For Paula Hijne (59) working in primary education was her passion and her life for many years. A combination of hearing loss, ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and bouts of vertigo (characteristics of Ménière’s disease) made it impossible in 2006 to continue doing that job. A search for balance, in a literal and figurative sense, follows.
For Paula Hijne (59) working in primary education was her passion and her life for many years.
(image Peter Boer)
‘My mother got hearing aids in 1996. Her hearing loss turned out to be hereditary. The penny dropped for me: I was often tired after a day of teaching. After research it turned out that I have sensorineural hearing loss on both sides: then it is in the inner ear.
Actually, I didn’t do much with that conclusion, I thought it would work out. In 2000 I had the flu. A residual symptom was a ringing or ringing in my ear. It got progressively worse and I went back to the audiology center where I had been examined before. I was sent home with a diagnosis of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and a ‘learn to live with it’.
Because of the ringing in my ears I started to find more and more peace at work. During the break I did not sit with the other teachers. In the cl..