April 15, 2014

Turn Off the Noises in My Head!

Tuesday,  April 15, 2014

In the past, I have mentioned that, on occasion I will get very loud noises in my head.  I guess they are similar to tinnitus, the "ringing in the ears" that many people get.  But this is much louder than any of that type of noise that I have experienced.  It drowns out other sounds I should be hearing.

Yesterday afternoon I started having these noises.  They almost seem to possibly be triggered by loud sounds around me.  The first one yesterday was while I was using a machine and my brain just seemed to pick up that noise and amplify it, but when the machine was turned off, the sound was still there.  Then as a loud vehicle went by, the same thing happened.  All other sounds seemed to be very loud.  The settings on my sound processor were suddenly too loud.

On my way home from the office, the noises were overwhelming and I took the sound processor off because I couldn't stand all the noise.  I hate to do that while driving since I can't hear a siren or something of that sort.  The noises in my head were still loud, but less so without the sound processor on.  Gradually over the next couple of hours they diminished, leaving me mentally exhausted.

Our quilt group was meeting, and it turned out only two showed up.  That was perfect.  I could not have dealt with much more sound.  One of these ladies hardly talks at all and the other is rather soft-spoken.  We had a wonderful visit and it was good to spend time with just the two of them.  I did not try to sew.  The sewing machine was too loud.  STRANGE! 

I did a little research on line last night on line and the funniest thing happened when I tried to "Google" the problem.  I typed in "Cochlear Implant Noises".  The fifth suggestion that came up was one of my own blog entries.  It was one where my granddaughters were spending the night and their giggles finally got to me and I took the sound processor off.  I just had to laugh and think if the only answers to my problem are within myself, I am in trouble.  I did find a posting from one man who perfectly described what I was experiencing and he said his audiologist and doctor said there is nothing that can be done.  Thankfully these don't happen too often.  In fact, just the day before I was thinking how nice it was that I hadn't had a spell of them in a while.

Twice in the night I woke without the noise but within less than a minute it was back.  The noises don't keep me from sleeping.  In fact, I was so exhausted last night that I went to sleep very early (for me).  After the quilt group left, I talked to our daughter-in-law, Vickey, and then went to bed.  So this blog is being written Wednesday morning.

As for the rest of the day Tuesday, I was up early and went to the gym for about 45 minutes, increasing the time on each of the machines from my previous visits.  On my way home I stopped at Walgreen's for milk and bread.  It is nice that the one closest to me is the one open 24 hours a day.  Once I got home I fixed my breakfast and then after some time on the computer, I made food for the hummingbirds.  Still only seeing the Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, not the migrating ones.  I cleaned and refilled their feeders and filled the bird feeders, and ponds.  I spent about 30 minutes working in the yard.  I am enjoying watching the young Golden-fronted Woodpecker.  She is venturing out more and more.  You can tell she is cautious and overwhelmed, but wants to be out of the nest.  Then I came in and fixed some rice and chicken to take for my lunch and to have for supper.

Juvenile Female Golden-fronted Woodpecker

After my shower I cleaned the kitchen and the sewing room before going to work.  The morning at the office was slow.  Ron was out a good bit of the afternoon so naturally that is when the walk-in traffic increased.  Once he got back we were both busy at the counter for a while before I left to come home with my noises. 

On my way home, I went by the resaca with the Roseate Spoonbills on the way to Mom's.  The spoonbills were not in a good place for photos, but I caught this Cormorant sunning himself next to the turtle sunning himself.

 Neotropic Cormorant

At Mom's, her amaryllis plants continue to bloom beautifully.  There are several on the front deck that have added wonderful color to that area.

On the noises, I have not found a specific thing that calms them.  I took my blood pressure and it was fine.  As I relaxed and sat and read while I ate my supper, they calmed some.  I have tried heat, cold, food, caffeine, and anything else I can think of, but the noises just seem to come at go with no explanation.  An interesting thing is that with my sound processor on this morning, I have it turned way down compared to normal and hear fine.  It is almost like my senses are on hyper.