#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #beBodyKind
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#hearingloss = #depression
On the pic – how I looked a few years ago might have been deceiving. Behind the mask, there was a deep depression. I was just good at hiding it to survive. This did happen to me. Not being able to hear all of a sudden after a head surgery had made me feel ugly, disabled, not healthy and rejected.
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I wish there would be a process in place to offer #mentalsupport to people who just have undergone the head surgery and are likely to lose #hearing. I am working on fixing this in my project #Activistess
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I could no longer hear people clearly, and all conversations were muffled.
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Even when I told people – “I can’t hear” and “could you please repeat” – it didn’t seem to mean much to them. They raised their voices and repeated, but it didn’t make much of a difference, as I still couldn’t hear. So after some time, I felt like a burden.
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It was easier to stop communicating at all. I was avoiding social events, I had scheduled all my meetings to be on the phone, and I didn’t know how to tell anyone about what I am going through. In the evenings, I was so tired of keeping my ears “tuned” into the sounds that I would have a nervous tick around my eyes.
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I was depressed. Hearing Loss often has this effect on mental health. Sadly, this is not discussed openly … ⠀
I must honestly say that wearing #hearingaids gave me back my mental health and sanity. #confidence is everything.
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Please be kind to your loved ones and yourself. Hearing health is as important as mental health and physical health.