Why Do Doctors Talk C*ap?

[wishingluck]

in the course of all these months, I have seen several doctors, audiologists, psyschologists, ENTs etc etc. Not only they were basically useless, they just talk trash. For example:

1. 'tinnitus is common, many people have it!'.

Really? strange, not ONCE in my life I went anywhere (nursery, school, work, birthday parties ANYWHERE) and I had anybody, known to me or not, who said to me 'awwwww man, I've been having this damn ringing in my ears for a few months now, it's making my life really hard. Anyways, so what were you saying? Oh yeah, Jack and Jill got married last week...'

I bet not ONE of you here knew many people with tinnitus either, before your T onset.

2. 'tinnitus is common, many people have it!'.

Yeah? Do all the millions people you know who have tinnitus, have hyperacusis too? 'Cause, you know, hyperacusis is RARE. Given that the majority of people with tinnitus (the ones -I- know, not the ones YOU know) have hyperacusis, then you are telling me that they all have something very common that contain one other complication that is rare? Uh?

then there are the 'psychologists', these mysterious people who supposedly know and understand all the secrets of the human mind.

I started to see a psychologist two months ago. That guy moves at the pace of a snail, it took 1 month to book an appointment that basically consisted in me just telling him how bad all this feels. That was it.

The second time, he basically told me that EVERYONE he saw habituates, REGARDLESS of the loudness!

I could not believe my ears! (pun intended). I told him right away that I didn't believe this for a single instant, that I thought was BS, because I have been using a masker for months. Why didn't I 'habituate' ? I asked him if what he says it's true, why isn't everybody doing it? Why all the people in this forums aren't doing it?

He said that 'statistics show' blah blah blah, how well it works. I immediately asked him to provide me with a copy of these statistics in the future. He said 'he didn't have them'. I asked him the name of the doctors who conducted these statistics. He doesn't know them.

When I asked how one 'habituates' to hyperacusis, he rolled his eyes! What the hell did that mean?

Bleah. I feel like puking. These people don't know anything. They all have their stupid BS theories, they are unprofessional, their arguments are weak, they can't do a thing right!

I am not expecting they pull out a magic charm and solve the problem, but to witness with my own eyes how lame they really are, it's really depressing. They are undeserving of the title they carry, I got more help from a friend of mine who sells potatoes at the local market!

Sorry, I had to get this off my chest.

 

[glynis]

I have a fantastic doctor and would not swap him for the world.
He is always happy to see me and he did me a letter and got fast tracked with my duel purpose hearing aids.
He knows I run a tinnitus support group and do a lot for the BTA as Forum Mentor and on Tinnitus Talk as a Ambassador.
I take him lots of BTA leaflets and posters and trial updates and anything I know he would love to read and he has posters up in his waiting room and the leaflets for members to read along with The BTA forum leaflets and Tinnitus Talk leaflets that @Steve and @Markku designed

can't thank my doctor enough..lots of love glynis

 

[Charlie396]

Hey,

Although I'm still fairly new to this (about 3 weeks) I'm noticing the same thing in just bringing it up to people in real life. I've heard "Oh that goes away" "Give it time, you'll see" many, many times. I think as more of 'the iPod generation', people in our 20's and 30's who for years and years blasted loud noise directly in our ears come down with tinnitus, the more it'll have to handled with more severity by the medical community and general pubic.

 

[wishingluck]

I have a fantastic doctor and would not swap him for the world.
He is always happy to see me and he did me a letter and got fast tracked with my duel purpose hearing aids.
He knows I run a tinnitus support group and do a lot for the BTA as Forum Mentor and on Tinnitus Talk as a Ambassador.
I take him lots of BTA leaflets and posters and trial updates and anything I know he would love to read and he has posters up in his waiting room and the leaflets for members to read along with The BTA forum leaflets and Tinnitus Talk leaflets that @Steve and @Markku designed

can't thank my doctor enough..lots of love glynis

I am happy for you, Glynis. The first ENT i saw told me this (I kid you not):

'mmmmh, yeah it's tinnitus! There's no cure!' then he turned around to get back to his desk and said 'oh man, I have heard horrible stories, people committing suicide. Tsk tsk'.

Before leaving, I was standing there thinking of questions to ask. I said 'I have a few questions'. He didn't even look at me, he continuted to mess with his PC and had an air about him as if to say 'can't wait to get rid of you, I am reading my email'.

There was something about him that made me think: 'get the hell out of here and don't come back'.

And the ones I saw after weren't much better.

 

[glynis]

@wishingluck ,
That doctor was not helpful at all and its so sad that he had not much experience with tinnitus.

