Liars, Thieves and Finally an ENT Who Gets It

So today I went for an ENT meeting as part of my insurance claim and was fully expecting the usual bullshit.

Boy was I wrong! I half suspected this guy was an avid reader of my own posts. Straight off the bat he welcomed me in to the room with, ‘tinnitus the unseen killer.’

He then went on to express his disgust at tinnitus suffering being blamed on mental instability and the ‘coping industry’ lies, insisting that severity is everything and that he regularly deals with suicidal people who all share one thing in common, loud relentless tinnitus... For a moment I was taken aback and wasn’t sure if he was having me on or not.

He was not... He went on to explain that he once had tinnitus for a couple of weeks and as he recalled the experience he said that he literally thought his life was over. He said he plunged in to a deep depression and it going away was a relief he couldn’t even describe to people. This experience was enough to make him a die hard cure advocate.

Following this we had a chat about the Tinnitus Clinic conning me in to buying their Levo device and discrediting them as ‘vultures’ preying on the desperation of sufferers.

He also expressed his dismay that a hearing aid company had tried to con me in to buying hearing aids and following another hearing test confirmed my hearing was fine in the normal range and the said company had fudged the results last time to show a 50 dB mid range loss that simply doesn’t exist. Something I did suspect but didn’t want to believe that people are that scheming and ruthless....sadly they are and as we all know anything goes in tinnitus land and feeding on the vulnerable.

Another very interesting thing he noted was that statistically a large number of tinnitus cases are actually entirely made up for insurance purposes.

He said he can always tell who is faking because the genuine sufferers have a haunted and vulnerable look and without fail their voices will often break as they explain their condition. Whereas the insurance frauds have no idea of the real gravity of the condition and will just vaguely chat about an annoying ringing with zero emotion.

Once our meeting was over I told this man what an incredible breath of fresh air he was and thanked him for being honest. He replied with, ‘ I can’t stand people downplaying tinnitus suffering.’

‘Wolfears?!!’ I mumbled. Is that you?!? ‘What?!?’ He replied, a confused expression on his face. ‘Nothing,’ I said, backing out of the room in utter disbelief and wondering if I had been setup.

I would love to name this ENT but I fear he would come under attack from the very ‘coping industry’ he cannot stand and the other ‘tinnitus is only 20 dB’ ENT gang.

 

@Bam
Was this a dream or for real???

Thank you for making me laugh

This part is priceless:

Wolfears?!!’ I mumbled. Is that you?!?
‘What?!?’ He replied, a confused expression on his face. ‘Nothing,’ I said, backing out of the room in utter disbelief and wondering if I had been setup.​

 

Hey @Bam, am so happy to hear you've found a health care professional who actually hears and cares what you're going through. Does he have anything in mind that he thinks might be helpful for you?

You're not pulling our leg on this one, are you--maybe just a little bit?

 

No. All legit apart from my wolfears joke. It was that surreal that I couldn’t help but include that. It really was like he was reading some of our posts though with the way he was using the same phrases. Very odd experience.....Sadly no help beyond that. He was just their to assess if I was a legitimate sufferer.......and I’m fairly sure he believes i am.

 

@Bam what you mean for insurance purposes, you mean the applying for disability for your tinnitus?

 

No. My tinnitus was caused by a road traffic accident. Texting and driving.

As I said to the ENT. That woman’s actions have very likely cost me my life.

 

@Bam did you discuss with him any of the upcoming treatments and what he thinks about them? It would be great if we had an ENT corner on this website.

 

Not really. He just agreed that we really need a cure and that he thought habituation was highly unlikely in severe cases.

 

Oh somebody hit you while they were texting and driving. Was it due to the crash itself, or the airbags, or the trauma?

 

Neck trauma.

 

Yeah this is very sad, I have horrible tinnitus and my life is hanging by a thread. The problem with tinnitus is it's not a one time thing, it's not like losing an arm and moving on, the threat of it getting worse is always there it's like living with a noose around your neck that will only tighten with time. I sure hope Neuromod works

 

Let’s hope so. But I just fear we’re hyping up another useless overpriced gadget.

 

Awesome Bam! What was his plan of attack for you?

 

Bam this is awesome!

 

It takes one to know one.

 

Hi Bam. I didn’t know that your T was the result of a RTC neck injury.
I still have some whiplash from my RTC in May. Careless driver went into the back of my car etc.etc.
No doubt you have tried cranial therapy? but I’m still seeing an osteopath for my own neck injury. The T always seems to be a bit more bearable after the treatment. It’s expensive but I’m trying to claim it back in my personal injury claim.
I guess that might explain your user name then!
@Bam

 

@Bam,
Lovely to hear you had a lovely understanding consultant...
really pleased for you.
love glynis

 

@Bam if you were in the U.S. I would have thought you saw the same ear specialist as I did. He said habituation was a poor substitute for a cure and was angry that medical science and research was lagging behind. He talked about consoling other suicidal tinnitus sufferers, too.

Maybe this is why I’m hopeful. He is in a very high level position and trains other ear specialists. He speaks out and does not mince words. There are others like him, and they’re pushing for a cure on behalf of their patients. Their telling the next generation of doctors that more needs to be done.

 

You got me there bud...
It was actually a really easy set-up.

I approached the real ENT in a hallway and asked him if the rag in my hand smells like Chloroform to him.

After that it was a really easy transition into his white coat along with a high end wrist watch given to him by Jastreboff for his many years of client referrals.

But the look on your face was priceless...
Crap...someone should check the janitors closet at the ENT's!!
I'm keeping the watch by the way.

 

This story has an air of bullshit.

 

it doesn't sound like something an ENT would say tbh...

still no test for hidden hearing loss though...

 

No buddy - It’s kosher......xx

 

Is the ENT Jewish?

 

@Bam how are you going to prove you have tinnitus?

 

I am amazed at the researchers who say loudness is not a factor in coping. Those of us like me whose tinnitus varies weirdly from quiet to loud can be certain this is nonsense. I had a very quiet T day the others day and OH MY GOD IT WAS SOOOOOOO EASY to deal with. Just barely an issue, you can suddenly understand more easily why so many cope so well.

I do believe that for whatever reason, some cope easily enough with loud t and some struggle with moderate t. But even then, it may very well be some people are simply wired to be more sound sensitive. Eg my partner is completely unbothered by his moderate tinnitus, whereas moderate tinnitus will still get to me. Yet he is claustrophobic and me not at all. Perhaps that is innate

 

My medical record and total disintegration of my entire life leaves very little doubt. He 100% believed me.

 

can it be proved in a court?

 

Yeah these guys obviously exist. They’re not all peddling bullshit coping crap and realise that it frustrates a lot of genuinely severe sufferers even talking that language.

They get the genuine need for a cure. My GP similarly agreed she would find it impossible to live with some time ago and found ignoring it an implausible strategy.

 

Don’t know. Don’t care. Money doesn’t cure tinnitus unfortunately.

I’ve said it before but I would happily live on the streets without this curse if the option were available to me. There is nothing on earth worse than severe T and that includes poverty and deprivation.......This is a poverty and deprivation of the spirit and soul.

 

There is no situation on this
“F****ing Earth” to come even close to comparing with permenant loud noise in your own head.
“It is Vile F*cking Shit !!!!!”
If anybody chooses to put this predicament down, I have nothing but total contempt for their callous cruelty.
They have no right to even exist in my painful world!