I may have complained mentioned before that I’ve recently been diagnosed with otosclerosis, a disease in which the gradual overgrowth of bone in one’s middle ear results in loss of hearing. It is often accompanied by tinnitus as well as a speaking disorder called What?Huh?Eh?, both of which I also have.

It really sucked at first, mostly because of the tinnitus.  But it’s been several months and things are better.  I got through the initial Freaking the Fuck Out period with only one instance of pacing the street in my pajamas in the middle of the night, and managed to avoid getting addicted to Ambien. I’m getting acclimated to the decreased sounds in my environment and the increased racket in my head, whilst Kevin is getting acclimated to repeating everything he says at least twice.

Given how well things have been going, you can imagine my delight when a new syndrome reared its exploding head.  Yes, we lucky tinnitus sufferers are more likely than others to experience the joy of being startled out of the twilight stage of sleep by what looks and sounds like a bomb going off in our brains.  I would stop, drop and roll if I weren’t already horizontal.

To add insult to injury, apparently I am young to be experiencing this phenomenon. The average age at onset is 58.

So I have hearing loss, exploding head and gray hair.  Everything above the neck appears to be aging faster than the rest of me. It’s only a matter of time before I am sporting dentures and whimsical hats.  I am an old lady trapped in a (relatively) young woman’s (fabulous) body.

That’s not so bad, actually.

Art by Finnish painter Inge Löök via the marvelous Missive Maven.

[tags]tinnitus, exploding head syndrome, otosclerosis[/tags]