“Today, the state of mind is still good. I force myself to work on the present moment… You have to live day by day, there is no choice.” The observation is drawn up by Odile Amblard, at the end of the year 2024. Eight months ago, the 44-year-old Quimper resident testified in our columns. Recounting his daily life, marred by tinnitus and hyperacusis; this increased sensitivity to noise. Recounting, also, the “obstacle course” that she had begun two and a half years earlier at the medical level. Her ordeal had forced her to make numerous sacrifices: quitting her job, stopping dancing, no longer going to the cinema, concerts, the theater…
“I was hoping surgery would be possible”
From ? “It’s always an adventure,” she slips. The crackling, the whistling, the feeling of rubbing in the ears to the rhythm of the heartbeat, have not disappeared. And medical appointments continue to multiply, to try to provide answers to his ailments. At a specialized ENT in particular. “We have eliminated certain causes. But for the moment, we would be moving towards idiopathic tinnitus”, that is to say without a determined cause. “This is the least good news, because I was hoping that surgery would be possible, particularly for pulsatile tinnitus which, sometimes, is linked to venous problems in the brain… But a priori, this is not not the case,” confides the one who will go to a Parisian interventional neuroradiologist in January. The MRI she will have there will confirm, or not, this hypothesis.
You have to be resilient, have the ability to bounce back, move forward, boost yourself to stay positive… But it's not always easy
The best news is that Odile Amblard could soon start sound therapy with a specialized audioprosthetist, “to work on hyperacusis”. The original Charentaise knows that the process will be long. And that this hearing problem should not disappear completely. But she hopes that it will be mitigated, “so that it is more livable”.
Looking for a calm job
In the meantime, she continues to live, her earplugs always within reach. With ups and downs. With some days more difficult than others. A situation that she ended up accepting. “You have to be resilient, have the ability to bounce back, move forward, boost yourself to stay positive… But it’s not always easy,” she says.
To find some peace and quiet, the Quimper resident does yoga, longe-côte, walks with her puppy (a Whippet chosen because it is a breed “which is calm, which does not bark”). She also immerses herself in drawing and creating jewelry. In these moments, “I almost don’t hear my tinnitus,” she relishes. She also always manages to squeeze in a few restaurant outings with her partner.
After having to abandon her “passionate job” because of the noise, the former specialist veterinary assistant also decided to resume her studies. A BTS in social and family economics that she takes at home; “Classroom lessons are impossible, given my situation.” She could see herself “becoming a technician or advisor”. The job doesn’t matter, “as long as I can help others”. And that she manages to do it calmly.
