Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Yesterday morning, I woke up and immediately cursed. My air conditioner was making a strange noise and I just thought that there couldn't possibly be a worse time of year for it to give up on me. We've had record heat here in the past week or so and, combined with our 80-95% humidity, the lack of my bedroom air conditioning unit would make for a very unpleasant time indeed.

I went to use the bathroom and at that point realised the humming wasn't coming from my air conditioner at all, but from the inside of my ears!!! Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm just a constant, fairly loud hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm not an alarmist when it comes to little aches and pains and hummmmmmmmmms, but a few other things have been going on lately which, when put together with this new and incessant hummmmmmmmmmmmmm, leads me to worry a little bit:

1. I seem to have developed a tendency to tilt to the left when I get up in the morning, to the point I've toppled over a couple of times, luckily onto my bed!

2. I have had, over the past couple of months, about four incidences of peculiar vision - not dizziness or blurred vision, but what feels like the vision from my right eye passing to my left, and vice versa. No just a mild sensation but so strong that I have to stop what I'm doing and close my eyes for a minute or two.

3. I've had a persistent headache which comes and goes, it's usually with me for a day at a time then it disappears for a week or so.

4. Over the past couple of weeks, I seem to have developed motion sickness, something I've never in my life suffered from. Now, however, the five-minute taxi ride home leaves me considerably nauseous.

5. When going upstairs recently, I've misjudged the placement of my foot on one or two steps.

I went to the doctor today, that's how concerned I became when I started adding things up. And of course googling led me down a path to possible brain tumour and aneurism. So I have a referral to the Otorhinolaryngologist (now I know why we call them ENT specialists!) on Wednesday, where he will look further into these symptoms. I have to say the GP wasn't particularly concerned, in fact he said that I probably just need more sleep and to get my eyes tested. I told him they were tested only three months ago so I'm sure it's not that and as for sleep, I get plenty of catchup sleep over the weekend. Thinking back, the 'more sleep' prescription of his seems to be pretty standard whether for an eye infection, a viral infection, a UTI or this damn humming in my ears!

What needs to be said is that I don't have music plugged directly in to my ears, in fact the last device I had which required earplugs, was a Sony Walkman - an original Sony Walkman, the big yellow plastic 'Sport' version, for cassette tapes. That should give you a clear idea of how long ago that was. I don't use a mobile phone much at all, not even every day. My tv sound level is mid-range, as is my hi-fi. Yes, Hong Kong is a noisy place, but I don't go to noisy bars or clubs. I avoid any and all jackhammering on the roads and haven't had a pile-driver close enough to do anything but make my building shudder a little.

So, I'm just wondering if anyone else has had these symptoms collectively, or even any of them individually?