Loud Sneezes

Hey guys.

So I am working at the office and the person next to me let out a loud freaking sneeze that scared me (mostly because I was really concentrated) and now my ear is a little muffled and the tinnitus is raging.

Should I be worried? I haven't gotten this physical response in my ear from loud, sudden noises before

 

Hi Fangen! I can relate with this, as I have a few co-workers that talk loud, sneeze, or cough extremely loud as well.

You said that you haven't had your tinnitus react to loud noises before. Did the noise perhaps startle you? Stress and anxiety can absolutely cause tinnitus to spike, or even just SEEM like it's spiking, because your body can go into "protection mode" and is looking for anything that can be a threat.

BTW, love the avatar. Overwatch is fantastic. What platform do you play on?

 

I have had cars honking and sirens going off (of course I hold my hand over my ears when they come by, so loud) and things like that, but I don't know if the stress combined with the startle was just setting off the tinnitus (and/or anxiety). I hope it is just reactive to the sound right now, or that I am just in a general stress due to the workload today. I don't know, sneezes can be loud but I am sure I've been subjected to louder noises. A sneeze is only a second or so, but the reaction of my tinnitus just scared me into being worried I suppose

I play on PS4! More than happy to play with you if you are on PS4 too!

 

@Fangen It's understandable to be worried about any sudden change in your tinnitus. We're all here because we're a bit high strung . I feel confident that it will settle down when you're a little less anxious or stressed out. Increases blood pressure can make your tinnitus spike as well.

I play on PS4 too! I've been a little absorbed in Life is Strange right now, but I definitely want to check out Ana! If you want, shoot me a PM with your gamertag and I'll add you!

 

Thank you for the kind words. My tinnitus has been going on for almost 10 months now, I have had a lot of scares and up and downs, never really where my ears have reacted this much. Which is why I suddenly threw logic out of the window and went into full catastrophic mode. Hopefully it goes back soon
I'll shoot away a PM to you now! As you already can tell, D.va is my main but I think I am a fairy decent Mercy too (unless the team decides to split up all over the map and leave me with the enemy team!).

 

@Fangen Did your tinnitus go back to normal level? My grandmother just sneezed about 1 meter away where I was sitting. Scared the crap out of me. My right ear feels maybe little full or maybe I am just imagining it. I have read that sneezes can be as loud as 120 dB.

 

I'm a loud sneezer just naturally. Lol, if it was voluntary, I would stop because it freaks me out to think I could make my tinnitus worse, but I really can't so I just accept it. Sneezes are of short duration and should not cause damage, otherwise we would all have significant hearing loss and possible tinnitus. I worry about things happening (loud sounds) all the time, it is frustrating but I am learning to accept things and move on after because thinking and worrying about the incidents always makes it worse with the anxiety and stress of it. But I feel the same way about loud noises... but I try to just keep on going forward and learn from the events if possible.