when I sleep, otherwise any little noise wakes me up and then I get angry. So much so that I've hit the wall sometimes. I think I will look for some to wear during the day too. Thanks that's a great idea. Noise is definitely more of a problem than it was before the BI. I hear things that others can not even notice!
Mine is as if noise is exaggerated/amplified (i get angry mostly because my brain starts telling me people are doing it deliberately).
I am going to buy the squidgy ones also from Boots like Cat said - if they can block out even more noise thats brilliant and they dont cost much. They seem to last an awful long time too.
Word of warning:
Ren came home in horror to find me with a Bic pen down my ear a a couple of weeks ago. The squidgy stuff gets hot in the ear if you wear it a long time and it becomes very pliable and sticky. I had rolled it into a thin sausage and stuffed it into my ear (too far down without much of a plug on the outside). It wouldn't come out. I panicked and thought the pen would get it but then realized the plastic end might end up down my ear too so stopped).
Do you remember the nursery rhyme about the dog that ate the fly !
So dont roll them too long and thin, just enough to cover the ear and make a plug.
Hi Jules, what you said is exactly how I feel! That noise is amplified like people do it on purpose... So true! I get wound up then it becomes an obsession which I can't stop. As for pens in ears that's something I'll try not to do.... Desperate measures 😉
I know, with a Tbi its supposed to be bananas in my ears not BI pens isn't it.
Its strangely comforting to find someone else experiences exactly what you do, like with noise isn't it. It took me a long while to realize noise was making me aggressive and distracted me. Its all about learning about my 'new faults' now, for me anyway.
I can only speak for my self and it's over load, less the volume and more the number of sources, my wife took me to see Tom Jones at Hampton Court last night, the songs where great, but the overload from so many people talking, was horrific. Have noticed I get it to a lesser degrees from the light shows in theses places.
Yes I can understand that. My husband took me to see a band and it was horrific. Load noise with lyrics i cant make out and hundreds of faces talking all around me. I felt isolated whilst being engulfed by hundreds of people.
Noise really winds me up, but my emotions cross over to 'frightened' when it comes from all directions.
We had to walk with a big wave of this crowd from the concert before getting to the car - it felt like something out of an ET movie when the space ship lands.
I think the advert on the TV at the moment (for cancer i think) with the man standing in the blizzard in his hospital gown is a good description of how i feel in company of more than one.
I dont try to fit in with this part of my previous life nowadays, I find it difficult to look like i am enjoying a 3 way conversation, its hard work isn't it, and much prefer never to go out.
I did enjoy Tom Jones but I had to put massive amounts of effort in, I was twitching (which is one sign that I'm over doing it) rapidly and frequently and today I've been spent. And I have a charity ball tonight in aid of SW London Headway which I'm looking forward too but tomorrow is going to be horrific! Possibly even Saturday! Maybe Sunday as well....
Hi Roger, what you say about the days following events (like the charity ball), is so true for me too. If I decide to do something it then affects me afterwards. Yesterday I did a day trip out with a friend on the train. Today has now been spent resting and falling asleep on and off.. Feels like a wasted day but my brain obviously had other ideas. Hope the charity ball went well for Headway.
Charity Ball was lovely amusing number of people who apparently knew who I was, my name and wife's name. and I hadn't a clue they where, all charming young women but didn't remember them!
Yes have ear phones a God Send for noise as just like you it gets too much for me. The only other way for me is to leave the room. I find eating out very difficult in noisy restaurants only done it once since my bi last May just can't handle noise. Have a great Saturday evening. Nick XX
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my new headphones have just arrived and they're great. Hubby bought me some little (not very effective) earplugs which fall out all the time, but the new headphones keep them in. 
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