Talking About Tinnitus in a Hospital Waiting Room

I thought this story was worth sharing here. It's taken me a while to get around to it as I've been so busy.

Last week, during my yearly glaucoma checkup at the hospital, I found myself in a waiting room where people began to talk about their ailments and what they had done, etc, to pass the time. One person started talking about how he had to have four injections into his eyeballs because of his diabetes, and then another jumped in saying he'd had the same thing and described how horrible it was. This went on for about ten minutes, and at this point, my vision was really blurry from the dilation drops they'd given me.

That is when I suddenly heard another guy, who was sitting with his wife, say that’s nothing compared to what I’ve been through. He went on to say that he had this noise in his ear that was driving him insane and how it was ruining his life and said that it’s called tinnitus. Now, you can imagine how my ears suddenly pricked up, and I went on to talk to this man about his symptoms and what he was going through. He told me the familiar story about his doctor not knowing much about it and about how little help he had received. It was clear at this stage how tormented this guy was so I asked him how long he’d had it for and he replied 3 months. So, he was still in the very acute phase.

We had a good conversation about tinnitus and I went through all the possible causes with him and explained that most cases end up being idiopathic (whilst explaining that the majority of cases can be linked to damage to the auditory system, even if one has a perfect audiogram). Many others then had questions of their own as it became a really interesting talking point for everyone in the room, and everyone was extremely sympathetic.

After our chat, he looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and I was glad I happened to be there so I could talk with him. It ended up being like a kind of counselling session while we all waiting for our eye appointments. His wife also looked really relieved.

P.S. If by any chance either of you are reading this then you obviously now know who I am on here. It was a pleasure talking with you, and I hope all goes well for you in the future.