I haven't spoken about my tinnitus in a while. Mostly because I don't experience it much anymore. However I notice that when I am very tired or stressed it comes back. It's like a little internal warning bell that goes off when I need to slow down.
With the end of the year fast approaching things are certainly getting stressful. I've hosted two big parties over the last two weekends, I've had one child at home sick for a week and now both kids are home for the holidays full-time, assignments due for uni, Steve's 50th birthday which seems to be an ongoing month long celebration, getting ready to take an overseas trip just after Christmas, major stress at work to try and meet financial deadlines to keep everyone's job intact and all the organisation that comes with Christmas with kids. My brain is ringing more than the Christmas bells at the moment!!
I don't have a medical condition as such, I don't need treatment, I don't take medication and I look and appear to be very healthy and "with it". Sometimes this makes it very hard to explain to people that I just need to take time off. The last three weeks I've spent whole days in bed totally exhausted. If I was actually sick, stress related or otherwise, I could claim sick leave and everyone would understand. I'm just not sure that I can get away with "hearing fatigue" leave or "tinnitus driving me crazy and sending me messages to take a break" leave. Maybe I should start a new category in sick leave :)
