serendipity1996
17-09-16, 23:57
Alongside general anxiety and body dysmorphic disorder, I fear I have developed health anxiety over the past few months. The latest manifestation of this has been an overwhelming anxiety about hearing damage which was triggered by an article I read recently about how more and more young people are jeopardising their hearing by going to concerts, festivals etc without ear protection.
I have worried about my ears intermittently over the past number of years (I am 20 years old btw). I remember once going to my GP about 4-5 years ago since I thought I perhaps had some faint tinnitus in my ears and they felt rather stuffy and was told to my relief that I just had clogged Eustachian tubes when I had been worrying that in-ear headphones had been damaging my ears. In the interim, I haven't gone out of my way to expose my ears to damaging sound - I've never been to a concert or a music festival, however, since coming to uni two years ago I have been out clubbing a fair amount. Sometimes I have left with ringing in my ears but it has always gone away in a day or two, although I realise that the ringing still amounts to irreversible damage. The thing is, I don't fully 'know' if I actually have tinnitus which may sound silly. Even when I am in a quiet room, trying to get to sleep at night I don't really notice any overt ringing in my ears but I don't hear complete silence either. Sometimes it seems like I hear my ears pulsating with blood or there does seem to be ringing but at a pitch that my mind just automatically blocks out ie only noticeable if I think about ringing. I don't know if that's normal and nobody actually hears total silence when in a quiet room or if it is actually tinnitus. When I am stressed it seems to exacerbate any ringing I may have, however. Another thing that worries me is that even though my ears don't seem to ring loudly, they feel like they have pressure in them a lot or mildly clogged and I am quite sensitive to noise.
Anyway, I decided to be proactive just in case and ordered a pair of high-quality earplugs (Earpeace) from Amazon and finally had the chance to test them out a few days ago when I went out clubbing. The noise level was lowered significantly and my ears definitely didn't feel uncomfortable but I still experienced some faint ringing after I took them out although it was gone by the morning. I'm contemplating the fact that I may have to give up going to clubs if I don't want to continue to worry myself sick about damaging my hearing....which is pretty annoying since I am a big techno/house music fan.
Anyway to get to the point, this is worrying me sick. Personally, losing one of your senses seems like one of the most depressing things that can happen to you. I am paranoid that I am already gradually going deaf - maybe it's not noticeable now but what if I find myself having to use hearing aids ten years from now. Does anyone else share my fear of hearing loss?
I have worried about my ears intermittently over the past number of years (I am 20 years old btw). I remember once going to my GP about 4-5 years ago since I thought I perhaps had some faint tinnitus in my ears and they felt rather stuffy and was told to my relief that I just had clogged Eustachian tubes when I had been worrying that in-ear headphones had been damaging my ears. In the interim, I haven't gone out of my way to expose my ears to damaging sound - I've never been to a concert or a music festival, however, since coming to uni two years ago I have been out clubbing a fair amount. Sometimes I have left with ringing in my ears but it has always gone away in a day or two, although I realise that the ringing still amounts to irreversible damage. The thing is, I don't fully 'know' if I actually have tinnitus which may sound silly. Even when I am in a quiet room, trying to get to sleep at night I don't really notice any overt ringing in my ears but I don't hear complete silence either. Sometimes it seems like I hear my ears pulsating with blood or there does seem to be ringing but at a pitch that my mind just automatically blocks out ie only noticeable if I think about ringing. I don't know if that's normal and nobody actually hears total silence when in a quiet room or if it is actually tinnitus. When I am stressed it seems to exacerbate any ringing I may have, however. Another thing that worries me is that even though my ears don't seem to ring loudly, they feel like they have pressure in them a lot or mildly clogged and I am quite sensitive to noise.
Anyway, I decided to be proactive just in case and ordered a pair of high-quality earplugs (Earpeace) from Amazon and finally had the chance to test them out a few days ago when I went out clubbing. The noise level was lowered significantly and my ears definitely didn't feel uncomfortable but I still experienced some faint ringing after I took them out although it was gone by the morning. I'm contemplating the fact that I may have to give up going to clubs if I don't want to continue to worry myself sick about damaging my hearing....which is pretty annoying since I am a big techno/house music fan.
Anyway to get to the point, this is worrying me sick. Personally, losing one of your senses seems like one of the most depressing things that can happen to you. I am paranoid that I am already gradually going deaf - maybe it's not noticeable now but what if I find myself having to use hearing aids ten years from now. Does anyone else share my fear of hearing loss?