4 weeks after blast injury, tinnitus still remains

Hi everybody!
I wonder if there are people who have had a blast injury and recovered even later than a month after it happened.

4 weeks ago an idiot lit a firecracker near me, since then I have a tinnitus.
First my left ear was a little deaf for a few minutes, then that went away, but the high frequency tinnitus (about 10 kHz ) remained.
It was and probabaly still is mostly in the left side of my head, but often is in the whole head.

I have gotten cortison treatment for 3 days right away, it didnt help.
Got some pills that are supposed to improve blood flow, but they had side effects so I couldnt really take them.

I am in total despair, it has completely taken me out of my life and all relationships suffer because of the impact the tinnitus has on me.
Doctors couldnt help me and are as powerless as I am myself.
I keep hearing that I have to fade it out, have to look for distraction.
It seems like a bad joke to me.
I try to distract myself, but it's basically impossible.
Too many feelings, hurt, anger, sadness, despair plus the factual sound that has entered my life and is now there 24 hours, 7 days a week.

From the beginning when it happened, I laid all my hope on the tinnitus going away, that's all that counts and all that could help me.
But now, after 4 weeks, I dont see any hope anymore.
Something must have been broken back then, I have never had real issues with a tinnitus before, but the second after the blast, it started and has been constant since.
What is supposed to happen after this long time with no tendency of improvement?

I dont believe in the whole psychological approach, but I will try it, because what choice do I have.
But really, the quietness that I enjoyed in night times now is my worst enemy.
I cant concentrate, I cant feel real happiness.

 

Hi. From what I read on this forum the first six months are the hardest mentally. Been through it done that. Someone told me make tinnitus you're friend and move on I did. Four years now and life goes on, trust me you will get used to it over time and it will just become a minor annoyance. Hang in there bud.

 

Hi.

I am new to tinnitus myself so I am not exactly sure on my facts. I am so sorry this has happened, especially because you have done nothing wrong. It is incredibly hard - I myself said that I felt I could never be happy again.

You will be. It takes time.

Hopefully your tinnitus is not permanent. From the stories I've read tinnitus can disappear after 2 years, and it's only after that it could be considered permanent - and even then that's not a hard fact. I sympathise - I have had tinnitus for barely a week and it is driving me mad! Stay strong and also try to keep calm - stress has been said to make it worse. We are all here for you and the people on this site are FANTASTIC! Listen to them - they know what they are talking about.

Can I ask, have you seen a therapist, preferably one that specialises in T? They will help boost your spirits and can help you learn to ignore the noise. How loud is the noise?

 

Hi to all of you and thank you so much for your kind words and hugs!

I am still struggling to cope with my situation.
On several levels it's just very hard, emotionally and physically.
I still hope it will get better with time, I cant lie, like probably many of us, that is my primary hope.
Maybe to a degree where I dont realize it's even there anymore or which would make me happier if it actually went away.
But it's hard to believe that after the course of the last month.
4 weeks is such a long time already and while I try not to make this a self -fulfilling prophecy, I had a bad feeling about this from the start.
It just felt like something was really wrong.
While initially it seemed like the prime locality of the sound was one the left (where there was also the short feeling of "deafness" right after the blast of the fireworks), it now often is central, sometimes even right.
I am trying not to give that too much thought, but it does sound like the problem has become mainly a neurological malfunction and isn't about something in my ear that may heal.

Only in the last days I have been able to find sleep but only with the help of some light tranquilizers.
Right now I cant work and I don't know if I said it already, but a psychotherapy is planned just to cope with the situation as is.
Some time lately I felt it got a little better for a few hours after sleeping, and for better or worse, my mood was switched from depression to "back to life".
It makes me hopeful on the one hand but scares me on the other one.
This situation, that someone else caused me to be in, is controlling me.
And that is just as painful as the situation itself.
I was on a good way in my life after a long struggle.

It's very hard to find timely psychological help, I was lucky to know someone who offered me 2 appointments just to get started until a specialized therapist can take over in about 3 weeks.
Although that will also be a slow start, it will be a first appointment only, I don't know how it will be continued.

In terms of volume, I couldn't say how loud it is.
How loud is something that you hear from inside your head?
It's so hard to tell, I cant even say if it got better or not, sometimes I just think it's still the same as always and only my perception changes, possibly connected to the medication I take (tranquilizer at night, rheologica at times when I feel desperate, and occasionally tylenol for headaches and eye pain).
I try to minimize the medication but it's hard right now.

