Day and night, the screaming continues. Desperate for attention, the fiend tightened its claws around its victim's neck. The grasp allowed the creature to unleash its shrieks upon the prey. The prey shudders from the onslaught but never crumbles in fear as the fiend desires. I, the victim, am no novice. I am familiar with the madness and will endure it.
Yet, there is no respite from the sounds that no one hears. No one, save the victim, can hear the fiend's screams. Before, I complained to others about the sounds. To my horror, there was no solution. I realized a truth about the cold and harsh reality of this mortal coil:
Tinnitus is the sound that never stops. Tinnitus is a condition of the mind and ear where you are constantly hearing a noise with no external source for that noise.
The ringing, screeching, or buzzing in my ear occurs all day and night. Focusing on various activities would allow me to become distracted, but the activities would eventually end. Going to sleep became a problem, but one solution to those distracting noises would be to go to bed exhausted. Interestingly, humans don't do well on minimal sleep and exhaustion in the long run. Oh, it's possible, but not without suffering biological consequences.
Acceptance
Sometime during my stint in the military, I heard a persistent ringing in my ears. I can't tell the origin of the sound, and no one else can listen to it either. It's as if my mind believes it must always be at the center of attention. My mind refuses to share the sounds that it hears. One result of this issue is that people will understand if you tell them you have a problem but can't empathize as there's no way to see if it exists.
What causes Tinnitus?
According to the Mayo Clinic, causes of Tinnitus include, but are not limited to the following:
- hearing loss
- Ear infection or ear canal blockage
- head/neck injuries
- medications
This ailment undoubtedly has many more specific causes, but it would be pointless. After reading so much literature on Tinnitus, I feel that science is taking a "rice on the wall" approach. They list and discuss so many potential causes for the ailment that it appears evident that they still have no clue what causes it. If science doesn't know, then it's highly likely that possible remedies would lean closure to homeopathy than clinically developed treatment.
Possible Mechanisms
After looking down a litany of research papers purporting the "true" cause of Tinnitus, I set my gaze upon something pretty straightforward, namely: overstimulation
Hearing is the result of the conversion of sound waves that travel through the ear and into the brain for processing. Sound follows a general flow path whereby sound waves enter the outer ear and pass through the middle and inner ear before being transmitted into the brain.
Hearing is a continuous process. You can't block sound waves unless you do so mechanically (i.e., hearing plugs, headphones, etc.). If you overstimulate these paths constantly, you risk damaging the ear to the point of hearing loss, overstimulating them to cause Tinnitus or both.
Possible Treatment
Unfortunately, there is no straightforward treatment for Tinnitus. Plenty of treatment options will either work for you, make it worse, or do nothing to ease your suffering. I'm embarrassed to be writing this section as I can normally find something that makes sense. At work, I'm one of the people that create solutions. Some proposed treatments have touched on the following practices:
- Reduce stress
- Clean your ears
- Perform pressure-reducing exercises
- Reduce anxiety
- Behavioral therapy
It's frustrating. Doctors might as well recommend that patients suffering from Tinnitus wish away the ringing in their ears.
One option that sounded promising was one I read about long ago. I don't remember the procedure's name, but I saw it on YouTube. It involves some audio therapy where doctors attempt to identify the pitch of the Tinnitus. Once specified, the treatment would include listening to that pitch and adjusting it in specific ways until the sound you heard cancels itself out. For the life of me, I can't remember.
I hope to find that study in the future. Maybe I just got it from a dream that's not likely to come true. I apologize to those reading this article for failing to find something worthwhile.
What about you?
Does anyone else have Tinnitus? What, if anything, were you able to do about the malady? Were you able to be healed of the issue? I'm sure we'd all love to read about it.
Thank you for reading and following on throughout my Hive journey. If you like this article, please consider reblogging, upvoting, and following 