Hi, I'm Susan! Nice to find this site :-)

[Susan Terral]

My name is Susan and I have been reading the introductions. It is so amazing how many different ways people can get T and that it can happen over a long period of time or instantly from a known reason to a totally unknown reason. What a condition.... Well, I am 42 year old widow from Louisiana. I have been a RN for about 19 years but I lost my job in January which was actually a good thing because I was really burnt out. I have been lucky though because I had some funds so I am taking some time to "find myself". I guess it is my "mid-life" crisis I know it is strange to say but I am not really sure when my tinnitus began. I have been very sick for the last two years when I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and had complications related to that. Due to that disease, I was put on high doses of a medicine called Asacol along with meds for anxiety, depression, migraines. I was a mess I knew that I would hear a buzzing sound sometimes when I was in my bedroom (I guess because that was when I was still & quiet) but it is also near electrical stuff and I never really thought about it but my brain blamed it on that. One day the electricity was out and I was on the bed reading a book and I kept hearing the sounds of a summer night and I realized that I shouldn't still be hearing that and it hit me what it was. I was mad at myself for not realizing that taking the Asacol (an aspirin based product) would put me at risk but I was so sick I wasn't thinking clearly. I was also mad at myself because a lot of people on my mother's side of the family have hearling loss and tinnitus (to the point of disability) so I really should have been aware of things. But you can't go back and change anything so onward I go...... I am looking at what to do because I have trouble hearing through a stethoscope now so this is an adventurous time.

 

[Markku]

First, I immediately noticed your avatar. You were/are a Lost fan? I loved the show!

Second, welcome to TT!
My big sister is a RN (we're both in Finland though) too and after I had been working for a year (5 years ago) in a hospital setting (we made all kinds of video/audio projects for the hospital: video conferences, recorded surgeries & made teaching materials for the staff & video guides for the patients) I decided I wanted to be in that setting in a more substantial way and enrolled to the local nursing school. A year later I wasn't there anymore, a different path had taken me, but even though I still love hospitals and while I'm not anymore in that environment daily, I totally understand how one can get burnt out. Not quite sure about the US, but in Finland there are massive problems in the health care field, mostly having to do with insufficient salaries and massive workloads, not enough staff... Ah but it's lovely that there are users from across the world here. Cultures meet

I also want to give you my condolences, you are really a very young widow.

How are you finding your tinnitus nowadays? Can you get to sleep without any help (I'm thinking meds, sound enrichment etc...)? How big of an effect does it have on your life currently? And do you have any hearing loss in addition to tinnitus? I specifically mean the stethoscope part, is the difficulty of hearing due to T or HL or both combined? The being mad at yourself part happens often, I was mad too. I really couldn't comprehend that a simple syringing procedure could have such dire consequences.

All the best to you and hopefully you come by often

Markku

 

[rogerg]

My better half is a nurse too and has considered quitting for countless times...

 

[Warren Spencer]

Welcome Susan, I have had T and PT for four years now. I also have trouble with anxiaty from time to time and find that discussing it realy helps. Remember , were all in this together.