I have read, researched, gone to clinics, been on clinical trials, visited the doctor and seen consultants both on the NHS and privately.

I really want to say that my experience with visiting the Doctor around Barbera has been amazing however it has ranged from great to very poor. Overall though when I have used the NHS it has been a good experience. What is tough is when you are back “living with barbera” and she is being noisy. Where do you go for help?

At 3 am there is nowhere to turn. So I turned to myself. .

Official Tinnitus Diagnosis in Dec 17. Aware of ringing for 20 years. Last 7 odd years it has deteriorated to where I find myself now.

What have I had done to me?

What have I done to myself?

 

ENT Consultations x2 – Ongoing.

MRI. X2

CT Scan x1

EyeSight tests. Eye Hospital.

Caloric Stimulations tests for dizziness. ( I don’t do well in lifts and escalators)

Referral to emergency ENT x1 for facial numbness.

Overall I have only been given referrals to a consultant when I have ended up at the doctors looking decidedly ill.

Advice given:

Don’t smoke. I smoked for years. I have stopped.

Lose weight. Lose the extra timber. I lost 13kg of timber.

Give up salt.  I gave up salt for 3 months.

Give up Alcohol. I gave up alcohol for 3 months.

Give up Coffee – This one I found tough. I gave it up. I had some pretty amazing withdrawal symptoms. . EG, OH so tired. I have to admit to last 3 weeks.

Exercise more: I do a lot of exercise – 7 – 8 hours a week.  I do exercise so I can eat and drink what I want. Hence the timber.

Buy a pillow that sings to you at night. The wife bought me one.

Alkaline Diet with the aim of reducing inflammation.

No meat. I have no idea why this was. I have reduced the meat. Really only a bit of chicken nowadays.

Extra Zinc in the diet. Both from food and tablets.

Extra Magnesium in the diet. Both from food and tablets.

3 litres of water a day.  I always feel better from this. Filtered water especially.

Noise cancelling headphones. I now have both Bose and Sennheiser headphones, wired and wireless.

Hot showers, Steam Rooms.

Endless lists of companies that promise the world.

Endless youtube videos on what may help, head rubbing, neck rubbing.

Weeks of acupuncture.

Months of talking therapy. This is the one area of success for me.

Simply playing loud music to drown out the ringing. I realised this was pointless when during an MRI I was wearing headphones to cancel out the noise of the machine yet the tinnitus became louder to compensate for the noise cancelling.

Meditation.

Mindfulness.

Habituation.

Distraction therapy

 

I will gradually discuss various areas of this journey over the coming weeks.

 

In the next post, I will create a list of the areas I will reflect on.