Maybe it's psychosomatic, but the perpetual ringing in my right ear seems to have spiked again. Perhaps it's due to a particularly stressful stretch at The Job (although, honestly, when isn't the job stressful?). Maybe it's the weather or that I've unwittingly doubled my intake of salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol (all very possible). Or maybe I've been being reckless with my iPod again. I sometimes foolishly find myself gradually turning it up and up and up during my walk to work. Then, at the end of the day, on my way out of the building, I'll flip it back on again, and the volume practically blows the eyeballs out of my skull. It's like that frog in the boiling pot of water that doesn't know it's slowly being cooked. In my rush to best experience the music, I'm forgetting the perils of high volume. Like a jerk.
So, I'm taking a break from the `phones for a while and am back on a regimen of that homeopathic "remedy," RingStop (for whatever that's worth). I did actually take precaution on Friday night seeing Mission of Burma (and should do for every rock show I go to), but at this point, that's kinda like slapping a band aid on a gushing stab-wound. The damage is kinda already done.
As I mentioned here, I'd gone in for a new poke-around, seeing a new ear doctor and taking another battery of tests. That was all well and good, and some new information was gleaned, but no real solutions were achieved (not that I was really expecting any, honestly). I'm supposed to go back and see the guy in a few months, I believe, but -- again -- I don't expect him to have come up with some miracle answer. I'm still meaning to try acupuncture, but haven't the first, foggiest clue as to how to go about that. Do I just open the phone book? I'd think not. If someone's going to be sticking needles in my head, I think I'd feel a little bit better if he or she came with some sort've recommendation from someone I trust. We'll see.
But the reason I think it's bugging me the most these past few days is oddly because of success in a totally different department. As I'd mentioned in this recent post, my wife and I were gritting our teeth in preparation for moving our son Oliver (10 months old) out of our room and into his big sister, Charlotte's (approaching 3 yrs old). While there have been a few bumpy nights, the operation has largely been a surprising success. The two of them have been sleeping in there with relative ease, and not waking each other up (despite still rising really damn early). The problem here, however, is that now that they're both in one room, two rooms away and behind a closed door, I can just hear them over the riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing in my right ear. I really have to positively strain to hear Oliver when he's crying in there, and it worries me that one day I might not hear him and/or Charlotte in there when something's genuinely wrong. Nine times out of ten, when something's really wrong, trust me -- they cry loud enough that you'd never miss it, but the thought of not being able to hear them is really stressing me out -- which in itself is a problem, as stress also purportedly worsens the ring.
So, yeah, tinnitus sucks.
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