Children’s charity worker appeals for awareness about tinnitus

UK. (SANEPR.com) October 30, 2007 -- Catherine McGrath of Brighouse in West Yorkshire has been living with tinnitus for 15 years. Her mother has it, and so does her sister. Doctors have warned that her hearing might deteriorate in the future as a result of tinnitus. The 47 year old has learnt to live with the symptom, but she wants funding for research to find the causes of and cures for the constant noise in her ears.

“I doesn’t bother me so much on a daily basis, but it is a constant irritant. It’s a continuous low level white noise, which is worse in my right ear. Some time ago, I went to the doctor to get a full ear check up, including a hearing test.

”He said that in future the hearing in my right ear would probably deteriorate. The doctor was nice, but also rather nonchalant. He said there was nothing I could do about it and that I would have to live with it. That can’t be acceptable. I don’t generally like loud sounds, even in the cinema. Maybe that’s because of the tinnitus. So I generally avoid loud volumes, whether it’s TV or music.” Catherine’s tinnitus also seems to get worse when she’s ill.

“I know there are serious illnesses that may assume priority over tinnitus, but there needs to be research into tinnitus to help the many sufferers who are in limbo without proper treatments or cures,” says the mother of one.

Raising awareness of the symptom is the first step, says Catherine. More people do know about tinnitus, but much more needs to be done. “I work in a local children’s charity, and I’ve worked in marketing most of my life. So I know how important increasing awareness is, as well as the need to raise funds. If there was more research, perhaps I could find out if tinnitus is hereditary. It is a lot more common than people think, and we need to find ways to beat it,” she explains.

The UK-based charity Action for Tinnitus Research focuses on funding medical and scientific
research in pursuit of a cure and raising awareness is a key part of its work. Operations director
Nick Doughty said: “It is estimated that over five million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus and it can have a devastating effect on their quality of life. Not enough information is available about the very complex symptom and we are one of the few organisations determined to do something about it. We are committed to funding leading edge research and providing practical information to health professionals for the benefit of sufferers,” he added.

For more information on Action for Tinnitus Research, logon to the website at
www.tinnitus-research.org, e-mail help@tinnitus-research.org or telephone 0115 925 4065

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