This is where doctors need a little shove in the right direction.
I know they don't like to refer people to ENT straight away as under six months it could settle on its own and adjust well.
This is when I think counselling with CBT should be offered and told about the BTA and Tinnitus Talk for support along with any medication he might prescribe for the unwanted emotions many people have to deal with a long with their tinnitus sound on top and lack of sleep...
lots of love glynis

 

[dboy]

He didn't even look at me, he continuted to mess with his PC and had an air about him as if to say 'can't wait to get rid of you, I am reading my email'.

I saw one ENT like that. I got the impression he thought I was just there to waste his time. Another one did the "lots of people have it," speech and added on, "I even have it myself. The noise of a computer fan hides it so it doesn't bother me." As though that would make me feel better. I felt like shouting, "Well I've just been travelling at 60 (mph) down the dual carriageway in a clapped out banger and I could still hear mine!" But I didn't for some reason that I will never properly understand. I did politely point out that a computer fan did not mask what I could hear in my head. He shrugged, as I remember it.

There are good ones though. I've also encountered an ENT who was very respectful and sensitive about this. Maybe it is like in life more widely: there are people who are conscientious and good at what they do, and people who are happy to wing it who are controlled to a greater extent by their preconceptions and impulses. My impression is that there is something about being a doctor though - probably the status in which they are generally held - that can lead to a sense of arrogance/omnipotence. I suspect they often don't like to face up to the limits or the failings of their ability, and tinnitus confronts them with that. Downplaying the significance of tinnitus is one way to dodge facing this and saying the truth: "Sorry, I am useless to you on this occasion." They are human like us all, and suffer human failings.

But this is only my speculation, of course.

 

[MattK]

1. 'tinnitus is common, many people have it!'. ...I bet not ONE of you here knew many people with tinnitus either, before your T onset.

True, but this doesn't exactly follow. When I got T and opened up about it, I found out that many people I know have it including my own dad. They either just never complained about it to me, or perhaps I was off in my own little world and wasn't paying attention. But once I developed T, I saw the world through T. So now I think to ask people if they have it if I suspect that they have a reason to have it.

So I'd actually agree with your doctors. It's more common than we might realize.

This personally gives me hope. Because the more people have it the more attention it gets. And the more attention it gets the greater the possibility for a cure... Or at least effective treatments.

 

[Telis]

I had never heard of permanant ringing in the ears/brain before I got it, not even once. I think these stats that everyone talks about are people that have heard something at some time in their life (fleeting T, or temporary T). Also, I find that people in general are quick to jump in and say "oh yeah, I have that too" even if they don't. I have no idea why people do this, but they do. It's very strange.

Having said that, I do know people that have tinnitus but it's at such a low level and isn't accompanied by H or any other ear issues so it's very very minor. The only people that I know of that have bothersome tinnitus are here, and even here at TT, it seems 99 percent have it minor and move on in a couple of months.

I don't know a single person in the real world with bothersome T, In fact, I can't even find 1 person on TT or anywhere else that live in my city of over a million people.

There are so few of us that suffer that it is one of those things that can kind of be ingnored or sluffed off by professionals, I guess they figure that it's just not a big enough issue to even bother with.

 

[ceauses97]

This is why there is still no cure for this disorder. People generally dont know how it's like living with ringing in ears. I got my T 2 weeks ago, and NEVER ever had I heard of tinnitus before I got it myself. If someone had told me three weeks ago that there are people who hear ringing in their ears/head all day long I would say they were crazy, and proably suffered from schizophreni.

The only way we can find a cure for this hell of a disorder is if some very intelligent genius or a person with a lot of money gets it.

Just think about it... What if Bill Gates got tinnitus? They would proably find a cure within a week! For christ sake, we can go to moon, but not fix something as easy as tinnitus? Hey, they even can cure cancer nowdays. Like ALS Ice bucket challenge, we need people putting water on their head for Tinnitus awareness. Only then people can enjoy silence again.

 

[linearb]

I bet not ONE of you here knew many people with tinnitus either, before your T onset....
Do all the millions people you know who have tinnitus, have hyperacusis too?

I knew a number of people with it before I noticed it, and over the period of time that I've had it I've probably met two dozen people that I've talked to about it in some level of detail, maybe more. Some of this might just have to do with what demographics you're interacting with, as well as some element of randomness/luck?

Hyperacusis is definitely more uncommon, but I've met a bunch of people who have dealt with it.

then there are the 'psychologists', these mysterious people who supposedly know and understand all the secrets of the human mind.

Don't you think this is a little unfair? I think that's an awfully high standard to live up to. I bet most psychologists would say that they try to offer someone a little external insight and perspective into themselves, and I think good ones can often actually do just that, but it's not going to be the right approach for everyone.

It sounds like you had a really shitty experience with your doctor, and that sucks. There are a lot of unhelpful, uninformed psychologists out there, just like there are mechanics and dentists and anything else. Overall I'd say that psychology was somewhat helpful to me, but it was some minority of professionals I saw who were useful. If you don't have a lot of time and money to sort of shop around, I know it's stressful and frustrating.

