Loose Women: Kirsty Gallacher details tinnitus struggle
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GB News presenter Kirsty Gallacher, 46, feared she could be given a brain cancer diagnosis after a scary experience left unable to hear properly. Speaking to the panel of ITV’s Loose Women, the journalist explained how a benign tumour resulted in tinnitus, leaving her unable to “function” while juggling her responsibilities as a single mother and presenting a breakfast show.
Kirsty told viewers how the constant “buzzing” in her ear led to sleep deprivation, which made her extremely early starts at GB News too difficult.
She recalled: “I went to the doctor and she checked me and said ‘You’re very healthy, Kirsty, this is an emergency.’
“And I went ‘Oh my gosh, why? Could it be a tumour?’ And she said ‘Listen, it probably isn’t but you’re going to go and see a consultant tomorrow.'”
Kirsty was eventually sent for an MRI scan and learned she has a small benign tumour in her inner ear canal which was causing the issues.
Elaborating on how this affects her day-to-day life, she continued: “I was doing early morning on a breakfast show and I was getting up at 2.45 in the morning.
“And, so you know, that’s not pleasant anyway. But my sleep has been affected because if you wake up in the night anyway, it’s quite difficult to get back to sleep.
“If you focus on the noise and it’s silent, I often can’t get back to sleep for two more hours.”
She continued: “So actually, I can’t function like that, as a single working mum, doing a breakfast show.
“I had to just politely say that I was dealing with something and I really couldn’t work at that time of day.
“I think that was fair enough, you’ve got to think about your health.”
Presenter Nadia Sawalha asked: “You’ve still got the sounds but have you got your hearing back now?”
“No, it won’t come back,” Kirsty explained to the panel and ITV viewers.
“Oh, you’ll never get it back?” Nadia gasped.
“Not unless it’s removed,” the broadcaster replied. “He did say we might have to think about if it gets worse or if you really can’t manage this.
“It’s not really bad, it doesn’t worry me here, I’m perfectly fine.
“It’s just that it’s not sharp in my right ear as it would be in my left ear.
“It’s not affecting my job, it’s the sleep thing. Getting up that early in the morning is just, you just can’t do it.”
Several viewers sympathised with Kirsty’s condition, taking to social media to explain their own experiences.
Twitter user Karl Womack wrote: “I was born with Tinnitus it’s acute like a dog whistle. Every now and again get a build-up of wax in my ears. I have antiseptic eardrops and olive oil eardrops and my ears syringed.”
Blossom penned: “#LooseWomen hubby has hearing aids for his tinnitus.”
“When I go to bed I ask Alexa to play white noise. It’s programmed for an hour and it’s just loud enough to drown the tinnitus out #LooseWomen,” Sara advised.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.
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