TINNITUS – WHAT IT DOES
TINNITUS – WHAT IT DOES
After the expiry of my father in law about a year and half ago, my mother in law went into a kind of self-isolation. She would keep to herself, stare into space, did not show much interest in anybody or anything around her. Her food intake reduced, did not evince any interest in dressing up, meeting people, or going out to any social event. Initially, we attributed this behavior to her personal loss and thought she will come around in due course.
Days passed and we did not notice any visible improvement in her, but the situation had worsened. She would keep talking to herself, nodding her head, complaining about something, as if she was in conversation with somebody, whereas in reality, nobody was around her. After a few hours, she would look okay and talk normally, as if nothing happened. In the following days, the same behavior continued, and she would be in and out of her odd behavior. We took her to a neurosurgeon, who, having observed her behavior pattern, concluded that she was suffering from psychosis and a mild attack of schizophrenia, which triggered such inexplicable mood swings. He prescribed certain medications, which she has been having to this date. She has stopped making irrelevant talks, but is mostly very quiet and is comfortable only with me. She prefers staying with us all the time.
In the recent past, a very peculiar thing happened. My mother in law came to me with a funny complaint. She asked me as to why the temple bell was ringing all the time. I found it very funny, as the temple is at a distance and the bell cannot be heard at all. I did not respond, thinking that since she was slightly hard of hearing, must be imaging things. Throughout the day, I saw her going to the main door and checking if somebody had come. Now, she was imagining door bell ringing too! This happened for next two days and then I took her to the doctor. He examined her and said she could probably be suffering from tinnitus, owing to her old age. He said this was not immediately curable and would require medication over a period of time and that too depended on the cooperation from the patient. Since she was already on psychiatric drugs, he was not too sure how she would react to any other kind of medication. Since the problem was not very serious, I brought her back.
She still hears all funny sounds and keeps questioning me most of the time. Sometimes I try to explain; sometimes I leave her alone, as I do not want to confuse her with too many things. We just hope that she spends her remaining days without too much inconvenience or any further deterioration in her health.
