Confused: I Realized I Could Not Tolerate the Noise of the Hair Dryers from Other Seats

Hi all

Not sure if any one of you have had any similar experience.

I have T and mild H, of which the latter increased because of recent spikes in T.

When I go to the hair salon, I normally just need to plug the ear plugs when my stylist is going to use the hair dryer. However, during my recent visit, I realized I could not tolerate the noise of the hair dryers from other seats, which are a distance away from me. It still sounded loud and irritating to my ears even with ear plugs in. The sound metre on my phone hovered around 70 db and I actually found the sound of the dryer on me more tolerable. It just does not make sense to me. I ended up wearing ear plugs through out my time there, which distressed me. After my recent spikes, I noticed certain noises like music in the gym, busy traffic still sounded loud even with ear plugs in. This has never been the case prior.

I wonder if this is just due to H, which I hope will abate eventually, or my anxiety of exacerbating my T?

 

Be careful not to wear plugs all the time in normal environmental noise cause that can promote H.

 

Hi Karen, I have had it for a few years and it tends to worsen when there's a spike. This episode is worst than my previous experience. It used to get better over time, which I hope it will be the same this time round.

I am seeing a ENT next week to check out what the hospital's tinnitus programme can offer.

 

Karen, by your comment (#2) it sounds like you are saying we should expect H to no longer be an issue, after time. But, there are people who have it for many, many years (= still have it after years).

I consider myself new to H (Nov. '13), so I really don't know. When asked, people who have H have said to me that it cannot be known if this will go away or I have to deal with it for the rest of my life.

I know I don't want to be given false hope. To me, there's a big difference between "might" and "should".