Tinnitus Clinic — Dordrecht

[Jazzer]

Yesterday I drove a round trip of 500 miles to take Sylvie my misus, to see her lovely brother in Dordrecht General Hospital in Holland.
So sad - he is very near the end and cannot speak now.
A beautiful lovely gentle soul.
We love him so much.

While walking around the town beforehand, I noticed the sign for a hearing clinic, specialising in the treatment of tinnitus.
I pricked my ears up (sorry), went in, and made an enquiry.
I assumed that their treatment was adopted from the Maastricht model, which was the case.

The head honcho, a charming guy, was very open and up-front, and made no exaggerated claims for their treatment.

He said,
"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, as I'm sure you know. What we endeavour to do for you is to try to teach you some techniques, some practices that may help you to live with this thing.
We claim nothing more than that."

Essentially CBT of course.
The Maastricht method utilises personalised exposure methods, combined with therapeutic psychological support.
He was totally honest, and there was no 'big sell.'

I found that refreshing, and personally have no argument with clinics offering such therapeutic practices, which may well help some people in distress.
The cost - €500 for one year's therapy.

As we walked out of the big general hospital I noticed a charming wooden structure in the lobby, which was a miniature prayer chapel.

It was beautiful.

Here is a picture.
It was almost enough to turn me onto religion.

 

[Autumnly]

He said,
"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, as I'm sure you know. What we endeavour to do for you is to try to teach you some techniques, some practices that may help you to live with this thing.
We claim nothing more than that."

This is how we should view CBT, TRT, and mindfulness.

I found that refreshing, and personally have no argument with clinics offering such therapeutic practices, which may well help some people in distress.

Completely agree!

I stumbled upon this today: "Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is based on strong neurophysiological evidence that any person can habituate to acoustic, or acoustic like, sensations in their environment." source Unfortunately, certain people are definitely using TRT, CBT, etc. to imply that we don't need medical treatments and that everyone can live a normal life with tinnitus.

 

[Jcb]

Yesterday I drove a round trip of 500 miles to take Sylvie my misus, to see her lovely brother in Dordrecht General Hospital in Holland.
So sad - he is very near the end and cannot speak now.
A beautiful lovely gentle soul.
We love him so much.

While walking around the town beforehand, I noticed the sign for a hearing clinic, specialising in the treatment of tinnitus.
I pricked my ears up (sorry), went in, and made an enquiry.
I assumed that their treatment was adopted from the Maastricht model, which was the case.

The head honcho, a charming guy, was very open and up-front, and made no exaggerated claims for their treatment.

He said,
"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, as I'm sure you know. What we endeavour to do for you is to try to teach you some techniques, some practices that may help you to live with this thing.
We claim nothing more than that."

Essentially CBT of course.
The Maastricht method utilises personalised exposure methods, combined with therapeutic psychological support.
He was totally honest, and there was no 'big sell.'

I found that refreshing, and personally have no argument with clinics offering such therapeutic practices, which may well help some people in distress.
The cost - €500 for one year's therapy.

As we walked out of the big general hospital I noticed a charming wooden structure in the lobby, which was a miniature prayer chapel.

It was beautiful.

Here is a picture.
It was almost enough to turn me onto religion.

View attachment 28579

What Autumnly said I appreciate the fact they weren't trying to offer a miracle cure and were upfront with you.

I also love the hut structure thingy, I would have that in my garden

 

[OnceUponaTime]

@Jazzer
I can imagine what you would have said to him if he would have said something different to you and tried to sell you a "miracle cure." It would have been ugly...lol..

So sad - he is very near the end and cannot speak now.

I am sorry Dave. It is so difficult to let our love ones go when they are at the end of their life. I went through this last year when my precious niece past away. Damn cancer. Not one day goes by that I don't think of her.

You are the best. Driving so far so your misus (love how you write that) can see her brother one more time. Beautiful heart.

Once

 

[Jazzer]

@Jazzer
I can imagine what you would have said to him if he would have said something different to you and tried to sell you a "miracle cure." It would have been ugly...lol..


I am sorry Dave. It is so difficult to let our love ones go when they are at the end of their life. I went through this last year when my precious niece past away. Damn cancer. Not one day goes by that I don't think of her.

You are the best. Driving so far so your misus (love how you write that) can see her brother one more time. Beautiful heart.

Once

Lovely words — thank you so much OUT.
As you say - if this guy had given me a sales pitch, he would have needed his crotch guard and his gum-shield. He was genuine.
I often think that therapists have a tough press on here which is not entirely fair.

Incidentally any one of my three pussycats has more religious faith in their tiny dew claw than I have, in what is left of my brain.
Any relationship, to me, relies on dialogue.
Devotions can only ever be monologues.

The point being, I do not believe in 'angels,' except, unbelievably, I find myself married to one who is truly wonderful.
I'm afraid on that visit I was in bits.
Sylvie held this lovely man's hand, stroked his head, and whispered to him continuously throughout the visit just how much we all loved him.
An absolutely incredible woman.
For some time there was a family rift, and this lovely man was the one, of seven siblings, that held the family together. He was the glue.

Thanks again OUT.
xx

 

[TuxedoCat]

Beautiful story @Jazzer. Thanks for sharing it. - TC

 

[Manny]

The head honcho, a charming guy, was very open and up-front, and made no exaggerated claims for their treatment.

