[Non-Long-Term Care Insurance] Realizing the value of heartfelt service after falling ill myself [Hyperacusis, Cochlear disorder, Recruitment phenomenon, Loudness recruitment]

I talk about it occasionally on YouTube and my main blog, but I have been suffering from a certain symptom for about the last year or so.

The symptom is called 'hyperacusis,' where surrounding ambient sounds and people's voices echo inside my head.

Even for a normal person, I think it would be startling if a plate fell and broke in a restaurant, but in my case, I react to even the most trivial sounds, and it feels like my brain is vibrating or going numb.

At first, it was just the sound of the TV, but eventually, it expanded to the sound of dishes clinking while washing them, metallic sounds, the sound of running water... and now it has branched out to almost every sound in daily life.

Common everyday sounds like crumpling paper, potato chip bags, or plastic bags are particularly unpleasant, especially high-pitched sounds.

Internal medicine, otolaryngology, neurology—it just costs so much money.

I went to various hospitals, including internal medicine, otolaryngology, and neurology, but every doctor...

'😅 You're worrying too much; these things happen with age.'
'😅 This isn't something that can be cured.'
'😅 Isn't it just stress?'
...and so on; there was nowhere that would treat me properly.

Treatment... or rather, they wouldn't even listen to me properly. Especially in otolaryngology, there are overwhelmingly many patients with 'hearing loss,' and I felt like my symptoms weren't being taken seriously because I was the opposite.

I went to various hospitals, was tested each time, and since there were no abnormalities, I was referred elsewhere or searched on my own, and the costs just kept piling up.

I have been reducing my workload for the past three months.

After relocating my office, I ended up canceling services with the majority of my previous clients.

There are still a few people I provide services to, but I hadn't been able to start operations in the new town in earnest. I intentionally chose not to fill the gap left by the cancellations with clients and instead used that time for my own rest. For the past three months, I've been going for walks and traveling. (I've been sharing glimpses of that slow-life on YouTube.)

In my case, thanks to working like a corporate slave during my time as a full-time employee, I had savings, so honestly, I am in a position where I could live for 10 years even with zero income.

Thanks to that, I am able to run my sole proprietorship with peace of mind, but I took advantage of that environment even further and intentionally avoided sales activities for the past three months so as not to increase my workload.

My symptoms only worsened, and I had to go to the hospital again

Since various hospitals couldn't provide any treatment, I had been managing by paying attention to my diet, exercise, and sleep, and by taking supplements as a supportive measure.

However, in February, my symptoms became even worse, and they began to interfere with my ability to live a normal life.

Because I had moved, my environment changed, and I decided to go to a different local otolaryngologist.

Unfortunately, that otolaryngologist was also unable to identify the cause.

“Not again...” 😓
I was stunned, but they wrote a referral letter to another large hospital so I ended up going there for treatment.

I went to that hospital on a later date, and the doctor was very good, a complete change from the previous ones.

The doctor was a graduate of a famous medical university and a renowned expert in the field of otolaryngology who has published many books. He had experience performing surgeries that had never been done in Japan before, and in addition to the hospital where he currently works, he also seemed to be a lecturer at a medical university.

The doctor listened carefully to what I had to say, performed tests, suggested various possibilities for my symptoms, and almost completely identified the cause. Perhaps it was because he was an expert, but I remember being very happy that he was so thorough and kind.

In the end, it seems my symptoms are related to sensorineural hearing loss, Meniere's disease, or sudden deafness, and that there is a disorder in the cochlea (snail) inside my ear. It seems my hearing is worse than other people in their 40s, and to compensate for that, my ears are amplifying small sounds.

I didn't have surgery or anything, but I was prescribed medication to improve the symptoms and am currently undergoing treatment. My previous doctors wouldn't even give me a prescription, saying, “Since we don't know the cause, there's no point in prescribing medicine,” so this was a huge help.

As a service provider, I was able to recognize once again the importance of being close to the customer

Thanks to the ear cleaning and other treatments I received during my visits, there is a slight trend toward improvement. I am not in perfect condition yet, but I will continue the treatment and plan to resume business in this new location starting this week.

At the hospital, more than just receiving prescriptions or treatments like ear cleaning, I was saved by the fact that they listened to me seriously and treated me seriously.

I myself am usually on the side of providing services. Specifically, for the elderly and people with disabilities who cannot move freely.

Clients always express deep gratitude, saying things like
“You are always such a huge help,”
“If it weren’t for Argo, I wouldn’t be able to manage my current life,”
...every single time.

My main work involves helping with taking out the trash and assisting with hospital visits, and I have always felt that I wasn’t doing anything particularly significant; in fact, I used to feel embarrassed by such words of gratitude. However, after finding myself suffering from symptoms of hyperacusis, I truly understand it now.

“This isn’t covered by long-term care insurance, and there is no one else who will do this for me...”
What I sense from the clients' words is that the situation is similar to my own experience of going to various hospitals and seeking salvation when my symptoms would not improve.

The sense of relief when a light shines on something you thought was unsolvable is the same, regardless of whether it is an illness or any other situation.

As I have written in my previous notes, when I started my sole proprietorship, I vowed that I would never work in a way that would exhaust myself. Of course, that will not change in the future, but having suffered from a difficult illness myself, I have come to understand the feelings of those seeking services, and I feel motivated to continue providing sincere service.

Perhaps God has been making me suffer from these symptoms for the past year and a half so that I would realize this.