Flash1223

In June 2006 I started noticing a pulsing sound inside my head. Over the next few months the anxiety just kept getting worse. I went from doctor to doctor, had all kinds of tests done, but no one had an answer for me. I finally checked in the ER of my local hospital hoping someone there could help me. They told me there was nothing they could do about my tinnitus and suggested I look into one of teaching hospitals in Philadelphia. They pumped full of anti-anxiety meds and sent me home.
My daughter checked the U of Penn hospital website and found that they had a tinnitus treatment center. I called, and they really did not have a tinnitus center, but had an ENT who might be able to help me and got me an appointment within 3 days. I explained my problem to her. All she did was made one phone call to someone who she said could help me, Dr. Gail Brenner at the Tinnitus & Sound Sensitivity Treatment Center of Philadelphia. I spoke with someone at that office who said that they could definitely help me, but also advised me that the treatment would cost about $2800 and was not covered by insurance. I didn’t even think twice about spending the money. I just wanted my life back. I had money put away for a vacation that I knew I could never use in the condition I was in.

She determined that my tinnitus was caused by hearing loss. That alone was a great relief. At least I knew I didn't have a serious medical condition. Over the next 6 months she administered Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) and fitted me with wearable sound generators. It took nearly 18 months, but I finally returned to normalcy. In 2009 she replaced the sound generators with hearing aids. When I first saw Dr. Brenner in 2006 my Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) was 80 out of 100. My last THI in 2009 was 1.

She marked my TRT folder “graduated”. Yes, I still hear my tinnitus. The sound hasn’t changed one bit since I first saw Dr. Brenner in 2006 in a state of complete desperation. Occasionally I’ll stop, listen to the pulsing in my head, acknowledge that it’s still there, and go on with my life, a life I thought I would never return to before I saw Dr. Brenner.