4 Days Ringing, Will It Go Away?

Hi All.

I am seriously worried and depressed over the ringing in my right ear which occurred Saturday morning May 12th.

I was at a bike rally festival and we were next to the speaker for about two hours Friday night, watching a rock band play. At the time I was aware it was noisy but didn't feel deaf or anything.

However the following morning I had a slight ring in my right ear. Please bear in mind I had never had this before and didn't worry too much about it.

Later that day, my boyfriend and I went to an outdoor shooting range. We both got an assault rifle 15 and we weren't provided with ear protection.

Stupid me, I went along with it and finished a magazine, each shot hurting my right ear. Apparently the bullets weren't real and pretty much everyone, including kids, were having a go.

I know you're all thinking I'm a fool, and I am, totally agree. I hate myself right now and am absolutely devastated by my actions.

The ringing is still there now, 3 days later and in total 4 days.
The pitch is high but not very loud, only noticeable in a quiet room.
I never go out clubbing or to concerts, last time I was exposed to a loud noise must've been 2 years ago. I also have a cold the past week.

I'm so so so worried that I have no chance of recovery now after adding to it by going to the shooting range.

Please, does anyone have any advice? I'll be seeing my doctor on Friday. Will the ringing ever go away? I can't bear it.

 

How is this possible? Can you sue the shooting range?

I've read hundreds of threads here and this is by far the most asked question.
The answer is every time the same: NOBODY KNOWS. For some people it goes away, others it doesn't. There is no treatment.

 

Might want to try a course of prednisone, a.s.a.p., to improve chances of recovery.

 

ask your doctor for prednisolone as soon as possible! of course it can go away, sooner or later...protect your ears now and if you still have cold take care you can braethe through your nose (that your nose is clear)...but steroids can really help you!

 

Will it go away? After 4 days, probably not. Being really real with you right now. A lot of people on this website say "You don't really know until you get to the 6 month line where your considered chronic." It's very nice of them to give you hope and I'm not really trying to destroy your day, but being realistic, yeah this is probably going to stay with you.

It's okay to mourn for your physical loss. I have had to over the course of 3 years from my chronic pain. However, life doesn't stop and honestly if you can only hear it in quiet rooms, it's really not that bad.

 

What's done is done. Keeping your stress levels down is a must. Stress/anxiety, can possibly make the situation worst and possibly increase the ringing and make it louder. You still can live a good life, even with your ears ringing. It will take some adjusting, but it is very doable....

This board and myself will always be here... to support you and those that suffer

 

HI @Farah

You have said that you haven't experienced tinnitus before? If this is correct and you don't normally listen to loud music or wear headphones, there is a good chance that the tinnitus will reduce to a very low level with time and could possibly go away completely! Indeed, it can. Please listen keenly to what I have to say and if you take my advice, I believe you will be giving yourself the best chance possible of what I've mentioned above of happening.

Firstly, please follow the advice @fishbone has given you. Secondly, I advise you not to use headphones even at low volume. In fact never use headphones to listen to any type of audio again even when your tinnitus reduces, which it will or goes away completely. Please read the post below and click on the links below it and read my articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View and The Habituation Process.

Try and stay calm and use sound enrichment during the day and night. More about this is explained below and in the links.

All the best
Michael

New to tinnitus what to do?

The onset of loud intrusive tinnitus can be very traumatic for most people. I use the words loud and intrusive, because tinnitus comes in many forms and intensities. When it is mild, moderate or occasionally heard in quiet surroundings it is usually not too bothersome and a person can go about their daily affairs quite happily and unperturbed by this anomaly. This type of tinnitus usually comes on gradually and in some cases it’s associated with hearing loss, as we get older and the usual treatment is the wearing of hearing aid/s.

Tinnitus can be caused by other things: an underlying medical problem, build up of ear wax (cerumen). Jaw problems. Some medications and even irregular blood flow through the body causing Pulsatile tinnitus. There are a plethora of other conditions that can be responsible. However, the most common cause is exposure to loud noise or music that has been played at high levels that has affected the cochlea in the inner ear.

This type of tinnitus can be loud, intrusive and very debilitating. Often leaving a person at a loss and not knowing which way to turn to escape the nightmare that has suddenly come upon them. Your Dr has probably told you, it’s tinnitus and nothing can be done, you’ll just have to learn to live with it. I remember those words as if it were yesterday resonating through my mind and thinking, live with this for the rest of my life, impossible. So I fully understand how difficult it can be for someone new to this condition to take this in and believe it to be factual.

