Hearing my kids’ voices was causing me severe pain. What was happening to me?
As I removed my headphones, I winced.
There was a feeling of fullness or pressure in my ears that wouldn’t go away.
I worked for an airline as
crew, so it wasn’t unusual to have that feeling just before my ears ‘popped’.
It lasted for a couple of days before it finally went. But then, three weeks later, it was replaced by something else — a ringing sound that seemed to be coming from inside my ears.
I could barely hear it in silence but, when I was listening to music or watching TV, the noise got louder. It competed with other sounds, too, like the car engine, the wind and other people’s voices.
I was sent to a specialist for a hearing test, but I was told everything was fine.
Four months later, however, I suddenly felt a burning sensation in my ear.
I went back and forth to the doctor, but was told
I had anxiety from the tinnitus I’d developed.
‘Your brain will eventually adjust to it,’ one doctor
told me.
In the meantime, I was offered antidepressants. But I knew there was more to it than that.
I said to my husband Nick: ‘Something isn’t right.’
I started experiencing a migraine-type pain behind my eyes soon after. It got so bad I had to give up my job and became housebound.
Worse, the sound of Nick’s voice and our two boys laughing became torture, so I had to shut myself away from them.
I missed being a mum and enjoying family life.
There were no more family outings. Instead it was like Groundhog Day.
‘It feels like I’ve lost my best friend,’ Nick said, struggling to understand what I was going through.
I researched my symptoms online and one condition kept on appearing.
It was called pain hyperacusis, which was when everyday sounds were accompanied by pain.
I went back to the doctor and told him what I’d found, but I was given the same diagnosis as before.
With no treatment on offer, I tried lots of different things from pain medication to holistic therapies, but nothing worked.
I started wearing ear plugs and ear defenders all the time and communicated to family and friends through whispers or written notes.
But it was very hard and my mental health suffered.
In time, I got in touch with two medical professionals in the UK, and after I met them, they diagnosed me with something called severe pain hyperacusis, sometimes called noxacusis.
Finally, I had validation that alongside tinnitus,
I also had another sound-related disorder.
Nick began to understand what I was going through.
One professional I saw believed my condition could have been the cumulative result of childhood ear infections, operations and noise trauma from a deployed car airbag.
Now, I hope someone may read my story, and be able to help me get back to leading a normal life with my family again.
From Karen Cook, 49, of Southport, Merseyside
● Karen has donated her fee to Hyperacusis Research and Tinnitus UK
Pain hyperacusis (noxacusis)
What is it? A condition
in which everyday sounds seem much louder and cause discomfort and pain.
What are the symptoms? Ear pain, ringing in the ears, a feeling of fullness or pressure. Mental health can be affected.
What’s the treatment? There is no standard medical treatment. Earplugs and earmuffs may manage the pain
and prevent it worsening.
Where can I find
out more? Visit hyperacusisresearch.org, a charity funding research into sound-induced pain.