Susanna Reid — UK TV Presenter Talks About Her Tinnitus

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share this as it's from a public figure, she said she had a bad tinnitus day but can deal with it. Plenty of replies to her post from people saying they have had it for years etc.

 

This story is gaining traction in the media.

 

Ok, now maybe mention hearing loss regeneration technology.

 

I saw this in two newspapers:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...eaks-decade-long-battle-tinnitus-bad-day.html

https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity...d-Morning-Britain-tinnitus-health-news-latest

 

@Sam Bridge and @Ed209 thank you for sharing this! I always find it encouraging to read how others are successfully living their lives even with severe tinnitus. These were the stories that helped me early on, and even now when I’m having a rough day.

Of course, waiting for someone to chime in insisting Ms. Reid’s tinnitus isn’t severe.

 

Obviously her tinnitus isn't severe enough to make her disabled enough to not be able to work.
Just like severe chronic pain disables someone, but mild pain doesn't. Why is that so hard to understand?

 

She has mentioned that it's mostly mild, she said so in a YouTube video. Maybe she had a spike or something though.

 

@Sam Bridge

Tinnitus comes in many forms and intensities. If Susana Reid has ever gone to an ENT clinic for tests on her auditory system and been referred to a Hearing Therapist for tinnitus treatment and management which can included a variety of treatments. Then this is what I consider to be "severe tinnitus". If she or anyone else has been unable to work or taken time off work due to tinnitus then I consider this to be severe tinnitus at that particular time. This doesn't mean the tinnitus is severe all the time.

Tinnitus can be a very distressing condition but what a lot of people call severe tinnitus isn't actually severe to the point, where it disrupts their ability to carry our certain tasks or carry out their daily affairs. Susana Reid is always on Good Morning Britain bright and early at 6am sharp most weekdays and that's great. This means she probably has to get up at 3am or earlier to get to the TV studios.

I know what severe tinnitus is for I have lived with it and know how it can affect a person's mental and emotional wellbeing. People like Susana Reid (and there are many) have annoying tinnitus which can be intrusive at times. No way it is severe enough for her not to be at work and I'm pleased for her. I only have to spend a little time talking to someone on the telephone to know whether they have severe tinnitus or read an email or post in a forum. It all comes down to experience and there are many people that have this experience too.

Michael

 

There are individuals who categorize their chronic pain as severe yet continue to work. I know individuals disabled by pain who work. There are a lot of factors to consider, including the type of work. I could see a factory working needing to quit their job due to chronic pain or tinnitus, while an office worker may be okay.

My comment has more to do what the ongoing argument that someone must not have severe tinnitus unless they cope in the exact manner as someone else. That’s just not always the case. We all have different coping methods and our emotional responses can vary and change.

 

I suppose having to work with Piers Morgan on a daily basis must have given her a lot of practice in having to deal with extremely annoying noises.

 

This raises an interesting question: what factors determine severity? What if one factor changes but the others remain the same?

Hypothetically, let’s say an individual acquires tinnitus and takes time off work due to their emotional distress and the sound volume — audible over everything. This would likely be considered severe tinnitus.

After six months or more the sound volume remains as loud as before yet their emotional state improves and they return to work. Do they no longer have severe tinnitus? Or do they have severe tinnitus with a mild reaction?

On the opposite side, another hypothetical individual has tinnitus only audible in quiet rooms but their distress is so great that they stop going to work. Do they have severe tinnitus? Or do they have mild tinnitus with a severe reaction?

I guess my question is, does emotional response or volume carry more weight? Or should they be equally weighted?

Well, really I have a lot of questions.

 

I don’t trust her.
I don’t believe her.
If? She has Tinnitus it is slight.
There are too many ‘give aways.’
I can spot them a mile off.
What she is after is empathy and popularity.
Don’t forget - she is a consummate professional in the light entertainment industry.
What she wants is “RATINGS !!”

 

Indeed, a bad day for her is most probably a moderate level of tinnitus I would guess.