If you are having difficulty sleeping you might have been advised to try a night time sedation or an ant-depressant to help cope with the stress and anxiety that often accompanies tinnitus. These medications can be helpful especially in the early stages and they don’t have to be taken long term, so it’s something to consider. They can act as a safety net so you don’t become too down.

A referral to ENT will usually be recommended. In the mean time try to keep occupied with something you like doing, as it helps to distract the brain from focusing on the tinnitus. Avoiding quiet rooms during the day by playing low level non intrusive music such as classical in the background can be helpful.

At night a sound machine placed by the bedside playing nature sounds or listening to favourite mp3 tracks or Cds are good. Keeping the volume just below the tinnitus is ideal and set to play throughout the night until morning. It takes time to get used to sound therapy so please stay with it. Whilst in a deep sleep it supplies the brain and auditory system with sound enrichment. Over time the tinnitus is pushed further into the background helping to make its perception less noticeable during waking hours.

In the early stages of tinnitus, if one chooses not to use sound enrichment sleeping can sometimes be difficult and there’s also the chance of the tinnitus becoming more intrusive as sleeping in a quiet room can allow the brain to increase it’s own background activity. In doing so it will also increase the tinnitus making it more intrusive during waking hours.

There is a tendency for newbies to try and cure their tinnitus which is quite understandable. There are many remedies, treatments and concoctions out there. Some affordable others quite expensive. I am not adverse to trying to help myself but want to say, there are charlatans and con artists eager to relieve someone in distress of their money so please be careful. Even tried and tested treatments I wouldn’t recommend a person try until they have been seen at ENT. Often a person after been seen at ENT is advised to wait a while.

The reason being. Many people habituate to tinnitus within six months sometimes a little longer and it has been known to go away. The ear is a very delicate organ and many Drs prefer to wait before investigating further and then suggesting a treatment. If other problems are experienced such as: pain in the ears, deafness, dizziness or balance problems this is of more concern and a person will usually been seen quicker.

It is best to have a word with your GP if you’re feeling stressed or depressed in any way, as previously mentioned there are treatments available. Leaving things alone until ENT advise you of the next step is the best thing to do in my opinion. Don’t try to fix anything or throw large sums of money at treatments that you have no way of knowing whether you’ll get any relief.

It is not advisable to listen to audio through headphones even at low volume and keep away from loud sounds. By all means go out but anywhere that plays loud music then wear noise reducing earplugs.
Take things slowly and one day at a time. Read some of the positivity threads and ask other members for advice. Many people eventually habituate to their tinnitus and go on to lead a happy and fulfilling life even though it may take a little time.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/

 

It’s really important that you don’t push your stress levels too far over this. There’s more chance of your brain ignoring it if you break the obsession with it right away. The more you ruminate the worse it will get. My advice would be to stop reading about it altogether and try and distract yourself with something else that’s more meaningful, and requires your full attention. Do not sit and listen for it, and I’d advise you eat well; load up on vitamins and minerals.

Don’t wait and ask if it’ll go in a week, or two weeks, because you’re teaching your brain to hold onto it as something that is important. In other words, don’t make yourself obsessed with it like I did. There is some science behind this theory.

Tinnitus is known to be associated with deeper processing centres of the brain. It's theorised that once signals travel from the ear to the auditory cortex, caudate and putamen, they then make their way to other regions of the brain where more sophisticated processing takes place. This involves memory, and your brain interpreting the meaning of the sound, whilst giving it emotional significance. There are various studies that have been carried out on the brain of people with tinnitus vs people without using MEGs and EEGs. What's usually apparent, is that the tinnitus brains have other areas activated, with neurons firing in synch with the auditory cortex. It's like a complex web of connections. Many believe that the way we deal with tinnitus (especially early on) has ramifications on how the brain learns to deal with the problem. If the amygdala attaches relevance to it, it's likely our emotions will also be caught up in it, creating a heightened perception.

Our behaviour can be an important factor in how the problem gets handled. Some of the overprotection, and avoidance practices, attach significant weight to the tinnitus signal in your subconsciousness. The brain is smart, and will usually learn to ignore it if you don't become overly anxious about it. Loud noise is a common trigger, but the way we deal with the aftermath can lead to further problems if we let it get out of control.

