A woman is sharing her debilitating ordeal with a rare ear condition and now has to shut herself away from family as she can’t bear their noise.
Karen Cook, 49, used to cherish the sound of her children’s laughter – until it became unbearable torture.
Working as a former cabin crew member, she often experienced the sensation of pressure in her ears, until one day when they wouldn’t “pop” back to normal.
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Since then, she’s suffered from a continuous ringing, as well as the feeling of burning constantly, where the sounds of her family send her into a spiral of anger.
Now, she’s sharing her harrowing battle to raise awareness for her condition, severe pain hyperacusis, where everyday sounds trigger pain.
“Each time my kids would laugh or talk, I’d be filled with severe pain,” Karen, from Merseyside, told Need To Know.
“Life turned into a relentless Groundhog Day.
“I couldn’t see a way out.
“I felt like I had lost the most important people in my life, as I just couldn’t see them anymore.
“Whenever I was out or sat with my husband, Nick, and my kids, the noise of them having a good time was unbearable.
“I had to shut myself away from them in a different room.
“I missed being a mum, a wife and enjoying family life.
“But I couldn’t take the torture it brought me anymore.”
Karen recalls a persistent fullness in her ears after a long flight, which still wouldn’t budge after a few days.
Soon, whenever there was background noise, such as the wind, music or television, the aforementioned ringing would occur.
And as it got louder, the pain increased.
She said: “The noise was competing with every other sound.
“It was barely noticeable in silence, but then it just got worse.
“I took a hearing test, which found nothing, and then the burning sensation started.
“I was told my brain would eventually adjust and my family even believed it was all psychological.
“But I felt like I was being gaslit, as I knew there was something much worse going on.”
Her situation deteriorated rapidly, where she ended up being housebound for a year, and later needing to quit her career.
She tried various pain medications, as well as holistic therapies, but with no luck.
Communications were reduced to whispers and written notes, until she finally received her aforementioned diagnosis in February 2022.
It’s believed that it may have stemmed from a childhood ear infection, but the exact cause remains unknown.
Most days, she sits on her own wearing headphones in a bid to drown out any sounds around her.
Now, she hopes to share her story to not only raise awareness but to find a breakthrough to help get her life back.
She added: “I want to find a miracle that can get me back to my two boys and enable me to see them grow up.
“I also want people suffering like me to not be gaslit by medical professionals or family members who think it’s all in your head.
“We’re led to believe that the worst that can happen is we would lose some hearing or become deaf – but tinnitus and hyperacusis are both completely disabling at this level.
“I’m truly horrified at the complete lack of education around safe listening levels and sounds, too.
“I’ve stopped going out and have become a shell of myself.
“But I’m determined not to give up.
“If I fail to recover, I want everyone to know that I tried everything possible.
“I hope someone reads this and can help me get back to a normal life with my family again.”
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