He said,
"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, as I'm sure you know. What we endeavour to do for you is to try to teach you some techniques, some practices that may help you to live with this thing.
We claim nothing more than that."

Essentially CBT of course.
The Maastricht method utilises personalised exposure methods, combined with therapeutic psychological support.
He was totally honest, and there was no 'big sell.'

I found that refreshing, and personally have no argument with clinics offering such therapeutic practices, which may well help some people in distress.
The cost - €500 for one year's therapy.

At risk of repeating the other comments here, this is exactly what so many here want to see from CBT treatments. An endeavor to help people who are suffering, at a reasonable non-exorbitant price for the product,
and being very clear that this is potential adaptive help for some patients, in absence of a cure - nothing more and nothing less.
If all CBT-type treatments were presented like this - in other words, ACCURATELY - I think there would be very little beef about them.

I am sorry about your brother-in-law's situation, Dave. My thoughts to you and your family.

 

[Jazzer]

I didn't post this little story on MPP.
I would expect to find myself 'hanging from a lamp post before supper time!'

(I'm not silly.)

 

[JohnAdams]

He said,
"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, as I'm sure you know. What we endeavour to do for you is to try to teach you some techniques, some practices that may help you to live with this thing.
We claim nothing more than that."

First off he doesn't know that. A better thing for him to say would be "I'm not aware of any cure." How arrogant to think that just because you aren't aware of something then it must not exist!

 

[Jazzer]

First off he doesn't know that. A better thing for him to say would be "I'm not aware of any cure." How arrogant to think that just because you aren't aware of something then it must not exist!

I guess he means that there is no accepted known cure yet.

 

[JohnAdams]

I guess he means that there is no accepted known cure yet.

I've been keeping a log of how my tinnitus has been since I got back from Korea and I'm definitely healing from this monstrosity. Looks to me like there is a real treatment. Considering that the medical field is heavily data driven and Dr. Shim isn't going to publish for a while so I don't know exactly how that helps us. Basically right now it's just my anecdotal testimony, a handful from Koreans on his website, and a few journal publications about IGF-1 being implicated in hearing restoration possibly due to hair cell regeneration.

 

[Jcb]

I've been keeping a log of how my tinnitus has been since I got back from Korea and I'm definitely healing from this monstrosity. Looks to me like there is a real treatment. Considering that the medical field is heavily data driven and Dr. Shim isn't going to publish for a while so I don't know exactly how that helps us. Basically right now it's just my anecdotal testimony, a handful from Koreans on his website, and a few journal publications about IGF-1 being implicated in hearing restoration possibly due to hair cell regeneration.

Have you had a hearing test since you've been back?

 

[JohnAdams]

Have you had a hearing test since you've been back?

No. I've been super busy at work. I'm going to very soon.

 

[Jcb]

No. I've been super busy at work. I'm going to very soon.

Cool, hope it shows an improvement for you mate.

 

[Jazzer]

I've been keeping a log of how my tinnitus has been since I got back from Korea and I'm definitely healing from this monstrosity. Looks to me like there is a real treatment. Considering that the medical field is heavily data driven and Dr. Shim isn't going to publish for a while so I don't know exactly how that helps us. Basically right now it's just my anecdotal testimony, a handful from Koreans on his website, and a few journal publications about IGF-1 being implicated in hearing restoration possibly due to hair cell regeneration.

John - I am truly interested in this.

Like I have said previously - I have read other claims from other treatments, which sound so miraculous that I dismissed them 'out of hand.'
(85 dBs down to negligible in four months?)

But you are a credible witness, and this has verisimilitude, though I have to say, I lacked your faith in this whole project at the beginning.
(Basically I thought you were nuts to offer yourself up as a guinea pig, taking all the risks on yourself.)

I hope he will soon publish the pathology behind it.
Well done buddy.
xxx

 

[just1morething]

Basically right now it's just my anecdotal testimony, a handful from Koreans on his website

It would be nice to have their testimony on this forum somehow. The more the better, so we could have multiple opinions on their tinnitus improvement.

 

[JohnAdams]

Basically I thought you were nuts to offer yourself up as a guinea pig, taking all the risks on yourself.

I am nuts, but I just could not believe South Korea permits any doctor to just go around hurting people and ripping them off. South Korea is a very advanced first world nation. I understood the risks, I have an educational background in medicine. I did not think there was anything in PRP or bone marrow that would cause any complications in my middle or inner ear, I spoke with him and he said nothing to cause any suspicion. Now that I have experienced a very very significant improvement I fully endorse this treatment. So now all the naysayers have to make the case that Dr. Shim is a liar, that I am a liar, and that the researchers that have implicated IGF-1 in the regeneration of hair cells were lying and that the peer-reviewers for the publications that they published in were incompetent.

Another aspect of this is that he also treats anosmia with PRP and the validity of that was verified in research that was published in the International Tinnitus Journal. The stem cells in your nose for olfactory sensation are LGR5+ just like the ones in your cochlea, which is what drugs like FX-322 are targeting. So it is not a large leap of logic to suspect that PRP induces regeneration of LGR5+ stem cells in the cochlea.