Has anyone ever been treated by Dr. Laurence McKenna? I see he does private as well as working for NHS and has written a book on tinnitus & hyperacusis.
He is a top bloke. I did the mindfulness course with him in London on NHS for free. He has tinnitus himself.
Hi. He charged £190 for an hour, I paid out of desperation , he was a lovely man, now. Hope I can see him via NHS and get some proper treatment.
£190 is $265 an hour. If he works a modest 30 hours per week, he makes $32,000 a month, $384,000 a year. What a generous chap to help us poor sufferers... and can't even make tinnitus less loud.
He works almost only for the NHS and does one morning a week in the private sector. He would also not personally make that much per hour after overheads. Not that it matters, I don't think he is under any obligation to be generous anyway. At least he's not a banker!
What is the point of going to a tinnitus doctor? They tell you what you could learn online. They also cannot do anything but give you something to mask your tinnitus, which is something you could also do without them. The only reason I see to go to the doctor if you have tinnitus is to see if you have hearing loss, then you could get a hearing aid to hear better.
Does anyone know if Laurence McKenna would be the person to talk to if you have pre-existing anxiety and other issues that may or may not be linked to you current tinnitus? I.e. does he delve into the past and take an integrative approach - or is he one who simply teaches you how to deal with the knock-on effects of tinnitus?
If my memory serves well, he co-authored a book with Baguley, and the book was full of wrong or misleading statements... I hope those "experts" have learnt something about tinnitus and hyperacusis since they wrote that disgraceful book...
I know you have a lot of difficulty with tinnitus @Juan but respectively disagree with you. The book is well written honest and true. Covering all aspects of tinnitus and hyperacusis. It recognises these conditions can be very debilitating for some people. It offers solutions for habituating to tinnitus through counselling and nowhere does it say TRT is a cure. Counselling is the way forward because tinnitus is mostly mental and is an integral part of our mental and emotional wellbeing and cannot be separated from it. It advises one of the best ways to treat tinnitus and hyperacusis is by using white noise generators (sound therapy) with regular counselling. It covers phonophobia and misophonia which can affect some people that have tinnitus and hyperacusis. Some people I have corresponded with and counselled have these conditions. Jastreboff's TRT book, is the best that I have read on how to manage and treat tinnitus and hyperacusis. I have had TRT twice and believe this to be true. I wish well. Michael
To Juan: Our American writer John Cheever once called Astrology "A sanctuary for fools." The same is entirely applicable to Michael Leigh's defense of TRT. Michael also displays a certain species of cowardice by studiously avoiding the fact that, regardless of arguments concerning its utility. Its unbelievable cost (over $6,000.00) in itself makes it utterly unavailable for nearly everyone. I decided that not calling out Michael Leigh for his pigheaded attitudes and at times bullying abusiveness is in itself a species of moral cowardice.
Jastreboff does not offer any real solution or relief to tinnitus or hyperacusis. It's just another scam...
£190 for some mindfulness therapy you could quite easily get online - that is if you are that keen and really think you would find it helpful - is daylight robbery. Avoid.
Yes, it's robbery. It's a scam. When I was at my absolute low, with severe hyperacusis, homebound... at my lowest point... I went to one of those posh clinics in Spain that peddle TRT. This one is connected to the Catholic Church; I do not believe in God or anything, but went there because they do a lot of marketing so they keep a good reputation... the place was pure robbery. Thank GOD my insurance fully paid for it, but that clinic charged like 500 euros per session and all they did was some chat with an ENT, an audiogram and an tympanogram, an eardrum test... on top of that they would run psychological questionnaires that were focused not only on sound but on whether "one felt pain or was bothered by the sounds of Mass"... the whole thing was just ridiculous. Many years after I visited that clinic, they still run this useless program and rob people. I have read on Spanish forums about tinnitus sufferers without insurance that have spent thousands of euros at that useless clinic. After many years I have found out the most renowned clinics are usually the worse. I met ENTs at smaller cities who were way more knowledgeable and honest than doctors at the big name hospitals and clinics in Spain.
When I first got tinnitus, I went to see a private ENT, who charged me almost £500 GBP for a hearing test and 15 minutes chat where he said he is glad he didn't have tinnitus himself and that if I am suicidal, I should just call Samaritans. He then "recommended" me a "great tinnitus specialist", who happened to be his mate. I was suicidal, so I didn't care who to talk to, so I said sure, hook me up. Now, that mate of his tried to charge me £250 GBP to just talk to him on the phone for a few minutes. Luckily, even in the state of deep distress, I found it so outrageous that I didn't go for it. My God, some of these guys have no morals at all. If hell exists, there must be a special place down there for these vermins.
I agree, Laurence McKenna is excellent. I heard him speak in Dublin today. He has a great understanding of tinnitus.
@Peter Q, compared to who? Dr. Susan Shore or Dr. Dirk De Ridder? Dr. Laurence McKenna has a great understanding of the psychology of tinnitus, probably.
