Strictly star Jamie Laing reveals update on battle with ‘nightmare’ health condition eight years after shock diagnosis
STRICTLY star Jamie Laing has issued an update on his ‘nightmare’ battle with Tinnitus – eight years after his shock diagnosis.
Jamie, 36, has opened up about living with the condition, admitting there are times when he wants to “rip his ears off” and the impact it has had on his everyday life.
In his latest Instagram Story, the Made In Chelsea alum told fans how symptoms have worsened in recent days.
Alongside a selfie with his fingers in his ears, Jamie wrote: “Dear Tinnitus: I’ve had this awful, constant ringing in my ears for abouts years now & overtime I’ve managed to find ways to ignore, deal or come to terms with it but occasionally it lifts its evil head, it’s like an alarm bell ringing in my head (shout out to fellow sufferers).
“The past couple days it’s been that alarm. It’s almost hard to focus on anything else – nightmare yes!!
“It is however good to listen to it and use it as an alarm, you’re tired, stressed, , anxious maybe.
“But listening to it helps. Instead of seeing it as your enemy try and see it as your friend trying to tell you something, so that’s what I’m trying to do.
“The reason I’m writing this is because when it’s this loud (and it’s LOUD) it helps so much more talking about it.
“I hope this message connects with someone else dealing with it badly today, this week, this month or the whole time.”
In a video to raise awareness and money for the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, Jamie recently detailed how he first experienced features of tinnitus.
He said: “I have’t heard silence for eight years. The very first time I ever heard tinnitus, I woke up one morning and I got out of bed, and I could hear this ringing noise. This whooshing, ringing noise and I was thinking, looking around, thinking where the hell is this noise coming from.
“Then it suddenly dawned on me that it was inside my own mind, inside my head. That for anyone who has ever experienced tinnitus is a really scary moment.”
An audiologist diagnosed him with the condition, which is effectively a constant noise caused from inside the body, leaving Jamie in disbelief.
The NHS says the condition isn’t usually a sign of anything more serious and can get better on its own.
Feraz Ashraf, Boots Hearingcare audiologist, explained: “When we hear sounds, the sound waves enter our ears and travel through the ear canals to the brain. With tinnitus, the sound is generated near the limbic system in the brain. This is the part of the brain which supports a number of our daily functions, such as our emotions, behaviour, long-term memory and sense of smell.
“In some cases, we don’t know the cause and it can occur without much prior warning. For others, it is triggered by an existing hearing condition like Meniere’s Disease, an earwax build up or an ear infection. Prolonged exposure to loud noises or listening to music at a really high volume can also lead to tinnitus.”
Jamie believes his condition was caused from his time spent in loud nightclubs in his 20s combined with his anxiety.
“You cannot imagine how debilitating it is,” he continued.
“So you think you’re never going to sleep again. You think you’re never going to hear anything again apart from this ringing and that’s a pretty scary place to be.”
He said: “So my tinnitus sounds like a dog whistle but with a whooshing noise surrounding it as well.
“It takes me a lot to cry and I was shooting a television show called Hunted and in it my tinnitus was so bad. People were asking me questions and I couldn’t hear what they were saying because the ringing was just so overbearing.
“You’re always so scared that tinnitus is suddenly going to take over and your whole mind, all you’re going to hear is ringing for the rest of your life and you won’t hear anything else.
“And it was so loud, I was like, well this is the moment. This is the moment where tinnitus is going to take over. You want to scream. You want to literally rip your ears off.”
Jamie is not alone with an estimated one in seven people suffering from some form of tinnitus.
New research at Newcastle University, funded by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, hopes to analyse the brain and its relationship with the condition.
- For information and support visit tinnitus.org.uk
What is tinnitus and what are the symptoms?
Tinnitus is a medical term to describe the perception of noise either in one ear, both ears or in the head, when there is no corresponding external sound.
It is often described as a “ringing in the ears” but the exact sound heard can vary from person to person.
The sounds most commonly experienced include a ringing, buzzing, whistling, humming or hissing sound.
What are the symptoms of tinnitus and what causes it?
These perceived sounds may come and go or be continuous and the condition can develop suddenly or over time.
In the majority of cases, some may only notice the condition at quiet times, including at night when they are trying to sleep.
But, others may find that the condition intrudes upon their daily life and really bothers them.
There are two types of tinnitus.
Subjective tinnitus is the most common type.
This is where the sounds are only heard by the person who has tinnitus and is usually linked to problems affecting the hearing pathway.
Objective tinnitus is the second type and is much rarer.
This kind of tinnitus sound can be heard by other people too, for example, a doctor listening through a stethoscope placed by your ear.
Objective tinnitus is caused by a physical problem that produces sound – such as the narrowing of blood vessels in your ear.