You can seek out more information about this online. Another area of research implicates a faulty gating (filtering) system (which I’ve read about many times in New Scientist magazine),which is jointly connected with chronic pain disorder. I’ll post a excerpt and a couple of linksbelow, but I recommend further research and reading:

“Tinnitus and chronic pain are sensory-perceptual disorders associated with negative affect and high impact on well-being and behavior. It is now becoming increasingly clear that higher cognitive and affective brain systems are centrally involved in the pathology of both disorders. We propose that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens are part of a central 'gatekeeping' system in both sensory modalities, a system which evaluates the relevance and affective value of sensory stimuli and controls information flow via descending pathways. If this frontostriatal system is compromised, long-lasting disturbances are the result. Parallels in both systems are striking and mutually informative, and progress inunderstanding central gating mechanisms might provide a new impetus to the therapy of tinnitus and chronic pain.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26412095/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21220097/?i=2&from=/26412095

 

Hi @Ed209,

Thanks much for your remarkable writeup. Regarding other areas of the brain that are activated, I was wondering if this would include the 12 major cranial nerves that exit the brain stem--especially the vagus nerve.

The reason I ask is because I experience tinnitus in a way I've yet to see described on this board. It feels like it's centered in my throat area, and extends out from there. And I tend to feel it as a vibration as much as a sound. The intensity of it, and location of that intensity varies by the day, and sometimes fluctuates from moment to moment.

At it's most intrusive, it wanders (juts around) at very high speed throughout my head and mouth, which sometimes leaves me with a gagging feeling. But it often extends down into my heart, giving me a heavy hearted feeling. It can also go down my upper arms, but more often, extends down to my gut, which leaves me with a nauseous feeling.

Which brings me back to the vagus nerve. It extends through all these areas, and I've come to believe is responsible for the gag reflex, heavy heartedness, and nausea I experience. The vagus nerve is also primarily responsible for initiating a parasympathetic, or calming response in the body. It seems most people new to tinnitus seem to struggle mightily with restoring a calm to their systems, which indicates to me possible major vagus nerve involvement.

I don't expect you to have any definitive answers to this, but I would appreciate any thoughts you may have. My best therapy so far is doing what I can to stimulate my vagus nerve to help restore some homeostasis. Cold showers seem to be especially helpful. THIS 10-Min. VIDEO encompasses a lot of my own perspectives on the importance of stimulating the vagus nerve (I think the video is excellent and succinct). -- Thanks for any feedback!

@Farah, nobody can say for sure what's going to happen to your tinnitus. But from my own limited understanding of tinnitus dynamics, I think there's a very good chance it will improve significantly, or disappear altogether.

All the Best!​

 

Everyone does foolish things in their life, sometimes we get away with it and sometimes we pay a penalty.
I don't know if your T will ever fad away, but my guess is it will.
I have had acoustic trauma T 2 times in my life, both times it was screaming loud, painful T. The 1st time it faded to zero in about 2 years, this time it has faded 90% so far in about 19 months.
The concert you went to could happen to anybody, lots of people don't wear ear protection at concerts. The shooting range is concerning, as anybody with a fire arm absolutely must be responsible enough to ensure everybody has ear protection in. The fact you say these were not "real bullets" tells me these were probably not High Velocity .223 rounds, because if they were you would be deaf right now.
IMO.....You will probably make a full recovery, but it might take 6-24 months.

 

Hi Lane, your tinnitus does sound unusual, however, the vagus nerve is often used in various treatment modalities. One such method uses an implanted electrical device that stimulates the vagus nerve directly. We can also stimulate it via our breathing, and there are various methods about this posted online.

Have you seen a specialist about your symptoms?

 

Hi all,

Thank you all so much for the replies. They really helped and now, a week later, I've been dealing with it a lot better.
I ignore it most of the time and it usually disappears when I do. I stay away from loud noises and don't let myself get too stressed out by it.
I'm hoping it'll go away but even so I'm not even going to think about whether it will go or not. I'll just focus on being positive and thankful that despite having a ringing in my ear, it's not loud enough to bother me too much.

But I've definitely learned my lesson and will protect my ears at all costs from now on.

Thank you all again.