 

Hi everybody!
Last week, for about 5 days, my tinnitus had gotten better,.
Yesterday it came back like it had never gone away.
I know people generally believe it's about perception, but I am sure that it wasnt perception but actually had quietened down to a degree that I was hopeful.
People around me also noticed that I was in a better mood less distracted.
But now it's back as annoying as it used to be and once more I feel how it is controlling me.

 

That was a good sign that it got better last week, especially so early into the initial damage, don't lose hope that it will go away, you stand a good chance of that happening ... stay strong and good luck with with seeing the specialist.

 

I agree - even if it has come back, it has gotten better before so i think that it is likely that it will decrease again - hopefully for good. My T is the same - sometimes I can't even hear it, while other times I can't stop hearing it! While it is good news that it gets quitter and louder, it is quite hard to habituate to it

 

Hi Citigirl 13, how did you get T, i see it's very new for you, hope you're ok.

 

Hi Carol. I noticed it after a cold. Had it since the 17th. I went to the doctor and they said that it was due to ear pressure after the cold and gave me a nasal spray. There has been improvement and some times I look for the noise and actually can't find it. It is usually very mild and can only hear it either at night or when the room is quiet. But sometimes it is loud.

I do believe it is air pressure as my ears react when I am driving and go up hills; I swallow and I can hear a noise with my ears. Only one ear has tinnitus. I also have earache.

To be honest it is a bit of a struggle. I have had a few good days but today has been a bit harder. I am going back to the doctor at the end of the week and hopefully they can give me some help. I haven't had a hearing test yet so hopefully I will get one at the end of the week. Am trying to keep positive and, like everyone, hoping it is not here to stay.

Thank you for asking. I see you haven't had your tinnitus for very long either. How did yours start?

 

@citigirl13 Hi again, glad to hear that it's not getting to you too much, i got mine through weakening my ears for many years taking Antidepressants, although i have only taken one every three weeks for lots of years i think it weakened my ears, i had no clue my ears were weak, and maybe a year ago i started taking an Aspirin three times a week ( low dose ) as i'm a smoker and was told this will keep my blood thin and ward off strokes and such like. Again had no idea that Aspirin can be poisionous to the ear ... no mention of that on the label, so i just kept taking it thinking i was doing myself a favour!!! i obviously hurt my ears, and then three months ago my husband got the drill out to do some D.I.Y in our bathroom and the sound was horrific, as the drill bit was blunt, but he kept on drilling and i remember shouting at him to stop, but he didn't ... two days later i woke up with this horrible loud ringing in both ears along with drumming as an undertone, and it has been like this ever since ... if only he had stopped maybe i wouldn't be in this mess, but he didn't and i am!!! Thanks for asking ...

 

wow carol, i guess its not easy for your husband ,knowing that he might be " the cause" of your tinnitus

 

Went to another ENT yesterday.
Now after 5 weeks after the injury he didn't want to destroy my hope but wanted to be somewhat honest also.
So in conclusion he said anything is possible still in general, but the probability of it healing is sinking rather quickly with every week now.
The latter he didn't say, but showed with a descending finger...
Because I am desperate he gave me injections with a local anesthesia behind the ears.
It's called neural therapy.
It's not that expensive.
I felt it got better that day, but I don't know if that was a coincidence, and also today it's just as bad as it used to be.
He recommended to look into retraining therapy, to accept the tinnitus as your friend eventually and see it as a stress sensor.
Rant
If that brain wash works I will try it, but it's brain wash anyhow.
It's not my friend, it's the consequence of some moron physically injuring me and putting me into a depression that is questioning my whole life and career and is most importantly impacting my whole family.
It's not a stress sensor, it's a stress cause, so the capabiltiy to deal with stress is now reduced by far.
I can go much longer if I have no ring tone in my ear.
I cant focus anymore even anywhere near as good as before, because my "friend" is constantly beeping high pitch.
But if it helps to believe in santa, I will.
I try.
The hbo therapy he would only recommend if I also had a hearing loss, which at least I don't notice and the audiogramm didn't show.
Which doesn't mean anything if you ask me because that only compares your hearing now to the hearing of an average group of younger healthy people.
It cant say with complete certainty that you don't hear worse than before I am sure.
Anyway, about this hbo therapy, i don't know.
Some docs and forum members say it's only to make people money and doesn't help.
Others say, they wouldn't recommend it based on the lack of studies that are actually valid and reasonable while others say studies do show that in combination with infusions it does show an improved healing chance.
So, what do you do...I didn't do, because when I was in the time frame to optimally do it if it all, i wasnt in the best emotional state, still aint.
I asked several doctors to give me a ballpark, how long after a blast injury can there be a form of real improvement.
But no one is able to.
I guess I am still looking for someone who is experienced and has seen enough patients to know, is there a chance after over a month for the tinnitus to just go away, or is habituation, therapy and so on they only options now.
I am pretty disappointed once more in the medical system.

