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1. Childhood treats - KP Choc Dips (did you eat these? so good!), 2. Fifi Lapin hand mirror - an Ebay bargain, 3. Mark & I before a trip into town, 4. Almond in the car on our journey to my mum's house (shortly after this I thought he'd like to sit on the dashboard, we went round a roundabout and Almond slid off and into the door compartment, much to mine and Mark's amusement - bad parents?!), 5. Me in the car on route to my mum's house, 6. My little brother's gorgeous Labrador puppy, Prim, 7. Indigo taking Almond to playgroup, 8. Delicious spaghetti bolognese mumma bear made for us, 9. Indigo made Almond a 'cage' out of a tomato punnet and some gems, 10. Chanel perfume, 11 & 12. At the hospital today, having a second round of VEMPs testing (sticky pads on my face & neck, leaving sore red patches and yucky glue!).
Firstly, a big hello! to my new followers and comment-leavers, it's so much appreciated and I will come visit your blogs in the coming days :) and of course thank you to you lovely regular readers!
It's been a busy few days with more hospital appointments, which hasn't resulted in much of anything as yet. I have been given a physio exercise by a specialist physiotherapist, which is basically an X printed in the middle of an A4 piece of paper. I have to keep my eyes on the cross and move my head slightly to each side. This is so easy for anyone who doesn't have balance problems, but I'm pretty slow and I'm only allowed to do 10 seconds for a while, so as it doesn't make me dizzy/ill! I also had more VEMPs testing, which is interesting with the sticky pads (I wish I'd been prepared though, neither times had they warned me so there was me with my make-up on only for it to be wiped off with a gross solution and replaced with glue!!). Hopefully this time I will get the results :)
I hope everyone's week got off to a good start! If anyone has Instagram, pop over and say hello here.
From the 4th - 10th February this year, it's Tinnitus Week across the UK. The week was created by the BTA to raise awareness.
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a medical term to describe the perception of noise either in one ear, both ears or in the head, when there is no corresponding external sound. All sufferers of tinnitus have different experiences, and hear different 'sounds'. It could be a ringing, buzzing, humming, whistling or something else entirely! Tinnitus often sounds worse when you are in a quiet environment, as there is less background noise and nothing to distract you from the sound.
What causes tinnitus?
Most causes of tinnitus aren't harmful. It is commonly caused by damage that has occurred in the inner ear. Sounds pass from the outer ear through the middle ear and on to the inner ear, which contains the cochlea and the auditory nerve. The cochlea is a coiled, spiral tube that contains a large number of sensitive hair cells. The auditory nerve transmits sounds to the brain. If part of the cochlea becomes damaged, it will stop sending information to parts of your brain. These areas of your brain will then actively "seek out" signals from the parts of the cochlea that are still working. These signals are over-represented in the brain and cause the sounds of tinnitus. In older people, tinnitus is often caused by natural hearing loss, which makes the hearing nerves less sensitive. In younger people, tinnitus can sometimes occur as a result of hearing damage caused by excessive noise.
Other possible causes of tinnitus?
It can be hard to identify the cause of tinnitus, even after seeing a specialist. But as well as natural hearing loss and damage, there are several other possible causes, including: a build-up of earwax that blocks the ear, a middle ear infection (otitis media), glue ear (otitis media with infusion), ostosclerosis - an inherited condition where an abnormal bone growth in the middle ear causes hearing loss, Ménière's disease - a condition that affects a part of the inner ear known as the labyrinth and causes balance problems, Paget's disease - a condition where the normal cycle of bone renewal and repair is disrupted, anaemia - a reduced number of red blood cells that can sometimes cause the blood to become thinner and to circulate so rapidly that it produces a sound, and a perforated eardrum.
How can I get my tinnitus diagnosed?
The first thing to do is see your GP. They will ask you about the noises and probably examine your ears. If your ears are clear and there is no sign of infection, you will be referred on to: the ENT (ear, nose, throat) department at your local hospital, the audiological medicine department, the audiology department, or hearing therapy. As it can be caused by such a wide range of different health issues, it is important to see your doctor. It could be something easily treated like high blood pressure or a build-up of earwax. Some tests that may be run when the doctors are trying to diagnose you include the following: hearing tests, balance tests, ear x-rays, blood tests, CT scans and MRI scans.
How will my tinnitus be treated?
