Ringing

I was reading an old entry this morning, from perhaps a year ago, that was sort of an update on my condition with MS. I noted in that entry that I had kind of just learned to live with the various deficits. They had become part of who I am. I must say, however, that I'm not ready at all to to take this new condition - that being the constant ringing in my ears - so much in stride. In fact, I really hate it. It's driving me crazy. Every day since early September, my ears have been ringing - sometimes just quietly, sometimes very loudly, especially at night. This, in turn, gives me a splitting headache. A paralyzing headache. Sometimes all I can do it just sit in a chair and hold a pack of ice to my head. For the ringing, the doctor has given me clonazepam, which is really only effective in so far as it puts me to sleep. This all started with a relapse in September following a flu illness in August. Of course, the ringing is not really in my ears, but in my head somewhere - the shrieking of damaged nerves, I suppose you'd say. So I've finally discovered an intolerable MS related condition - and, as it has been present for 7 months now, I fear that it is permanent.