Max pushed the sides of the pillow over his ears, hoping to stop the constant, annoying ringing he was experiencing in both ears. He knew that trying to silence the ringing by pressing the pillow over his ears would do no good. The sound was coming from inside of his head and he was the only one who could hear it. But he just wanted it to stop.
Max used to be able to ignore it when he first experienced the ringing noise in his ears called tinnitus. It would only enter his consciousness when he thought about it. Or when it was very, very quiet where he was. Or when he didn’t get much sleep and was tired.
But lately the noise was constant and almost unbearable. Max went to see his doctor, who referred him to an otolaryngologist, who referred him to a neurologist. But each patiently explained to Max that there was nothing they could do about it, there is no known cure, and he’d just have to learn to live with it.
He thought back to all of the many loud rock concerts he attended in his twenties and thirties. No one ever warned him that frequent exposure to sounds of that volume could potentially lead to tinnitus. He cursed his stupidity for not wearing ear plugs at those concerts.
Max sighed, turned on his side and thought how he would make a deal with the devil if only he could experience just one silent night.
Written for E.M. Kingston’s Weekly Word prompt, where the prompt is “silent night.”
This, That, and the Other 
I feel so bad for you Fandango having to put up with that constant ringing.
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It is so very annoying.
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I think this is how you feel at times. I’m sorry that it doesn’t have a cure.
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Cure*
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Were you this Max at loud rock concerts?…….
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Hmm? What did you say? I can’t hear you over this ringing in my ears.
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What frequency is it? ……….
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High pitched, like an electronic tone.
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Yes, I read there are various types. You can listen to them too on the internet…….interesting, but debilitating for a sufferer
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To me it’s more annoying than debilitating. But all you can do is learn to live with it.
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Yes, annoying. You know how the brain can switch off outside noise can it switch off the tinnitus sound in like manner?………..or is it there permanently? Can you ‘overide’ it? I don’t have this issue so all new to me………
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No overriding it, no switching it off. The only time it’s “gone” is when I’m asleep. In my dreams I don’t have it.
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I notice players often wearing earplugs……..
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Smart!
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I guesse they are more sensible regarding this today than in the past……..
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Same. plus working in a factory and then on my place and machinery. Didn’t wear ear protection until it was too late I guess
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There must be something, maybe herbal? that could help…
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I’ve tried everything. Nothing has worked. 🙁
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It must be terrible, and I really don’t understand why there isn’t something they could do… XXX
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I call my version Tubular Bells. The louder ones can wake me from a deep sleep.
However, I did an exercise for a while and the sounds decreased – and now I can’t find the instructions. Something along the lines of focussing intently on the noise to the point that it becomes ‘background’ rather than an annoyance. As I live on a busy road, this backgrounding felt easy enough as I often don’t notice the traffic sounds now (even the ambulances screaming past seem to fade to insignificance. The exercises had the end goal being habituation … I’ll have to search out those instructions again, I think, now what was it called … some sort of retraining therapy … not quite white noise therapy, but …
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I’ve tried that technique of focusing on the noise. Didn’t work for me. But I do have a white noise machine next to my bed and that helps a little at night.
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My ears HISSSSS all the time. And you are absolutely right: there’s nothing you can do about it, but boy is it annoying!
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So, so annoying!
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Sometimes it is MUCH louder than other times, but it’s pretty much always there. Hissing hissssss!!!
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Yes, it never goes away.
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My mom used to have a hard time dealing with tinnitus. I can imagine it’s not very fun at all. Poor Max!
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