My story

[Bellyboo]

I’ve had tinnitus all my life. I had an ear abscess as a child and coupled with back handers (goolongs ) from my step farther and local priest which sucked the air from my ear drums has resulted in chronic debilitating tinnitus . G Ps are ignorant of the condition. I travel to Africa yearly to stock up / purchase sleeping medication which cost a fortune. It numbs my brain so that I drift off and reduces the anxiety . I first became aware of tinnitus after the headmaster of my primary school crashed a pile of books on my head for a remark I made. I saw stars and my teacher made me sit for an hour till the dizziness subsided. I was around 8 yrs old.

I’m now 67 yrs old and it’s worse than ever. Stress and high blood pressure don’t help for sure. The only time I don’t notice it so much is at work, I’m self employed and give 100% commitment. Long haul travel is when it’s really debilitating.

I remind myself it’s just a noise and not cancer and that there’s lots of people with life changing disabilities worse off than myself. Whisky helps also to get to sleep .

I’m trying to learn to love it and make it my friend and not panic. The famous work of art “THE SCREAM describes my tinnitus in a nutshell.

Thank you for listening.

[ShakeelaBTA]

Hello and welcome to the British Tinnitus Association forum.

Do feel free to ask any questions, I hope that you find this a helpful and supportive place to help you manage your tinnitus.

We have some resources that you might like to check out in addition to our home here:

tinnitus.org.uk (information and support details)

takeontinnitus.co.uk (free tinnitus management programme)

If you’d like to sign up to receive ‘Focus’, our new free monthly e-newsletter, you can sign up at tinnitus.org.uk/forms/conta...

Helpline 0800 018 0527 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm) (outside the UK you can call [phone])

Kind regards

Shakeela