November 22, 2011

"He accepted death as a side-effect of stopping the noise."

Explains the psychiatrist of Robert McIndoe, 52, who allegedly killed himself because of the tinnitus he got from a Them Crooked Vultures concert.

24 comments:

Rich B said...

Sorry to hear that, but I have tinnitus and I accept the noise as a side effect of life. Most of the time I don't even notice it.

Mel said...

I have had this as a side effect from chemo for months. Hopefully it will not reach the level where I want to kill myself. Would be rather counterintuitive, wouldn't it?

traditionalguy said...

Tinnitus is a word applied to a symptom.

Scientists do not yet know the cause of the ringing, or they would cure it.

So far we are told that a well done hard rock music concert was correlated with a severe attack that would not leave until it drove a man to suicide. Is that a cause?

Jeff with one 'f' said...

I've had damaged hearing all my life due to recurring childhood ear infections. I have never gone to concerts with ear plugs due to my fear of tinnitus.

Then I took to too much aspirin after breaking my wrist and finally got tinnitus. My audiologist explained that it's a common side-effect from consuming too much aspirin, yet I have never seen a warning anywhere about the risks.

Can I sue someone?

$9,000,000,000 Write Off said...

The FDA is going to ban suicide as a solution to tinnus, but leave it in place for other ear illnesses.

Scott M said...

Damaged hearing is one of the things I'm weary of as I grow older. I spent a LOT of time with very good headphones on at a decent volume in all those years of radio. That also included quite a few concerts. Big shows are loud by necessity, but bands playing loud in small venues is easily worse.

Luckily, so far, nada on my hearing and it's roughly the same as it was when I went through MEPS at 20. Constant ringing in my ears, like those described in the article, would drive me mad in short order.

edutcher said...

Well, back in the 50s, they said rock 'n' roll would do this to people.

Toad Trend said...

I too have been lucky as I have subjected myself to approximately 100 loud concerts plus plenty of max volume headphone time. The only bouts with tinnitus occurred immediately after seeing an especially loud act.

The poor bastard must have really been tortured by this condition. I do know people that have suffered from it and know it does annoy people.

Tinnitus.

Pelosi.

Joe said...

I also have tinnitus as a result, I think, of a really bad flu several years ago. It's annoying, but most of the time I don't notice.

Some days the ringing is stronger than others. Ironically, it's acting up today as I write this.

My ear doctor couldn't find anything obviously wrong, though found that the frequency of my ringing was unusual and was surprised that I could still hear high frequencies at my age. He did say what traditionalguy said; they have only theories of what is happening, but don't know what causes it and why it suddenly goes away in some people.

(His theory is that some damage causes a loss of hearing in a specific frequency, the brain freaks and overcompensates by generating a noise all its own.)

Bryan C said...

Tinnitus can be awful. I'm fortunate that I can ignore mine most of the time (less so right now, as I'm typing about it). But it would be nice to experience silence that doesn't sound like microphone feedback.

Scott M said...

Just imagine how bad it would be if your tinnitus came after an upgrade that cost six million dollars. Ouch.

Indigo Red said...

My sister had surgery for her tinnitus a month ago; it drove her to tears and sleeplessness. The result was temporary Bell's Palsy and a slight decrease of ringing.

I just spent a largely sleepless night because of my own tinnitus that has plagued me for as long as I can remember. Suicide has, at times, seemed a preferable relief as it is far more than annoying and closer to torture.

sorepaw said...
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Freeman Hunt said...

So she knew that he was going to kill himself?

Wouldn't there be a surgery to fix this? Given the severity of the case and the man's desiring death over living with his symptoms, wouldn't even making him completely deaf have been preferable?

Or is this one of those unfortunate phenomena of UK medical care?

Someone with knowledge, please explain.

MisterBuddwing said...

Given the severity of the case and the man's desiring death over living with his symptoms, wouldn't even making him completely deaf have been preferable?

There have been cases of people with tinnitus who have gone completely deaf - but the ringing was still there.

I myself have a mild case in my left ear. It's easily drowned out by everyday sounds, and I don't notice it much of the time. But at night, when I'm trying to fall asleep, it's quite noticeable. And the fact that it *never* stops is a pretty frightening thought.

WV: ingerapl

glenn said...

Another case of Wacky Boomer Syndrome goes horribly wrong.

Wince said...

Them Crooked Vultures...

Easily confused with the law firm hired to sue the band.

Anonymous said...

Robert Schumann tried something similar once. But Them Crooked Vultures weren't involved.

William said...

Thanks gang. You've just given me a fresh new fear to neurotically mull upon.....I used to be invulnerable and immortal. Nowadays, I'm discovering such little known ailments as arthritis of the jaw and vitreous detachment. Terrific. Another minor ailment that can drive one to suicide.

Jose_K said...

"Police say an argument about loud music could be the reason Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halmal was stabbed to death)"AP

Eric said...

Thanks gang. You've just given me a fresh new fear to neurotically mull upon.

I still haven't gotten past the fear of encephalitis wiping out my memory. Maybe we can only do one or two of these a week so we hypochondriacs can get full value.

Wouldn't there be a surgery to fix this? Given the severity of the case and the man's desiring death over living with his symptoms, wouldn't even making him completely deaf have been preferable?

My impression was the problem is actually in the brain and not the ear.

ken in tx said...

A guy I know had tinnitus. He found out it was related to the painkillers he was taking for his back pain. When he got relief—surgery—from his back pain, his tinnitus went away.

sorepaw said...
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Anonymous said...

Did any of you see this story linked from the tinnitus suicide story?

New York Groom Commits Suicide Hours After Wedding


The sister of a New York City groom who killed himself hours after exchanging marriage vows said Tuesday that he was distraught over feeling "pressured into marriage."