Take a Second Glance is one of my latest releases. It is quite a fun song. It is a about girl meets boy. Girl and boy become friends girl develops a crush on boy, and boy is taking too long to notice. The genre is Reggae and the style is more reflective of that of the late Bob Marley.
How I Got Rid of My Tinnitus
I woke up one morning and something felt strange on the right side of my face. I thought that I was coming down with a cold, so I protected my neck kept on warm clothes and drank a few cups of warm tea. It wasn't until 3 days later when I felt like there was wind in my right ear that I realized that there was a problem with my right ear. I immediately called a few ear nose and throat hospitals, but to my chagrin they either kept me too long on hold or didn't pick up at all. I decided to try another day. On Friday March 1 2019, I was outside walking when I heard this loud boom in my ear, and I was like: "Is that my ear? No it can't be; it must be from the revving of the cars." But I think I should have realized it wasn't the cars because I have been outside walking all the time and I have never had that problem. I keeping a doctors appointment at the time and when i got to the office there was absolutely no noise in my ear.
Even so I thought I should go to the emergency room because something is definitely going on with my right ear. However, I was hesitant because it was now late evening and I was worried about the wait and the fact that I might end up being there until late in the night. It was also a weekend, a time when hospitals are less staffed, and I thought there might not be an Ear nose and throat doctor there to take care of me anyway. As a result I decided to tough it out until Monday March 4, and go to the ENT hospital instead. At this time there was no noise in my ears.
On Sunday March 3, 2019 around 8:00 PM in the night, I experienced the first sustained onset of buzzing in my ear. It was very loud and sustained. I couldn't sleep and so I was up in a panic and pacing the floor. My ear just would not stop buzzing. It sounded like a car going non stop at 80 miles an hour. I also experienced plops, which sounded like when your blue tooth equipment is looking to be connected to your computer. I did not want to call 911, but I was too panicked, and so I called them, and they took me to the hospital. At the hospital they claim they had no specialist there and didn't want to give me any medication for fear it might worsen the condition. The buzzing eventually subsided around 2 am in the morning while I was still at the hospital. They released me at 3:00 am in the morning, with documents stating that it the buzzing was permanent. The documents also told me how to live with the buzzing by using things like a fan, white noise etcetera.
On March 4, 2019 When I woke up I was fine the buzzing had gone. I went to the ENT hospital, unaware that these hospitals have converted to clinics, close at 4:00 clock in the evening and that people with hearing issues can't just walk in on an emergency basis, because they do not consider hearing issues to be physically threatening, and therefore will not see you on an emergency basis. Instead they tried to give me an appointment that was 3 months in the future. Anyone who would wait that long with the issues that I was having would have to be an idiot. I was very anxious to be seen by a doctor because i was afraid that my condition could become less sporadic. ENT referred me to their affiliate hospital across the street
I did as I was told and went to the emergency room of their affiliate hospital. As it turned out, they had no Otolaryngology doctor there either. They did nothing for me but asked me a bunch of questions and gave me the same documents like the other hospital, which stated its permanent and how to manage it. They also gave me a referral back to ENT hospital. So I came home and the next morning I called for an appointment. Even after mentioning to them that I have a referral from their affiliate to be seen on an emergency basis, they refused to squeeze me in for an appointment anywhere. I was told they could give me an appointment to be seen in May of 2019. As panicked as I was I wasn't going wait that long.
I began searching the web and calling around at different Otolarengology offices. I even tried to get an appointment from a doctor that I had seen once back in 2016 . however that too was fruitless, because this office also told me to wait forever. Anyway managed get an appointment with a private Otolaryngology Doctor. The appoint was for March 7, 2019.
Let me deviate a little. When I was 19 years old I developed ringing in my ear because I was on a plane that was about to land and I didn't know that I should keep my head down to prevent air bubbles from building up in my ear. It took several years to disappear. However, the ringing in my ear at that time was very minor, or nothing that would cause me to panic. Also the most time I heard the small bell chimes was in reclining at bedtime. The the sounds were barely audible. If you have ever seen the movie "Sound of Music" and saw the little boy bouncing up and down the bell tongue in ringing it, you will understand the intervals between each ring at the time. However, in terms decibels, it was next to nothing in comparison...meaning they were much, much softer.
On Monday night March 4th on my way back and after i got home from the second emergency room, emergency room visit my ear was not buzzing. It simply started up again while the water was as I brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. I thought it was because I had my mouth opened wide. ( I am willing to believe anything at this point). Again I panicked it just would not stop. I stayed up pacing the floor and finding all kinds of things to do to keep my mind off of it. Finally, I laid down and began to speak gibberish to block out the sound. I also began humming Beethoven 9th Symphony, and I noticed it was subsiding and I continued for about ten minutes and I could not believe it finally subsided. It was about 3 am in the morning.
So you think that talking gibberish, a lullaby and Beethoven's 9th Symphony was the solution? The answer is no, because when it came on the next day and continued into the night I tried the gibberish, lullaby thing and it didn't help. However, late in the night I was just talking to myself for a bout 20 minutes to block the sound and wallah! it stopped. I was flabbergasted, I was like what just happened?
Here is what I went through for the next couple of days: My own voice sounded like I was screaming. People next to me talking sound like they are screaming in my ear. The tap water running 'seem' to set it off or make it worst. Moreover, there are three different frequencies of sound that I was experiencing. There is boom, boom boom!, then there is the one that sounds like a race car driving, or a microwave oven in motion, or like the air conditioner, but just sustained. There was also the intermittent blue tooth connecting sound pop, pops. Still none of this problem as described was important enough for me to be seen on an emergency basis by Otolaryngology doctor at the ENT hospitals. I eventually managed to get an appointment with an Otolaryngology doctor in another day or so. So I will see how that goes. But in the mean time just think of the ENT health care and how they operate. To them the health of your hearing is not important to issue, because its not life threatening.
