Have you ever heard of Tinnitus?
I hear it every waking moment of my life, literally.
Ironic I know, since I’m a mom and many times our biggest complaint is never getting any peace and quiet, but I literally never hear silence.
Tinnitus is a ringing in the ears when no outside sound is present. That literally means I never hear true silence.
My tinnitus presents itself with a high pitched whining noise. As I write this entry I can make it turn on and turn off by how much I pay attention to it.
Imagine the constant whooshing sound of running water constantly in your ear. Doesn’t sound that bad right? Now turn the pitch of the sound up until it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Not so pleasant any more, right?
That’s what I hear from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep.
I recently read that there are a few reasons for this ringing. One could be inflammation in my body caused by diet or medication that I’m taking. I tend to think that this is from diet more than medication since I am not on anything that I have taken daily since I was in junior high.
For some people the ringing becomes so annoying that they go crazy trying to get rid of it. I’m not at that point yet, but I do have my coping mechanisms. As I am writing this, I realized that my gum chewing habit might be one of them. Chewing makes enough noise that my ears turn off from the ringing to the sound of my chewing. I also listen to music and watch a lot of TV. Having background noise helps distract my brain from concentrating on the noise.
I recently downloaded an app that is supposed to help you retrain your brain to not hear the ringing. I’ll have to report back later if it works!
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