TINNITUS

 My baking equipment has arrived!  I ordered a silicone pan and a metal cylinder for making a tart.  They arrived late this afternoon right after I got back from our walk.

Lucky and I went for a one-mile walk today. It looked so warm outside but it turned out to be not as warm as it looked so we had to walk fast to warm up. 

I woke up this morning with very loud tinnitus in my ears.  I  have bruxism (grinding or gritting your teeth) and I must have been grinding or gritting very hard last night.  One of the causes of tinnitus is grinding or gritting your teeth.  I had a very bad dream/nightmare last night and I think it caused me to grind or grit my teeth.  I dreamed that my bird died.  It was horrible.  I pulled his cover off his cage and he was dying in the corner of his cage and there was nothing I could do but watch.  Then I woke up.  I remember it so vividly.  I was afraid to take his cover off this morning until I heard him singing.  I thought it was real.  But I woke up and the ringing in my ears was SO loud I could barely hear anything else.  

I have had tinnitus for many, many years.  The buzzing gets louder and softer but is always there.  This is the loudest it has ever been.  It is mostly in my right ear but I hear it in both.  I had my ears checked before and the doctor told me there is nothing they can do for tinnitus.  I can do things to help not make it worse like wear ear plugs when around loud noises like fireworks and concerts.  Try not to use headsets with loud music.  That sort of thing.  Other than that, there is not much I can do to slow the progression.  I could teach the younger generation to protect their hearing, something I did not do enough of.  I also did not protect my eyes from the sun enough but it seems like there wasn't enough information about these things when I was 16 years old.  No advertising telling me to protect my eyes from the sun or my hearing from loud music.  Of course there wasn't advertising telling me not to smoke either. That didn't start until 1984 in Minnesota and wasn't a national campaign until 2000.  The Just Say No to Drugs campaign started in 1982.    

Tomorrow I will bake again.  I was happy to have a small break but I miss it.  

Until tomorrow...