I began writing this post on March 6, 2019, because the buzzing had stopped and I was excited. I thought it was gone for good. However, as I was writing here, about 12 pm in the afternoon, I heard it slowly beginning to come back. I panicked and got up and walked way. After it began at 12:00 Pm it lasted until 5 am the in the morning. When it stopped I excitedly got into bed.
As a result of the buzzing having stopped at 5:am in the morning which was of March 7, 2019 the day of my afternoon appointment with the Ortolaryngology doctor there was no buzzing. However, at 2:30 Pm in the afternoon as soon as I entered the Otolaryngology office it began buzzing again. I was standing at the receptionist desk and looked back at the air heating vent situated on the upper part of a wall in the back. I desperately wanted to believe that that was what was causing the noise in my ear, but I soon realized that my ear had started buzzing again. After testing my ear, the doctor told me that I had some slight hearing loss and suggested a high potency supplement called La flavanoids, which is supposedly good for the inner ear. I was excited, so I came home and immediately picked it up from the pharmacy.
After my first dose my ear never stopped ringing and continued nonstop stop for a bout three weeks.
Remember now that as I was saying before that my ear would stop ringing for several hours at a time. Of course I never took another one of those pills after that. They cost was $26.00. I was now at my wits end. Then one night I started blocking the noise by placing my hand on my temple and repeating 1000-1, 1000-2 etc. for 3-10 minutes at time and I noticed that it was practically gone. The next morning I did this for one hour straight while pacing the floor and watching the CBS Morning News of course I couldn't hear anything because my fingers were glued to my temples. After doing this I notice that it began to lower the sound. Honestly, even as the noise level had lessened a lot I was skeptical. I said to myself: "There is no way this is working, and I am not going to get my hopes up." However, the change was so dramatic that I was cautiously optimistic. I will also mention that I was also drinking a lot of green tea, which is know to contain bioflavenoids a nutrient that is good for the inner ear.
I kept up my routine of pressing both my temples with my index fingers, and on March 31, 2019 in the late evening, I noticed that it seemed like it wasn't there at all anymore. So I leaned in to my bedroom to see if I could hear it because this was the most quiet part of my house, and so I always hear it louder there. But when I leaned in this time, I was like "Oh my God its gone, I think that if this is the evening and its gone then it might be gone forever." However, I still went to bed thinking that it might come back. The next morning when I awoke it was the same as when I went to bed the night before... I had to listen hard to hear it. I could not believe that it was really gone. I was really happy. Honestly, during my ordeal the way I tolerated it, was to believe that there is no way it would be permanent. I also never told anyone I was going through this, because I thought somehow I had brought it on myself. However, I knew in my heart that I could not live with it if it was permanent, since it was literally sending my anxiety through the roof.
I don't know if the green tea helped but if it did help then it simply mean that one size does not fit all and that is why the hi-potency kind, the La flavenoids that I mentioned earlier, had simply made it worst instead of better. I am pretty sure that mind control helped, this is where I blocked out the sound by placing my index fingers on my temples and counted out of sync to the buzzing in my ear (1000-1; 1000-2 etc.)
As I mentioned earlier, I began writing this post on March 6, 2019 during a period when the buzzing had subsided, but that later during writing I heard it coming back and I got frightened and walked away. I never thought I would finish this post. Today, April 16, 2016 its almost as if its not there anymore. I really have to lean in or listen hard to hear it, and I decided to finish this post, because I thought it was more important than ever for me to share my story. When I first started writing the story the title was: The Day My Ear Began to Behave like the Westminster Chime Clock. I now changed the title to To Getting Rid of Tinnitus.
It turned out that Otolaryngology doctor and other practitioners were wrong about my condition being permanent. The lesson here is to believe and be optimistic and never be afraid to try anything. I know it sound weird that the gibberish, the lullaby and the 1000-1; 1000-2 counts and the green tea could have solve the problem but it did for me. Thank God. I am still keeping my fingers crossed though, and trying to keep my ear away from loud noises or any further damage by wearing ear plugs as needed.
Update: It is May 14, 2019 I am still without recurrence as I said I have to listen really hard to hear it, so that means it is not enough to cause me any anxiety. Full disclosure, I am a musician and I spend a lot of time listening to midi music through software I use fro writing music on my computer. This involves a lot of repetition and I am told that that can cause your hearing to deteriorate.
Update: It is December 22, 2019, before my last visit to Otolarengology on October 30, 2019, the ringing in my ear was completely gone. Moreover, on October 30, 2019 the audiologist found no damage to my ear and has given them a clean bill of health.
During my ordeal, I searched the web to find out if anyone could give me advice, and I found many people who played upon others vulnerability in an effort to profit. I remembered thinking that it was shameful that someone should try to profit from their story which of course were dead ends. I believe it should have been imparted as Goodwill. I hope that in sharing my story I might have helped a few people. As I said before, I was able to tackle my buzzing at the early onset. I have heard people say they have had it for years, so I don't know if what worked for me would work for them at this time. I had my buzzing for under a month when I began to tackle it on my own, and I managed to get success. However, don't be discouraged, just try, because hope springs eternal, and all things are possible if you believe.
God Bless!
PS: So far I have been billed over $3, 800.00 from the hospitals even as they sent me home and told me there was nothing they could do for me. LOL!
Thanks for listening! 👂
Thanks for Reading!👀
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