As for statistics, it's silly to ever insist that everyone does this or that, but I think a reasonable evidence-based statement is "tinnitus is a relatively common condition affecting a significant minority of the population to some extent, which is severely distressing to a small percentage of the population. Of people who are severely distressed by it, the vast majority of them eventually adapt to the condition."

Like I said, I know a lot of people with tinnitus. A reasonable number of those people say they can hear the sound through almost any environmental noise, but I've never known anyone who found it as distressing as I have -- and even at that, I have largely returned to a pretty normal life most of the time.

If you poke around on researchgate and pubmed, you can find a bunch of different studies about habituation. For instance, this one concluded that 80% of a 700-patient group that underwent TRT, achieved some degree of habituation as a result. There are a number of other, similar studies, and then a larger number of case reports.

Clearly, 80% is not 100%... but it's also clearly not necessarily the case that the 20% of patients who showed no improvement over the course of the 33-month study, did not eventually improve. God knows I was a complete f**king basket case at 33 months.

 

[PaulBe]

and had an air about him as if to say 'can't wait to get rid of you

My experience also. I've been to a couple of GPs since for other things and when they ask my history I can see them visibly tense when I tell them T & H. Its like "please don't ask me anything about that...can't we just stick to reflux and blood pressure because that's all we know".

 

[John G]

My experience also. I've been to a couple of GPs since for other things and when they ask my history I can see them visibly tense when I tell them T & H. Its like "please don't ask me anything about that...can't we just stick to reflux and blood pressure because that's all we know".

Been there also. It's like when they hear the word Tinnitus, they try to change the subject, because they know jack shit. They all have that confused look. I am good at looking confused,maybe I should be a doctor ..ha ha

 

[John G]

Before leaving, I was standing there thinking of questions to ask. I said 'I have a few questions'. He didn't even look at me, he continuted to mess with his PC and had an air about him as if to say 'can't wait to get rid of you, I am reading my email'.

There was something about him that made me think: 'get the hell out of here and don't come back'.

And the ones I saw after weren't much better.

I haven't been to an ENT in years,so I went to an ENT last week thinking things may have changed in regards to knowledge concerning tinnitus. Doc came in room said alot of people have tinnitus,but there is no cure. He wasnt listening to me at all,no eye contact.He kept playing with his phone while I was explaining my symptoms. His cell phone rang twice and both times he walked out of the room to talk on his phone.

He came back in the room. Any normal person would of said "ok,where were we in regards to our conversation? ". He said nothing . Just gave me some nasal spray and said "see you in a month!" Idiot

 

[Michael Leigh]

@wishingluck
Doctors know about the anatomy of the ear but the majority of them have never experienced loud intrusive tinnitus. Your experience isn't uncommon but I believe there are some good Drs out there in ENT.
In the 20 years that I've had tinnitus I'm pleased with the help and treatment that I've had and have a good rapport with one of my consultants. I started TRT for the second time in 2008, after it reached very severe levels and showed no signs of calming down. The treatment lasted two years.

There was some improvement but my tinnitus didn't return to what it was like before. In 2010, I was left with large fluctuations in its intensity, which meant no two days were the same and on occasions it was still very severe. I had reached one of the lowest points in my life. I am quite a positive thinking person even though I was medically retired from my job because of the tinnitus. However, I was starting to believe tinnitus had beaten me this time. I asked my consultant to please be candid with me about my condition, for I had the feeling I had reached the end of the road as far as treatment was concerned.

She looked at me and said: "In all the years I have been an Audiovestibular consultant, I have only treated one other patient with tinnitus as severe as yours". If I wasn't sitting down I would have fallen down - but I did ask her for the truth. She then said something that immediately lifted my spirits: " I will never give up on treating you".

I was prescribed clonazapam and told that it's sometimes given to patients with severe tinnitus. I was advised of its addictive nature and if possible, only take it when the tinnitus was severe. It helped me and so did my Doctor whom I'll never forget. Five years on I still take clonazapam but only when my tinnitus is severe.

Michael

 

[John G]

@Michael Leigh So you notice a difference while taking clonazapam?. I tried lorazapam but I didnt notice a change in my T

 

[Michael Leigh]

@John G Clonazapam wont work for everyone but it works for me. I take 2x 0.5mg when my tinnitus is very severe and has lasted for more than 3 days. It makes me sleepy so I often go to bed. I have variable tinnitus that ranges from: silent, mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe. If clonazapam is taken too regularly, every day for instance, the body quickly habituates and more needs to be taken to get the same relief, that's when addiction can set in. Fortunately, I haven't had to increase the dosage. I take it about once every two weeks.
Michael