 

I have had tinnitus in my left ear for almost three months and I relate to everything you have said. It started immediately after I had a myringotomy in that ear. It was so loud when it first started I will call it screamingly loud. It has quieted down by about 75%. The ent as of two weeks ago says I still have a small hole in my eardrum. Does tinnitus start out really loud for most people and quiet down like this? I'm not referring to spikes where the tinnitus is alittle louder, then quiets alittle, then gets alittle louder again and on and on. I'm talking on a fairly even tone. Do most have tinnitus in one ear or both? I'm just wanting to compare what is happening to me with others. Thanks.

 

Got my T in a fire crackers that my little cousin lit in new years eve. My sound like jet engine with high pitch and it been a months now since I have it. Acceptance and habituation is the best thing to do right now.

Hope someday you get better dude

 

bonjour
j ai lu votre message il est plein d espoir
merci
christophe

 

I just dont buy into the whole thing, "t is your friend, you will get used to it, it's up to you to accept it and move on..."
If that actually worked, even just for the people who say it does for them, this forum wouldnt exist.
But as we know, it does and so do many other forums.
But I will only speak for myself, I cant imagine ever, to accept this. Not because I wouldnt want to, it's just that...
the sound is drilling in my head so much that it's making me insane.
There is no room for acceptance.
For weeks I have been told to hang in there, I did, I do, it's tearing my soul apart, it's driving me mad.
I have been told it will get better, either by healing or by perception, it hasnt.
It actually is worse now, cause it's the same as it used to be, with no hope for healing left.
I have been told to keep up my daily life it would help, it doesnt, it just shows me even more now, how much I lost, how nothing is the same anymore, how after every second of smiling and forgetting there is a deeper fall when the sound squeals again.

Something that many people here but also doctors forget: Tinnitus is a very broad term for something that differs quite a lot in different people.
In terms of pitch, volume, orientation, fluctuation, cause and so on.
But unfortunately too many people dont make the effort to address this.
Oh you have T, so do I and I get along with it so it's possible.
No!
Simple comparison:
I may bleed, and it may be ok, you may bleed and you might die from it.
I have a nose bleed, you have a shot wound.
It's not all the same just because it has the same headline.

The last weeks have been a joke, a terrible joke on every front.
Doctors who have no clue what to do, doctors who tell you to turn on the radio to get distraction..
Sure I can distract myself 24 hours 7 days a week.
But then I will be a homeless person with the addition of insanity.
How do you distract yourself from something that is screaming from inside of you.
It's simple not possible, not if you have a 10khz sine wave in your head 24/7 for 7 weeks soon.

 

Dear Piefke,
How are you doing now?
I am in my worse set back since my T started 18 month ago. I was doing better, but someone throw a fire cracker a few meters from my head .....

 

Try take some magnesium tablets once a day. I read that they can help your ears to recover. I don't know if it will work but it's worth a shot. I'm taking them right now.

 

I am already taking magnesium for a very long time...
The fire cracker accident happened 11 days ago and since that day my T and my sensitivity for sound is almost unbearable, no change in noise level during this 11 days....

 

I wonder how many insane homeless people have tinnitus...

 

Not trying to make you feel worse, my tinnitus started almost 43 years ago. I was up close to a hand grenade simulator when it went off. And to compound the problem it was in a confined space. I felt then much like you do now, but you do adjust. For most of my life the tinnitus was like "white noise" just internalized. Good luck. My Dad had tinnitus too, he had been an anti-aircraft gunner on the USS Saratoga in WW II. And one of my Mom's brothers suffered from tinnitus. He fought as a rifleman in Europe. So I thought if you served you were going to lose hearing and suffer from tinnitus.

