75ZT Community

'The Noise Show'
(To be read in an American Country and Western disk jockey voice)

So here we are at 2.35am and welcome to Zeb's tinnitus show! Oh yes we have an action-packed night for you in store here let me tell you! Non-stop unbearable ********* torture from beginning to end! Don't worry about knowing the words of the songs because you won't be able to hear them!

Tonight we'll begin with that ol' favourite the 'high pitched whistle', so high pitched it'll be on the edge of your frequency range but loud enough to drown out your dreams, your thoughts , your whole ********* life. A great way to ensure you're never able to think for too long, too closely about any ********* thing at all. You'll be banging your head on the walls from that 'top' sound, because you'll not be able to get the ********* 'tune' outta your head, ever, until you ********* die. Only one other option open to you on THAT score...let the good ol' Doctors destroy your remaining hearing and take this sweet sweet sound with it....maybe....but then again maybe not....cos some of these tunes, they just keep right on ********* going regardless!

Still, watch out for the other classics like the low tones...they'll come and go at random moments...loud enough to have you clutching the side of your head, just begging for that ol' noise to stop! Which it usually does...eventually....but hang on to your hats folks 'cos next we'll be watching out for a real cracker of a tune...the cacophony! Oh yes, it's the biggest, it's the loudest, it's the most variable and most destructive in the history of the hearing impaired community! A real humdinger that'll keep you amused for days at a time...... who says pain aint a noise? I'll be begging to differ on that score my friends! Confused? You will be! Endless family entertainment as you struggle to hear what the ********* is going on in the first place, rapidly followed by the 'let's ********* your short-term memory so you can't string a ********* sentence together' gag...

Finally we'll finish the evening on a highlight....yup, it's that time of night folks! get out that 'ol masker and bang the volume up to 'high'....naw 'course it aint gonna get rid of the noise but at least ya'll have got yourself some NEW white scwooshie ones to play with your own. Hell.... it'd almost be fun if it wasn't coming so close to killing ya! Masker no good tonight ma friend? Best try the ol'alcohol then....as Ozzie used to say 'Wine is fine but whisky's quicker'.....'course now, for some...it'll just make dem noises EVEN worse......but heck, whoever said that being deaf was gonna give you a quiet life?

Night folks...

Tinnitus, a lovely side effect of my meniere's disease. can be a trifle annoying Zeb but after 15 yr of the damn thing and having to have one of my ears injected with gentamicin which in effect destroys the ear, balance centre and all. I just slowly go mad he he, ha ha, ho ho, there coming to take me away ha ha he he.........

Dave...I have every sympathy...I have only one ear left that 'works' - well, after a fashion...and if / when I lose that I lose it all....but how long can one go on like this I do not know.

Tinnitus has recently become part of my everyday life. Thankfully at present it is a tolerable annoyance but does make falling asleep a task rather than a pleasure. Just hope it doesn't get any worse.
My every sympathy to you Zeb and any other sufferers, as if we don't have enough to deal with.

My Father use to suffer from this terribly for more years than I can remember.
My sympathies to anyone who suffers from this, and may the pain and noises reduce to a manageable level for you all.

Christ I'm in the same Club! Have had Meniers with accompanying tinnitus for about 7 years. Went through bouts of 24 hour dizzy spells that after a year reduced to lasting a few hours.
I seemed in the early days to get the dizziness in 3 monthly stages. All ok for 3 months then a bad patch every few days for a fortnight then ok for another 3 months. I then had a period of a year all ok, then wallop it started again. Recently it seems to be about 6 monthly and sometimes lasts about 2 hours sometimes 2 mins. Am virtually deaf in left ear but hearing ok at present in right. I understand that this will get worse eventually with the right ear also being affected.
My Tinnitus is a rushing water sound that I don't notice now unless I think about it, " like now" I am lucky that I do notice the tinnitus increases prior to a menieres attack so can still drive ok as I am expecting a problem so adjust life/travel accordingly Dave

Hi Dave, it is my right ear that is effected I have less than 5% hearing in that side and around 70 to 80% in my left, as to it affecting the other ear, my consultant had told me that there is no proof your other ear will be effected it maybe , then again it may not

In the early days I had a grommet fitted and then in a more radical attempt to stop it I had a piece of my skull removed just behind/ above my right ear, this was an attempt to stop the dizzy spells. As you say lasting up to 24hrs at times, All the attempts failed and as I said earlier in the thread I decided to take the extreme choice of the gentamicin injection, it is irreversible. 15 yr ago I was one of the first people to be given the option of this in the UK as it came from America, seemingly it is more common now.
Only had 1 serious attack in the last 10 yr touch wood now but often have those "off balance moments" where things don't appear to be where they are.

Only have to look around at my age and realise there are people a lot worse off health wise ......

My sympathies Zeb. I seem to remember there was a woman I used to work with who had a young child in her family who suffered from Tinnitus so presumably it's not an age thing?

Tourerfogey wrote:My sympathies Zeb. I seem to remember there was a woman I used to work with who had a young child in the family who suffered from Tinnitus so presumably it's not an age thing?

Thanks Basil. I believe there are a variety of factors..such as Meniere's disease, hearing loss, bangs on the head, migraines and other things that can be related to it. It is however the most perverse form of torture that, in deafness, one can find that the one thing craved the most is...silence.

