One thing that is sure to make you tinnitus worse is partying, right? All that loud, pumping music, alcohol (ideally) and no sleep... well, not on my watch!
As if it isn't bad enough having to give up silence unwillingly when you get tinnitus, you must also try not to make it worse by avoiding loud music (and other noise). To me, this was just unacceptable, no way, nada, not happening, speak to the hand 'cos the face don't wanna know...
You may or may not already know that I've always been a bit of a live music whore and spent much of my social life jumping next to a speaker, playing music of the rock and indie persuasion. This, as it turns out, seems to be the obvious cause of my tinnitus. Whoops.
If any part of that makes me sound like I may be some cool 'rock chick'... I'm not. The majority of the bands I saw were middle aged dads (sometimes granddads) covering classic rock songs in the local public house. I'd be singing in the crowd alongside the middle aged mums having a night off from the kids, re-living their youth with their united two-step whilst me and my "rock chick" friend would skid on our knees, jump around and punch the air enthusiastically, covering ourselves in cider and black as we did so. Finally leaving the place and heading for the nearest fast food joint looking like one of those chubby kids that just got off the bouncy castle.. red, sweaty and stinking. "Oh why has it been so hard to find a man..." we'd cry "...what ever do they want in a woman!?" Baffling, I know.
Sometimes, I was uber cool and would go to see real rock bands with their own music and youth on their side, or at least go to clubs that would play the music I so much loved. I remember being 18 and going to a place called Metros in Cardiff. It was located down a dodgy looking alleyway leading to just a door in the wall and a bouncer pretending he cared whether you were old enough to enter. Once you paid the £3 entry fee, you could descend the staircase to the utter madness. The ceiling was really low, and there was a green lit ambiance setting the scene of grunge, along with the smell of it. People would literally throw each other around the dance floor and barge into each other like Rhino's. I'm (as some might say) short, so would pretty much just get elbowed in the face. A lot. Jumping up and down was a good option (if your feet weren't stuck to the beer soaked floor) to such classic tunes from blink 182, sum41 and rage against the machine. Like I said, uber cool.
At the end of the night, for some unknown reason, the staff would start handing out freshly buttered toast from the DJ booth, for free. Either they were pleasing the stoners or just wanted all the young sweaty drunk children to soak up their cheap cider rather than throw it up all over the stairs on the way out.
Either way, the place was amazing! But by my mid 20's I definitely felt too old to be going to a place like that, and opted for less bruise causing evenings.
So what do I do now? I still love rock and roll, indie music and now folk rock has entered my heart (thank you Mumford and Sons), but I've become far more cautious since I got tinnitus as the high volume would always cause a spike. This wouldn't just be the next day, sometimes for a week afterwards, combining that with a hangover and very little sleep and it's unbearable.
However, I am not a girl that is just about to stop doing anything I love so much, in fact, I'm not the type of girl to stop doing something I kinda like a little bit. I want all the good stuff in life!
So I did some research (which took all of 10 minutes) and discovered I could buy ear plugs that are specially designed for musicians to protect their ears. They claimed to allow music to enter the ear with crystal clear quality using a very impressive technical filter, rather than muffle the sound, whilst also protecting them from damage. Sounded a bit too good to be true, but I had to try them out.
Luckily I had tickets to see my favourite all time singer/songwriter who was touring the UK all the way from Australia (mate!), Matt Corby. He is absolutely the most beautiful, long haired scruffy bag of hotness I've ever seen and my womb immediately screams "babies" every time I look at him. But that is irrelevant, because his music is incredible and he is one of the most talented musicians of our generation (in my opinion)! Ok, I'll shut up ... his hair....about Matt Corby.. I love him.. starting... be mine... NOW!
Anyway, this was my first opportunity to try out my new ear plugs, which I was nervous about because I didn't want to miss out on a single note. After 5 minutes of wearing them, he arrived on stage and I completely forgot I had them in. The music sounded exactly as it would have without them (stunning, of course), without any piercing pains you can sometimes get during loud music. That night, and the following day, my tinnitus remained exactly as it was before the gig. I had no spike whatsoever!
I was amazed and absolutely thrilled!
Now I put them in at any gig I go to, knowing that I'm not doing any further damage to my ears, The only pain I get the following day is from my hangover and my knees from all the skidding!
(pictures left to right: Me looking and feeling blurry at a Fatboy slim concert, Matt Corby being real ugly (please marry me), and proof I was once young and sweaty at a gig)
I use 'Eggz' ear plugs which you can get on their website https://eggzearplugs.com/
(please note that I have not been sponsored or gifted or paid even one penny by eggz, it is purely my own purchase and genuine opinion.)