As many of you already know, I have a funky thing called "tinnitus" in my right ear. If you're unfamiliar with that story, or don't know what tinnitus is, you can read my previous article here. In light of recent events, I'm going to write a bit of a continuation of that article and explain what has happened since then.

Within the past month, I have seen two Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists (ENTs). They specialize in anything having to do with, well, what their title implies. They have the knowledge to know what's wrong with me, even more so than the regular doctors I have already gone to see. They would finally be able to tell me what's wrong, and how I could fix it.

So imagine my surprise when both told me "just ignore it" (the second specialist said it much nicer than the first, so that lessened the blow quite a bit).

Both times, the ENTs told me that there was nothing they could do for me. The second specialist I saw was much more informative than the first, and she explained to me why there wasn't anything they could do to make the ringing go away. There isn't enough known about the ringing because the bone that many doctors believe the noise is coming from is so small that whenever they try to operate on it, they essentially end up destroying the bone. She also pointed out that there weren't any symptoms of mine that would make them think it was something more serious, like cancer.

With the knowledge that there isn't really any hope of the ringing ever going away, I left both my appointments with a heavy heart. Part of me had hoped that there was something wrong with me because then there was something they could do to make it go away.

Many people knew about my appointments, and when I told them about the lack of results, almost all of them said exactly the same thing.

"It could be much worse."

While I agree that it could definitely be worse, I could have cancer in my brain, but that is not something I want to be pointed out after I was just told that my suffering will continue throughout the rest of my life. I don't want people telling me that such a major, somewhat debilitating, change in my life "could be worse." To me, in those few days, it couldn't have been worse. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't focus on simple tasks, I couldn't fully listen to what people were saying to me. It even took my appetite away. There was nothing I could do without hearing that ringing. It may not have sounded like that terrible of a thing to the people around me, it still may not sound that bad now, but it was one of the worst things that has happened to me. I couldn't go about my daily life like I used to, I wasn't as happy as I was before.

I could be dying, I could be starving, I could not have a place to live. Yes, there are so many things that are much worse than a tedious ringing in my ear. If people would have told me that a week after my appointments, I would have laughed and agreed wholeheartedly because it's true. But to tell me, or anyone who is suffering, "it could be much worse" is pretty insensitive.

Don't be that guy. Don't make someone feel like their suffering is less important than others. They may be on different scales of suffering, but it is suffering nonetheless. Yes, deadlier medical problems are much worse than tinnitus, but it's still a life-changing problem; people are suffering from it too.

It could be worse, but that doesn't mean it is any less relevant.