Today my ear is in a ‘half irritated’ state. It’s not the worst, but it’s not good. But I need to document this so that later I don’t forget what it’s like. I think when my hearing is good I forget what it was like to be bad, and I get a bit lazy about being careful. So, self, this is what it feels like to have a half bad ear:
- Ear is ringing, not extreme but about the volume of normal speech.
- Ear feels ‘blocked’ – like there is water in deep.
- Ear feels ‘warm to hot’
- Ear feels tight and irritated and this feeling extends to the bottom of my neck, half way into my head, almost to my nose, and up to my temple.
- Any above average sound (person talking, dishes, door closing) causes a mild pain and a flinching reaction.
This is what it’s like at the circle below.
There’s a big difference between today (I would call irritation) and the square 2 weeks ago.
So what did the ‘square’ feel like? All the above plus:
- Ear is ringing so loudly that it wakes me up and stops me getting to sleep.
- Strange noises in my head like a a very loud heartbeat, and noises I think I’m hearing when they are not there.
- Ringing causes a constant headache.
- Any sound with my ears unplugged in unbearable, I need to block my ears and head outside if anyone talks, closes a door, starts the kettle, turns on the washing machine.
- I can’t type on the keyboard without headphones.
Even yesterday was noticeably better than that. I could live with yesterday.
Yesterday I spend about 1hr in quiet conversation outside after dinner with family, I was expecting it to go OK, as it was nice and subdued. But that set me back a little today by the looks of it.
Over the next 3 days I will aim for 4 hours of music listening a day even though it sounds bad and see if it makes any difference. I still havn’t started my CIST protocol, psyching myself up!
CIST and SSHL 