Another Question About My Spike

Hello again,

I was doing really great, my T did not bother me at all and it was nice and quiet and easily put in the back of my brain where it belonged so I guess I got abit overconfident that I did not need my earplugs.


So Friday we went to a busy restaurant, sounds where around 70-80 DB with peaks to 90 DB, we where there for 3 or 4 hours, I worse earplugs for the last hour or so because the noise started to annoy me.

I was abit worried when i got home but just took a Xanax and went to bed and the next day it was ok.

Saturday another busy day where we went to a convention where it was extremely busy, no music or anything but alot of people talking with sound levels around 80-90 Db , in the evening we went to the mall and I put my earplugs in before going and when I was waiting in the store some Djembe drums started playing next to the store for an hour (with short pauses between), this annoyed me greatly but I could not leave because I was changing my contract for some things and it took time to get sorted, my plugs are custom made (15 DB)

In the evening it was abit louder but again I took a Xanax and the next day was abit louder but ok.

On sunday we had a small birthday party for my wife and family was here and it was quite noisy (with a cork plopping from a champagne bottle next to my head and an idiot laughing very loud), it was a couple of hours.

I tought these are all normal sounds as noone needed any ear protection.

But the thing is my T has spiked very badly now and on top of that I have a bad tootache, will this have damaged my hearing and will this spike go back down again?

I am blaming myself for being too careless, I tought only rock concerts and extremely loud machinery required ear protection but apparently I was wrong.

 

Let me explain - perhaps for the final time - something that a number of people on this board do not understand - not to mention doctors: there is a significant difference between what a healthy ear and a non-healthy ear can tolerate (in terms of db-levels).

I leave it, as an intellectual exercise, to figure out what to do when facing noisy situations in daily life.

And if you are part of the I-am-worried-about-overprotection-community (which has number of followers on this board), then the only solution is to stay at home all day - for the rest of your life.

 

Hi Bart, I think you should be ok. If it will make you feel better, I was having one of my best days ever, T was hardly noticeable when, like a fool, I wasn't wearing ear protection and my bicycle tire exploded less than two feet way from my head while I was pumping air into it. My tinnitus immediately spiked and has done it's usual ups and downs but doesn't seem to want to completely mellow down to the level it was at on that fateful day before the explosion. I'm guessing over 150 dB on that tire explosion.

 

Bart, hopefully it will calm down...give it some time and stay far away from loud noises. I have learned this the hard way. Last month I went to a restaurant and it was so loud I left. Do what is best for you... even if it suxz...lol. I couldn't go to my nieces 10 Year Anniversary Live Strong Party (she has been fighting cancer for 10 years) and I was very sad...but I knew that there was going to be lots of people and worst a DJ and Speakers....LOL. Anyways...life has changed indeed for me but it goes on.... and we go on. I'll say a prayer for you.

Sorry but this actually made me laugh... It reminded me that when my dad comes to visit me he talks and laughs sooooooooooo loud it actually hurts me and I stay far from him. Be well.

 

Sorry you have the spike. In the beginning, I was tip-toeing around T just not to aggravate it. After a while, I say what the heck. I use prudence but not let T control my life. Here in ATA you can find a sound db guideline and perhaps you can refer to it for sound protection. Use prudence as each person may have different sound tolerance.

http://www.ata.org/for-patients/how-loud-too-loud

 

@attheedgeofscience

I agree with you to an extent. But would stop short of saying there's a difference between what a healthy and damaged ear can tolerate. In theory that statement is correct but there is just as much evidence to back up the claim that a damaged ear is no more susceptible to damage as a healthy ear.

No one can really predict what will happen with their Tinnitus, you could live out the rest of your life as a recluse wrapped in cotton wool and it could still get worse.

Polar opposite is the slew of professional DJ's + Musicians with Tinnitus who continue to work in their profession around dangerous levels of noise who have just taken reasonable precautions and found their Tinnitus has never gotten any worse.

 

@Bart

You're experiencing exactly what I am at the moment and I have been through it three or for times ago. I'm not sure whether it has worsened now or all the other times (at least once, though), but I do know that the worrying does cause the T to appear louder. (At least that is what I think, unless it actually has faded over time.)

 

Thanks for the replies,

I will try to stay positive about it and hope it will go back down again , what else is there to do.

It is abit discouraging to get smacked in the face everytime you think you are making progress.

Btw it went down abit today but still not from where it was before the weekend.