Noise Sensitivity

Morning!

Foggy is in Las Vegas and Patch is currently in his favourite place surveying his empire (the garden). I'm going to take this opportunity to write a blog about something that happened over the weekend.

My Mum and I had decided to spend a quality afternoon together with a lunch at a nice restaurant and a trip to the cinema (We saw Victoria and Abdul). It was a half-full battery kind of day already but I chose to go anyway, mainly because the afternoon would be spent sitting down.

We had chosen to go to Casa Brasil, they offer a 95% gluten free menu so it was ultra appealing for me. We had booked a table online and were looking forward to a fab meal (Basically BBQ meat and all sorts of salad - love, love, love). We arrived and were met with a wall of sound. Both my mum and I contemplated leaving straight away. However, we took our seats and decided to give it a go regardless. Trying to get a table elsewhere would have been a nightmare. The food was fabulous and

the service was excellent. No complaints there. However, the volume of the 'background music' was set at exploding ear drum level. I couldn't hear a word my Mum was saying and she couldn't hear me either. The combination of my M.E noise sensitivity and my Mum's Tinnitus meant that it wasn't a pleasant experience. I could feel my energy levels flat-lining as my brain tried to overcome the noise assault. Having to shout was making my throat sore. The effort of straining to hear what my Mum was saying caused my glands to swell up and become painful. All diners were talking loudly over the music and so it became deafening as the restaurant got busier. It was 'Samba Sunday' and so I had been expecting music but not 'nightclub loud', music you have to shout over while you are eating! I would recommend that you only eat here when you don't want to talk/communicate with the people you are sat with! Their tag-line is 'Come hungry. Leave happy'....I'd change that to 'Come hungry. Leave with a headache'.

Bellies full with yummy food, we made our way across the complex to the Odeon cinema. My Mum and I have a habit of always taking ear defenders to cinemas as the sound is always too loud for us. Usually, it blocks out the majority of over-loud volume. Not this time. My ears and brain were assaulted for 3 hours (adverts/trailers/film). We could even hear sound from the movie that was playing on the screen next door (I don't think they had planes and machine guns in Victorian Britain). I had to keep closing my eyes as my senses were being assaulted far too much for my brain to cope. Most M.E sufferers tend to avoid cinemas because of the sound volume. I am usually ok with ear defenders, I was disappointed that they didn't help on this occasion. Why on earth does the sound have to be that loud?! So many health conditions are affected by volume level it is ridiculous that the cinema doesn't consider that as a factor when setting the volume. M.E., Tinnitus, PTSD (loud bangs?!) and many others that my weary brain can't think of right now.

I got home and 'died'. I was absolutely wiped out. Thanks to our 'fun' afternoon, I woke up this morning feeling like I have been run over by a truck. It is two days later and this is payback. I really don't know if it was worth it! A day at home working whilst pacing coming up.

Love,

Sally
and Foggy OBVIOUSLY
xxx