Making life a misery

Lorna Fitzgerald, 85, from Doncaster, has had tinnitus for more than forty years but has never received treatment.

She has worn hearing aids since 1975 and says she is now almost totally deaf without them.

"My tinnitus has steadily gotten worse since I first had it in 1959. It is making my life a misery.

"I had to give up my volunteer work running a community centre because the tinnitus affects my concentration too much. I read and do puzzles to try to distract myself from the noises but when I lie down to go to sleep it is almost unbearable.

"I have been experiencing dizzy spells and vertigo. I had a blackout on New Year's Day and ended up in hospital. When I try to cross a busy road I have to keep turning my head and then when I look down to step off the kerb, I go rigid and can't move, only my brain is working."