Coping with the disease in Austerity-hit Britain

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I have had repeated cholesteatomas since I was sixteen. Ive had three operations - each one successively less successful and Ive been left with quite disabling problems following the last one in 2010. In 2013 my local GP deregistered over 1500 people in this area due to a shortage of GPs; and due to my rural location, I was left with no GP and no access to NHS medical care. Ive struggled with my cholesteatoma for nearly a decade now but I have come to find a route of "treatment" that keeps me going.

Patients are being struck off by their doctor | Daily Mail Online
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2666377/Struck-doctor-As-soaring-population-swamps-surgeries-thousands-told-switch-GPs.html

I take high dose (2,500mg) pure curcumin (turmeric) tablets (12 day) along with garlic oil ear drops for infections and mullein oil ear drops for the tinnitus. I use over the counter ibuprofen to further help with the infection and pain. I was due to have had a BAHA operation back in 2012 but my loss of GP meant that I was unable to access it. However, just before the operation I was given a trial of a bone conducting hearing aid (it looks like a small ipod with a headset that doesn't go over the ears but just in front or behind the ear) which I find far more comfortable than a hearing aid (and cost me less than £20!). Its important to use a hearing aid if you can - Ive found that you get "Musical ear syndrome" if you don't - a form of common auditory hallucination like a really, really annoying ear worm where you hear music or phrases repeated over and over in your head. It's normal with hearing loss apparently - and wearing a hearing aid even for a short time each day can help alleviate it.

Do I recommend this for anyone else? No - see your GP and get a consultant to support you. You can do this. I can't.

Look, there's no doubt this is a very serious condition, and I'm quite sure anyone reading this elsewhere in the world will be aghast as to how someone in Britain in 2019 can be left without medical care. Well, its a reality for far too many people I'm afraid, particularly here in the East of England. I'm one of the lucky ones who has a little bit of medical knowledge to "cope". Yes, I get sick. Yes, I'm deafened. Yes, I get dizzy spells and nausea on an almost daily basis. I deal with it - treat the symptoms as best as I can and get on with living. Ive learnt the hard way - no-one gives a toss if you are deafened, sick or incapacitated.

My coping mechanisms: Learn to lip read and cope. "Ration" your good days to doing those chores you absolutely HAVE to do (such as shopping or dealing with people on the phone) and when you are ill, just take it easy and rest until you are able to rejoin the world again. There are of course many many days when you just can't do things. But there are also a few days - whether in a month or a year - when you can. Embrace them and make the most of them. There's no support - there's just you. You are bigger than your cholesteatoma. Don't let it beat you.

Stay strong and carry on.