Ménière’s disease - ‘I love listening to music - it drowns out the tinnitus'

Jan Dawson was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease a few years ago and lives with hearing loss and tinnitus. Thankfully, the high-pitched ringing in her ears doesn’t bother her that much because she's had time to get used to it. She tells her story.

“It wasn't long after I’d moved into a new, much quieter house in Edinburgh when I noticed a strange noise in my ear, a bit like a radio transmitter. It started off fairly quiet, but then gradually got more noticeable. I was 27.

“It worried me because I’d also been hearing heartbeat-like noises in my other ear. I'd had that on and off since I was small. I went to my GP to get it checked out and was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist. After some hearing tests I was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, with symptoms of tinnitus and hearing loss.

“I thought, ‘Surely I’m too young to get tinnitus?’, and remember wondering how I was going to cope with this ringing in my ears for the rest of my life. It was really upsetting, as I was told there was no cure.

“During this time I had an attack of vertigo on holiday, which lasted for three days. It felt like the ground was constantly moving beneath me, like being on a ship. It didn’t make me physically sick, but I felt queasy. Thankfully I’ve not had it since, unlike many other people with Ménière’s disease, who get this feeling a lot.

“As well as my tinnitus I have low-level hearing loss, which means I struggle to hear people, especially in meetings at work. I keep getting tested for hearing loss and it hasn’t got any worse, but I think the tinnitus might be getting louder. It's there all the time in the background, but I notice it more when I’m stressed, when I think it gets a bit louder. It’s a high-pitched noise that changes randomly and sounds like someone trying to tune a radio.

“I’ve really got used to my tinnitus. It’s not so loud that it stops me hearing everything that’s going on. And when there’s lots of other background noise, I don’t really hear it.

“I still go to clubs where there is loud music, but I wear a special set of earplugs to protect my hearing. I love listening to music on my iPod. When I play it with the volume low, I drown out the tinnitus and get some relief.

"The hearing loss upsets me more than anything. But my employer has been fantastic and measures have been put in place to ensure I don’t miss important information in meetings. I get hard copies of the notes and am always seated near the speaker.

“I don’t take any treatments for tinnitus, but I try not to get too stressed. I now have a 17-month-old daughter and was warned that the Ménières might worsen during pregnancy, but luckily this didn’t happen.

“Being positive is the key: if you let the condition get to you, like I did at the beginning, you start to think about it all the time and notice it a lot more. If you can learn to live with it, then it makes life a lot easier.”