Hello all,
New here. I'm 28 and have had tinnitus for the last 10 years. It hasn't bothered me at all in the last 9 years, though I know it hasn't been away.
Recently I started considering a career switch to teaching primary school. It's been my dream job for the last 10 years (ever since I thought my first tinnitus-related depression was actually caused by a bad choice in higher education studies, which I continued anyway as at the time my depression got better before the end of the school year and I thought 'I can always switch to teaching later on'.)
Of course, for the past weeks/days my tinnitus has been worse, simply because I'm thinking about it and wondering how much worse it will get when I start teaching. It's always been quite loud and high pitched but I've been able to ignore it perfectly for the last 9 years, even in quiet spaces and at night. I just don't try to 'listen to the silence' and I don't use earplugs at night (only in loud places).
Now I'm seriously in doubt: should I give up on my dream job out of fear my tinnitus will get worse? Stick with a boring desk job that's detrimental for the rest of my body, and risk getting depressed for other reasons than tinnitus? Or try it anyway and hope I will stay sane until retirement age? I'm just afraid some day my tinnitus will be so loud I won't be able to hear or function or live properly. Is it worth the risk?
Any experiences from (former) teachers? Are classrooms really that loud? Can it be a 'safe' job if you use good earplugs and good class management? I'm desperately hoping so, because I was super excited until I started worrying about this annoying little yet possibly big problem .
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Sarah
New here. I'm 28 and have had tinnitus for the last 10 years. It hasn't bothered me at all in the last 9 years, though I know it hasn't been away.
Recently I started considering a career switch to teaching primary school. It's been my dream job for the last 10 years (ever since I thought my first tinnitus-related depression was actually caused by a bad choice in higher education studies, which I continued anyway as at the time my depression got better before the end of the school year and I thought 'I can always switch to teaching later on'.)
Of course, for the past weeks/days my tinnitus has been worse, simply because I'm thinking about it and wondering how much worse it will get when I start teaching. It's always been quite loud and high pitched but I've been able to ignore it perfectly for the last 9 years, even in quiet spaces and at night. I just don't try to 'listen to the silence' and I don't use earplugs at night (only in loud places).
Now I'm seriously in doubt: should I give up on my dream job out of fear my tinnitus will get worse? Stick with a boring desk job that's detrimental for the rest of my body, and risk getting depressed for other reasons than tinnitus? Or try it anyway and hope I will stay sane until retirement age? I'm just afraid some day my tinnitus will be so loud I won't be able to hear or function or live properly. Is it worth the risk?
Any experiences from (former) teachers? Are classrooms really that loud? Can it be a 'safe' job if you use good earplugs and good class management? I'm desperately hoping so, because I was super excited until I started worrying about this annoying little yet possibly big problem .
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Sarah