Having managed to read the first half of the Saturday paper yesterday (hooray!), I lost myself in a book until quite late last night. My dad lent me some of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books at Christmas & I’ve finally got round to reading them. I finished Tears of the Giraffe last week, and I'm now onto Morality for Beautiful Girls. They're beautiful novels, easy to read, with storylines which gently unfold and interweave. Questions of right and wrong are discussed with common sense and a real feeling of community spirit. Unfortunately the book I should have been reading this month (for our reading group) was Jude the Obscure. I really did try... but found myself falling asleep after 15 minutes. Maybe this should be a new Tinnitus therapy – late night Thomas Hardy?
Joking apart, reading is an essential relaxation technique for me, and soon after we started our reading group it made me realise how much I'd missed disappearing into a good book. We’ve read some really great novels over the last couple of years – A Fine Balance, The Shadow of the Wind and A Thousand Splendid Suns stick out in my mind - and I’ve been introduced to some new authors whose books I would never have considered before.
I find that reading is more relaxing than watching TV and my Tinnitus seems to be less intrusive after a good read. I’m also a strong believer in relaxing with friends and having a glass of wine of an evening - luckily our reading group is very relaxed about the book discussions and we have been known to overrun into the small hours drinking and putting the world to rights. Not always sensible on a Monday night...
Sunday 8 February 2009
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Interesting! I do find reading helpful but better is the presence of background sound (TV or radio) which acts as a distraction. I know others who find this helpful so just thought I would pass it on!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what caused my T, but it may have been the flight out to the Gambia in 2001. I worked there for 4 years and blamed my poor sleep on the noises the insects made all night. When I came home the noises continued and I realised what it was.
ReplyDeleteBackground sound certainly helps to mask it and it is much worse when I am tired or stressed. I have never noticed that anything I eat or drink makes it worse. It is there all the time, just louder sometimes.
To anonymous - I should add that I rarely read in complete silence, as I usually have some music on in the background to hide the hiss. But occasionally I do manage to read with no sounds to distract me - usually in bed when my husband is trying to get to sleep!
ReplyDeleteTo Anne - I've also wondered about whether the things I eat or drink makes a difference, & like you I've never identified anything which turns the Tinnitus up or down. I wonder if anyone else has?
My Tinitus drepesses me beypld belief when i am alone in the evening. The most depressing thought is that it will never end.
ReplyDeleteI practised meditation for a while but gave up. Now I have started again but i use the ringing of the tinitus as my mantra na d in this way I have tried to make it my friend
Hi Kate,
ReplyDeleteI've suffered from T since my youth, I'm sure a legacy of listening to walkmans too loudly (I'm 41 now !).
I've often thought curries/takeaways and cheese affect my T (is Salt a common thread?). It always seems worse after consuming these, though I also suffer from excessive ear wax which doesn't help matters either !. I actually hear the frequency of my T change sometimes - something must cause this !!. I also find my T is a lot better generally in the summer...!. Does anyone else think this ?
Best of Luck for the rest of the week.
Tony - I've been there too. I used to cry at night from the distress and loneliness the T caused. Even now, if I consider that I will have T forever I start feeling depressed. I hope you have more success with the meditation (it's something I've contemplated but never tried), and that you find some relief soon.
ReplyDeleteHave you approached your GP? If not, and you feel you can, go armed with as much information as you can on therapies available (the DRUK website has loads of useful stuff), and keep persisting until you get more help.
I wish you luck.
Life with bells on
ReplyDeleteOh, Its Sunday.. and I can hear the bells ring out!
Just like every other day of my life then, no change at all.
As others have already commented, writing a blog about tinnitus is not a fantastic idea if you suffer from it, you are much better trying to think of something else.
As an artist much of my time is spent either reading or painting, this is how I cope and take my mind off it. being profoundly deaf I can't use other sounds to mask the tinnitus like others do..
I have not heard the sounds of the sea or the singing of the birds for yonks..I would ask people to ponder is it better to be deaf with tinnitus or hearing (HOH) with the condition... Does the sound of birds singing help?
Or is it better not to hear at all?
I have T on my left ear since last june after, a month with complete deafness after I catch a cold.
ReplyDeleteI suffer also from Diabetes type 2, and perhaps T is a consequence of microvessels disorder, that's one of the characteristics of diabetes type 2.
Now, I have T in the right ear too but at a lower intensity.
I follow strictly my blood sugar level and have found that the frequency in the left ear rises when glicemia is down hill and when it's up hill I hear the horn in both ears.
Also I have found that T increses if my blood pressure increases.
I post this information to know if anyone has the same symptoms. To know why it happens can help support T.
It could be convenient for the guy that can't eat cheese to measure his blood pressure after eating it.
Finally to say something optimist I'm happy to have a glicemia detector "on-line".