Hi Dave, I had a period on the Serke [spelt wrong I think] tablets but no improvement. I have read about everything on the web about Menieres and general opinion seems to be that the dizzy spells decline with age but the deafness generally does affect both ears in later stages? I am 62 and my 1st attack was at a party at my house. I had recently returned from France with a 75 tourer full of cheap 5ltr barrels of wine. I drank about a litre and suddenly became completely dizzy, staggered up the stairs to the loo and threw up from both ends I couldnt get out of bed or eat for 24 hrs. Told the wife to tip the other 30 litres of wine down the drain as I thought it was some form of food poisoning Once recovered then had a similiar bout a week later then another, at which point went to the docs who was married to a lady also with Meniers so recognised the symptoms immediatly.
My fear is that I will have an attack when working abroad [especially on a plane flying to a country where alcohol is frowned upon] as the symptoms look just like being drunk [less the slurred speech].
The horrific thing is, that if I feel an attack coming on I don't know if it will last seconds or hours. I have learnt to live with the Tinnitus but
Planning life can be a problem as my work often involves ladders, and walking on roofs mainly in foreign countries. I carry a document all the time explaining the condition and symptoms just in case.
But as you say when you look at the sufferering and pain people with other conditions have to live with, you can't feel sorry for yourself.
Dave

Hi to you all fellow suffer's, I feel for you all who for no fault of your own have this condition, I too have it in a minor form to read the post's so far, but I have no one to blame but me To many rock concerts and music far to loud through the headphones.
Very little or no comfort at all other than there seems more of us out there than we realise.

Peace for you all

Martin

Seems like enough of us, Perhaps we could have a Tinnitus/Menieres sub/forum on here we could chat on when we cant sleep int middle of night? Dave

A special smiley for those with Menieres?

Sorry to hear that this is so common (no pun intended).

I don't suffer from it but graphical descriptions from a colleague at work lead me to imagine dreadful things.

As I understand it there is no cure?

raistlin wrote:Sorry to hear that this is so common (no pun intended).

I don't suffer from it but graphical descriptions from a colleague at work lead me to imagine dreadful things.

As I understand it there is no cure?

There is something whereby your ear is slowly 'trained' to ignore the noise....occassionally successfully....not in my case. Then there is the general maskers..sounds of birds, running water, that sort of thing..or the 'white noise' maskers used in ear training but may also providing some relief in their own right .Then there is the more radical solution such as Takestock describes....and then there is suicide...don't think I have missed out anything much.

Suicide gets rid of the noises but is erm rather final.
Seems to be a lack of ongoing research into this from searches.
Lack of funding I suppose in Uk.

No one has ever died of Tinnitus or Menieres, mind you if I fall down the stairs again I might! As it is not life threatening I guess money will not be thrown at it. I would be the 1st to say don't divert money from Cancer or heart research to this. It is amazing though how many people suffer from these things in varying stages of severity.
Anybody who has never suffered acute vertigo from Menieres would never believe the sight of me climbing the stairs during an attack.
Footmarks on the walls as I cannot distinguish the floor from the walls and ceiling. And with Tinnintus the sleep deprivation and inability to concentrate on anything but that damn noise. Dave

takestock wrote:Hi Dave, it is my right ear that is effected I have less than 5% hearing in that side and around 70 to 80% in my left, as to it affecting the other ear, my consultant had told me that there is no proof your other ear will be effected it maybe , then again it may not

In the early days I had a grommet fitted and then in a more radical attempt to stop it I had a piece of my skull removed just behind/ above my right ear, this was an attempt to stop the dizzy spells. As you say lasting up to 24hrs at times, All the attempts failed and as I said earlier in the thread I decided to take the extreme choice of the gentamicin injection, it is irreversible. 15 yr ago I was one of the first people to be given the option of this in the UK as it came from America, seemingly it is more common now.
Only had 1 serious attack in the last 10 yr touch wood now but often have those "off balance moments" where things don't appear to be where they are.

Only have to look around at my age and realise there are people a lot worse off health wise ......

Dave if we bump into each other at a meet I must remember to stand on your left facing the same way, then we can have a conversation
Dave

Hmmm, interesting.. I have tinnitus, but somehow I can ignore it quite easily now, I only hear it if I listen for it, so I guess I only have it slightly--sort of.. .. The balance thing is a new problem for me, I thought it was due to ear wax! But apparently that's not the case..

My balance thing makes me feel like one does on a hot summer day when you have just the one drink at lunchtime, it hits suddenly and makes me feel sort of woozie, but not seriously so..

I haven't been diagnosed with anything, coz I haven't mentioned it to my Doctor, or anyone else for that matter, till now..

In my case the balance thing does tend to follow sudden movements, or changes of direction when walking, or it follows from something physically tiring like climbing a long staircase..

So all in all my symptoms seem to require me to do even less than I do now... Life gets tedious don't it..

So if what you are all feeling is as bad as I imagine it could be, then you all have my sincerest sympathy, I can only hope that they do find something that will help you all...
...

Hi James there are many conditions similiar but related.
Many people have Tinnitus in varying degrees, some just a mild noise, some a varying intensity noise like Carl which can drive you nuts.
Meieres is a separate condition which almost always involves varying degrees of Tinnitus and varying degrees of dizzy spells.
Your spells of dizziness could be blood pressure related? If you notice it after getting up quickly or a sudden movement. Worth getting it checked out. Vertigo can have a debilitating effect and can be due to just a vitamin or mineral deficiency, but other more serious problems can cause it. Mention it to the Doc "you know it makes sense"
Dave

I don't usually bring personal stuff to the forums......me being quite a private person in many ways.. My opening post was I guess a way to try and retain some sanity at whatever god-forsaken hour of the morning it was I posted it. It appears to have worked...I am still here.

Many thanks to all for your comments and kind words....it does seem to be a topic that strikes a chord with many of you. In my case, alongside the associated hearing impairment, which many people tell me they'd never have realised I had, it makes for a very isolating experience of the world at times - in spite of an apparently confident and self-sufficient exterior. The forum is a good antidote for that.

Nevertheless, onward and upward.