I am just going to point everyone in the direction of the NHS Tinnitus Treatment Page, as so far I have no experience of any successful treatment of tinnitus. This doesn't mean that you won't!! As stated below, I have other issues that are to do with my tinnitus, so your case may be a lot more simple than mine to solve.
What is your experience with tinnitus?
In December 2011, I woke up one morning with unexplained ringing in my right ear. The following week I was very sick, I suffered with severe vertigo which caused sickness and I could barely move. This lasted until a few days before Christmas, and I was diagnosed with Labyrnthitis. It was scary, and I didn't know what was going on! I was prescribed prochlorperazine, an anti-sickness tablet, to help with the sickness. Ever since then, my ear has never stopped ringing! I have also suffered several attacks of vertigo since, and lots of episodes of dizziness. If I'm feeling dizzy, I take prochlorperazine in case it progresses to vertigo. I have had lots and lots of tests (all of those above, read about balance tests here), and as yet I am undiagnosed. One of the tests I've had over and over again, is hearing tests. I have a low frequency deafness in my right ear, this is the opposite to the common high frequency hearing loss. I can still hear just fine, unless I'm lying on my left ear, in which case I struggle. I was given a hearing aid, but with my type of deafness and tinnitus, the hearing aid was pointless. The tinnitus by itself, is not so much of an issue for me. It's only times when it's playing up that I feel like I can't bare it. You do get used to having tinnitus, and for the most part can block it out and ignore it. You eventually learn that if you're thinking about the tinnitus, you will notice it be more and be unable to stop listening! It does flare up at times though, like at the moment for me my tinnitus is constantly changing in tone, volume and intensity, so I'm constantly aware of it. I am still in the process of (hopefully) being diagnosed. I was referred to a new specialist (Dr Peter Rea) at the end of last year, and I am very hopeful that he will be able to diagnose me and help me in some capacity. If you have tinnitus and would like to chat to someone else who does, feel free to contact me :) also, if you'd like any more information on anything I've said, whether you're just curious or you're experiencing similar things, send me a message.
I used information from the NHS website to write this post. If you would like more information, or help, you can visit the Action on Hearing Loss website, or the British Tinnitus Association website.
There's a few things I've popped here to post today, firstly a big hello to all of you lovely people :) I was amazed by the amount of positive comments I received in response to my last post - so thank you all very much! I will make a conscious effort to try and do more 'Outfit of the day' posts. The photo above includes a couple of slices of the cake Mark & I made while doing some late night baking last night, using of course the easiest cake recipe!. It's an orange sponge with chocolate chips in. Mark says he likes it better than the lemon loaf, but I'm not entirely convinced. I think it needs some chocolate butter cream for a bit more contrast in taste.
My best friend informed me this morning that it is National Tinnitus Awareness Week (thanks Leah!), and as this is something that has affected my life for the last 14 months, I will be dedicating a post to raise awareness tomorrow. Please come back and check it out, I'll try to keep it informative and helpful for anyone that's interested.
On a related note, my ears have been giving me lots of trouble lately :( I generally do pretty well at ignoring my tinnitus, but lately it refuses to let me. The pitch, tone and intensity of sounds are constantly changing at the moment, so I'm constantly aware of it. It's very annoying. I've been having pains to go with it too, down the side of my face/jaw and in the side of my head above my ear. And the hospital has put my appointment with my consultant back now to a month later, March 27th. I am glad that I haven't had dizziness/vertigo since the days leading up to Christmas, but really ears?? Be quieter and less painful please! Playing up is not going to make the doctor see us any sooner!
I've spent the last few days concentrating on my OU work, I've got an assignment due in on Thursday and I've got to write a poem and a commentary on the process of doing so. I never realised until I finished all the studying I had to do towards this assignment, how hard a poem would actually be to write. I mean, how hard can it be? I've written heaps of poems before, I used to write them all the time, I even had a couple published! But it turns out, that actually, I really knew nothing at all about poetry. There are so many things to consider that my mind is blown, I will be attempting to write my first draft tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
Last but not least, I found out last week that I will be out of a job as of March (sob sob). I love my job in the little independent card shop, and I will miss it very much. But it was only ever temporary. I've been job searching for a little while now anyway, but there is literally just nothing for me. I've searched in both my mum's area (Leicestershire) and in this area (Wirral and Liverpool). I literally have found nothing to apply for. My fingers are crossed that something comes up very soon!