 

My point exactly @Jazzer Susanna Reid does not have severe tinnitus. She has tinnitus and it is probably intrusive at times, brought on by the earpiece that so many TV presenters use over the years. Severe tinnitus means the condition is debilitating.

If she is on ITV tomorrow morning at 6am. Watch her laughing and joking with her other co-presenters. Someone that endures severe tinnitus cannot do this everyday especially at 6am! There is no doubt that she has tinnitus but it is no more severe than the millions of people around the world that have it, habituate to it. Find it occasionally annoying but are still able to carry on doing everything in their life without any problems at all.

She is nothing more than an attention seeker.

Michael

 

At the least Susanna brought some Tinnitus Awareness to the media.
The serious side of tinnitus that is 24/7 mental torture should also be in the public eye more.

love glynis

 

It seems you can’t win. Tinnitus makes the news and people complain; tinnitus doesn’t make the news and people ask why. Any awareness is good if it brings the subject up to be discussed.

 

What bothers me the most is the absolute ignorance and egotistical beliefs of some of the posters here. They can’t possibly fathom that some people can have this condition, severely, yet function in daily life. Just because YOU can’t, doesn’t mean THEY can’t. Or we must downplay their burden and say they are looking for attention. Ok... the last time anyone gave tinnitus attention was... “crickets”.

If you expect people to believe your experience, you should have the good graces to respect theirs.

 

And in I swoop! Her tinnitus is very mild. Don’t be fooled. She did a feature listening through headphones to severe high frequency screechy tinnitus like some of us had and she lasted less than a minute before taking off the headphones. If she had severe tinnitus she would not be able to do her job as @annV quite rightly pointed out. Trust me. I used to work in the same industry. Impossible now.

 

In her case, I’d say she probably has it mild with flare ups that are likely moderate. However, we really don’t know what her current tinnitus is like. If you interviewed me 6 years ago, I’d be doing the same thing as she was with those headphones, but that’s the reality I live with now. Things change.

There are loads of cases of people with severe tinnitus in high pressure jobs that are still working. Brownbear springs to mind here, but there are many others out there and these are mostly people in the real world that we never hear from.

We cannot pretend to know what another person’s reality is with hidden conditions like these. It’s like saying, “Robin Williams isn’t as depressed as me, he’s loaded and he’s always laughing”. Our own experience is unique to us, and the only measurable factor we have is a person’s suffering. End of. And that’s only if people are open enough to talk about it.

One thing I’ve come to realise over the years of using this forum, and occasionally looking at a few others, is that tinnitus seems to become a competition of who has it the worst. I don’t get it. Measure the person’s pain. Some will be tortured by a milder form of tinnitus, and others will not care about louder tinnitus. That’s just the way it is and so much about how we handle this condition can be linked with our past and how we process emotions and various other stimuli. It’s extremely complicated and there isn’t a one size fits all paradigm.

We should all be looking out for one another and helping each other. I remember when Marie used to post here and she got hammered all the time by people saying she shouldn’t be suffering, “you only have it mild”, people would shout. I used to feel sorry for her.

I have severe tinnitus that made me quit music. Make no mistake, what I hear is LOUD. I’d say my experience fits with other severe cases that post here who have managed to get their life back on track. What annoys me is that there are now insinuations that I can’t have it loud because I’ve learnt to deal with it. It’s massively insulting with all I had to give up and go through to get to this point. Unfortunately, the tide is turning towards positive stories being sneered over like they are some sort of fake prophecy.

I’m all for total transparency. I’m a strong believer that people should be as honest as possible at all times. Don’t hide any details of your suffering, but at the same time, never assume to know what somebody else’s tinnitus is like just because that person is doing ok again.

 

Denial.

 

Spot on Ed209.

 

Well said @Bam I have never corresponded with you at length but know by the way you express yourself in your posts, that you know what it is to endure "severe tinnitus". Susanna Reid and others like her are attention seekers and haven't got a clue what severe tinnitus is like to live with.

