My Tinnitus Story by Audrey Carlin
My tinnitus started spontaneously in July 1984 at a time when my children were young and life was good. I couldn’t pinpoint any reason why I had suddenly got this “noise” in my head. I went through the hospital system and was told to “go and learn to live with it”. However, I had a good GP who was always willing to answer my questions. He said to me that “he didn’t know a lot about tinnitus, but he did about the brain”. He continued that, “a noise that is there constantly, my brain would learn to accept it as a normal bodily function and so learn to ignore it.” These were the first positive words I had heard and gave me the impetus and courage to learn more about this “condition”.
About 18 months after I had been discharged from the hospital, I got a phone call from them asking me to go along for an appointment. I questioned why but as I wasn’t given the reason, I went along anyway. There I met a Hearing Therapist called Margot Boss. She was young and told me that she had studied Tinnitus for a dissertation she had written and wanted to explore this more. This culminated in six tinnitus “sufferers” as we were called in those days, meeting with Margot to discuss the way forward. We formed a group at that first meeting, but we soon reduced to five, because the man who had hosted the meeting decided he didn’t want to continue.
Chesterfield & North Derbyshire Tinnitus Support Group
The five of us offered to take on an active “role” so we could start to organise meetings. We had a Chairman, Treasurer, someone who would organise speakers for meetings, someone who would book rooms for our meetings and, of course, someone who would bring along refreshments, including bringing all the crockery, tea and biscuits etc so we could have a cup of tea.
My role was to be the Secretary and Newsletter Secretary. And so, our group started in March 1986. I was keen to ensure we had a newsletter so we could maintain communication with those who joined our group because I knew, from my own experience, that it was important to communicate with others in order that they didn’t feel isolated. At that time especially, tinnitus was a very isolating condition and not talked about and no one knew much about it either. However, in those early days, we were supported by Margot Boss who gave us confidence to continue when she left to start a family. (However, Margot and I have been friends for all those years and when we meet up for a chat, tinnitus always comes into the conversation.)
I am grateful to Margot for giving me the confidence to use my own experience of tinnitus to help others, something I have continued to do for 40 years.
Our Support Today
I personally feel that the path we have chosen as a group puts people in charge of their tinnitus in a way that encourages them to lead a happy life.
We are happy to have the continued support from two Senior Specialist Audiologists at Chesterfield Royal Hospital – Debi Alvey and Jodie Rogers whose support continues with the same expertise and enthusiasm as we have received over the years.
Our Support Group Team/Trustees
Audrey Carlin (founder-member/Secretary)
Joanne Gordon (my daughter) Chair
Sarah Walters (Treasurer) who seeks funding bids to support our projects
Sarah Richards (Trustee)
Muriel Lascelles (Trustee)
John O’Brien (Trustee)
We have recently welcomed John O’Brien who is the CEO of Hearing Help UK as one of our Trustees. We have known John for many years and he has always been supportive of our group. However, we are grateful to him for sponsoring our Wellbeing Magazine which allows us to maintain our very important communication with our members, some of whom are unable to attend meetings.