 

I have been reading on some forums that quite a few people took B12 at 100mg X 4 pills a day and each of them saw their T go either right down or gone. These were all genuine people writing in - I can send the link if anyone is interested, it is in Ireland.
From what Piefke above is writing. this is exactly how I feel right now.
Does anyone know how he is getting along? Has he posted elsewhere at all?

 

I'm sorry you are suffering so much right now but there is hope. I got T last year--I'm coming up on one year, and I am habituating. Listen to the veterans on the board and try to throw yourself back into your life--doing what you did before T. I know that it is hard but you need to do it. I was in total despair when I arrived here, but now I have my life back. I still have T and I have a life--a good life. You do get used to it but you have to stop fighting it and try to accept it. I did CBT therapy along with a workshop to help my anxiety. I stopped reacting emotionally to the sound and now it is fading on some days. I'm at the point where I have good days and the bad days are not as they were. When I first got T I used to take my computer to bed, playing white noise to drown out the T. Now I sleep with just a fan. I work everyday and I no longer fear T. I know you said you don't believe that making T a 'friend' could work but you don't need to make it a friend. You just need to convince yourself that T is not a threat to you. If you can do that then your brain will help--it will stop monitoring it all the time as it is not a threat.

Also, if you need meds to get a good night's sleep or meds for anxiety, see your family doctor. My doctor is very compassionate. He prescribed meds that helped me greatly.

Wishing you better days.

 

@Kathi
So called family doctor threw me out of his surgery because I asked if I could speak with hin in english and he reply in french. I am in france.
No CBT here or TRT or anything.
Weird thing is tho that for the past week, one day I can barely hear it and then 2 days I can hear it and then 1 day not and so on.....
Yesterday evening was in the bathroom for a pee and realised that I could not hear it at all.
Woke up today after about 5 hours sleep and there it is back again..
Supposed to be going for an MRI tomorrow morning monday but really worried about it as MRI machine supposed to be noisy and can cause it from what I have read. What to do?

 

@amandine
I spent a lot of time in France and never had a problem but I speak French although I am not fluent anymore. I noticed that if I spoke French first then switched to English that most would speak English too. A simple 'bon jour' was enough as they see you make the effort. That was in Paris and Versailles though. I thought the people there were lovely and I loved hearing the French language--it has a lilt to it that English doesn't. Anyway, here is a list of English speaking doctors in France from the US Dept. of State.

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/5/acs/paris-doctors.pdf

Also, when I had my MRI it was no problem because I told the tech that I have tinnitus. I used ear plugs and the cuff that holds your head still covered my ears so the noise was not as bad as I feared. I can't speak to CBT or TRT in France. You can ask @Dr. Hubbard (CBT) and @Dr. Nagler (TRT) in the Dr's Corner.

Take your own ear plugs tomorrow just in case they do it differently than here in the US.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

@Kathii,
Hi - do you know if the dye they want to use with the MRI is dangerous or not? Plus I have some earplugs and their cuffs will be enough then to protect my ears. Cos my T now seems to be doing this - one day really low then 2 days normal back then 1 day more low ultra then 2 days normal back and so on.....

 

I had an MRI with contrast (dye) and it didn't cause me any problems. I was very tired after the MRI though. The tech told me that this is normal as they literally flatten your neurons and then pull them up with the magnets to get the images. It's all a lot over my head--but I was okay after it was all over and very relieved when I found out that I do not have a tumor or any abnormalities in my inner ear canal and brain.

You will be okay. Let us know how you make out.

 

Was it an open or closed MRI and was the noise not a problem? thanks for the info

 

It was a large bore machine, not quite an open MRI but roomier than a regular machine. I was very comfortable and it took 20 minutes for the part without contrast and 20 minutes for the part with contrast. So, only 40 minutes in total and they put a warm blanket on me when it was done. The noise was alarming at first but not nearly as loud as I thought it would be.

Don't forget your earplugs. They will most likely have them but it's good to be prepared.

 

@Kathi
This will be in a central hospital so expect it to be closed....what about those sound levels then....Cos mine is going down to practically gone for one day and then every 2 days high again and then down one day etc.....