It was a beautiful sunny day on July 21st 2021; Eva was at work and Lilian at school. I needed some fresh chicken for our evening meal so decided to walk to the market. As mentioned it was a beautiful day and at 10.00 AM it was already pretty warm. When walking back home I noticed that the many cars that past me were so silent, “they can’t all be electric cars can they?”, I thought. After turning my head around to have a look, I suddenly heard the car engines. That was very strange, I couldn’t hear anything trough my left ear. Once I got home there was still not hearing in my left ear and thought if this is still the case tomorrow I’ll need to visit my GP. The following morning I still couldn’t hear so called the GP for an appointment, I was asked to come immediately. After some tests she sent me to the hospital to see the ENT doctor. They too did some tests and came to the conclusion that I suffered from “sudden deafness”.
In short, Sudden deafness is quickly becoming deaf in a short period of time; in 90 to 85% of cases no cause is found. Sound vibrations are no longer properly converted or transmitted from the ear to the brain, causing deafness. About 8 in 10,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from sudden deafness. It mainly develops in people between the ages of 40 and 50, but it can start at any age. Often there are also other complaints such as dizziness, balance problems or ringing in the ears. In 30% of the cases the damage will heal completely, but the rest will always keep damage.
It has taken a while to get used not being able to hear anything through my left ear, it takes time because all sounds enter through the right ear only and sometimes it’s hard to recognise from which direction the sound comes from. Being deaf in one ear itself is ok, I can live with that, the worst of it all is the Tinnitus. Over time I have become used to tinnitus when going to sleep, it doesn’t keep me awake anymore, it’s the loud noise in my head during the daytime that predominates and often it’s louder than other noises around me e.g. the sound of the TV or people talking, it’s really starting to have a very negative effect my mental state of mind. Feeling depressed and wondering how I will be able to cope with this!
To understand more about Tinnitus, please click the following link to read about Tinnitus