Sunday, July 18, 2010

Program Notes

No posts today.

And I've been struggling over the past two weeks with the onset of tinnitus that was the product of a root canal. It's turned blog writing -- not to mention work, life, etc. -- into a nightmare.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have had it for years. After the first few months, I found myself pacing my house angry, anxious, near having a panic attack because I could not make it stop. I was rubbing my ears, wanting to reach in and TURN IT OFF. Suddenly realized that nothing was going to turn it off, and I could start learning to ignore it or let it ruin my life. Learned to have a white noise in my bedroom so I don't listen to the ringing--and I sleep fine. Learned to focus, to deliberately put my attention on whatever I'm doing. It never goes away, it never stops, but it does not make me crazy or anxious any more. Sometimes it recedes so far into the background that it seems very faint. Comes right back of course. But I refuse to let it dominate my life.

OBloodyHell said...

Hopefully, in your case it's temporary, Carl -- but it's certainly a tough thing to have.

Good luck with that.

@nooil4pacifists said...

Thank you both. I never realized how much I hate B flat before.

I've tried white noise, but it--or any other noise-like sound--actually make it worse. At the moment, I've having grave difficulty concentrating, and writing (complex, advocacy-writing, like I do for my job and this blog) is near-impossible.

Texan99 said...

This may seem like flaky homeopathism, but there seems to be real evidence that zinc supplements can help. Mild zinc deficiencies are associated with head and neck trauma (like root canals) and can produce all kinds of strange effects, including tinnitus and temporary loss or distortion of the sense of smell and taste. Zinc supplements are not especially expensive and aren't likely to hurt you if you don't overdo them, so maybe they're worth a try.