Homer's Travels: I've Got That Ringing Feeling

Thursday, November 13, 2008

I've Got That Ringing Feeling

I have a ringing in my left ear.  I've had it since March.  It's high pitched and wavers a little bit.  It's not that loud and is easily ignored but it never goes away.  It doesn't get stronger either.  It just rings.
I went to an ear specialist yesterday.  He did what ear specialists do: he looked in my ears (they look healthy) and did the ol' press the button when you hear the beep test (My hearing is normal though I have some high frequency hearing loss in my left ear).  Then they did a test I'd never heard of before.  The sat me in a comfy easy chair, plugged some ear phones in my ear and attached an electrode to my forehead.  They darkened the room, asked me to relax, and then blasted load buzzing clicks in my ears.  This tests the circuitry between my ear and my brain.  Apparently some ear ringing can be caused by a tumor on this connection.  There was no evidence of a tumor.
The doctor looked at the results, looked at me, then told me to get used to it.  Apparently everyone has background noise in their auditory system.  It's called Tinnitus.  I happen to have a lower sound-to-noise ratio.  Since everything looked okay, there was not much I could do about it except turn the TV or radio up to drown it out.  Poop.
The doctor did say that stress can sometimes cause or exacerbate tinnitus.  All the stress we had earlier this year, with the Wife's medical issue, the passing of the Wife's Aunt, the selling of the house, and the moving to a new state, probably has contributed to the ringing.  The stock market and the economic news hasn't helped much either.
I'd take up meditation if this ringing in my ear wasn't so distracting.

5 comments:

  1. Age. Fun.

    I don't have ringing, yet, but I do have those eye floater things.

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  2. JaG: Yeah, real fun. I wonder if the concerts I've been too have contributed. Or maybe the MP3 player. Too late now, I guess.

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  3. Just wait until you have a different pitch in your other ear...constant discord. You get used to it after a while.

    Here's an interesting piece:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5020435

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  4. Phil: Oh, so much to look forward too.

    The link was very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Hi Homer Dog-
    Sorry to hear about your tinnitus. You may find some relief from Lipo-Flavonoid, a nutritional supplement created by an ear, nose and throat doctor that contains a special blend of vitamins that promotes ear health and microcirculation of the inner ear. It was specially developed to relieve symptoms of Meniere's syndrome which include ringing in the ears, dizziness and loss of hearing. ENT's have been recommending Lipo-Flavonoid for treating tinnitus since the 60's and many report 7 out of 10 patients show an improvement with tinnitus after taking it as directed. As any tinnitus sufferer knows, any improvement is good; however, not all tinnitus patients will have improvement. There is a lot more information about tinnitus and Lipo-Flavonoid at www.stopearringing.com. We encourage all tinnitus sufferers to share their Lipo-Flavonoid experience with us.

    We look forward to hearing from you.

    The Lipo-Flavonoid Team

    ReplyDelete