Carolan

I have always lived in Ghent (Belgium) and have a family with two children.

I had a severe tinnitus attack three days after an open-air concert in 2000. After a few days, it had reduced by 90%. It was a havoc of hissing and rushing sounds in my head. Tests showed nothing. A few months later, I experienced the same thing after a night out with friends at a bar. Again, it started a few days after the visit. That's when I realized I was oversensitive to noise and needed to avoid it. I managed to maintain this regime for eight years without any problems. There was still some tinnitus (a noise in my head), but I could ignore it, and on most days, I didn't even hear it anymore.

In 2009, things went wrong with headphones. The same problem occurred again in 2010. In 2013, I had an attack after a few days of driving a new car, and in 2015 and 2016, I had attacks after using noise generators (which I used in a desensitization program with an audiologist). Then, I had two more attacks due to problems with earwax buildup. After each attack, the threshold for a new attack was lowered, resulting in a fear of noise. To this day, I have not been able to reverse the downward spiral. I am now being guided by an experienced audiologist at a tinnitus and hyperacusis center. Currently, I can no longer drive a car. It is important that I focus on the positive aspects and seek where stability can be found.