In our latest guest blog, Dr Sarah Jarvis – GP and clinical director for Patient.co.uk – lends her support to our Share Your Sound campaign and reinforces the importance of asking for help if you’re living with tinnitus.
For one in ten people, tinnitus is a permanent fact of life.
The condition is defined as a sound you can hear that comes from inside your head – not because you’re imagining it, but because your hearing nerves are being stimulated – and it’s different for everyone who has it.
For some, it’s a buzzing noise. For others, it can be a ringing sound, a hissing or a whistling, and for most people with tinnitus it’s only a minor inconvenience.
However, for around one in 100 people, it can have a huge effect on their quality of life and mental wellbeing.
If your tinnitus is having a significant impact on your quality of life, then it’s vital you speak to your GP about referral to a tinnitus clinic.
Your GP will also be able to direct you towards the different techniques that exist to help you manage tinnitus, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) has already made significant headway in engaging with GPs and encouraging them to learn more about the condition, with the GP guidance the charity unveiled earlier this year.
The charity’s latest campaign – Share Your Sound – reinforces that message and empowers people with tinnitus to speak up, approach their GP and talk to their friends and family, too, about how their condition is affecting them.
Unfortunately there’s no cure for tinnitus yet, but there is hope – for many people it gets less troublesome over time and there are ways of managing the impact on your life.
So if you have tinnitus yourself, or someone close to you is experiencing it, download the BTA’s Share Your Sound pack and take a copy of the charity’s tinnitus guidance to your GP.
By doing this, and by reaching out to not only your GP but your friends, family, and the BTA, we can all make a difference to the lives of those living with tinnitus.
To find out more about Share Your Sound and to download a GP tinnitus support pack to share with your GP, please visit www.tinnitus.org.uk/sys.
For tinnitus support, please contact the BTA, Monday to Friday, 9-5, on 0800 018 0527 or [email protected].
