4 Days In

Hi! I am trying to stay positive, visualize myself recovering, and preventing further damage. I went to a lofi/improv concert and stupidly did not wear earplugs even though I had the opportunity. The night I got back from the concert my hearing was a bit muffled and dulled, but I still could hear pretty well. This lasted for about 2 days. Then the muffled/dull sound went and I was left with a buzzing (sometimes very, very quiet) hissing sound. It sounds like a plane is constantly flying overhead.

Currently I'm on day 4 of this. I am keeping hope and visualizing that this is temporary and this is a challenge and a lesson I must learn for not being wise and protecting my senses. However, I spent several days blaming myself and wallowing in self pity, but I am done with that. I am focusing on success stories, meditating, listening to white noise/quiet music, and tomorrow I will begin more holistic treatments such as ginkgo biloba, garlic oil, clove oil...etc...

I am a 21 year old professional classical musician with a lot of hope right now!

 

You have to realize that your ears were subject to loud noises for longer than the average person - I assume you learned the violin at a young age and violins can be quite loud and close to the ears

Damage is cumulative

Perhaps you need to start wearing good foam or solid silicone ear plugs in your line of work if you want a long career in this field

None of these remedies you mentioned is going to make a difference for noise trauma - ginkgo biloba thins the blood and can help a bit but dosage is key .

The only proven drug for acute acoustic trauma is steroids such as prednisone and preferably injected into the ear directly, this and very early on as the window of opportunity is very short.

This is what I would do in your shoes and asap

 

What is the recommended dosage?

 

My advice to you is similar to the advice I gave earlier today:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...er-using-in-ear-headphones.25620/#post-295164

 

1 Tebonin/Egb761 per day
medical grade gb used in studies
i take this - expensive stuff but...

 

Visit an ENT ASAP and see if you can get the prednisone shot. Chances are it would would reverse the damage. It is important that you stay positive. Anxiety and depression are the initial response for most new sufferers but it definitely subsides with time. You are still in the initial stages and the chance of remission is high. Keep up with the healthy eating . Reduce salt and sugar intake and stay away from stimulants such as coffee for now.

 

Hopefully this quickly resolves naturally, but I agree with Nike - see an ENT ASAP. Some of the possible treatments are time sensitive, such as steroid treatments (oral and intratympanic), HBOT, etc.

 

If anyone could have told me, and If you can do it, take 2 mg Klonopin/Clonazepam 15-day brainstorms stop, and it does not let tinnitus establish itself. 3 doctors have done this for 7 patients (just they prescribed it 30 days) and people did not develop permanent tinnitus.

It is second class narcotic but it is worth thousand of € if used in first days, I wish I had it so that T does not remain when it is initiated and remains several days (2 weeks) it establishes itself in the brain...

 

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I have been trying to get an appointment with an ENT for the past couple days, but everything is after January. So I am calling again today and really pushing for an ENT referral (I'm changing insurance providers in Jan which complicates things). I am doing by absolute best to make an appointment.

I have bought musician ear plugs and plan to wear them every time I am playing with my orchestra or go to concerts of any kind. I also am purchasing regular foam ear plugs today to wear when I'm in noisy restaurants or any other loud areas.

I do believe in natural health and holistic healing so I will be trying all of the holistic treatments even if people swear that they have not helped them. I have been cured from diseases and other ailments using holistic medicine. I also have a B.S. in nutrition and I happen to be vegan, so all the dietary T triggers do not exist in my dietary lifestyle. I will, however, use modern medicine in a case such as this in addition to the holistic medicine. I will ask about the prednisone shots.

 

Kind of sad that it is so hard to get into an ENT early on with this condition. They normally don't see the onset of tinnitus as an "emergency". (And maybe it is not compared to the other emergencies that they deal with.) In any case, ask to be put on the cancellation wait list, and you may be able to get an appointment sooner. This brought my wait time for my first appointment down from 6-7 weeks to just about one and a half.

For hearing trauma, I understand that predisone needs to be administered rather promptly for there to be any real chance for it to help.

 

I have one for the 4th of January and the concert was on the 14th of December. I called and they said that the soonest they could get me in is the 4th of January, but I can call everyday to see if they have cancellations and that is what I will do!

 

You're very early in so it's too early to know what's going to happen. Many people have temporary tinnitus from a hearing trauma event that lasts only a few days/weeks, and others do recover completely but over a longer time frame.

If you notice it changing from day to day or every few days, that's a good sign (well, as long as it is not getting definitively worse).

Best wishes.

 

It does changes in the rhythm and it changed from 2 days ago. I am hoping and visualizing that this is only a temporary ailment. I know that so many people have it far worse and for their entire life so I know I am lucky that it’s not worse. It’s just so so frustrating and annoying and its driving me a little crazy. I definitely have a newfound respect for those dealing with this for longer periods of times and with louder sounds.

 

Just a thought. Maybe you could do a walk in visit to a med center and hope the attending doctor will give you a prescription for prednisone if you think that will help, but IMO, if you have not had any tinnitus problems before, you will be fine on your own, it will just take time.

 

I really really really want to stay away from oral steroids due to a bad reaction with steroids in the past. :/ But your optimism is so encouraging. I really hope this goes away on its own.

 

That is likely way too late. I am not immediately aware of studies that provide evidence of a correlation between steroid treatment and a reduction in tinnitus, but there is one study that illustrates the relationship between hearing loss recovery and intervention with steroids (as well as piracetam). The study was done in such a way as to highlight how efficacy decreases quite rapidly the more a person waits (hours, not days). The group divided participants into three groups:

• those who received treatment within one hour
• those who got treatment after >1 hour but <16 hours after acoustic trauma
• those who received intervention after 24 hours

The results were statistically significant for the first group. The study went on to mention the following in the conclusion:

The study can found here...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18463885

...but requires a subscription to access it in full (but I have shared the conclusion – in part – above).

 

Thank you! I have a subscription to PubMed so I will read the article. I am making best of the situation and doing what I can. Thank you!

 

I think it will, but it may take some months.