New to tinnitus and the forum

Greetings,

It seems I've given myself 'the gift that keeps on giving.' It started not quite two weeks ago during a marathon of yard work. The day's projects started normally enough -- lawn mowing and string trimming -- but this time I followed up with an overdue task. I had several sections of old privacy fence that needed disassembling, and I set out to do it with a hammer and crowbar to separate the nailed slats from the beams.

I seriously underestimated the consequences of the accumulated stress to my unprotected ears. I finished one big section of fence, but when I came inside I was shocked to find my ears in worse condition than after any concert I'd ever attended. Ringing, pressure, that "plugged" feeling, and new to me was a static-like distortion to certain sounds.

Fortunately, the worst of those symptoms subsided within twenty-four hours, but since then I've had the persistent sounds associated with tinnitus. Sometimes it's a soft buzzing like far-off cicadas in both ears, but on bad days hissing drowns out the "insects", sounding like gas under pressure escaping a narrow pipe. Certain muscle contractions -- a hiccup, yawn, or suppressing a yawn -- produces a much louder chirping, like agitated birds or crickets, for the duration of those movements.

I'm lucky so far that my new companion noises haven't been disrupting my sleep or daily activities. I haven't seen a doctor or specialist yet, but from everything I've learned in the past two weeks I'm not looking forward to rounds of expensive tests and uninsured, ineffective "treatments." I've started a diet log and experimented with ambient sounds, and of course now I'm wearing ear plugs during any activities that could challenge what's left of my cilia.

I'm glad to find a forum where people understand the peculiar nature of this problem. No doubt I'll be doing more learning than contributing for a while, but I hope some day I can be of more help to others. Thanks for listening.

 

If this is less than two weeks ago and you are absolutely positive it was caused by noise trauma, I would suggest contacting a hospital ASAP. There is this short period of time right after the onset of tinnitus when many people experience complete or some relief from prednisone steroid + magnesium. I didn't get prednisone because the cause of my T was unconfirmed. I regret it, maybe it would have helped me.

 

DC -
Detroit has one of the top tinnitus specialists in the US at the Henry Ford Hospital. Go to their website and search "tinnitus". A Dr. Siedel (? Can't quite remember his name), is one of the more prominent members in the ATA.

(Fish: I wasn't aware that a predinsone + magnesium cocktail is helpful. I had a 6 day predinisone treatment, but it didn't help me at all. My "T" isn't noise induced though.)

My daughters' band teacher had noise induced tinnitus (from hearing a drum) , which lasted 6 months. Amazingly, he said that it went away. I asked him what treatment he had, and he said basically those "Lipo-Flavanoid" vitamins (I tried the same stuff, but it was no benefit). Let's hope your "T" will also go away. If it's only soft buzing and hissing, you're lucky.

 

Karl - I am not sure about USA but here in Poland prednisone seems to be a standard option for acoustic trauma I think. When I visited ER the first time, the ENT doctor decided not to give me prednisone because she did not confirm my T was noise-related. I got to know one person who experienced severe tinnitus after using a drill at home and he was given steroids. It healed him completely! It doesn't work for everyone but if there is a chance, why not go for it.

EDIT: also a quote from wikipedia:

"There is evidence that hearing loss can be minimized by taking megadoses of magnesium for a few days, starting as soon as possible after exposure to the loud noise."

 

Thanks, Fish and Karl. When I can arrange to see a doctor, I'll ask about the prednisone/magnesium. In the meantime, I think I'll pick up magnesium supplements and see what happens.

Karl, I looked up Henry Ford ENTs and I think you're referring to Dr. Michael Seidman?

 

Yes. Dr. Seidman is very active in the ATA, one of the leaders in the entire US.

I suggest that you follow Fish's recommendations, especially since he knows one person who was healed completely!

 

Hey DC, we are neighbors, I am about two miles north of Mt. Clemens.... I am going to check out Dr. Seidman....

 

Hi, Gary! I'm in Royal Oak.

 

Karl,

How did your T start? You said it wasn't loud noise - what was it? I'm still convinced mine was from long term TMJ with muscle strain to the neck and shoulder muscles.

 

Ototoxic medicine. My heart went into atrial fibrialation last October, due to stress. Was given "metoprolol" - a beta blocker - and 325 mg aspirin everyday. Soon began hearing a little ring. In December, the little ring became a lot louder, and I couldn't sleep for almost two weeks.

About TMJ: I also thought that TMJ could be a possible cause for my T. I got a mouth guard that I wear when I sleep.

 

I hear so many things about cures in the future for noise induced T but what about people like us. Did you have popping cracking - I did on the right side where the T is and I did something real physical that I think triggered it - but the hyperacusis is much better but the T goes low and then high - my neuromuscular dentist has me wearing my orthotic all day instead of the night - I was hoping it would be gone - as I'm sure you were - but for the medicine - ototixic meds can be brutal - and I read that many of us on this forum believe stress is a real important factor to the onset of T

 

do you know if TMJ also causes hair cell damage -

 

does anyone know if T can go away after a year or does it depend on what the cause is? if, per say, it was TMJ with neck issues, does it mean it's permanent or can it go away?