Loud Crying and Wailing for an Hour — Afterwards, Tinnitus Louder and Hearing Feels Muffled

Hello All,

Sadly I got extremely upset as my parents were making a ton of noise intentionally out of anger towards me and causing me lots of pain and a huge tinnitus spike. As a result I started yelling and wailing and crying for an hour nonstop and got into a huge argument with my parents afterwards. I have calmed down now but my tinnitus is louder now and my hearing feels a bit muffled. Is wailing loudly for an hour enough to damage hearing?

I also immediately took Prednisone 60 mg and NAC + Magnesium like twenty minutes after. My parents are still making noise downstairs banging their feet and a thunderstorm is coming. I just can't believe it sometimes. My parents don't even acknowledge my tinnitus and hyperacusis and think I am mental and it's a psychological disorder and that it is all in my head.

Thanks.

 

I'm so sorry this has happened to you. Nobody deserves that.

It's very unlikely that your own crying and wailing would cause any sort of meaningful hearing loss, unless you were in a very small, highly reflective room, maybe. It's very difficult to cause hearing loss with your own voice, and your body has an inbuilt mechanism to limit damage as well.

You may have a set back and a spike, but I would try not to add any unnecessary stress and anxiety into the situation. You must try to calm down as much as possible.

 

You are going to be fine with the tinnitus. I have experienced it many times. The crying and stuff for a long time and then a spike afterwards. But it usually settles down after a day or two and a good night sleep. Also keep in mind that you have stressed your mind so the tinnitus tends to get over the roof.

I'm more concerned that your family is being so horrible towards you and making noise when they know your condition. That sounds horrible...

 

So sorry to hear about your parent's behaviour, that must be really distressing. I hope all is OK now.

Crying will not hurt your ears - it's the elevated stress levels that will have temporarily spiked your tinnitus. I get it all the time after a cry/argument. It will go down again.

Just my personal opinion, but I don't think you should be taking strong steroids like Prednisone, as and when. They need to be taken under medical supervision.

Perhaps you could take your parents with you to a support group, or show them some videos online. That might help them to understand the condition better.

 

@TheHonoredOne, sorry to hear you’re having a tough time finding understanding from your family. When I first went to the ENT he mentioned that ‘everyday noise should be fine and noise under X dB shouldn’t harm you’. Unfortunately my family took this as gospel from the professional - even the professionals don’t always understand and your family may not be taking it seriously or think that you’re overreacting. It might be worthwhile sending your parents these links:

https://hyperacusisresearch.org/patient-stories/

https://hyperacusis.net/living-with-hyperacusis/success-stories/

It can be very difficult for others to truly understand hyperacusis and tinnitus. During the early stages it’s also important to rest / protect your ears.

While things are hard now you’ll most likely start to feel better with time. From what I’ve read the hyperacusis goes away for most people within a year. Mine took an agonising 6 months. The tinnitus is there but at a much lower and more manageable level.

 

So they then figured that the best way to help someone with what they believe is mental suffering caused by a psychological disorder is to try their best to make your symptoms worse? Really thoughtful of them...

I unfortunately too have some family members being angry with me not "just go to a psychiatrist and get myself fixed", I have had no choice than to cut all contact with them.

 

@K.A., did you just leave them and live on your own? That's what I am thinking of doing now. My tinnitus keeps getting worse the longer I am here.

And it turns out they swapped my real Prednisone for fake Prednisone, a placebo medicine. I didn't know this until yesterday when I talked with someone online who showed me that they were giving me fake pills.

They have given me four permanent (thus far) spikes in the last week, resulting in four new tones in my tinnitus. I am seriously considering suicide or running away now.

 

I had already left and lived on my own, going to school at that time. However, visits home and phone calls, gatherings, SMS messages - I stopped. Except for maybe very practical stuff. However, not all of my family was like that, so I could still have some contact with a number of them - the ones making me more miserable was affected by me not being "available" anymore.

The stuff with fake medication is actually on an even higher level of concern than them making noise... I don't really know what to say but that I am truly sorry the people that are near you does not want to help you but are doing quite the opposite.

There is only a very very very small change the spikes are permanent, that would take so much dB and time that they would probably induce hearing issues and/or tinnitus on themselves. But being in a mentally challenging state is no good for getting spikes to improve. The spikes will however most probably subside when you are able in the future to get on your feet and stabilize.

Question is (for you to find out unfortunately) how to stabilize. Are you able to take a "long vacation" at some other family members, friends? Maybe indefinitely long...
I really believe your case is one that could improve dramatically, if given the right circumstances to "heal".

 

Have you considered contacting an attorney? That is child abuse. I would have physically harmed my parents if they had done that to me, but not advocating for any aggression or violence here because this isn't really the place for that kind of talk but regrettably sometimes it has to be done to set boundaries. I got beaten up as a kid and am no stranger to mistreatment so I am not at all concerned about attacking someone if they cross a bright line.

Please talk to a lawyer. You are not outside the time limit on statutory limitations.

 

@TheHonoredOne, how are you know? Hope your situation is better both concerning your tinnitus and your parents