If Ms Reid had taken a different approach and conveyed that she has tinnitus and at times it can be intrusive and problematic I'd be much more understanding and sympathetic. I have counselled people on the telephone in tears due to the severity of their tinnitus and unable to work. My own tinnitus was so severe it took 4 years to habituate for the second time.

My consultant said I was the second worst tinnitus patient that she had met in all her years of practicing Audiovestibular medicine. A few people that I've got to know in this forum ( and others I don’t know so well) leaves me in little doubt they know what severe tinnitus is like to live with.

Michael

 

Or because they have severe tinnitus or know individuals with severe tinnitus who are working and living their lives as normally as possible.

Perhaps it’s denial to insist everyone must cope with severe tinnitus in the exact same way. To insist that people with severe tinnitus cannot function, despite evidence of members who do.

 

So clearly, by the remarks on this forum "severity" is defined only by emotional impact. Good to know. That is how I feel about it as well. Volume doesn't matter. I'm glad we are all on the same page.

 

That’s an appalling statement in all honesty. She has never professed to know what others go through with tinnitus, and is merely talking about her own situation. If this is what’s deemed as attention seeking then I can see why nobody talks about tinnitus! It’s ridiculous. Awareness like this helps everybody because it gets people talking about our condition.

I can think of much better ways to seek attention than talking about tinnitus. Some of you have a god complex on here.

 

All I know Michael is that I have tinnitus that is very audible even in loud environments where you might struggle to hear someone talking. In a quiet studio with an earpiece in I literally would not be able to think for the screaming noise. Nor would it be remotely enjoyable. And ‘acting’ fine would be exhausting and probably fail miserably.

I find even riding a motorbike with pro plugs a nauseating and claustrophobic experience due to the tinnitus being sealed in and screaming it’s lungs out, drowning out everything else.

If Susanna has it this bad and can still do what she does, I doff my cap to her.

 

This is a perfect example of armchair experts judging someone else that they don’t even know, and all because she spoke out about how she felt about “her” tinnitus. She hasn’t hurt anyone or said “tinnitus is pathetic” or anything else that’s derogatory.

This is a perfect case of projected anger in my opinion. You are all taking out your personal issues with her, and for what? What has she ever done to you? Put tinnitus in the press? Oh dear, what a disaster! Some people might actually look this condition up now and we don’t want that do we. Let’s keep all the suffering private like we’re all used to.

And you want more people to speak out with reactions like these?

Maybe Michael should interview celebrities first before they speak out in future. You know, use his psychology degree to make sure they are suffering up to his desired standard before they’re allowed to talk.

 

@Bam .

With all due respect. You don't have to describe to me what you have to endure to live your life with tinnitus because I already know what you have been through and are currently going through. Why? Because I have been there and still go there occasionally and this is the reason I take clonazepam when nothing else will reduce my tinnitus when it's severe.

There are members on this thread that haven't a clue what "loud intrusive" tinnitus is, or to put simply: severe tinnitus. You and I both know and people like @Jazzer, @fishbone and many others.

I rest my case.
Michael

 

Thank you for so eloquently voicing your thoughts. This is exactly how I feel.

How another member copes with tinnitus should not be the measure of how I cope with my tinnitus. My past health struggles, the support system I have in place, my future goals — all of those elements and many more contribute to how I cope.

It truly bothers me when other members try to knock down rather than lift up. Your strength @Ed209 to live with loud tinnitus does not suggest a weakness in others who struggle; it instead suggests that it’s possible to struggle yet overcome. That is exactly the message I needed to hear after losing my hearing. My hearing is gone, those hair cells are not going to miraculously regrow. I needed to know that I could live my life even if my tinnitus always stayed the same and even if I completely lost my hearing.

I truly do not care how loud Ms. Reid’s tinnitus is. But I do care that it bothered her. It emotionally affected her enough that she spoke up on a platform that reached many people. We need more people to speak up.

 

I was kind of standing up for her. All I went off in my earlier post was her own video describing her very mild tinnitus. If it’s now really severe, as I said I applaud her. She’s a tough cookie if she can keep doing what she does.