Ruth Ingram hoped for good news.

I had nothing for her.

In 1997, Ingram clipped and saved a column I wrote about tinnitus. At that time, William Shatner said on a TV show that he thought about killing himself because of tinnitus.

It’s hard to imagine an affliction so awful it wo

uld cause suicidal thoughts. Like Shatner, my husband, Chuck, has tinnitus. It’s a constant ringing in the ears or noise in your head, such as buzzing, whistling, hissing, pulsing or other sounds not from an external source. Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy, also said at that time that he has tinnitus. Nimoy said he learned to cope with the noise.

Ingram, 86, first noticed a ringing in her ears some 50 years ago. It would come and go, she said. She was born in Bismarck, N.D., and raised on a farm with 13 brothers and sisters. Widowed twice, Ingram lives in Marysville and enjoys baby-sitting for her family that includes three children, their children and great-grandchildren.

Her hearing isn’t great, Ingram said, but being hard of hearing doesn’t lessen the annoyance of tinnitus.

“It makes it hard to go to sleep,” she said. “It’s a hissing, a buzzing.”

She said religion is her foundation.

“I am active in my faith,” she said. “First Baptist Church in Everett is home to me.”

Doctors told her the best thing to do about tinnitus is to forget about the noise in her ears.

“I could feel sorry for myself,” Ingram said. “Instead I stay busy.”

Through the years, I tried to find my husband a cure for tinnitus.

Chuck said what he hears constantly is chirping crickets. Sometimes it’s so loud, he can’t sleep. Sometimes sleep is the only relief he gets. I plunged into research, but my results weren’t promising.

I heard that gentle tugging on the ear helped.

It didn’t.

I heard that the herb ginkgo biloba helped.

It didn’t.

I heard that taking a manganese pill every day helped.

It didn’t.

Chuck has been told to try to not think about the incessant sounds. Sometimes listening to music takes his mind off his ears.

He seldom complains.

“I try to forget about it,” Chuck said. “Or it can drive you crazy.”

Sarah McCarthy, spokeswoman for the American Tinnitus Association in Portland, Ore., said the group is desperately seeking a cure.

McCarthy said some folks find relief by taking the prescription medication Xanax.

“Some get help through biofeedback and acupuncture,” she said.

According to the ATA website, there are more than 50 million Americans with some degree of tinnitus. Of those, about 12 million have severe enough tinnitus to seek medical attention. And about 2 million patients are so seriously debilitated that they cannot function on a normal, day to day basis.

The first question on the website asks if there is a cure for tinnitus.

The answer is that there is no cure.

That’s the sad update I gave to Ruth Ingram. When we visited, she said her ears had been roaring that morning. They were humming as we chatted.

“I try not to remind myself about it,” she said. “You adjust.”

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451; oharran@heraldnet.com.

Information

The American Tinnitus Association is located at 522 SW Fifth Ave., Suite 825 in Portland, Ore. 97204. Its e-mail address is tinnitus@ata.org and the phone number is 800-634-8978. Its website is at www.ata.org.