So I went to see Doc G yesterday. I first told him about my tinnitus and growing deafness. My whole life, I’ve always had very short bursts of noises in my ears – howls, rustling, whines, whistles, even far-away whispering, but they never lasted for more than a minute or so; I assumed that everybody had them, so I never mentioned them. But around five or six years ago, these bursts of noises started changing, getting longer and more frequent. I now have a continuous steady whine in my ears. In addition, I’m losing the hearing in my left ear.
It’s getting more and more difficult to enjoy the silence out here. I stand outside at night, listening for owls and foxes, and have to concentrate to ignore the background whine. Getting to sleep at night is more difficult; no sound from outside means there’s nothing to distract my attention from the internal noise. At times, I have to get up and watch television for a couple of hours, until I really can’t stay awake. I think an ipod-type player with comfortable earphones is going to be my next purchase, to save me from getting out of bed.
Doc G was upbeat about it – it might be possible to do something about the tinnitus, maybe even halt the deafness. So I’ll be making a trip to the local Audiology Dept soon.

The bad news? I asked him about the possibility of surgery for my tachycardia – and it seems I don’t have the right type of tachycardia! Moreover, according to him, it’s only performed when there’s a danger of heart attack, and – apart from the arrhythmia – my heart is positively bouncing with health.

Bah. So I’ll just have to put up with it. Bah again. (But at least I’m unlikely to drop dead from a heart attack. Stay positive!)

Oh, and completely by coincidence, I’m sure, I had the first tachycardia attack in over a month last night.