@Damocles , I am doing my best man. However it is really bad since yesterday and I consider not using this drops anymore and letting my ears rest. Do you think if unless I clear the wax the spike will stay the same? Have you had such experience before?
Since I do not have any other test except audiogram, I am not sure if my ear drums are intact. In the drop instructions, it is mentioned that they should not be used in case of perforated eardrum.
Cue is used for clearing ear canal irrigation though. I read many stories for such medicine messing with the tinnitus permanently. However, most of the stories included antibiotics , whereas these drops do not have them -
@Freerunner I think it's unlikely the drops caused the spike. What puzzles me a bit is that your doctor want you to use ear drops prior to a manual wax removal. Usually drops make it soft for irrigation or microsuction, but doctors should be able to remove wax manually with a curette without having the wax softened. If you're uncertain, I think olive oil would suffice instead of the drops. Any thoughts @Damocles?
I consider taking the drops to be the main factor for the spike. 30 minutes after I used them, the hissing became much more intolerable. Also, the fluctuating siren sound in my left ear is now much more louder and consistent and it does not seem to subside. I am just worried if I made things worse.
@Stacken77 Since the start my condition has been worsening.
I initially had only hissing sound which I now think I was going to be able to habituate to someday. However, after a dogs bark in my right ear ( no more than a meter away) my ear has been muffed and I developed electric tone hissing in that ear.
I'm very sorry to hear that, @Freerunner. Do know that I understand, since especially my left ear has worsened threefold since my onset. I'd recommend to use earplugs the moment you step outside, at least in the early days; you don't want to put your health in the hands of other beings. If you diligently protect, I think you will be fine. Don't worry about habituation, you will get there, even if it seems unlikely now.
@Freerunner, I read the list of ingredients for this particular brand of eardrops and couldn't see anything that would concern me. It was mainly just essential oils and preservatives.
Agree with @Stacken77, you would only need to use this product if you were getting "syringing" or "microsuction" done; which you don't want anyway.
If you're going to soften the wax, soften it with olive oil, and get a manual removing done by an ENT (which won't require you to use drops in the first place).
I totally get your anxiety about the perforated eardrum, I had that every time I had to use drops for an ear infection (although I WAS using ototoxic antibiotic drops).
You very likely DON'T have a perforated eardrum though. Despite my fears I've only ever had one once, and that was after blowing my nose while it was blocked when I was 12.
Leave your ears alone for a few weeks. No more drops, no cue tips; nothing.
And start wearing hearing protection (buy some good ear defenders) when you go out and when you're around noisy things at home (like washing up or whatever).
I started to think that I was going to eventually habituate with my initial hiss. However, my condition has worsened two times now and the high pitch noises which even traffic cannot mask is bothering me a lot. I am also 90 percent certain I have a hearing loss from the bark, as still there is no improvement - only higher hiss noise and muffed ear.
@Stacken77 How does one habituate to that? How did you manage to find peace with your condition? Please share some advise as I really need to hear something positive.
@Freerunner I think one can habituate to quite severe tinnitus given enough time, but it can take months or years. I'm forced to use hearing protection 24/7 due to hyperacusis, so it's the only thing I've listened to, and while it's still distressing while having a spike, it doesn't impact my ability to focus, and I can manage the anxiety quite well. From now on; protect your hearing well, and you ought to be fine.
@Freerunner Tones can come and go. During a time I went from having 3 tones to 10. I believe this was due to sensitivity to sound. Most of the tones did fade away, as I believe I have 4 now, so don't worry about that. It isn't necessarily the number of tones that drives distress, it's the objective volume of the tones that do. If something spikes you, try to avoid it. Your baseline may improve with time.
@Stacken77@Damocles Thank you so much guys! Your kind words bring me back some hope after two long exhausting weeks living with tinnitus and hyperacusis.
I do wear earplugs when outside. I saw improvement in my hyperacusis before the eardrops. Can you recommend some good ear protection which I am not going to look like a dork
with when using
@Freerunner Hah, there's pretty much no way around it; you'll look like a dork if you really want to have some good protection. I bike to work in my bulky ear muffs, and I get the stares from people, but my ears must come first. Anyway, I can recommend 3M 1100 foam earplugs, I have a pack of 200 pairs. As for muffs, I have 3M Peltors Optime II, but Peltors X5A is said to be the best.
@Stacken77, are the 3M 1100 foam earplugs good for small ears canals? Or do they have smaller size? Also can you please give some examples as of when do you use foam plugs, when muffs, when both of them? What for example do you use in a car? Thank you that much!
Hey, @Ela Stefan. I think I have regular sized ear canals, and they're comfy for me. I think the 3M 1100 only come in one size, but I think @Damocles can give a recommendation for smaller ear plugs. I use foam ear plugs when outside, and in combination with muffs when driving. For conversations I use high fidelity plugs. I've had to do some experimentation to find what's best for me.
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