Who keeps ringing that bell… I can’t concentrate?

You know that ringing sound in your ears that comes soon after a rock concert and stays with you into the next day? How about two weeks? Apparently one of the less common, but very serious side effects of DHAP is ringing in the ears and hearing loss… what?... “I SAID HEARING LOSS”... yikes!

All day every day my sound in my head alters from a ringing noise (like just after a concert) which makes me talk loud to others because I feel I have to yell over the sound in my head, or white noise that sounds like static when the TV channel cuts out. The white noise bouts are worse on everyone else because I have to crank the TV, but the ringing is hard too because no one can talk at the same time or during TV because I get overwhelmed by too much sound and then can’t really hear anything well… and then I get pissed about missing what Mc Steamy said during Grey’s.

My hearing also cuts in and out like someone has a remote for my head and is messing with the volume. After two weeks the ringing and white noise has subsided, and this is the more common problem that I continue to struggle with. If the volume goes down in my head I can’t hear what people are saying to me in a coffee shop with background music and have to strain and lip read to hear what my friends are saying. And if multiple people talk at once I can’t hear either. I can’t even chose to focus on one or the other, they just cancel each other out and I hear jumble.

When the volume is turned up its hell! I tried going to the mall the other day and was overwhelmed by the sound of the crowd. Peoples cell phones would make me jump, little kids whining sounded like they were screaming, doors shutting sounded like slams and the overhead announcements had me covering my ears in pain… on top of the regular crowd conversation and holiday music.

We finally had to stop and find a pharmacy to get some ear plugs. They are perfect!!! They cut out all the external noise and allow you to comfortably focus on what the person in front of you is saying. Once I popped those bad boys in everything transformed, it was like floating through chaos blissfully unaware. I keep a set in my purse now all the time, because I still can’t handle how loud a theater movie is, but I have to say this is the way to get your Christmas shopping done in a mall, hearing impaired or not!