5 Months with Tinnitus

I damaged my ears at an event in a club 5 months ago. As a result I have had the constant ringing in both ears and a unbearable pressure blocked feeling in both ears.

As each month has gone by,
the tinnitus and blocked ear pressure
has slowly got better, however whenever
I go into places with loud crowds of
people ( restaurants) or places with
music my ears start to hurt and the painful pressure in the ears starts
back at square one.

I wear ears plus but that doesn't help because I can't talk to people properly
and I can't do my job.

I don't understand why I cannot go in
restaurants, shops with music or any place with loud noises anymore( the noise is infact not that loud). Even when it seems I am heading in a good direction and the ringing doesn't seem so bad and the pressure/blocked ears seems to better, as soon as I go to eat outside or I go into a shop with loud music I am back to square one. Inside eardrums feel sore and swollen, ringing gets loud again and ears block up with pressure/pain

Is this process normal??

Frustrated and angry with what's going on.

Any advice from anybody would be helpful.

Thanks
MJ

 

I know for me this process has become my new normal. Similar thing has been happening to me since a couple months ago. All I can say is you are not alone in this and this forum is a great place to find info and support. Best advice right now from me is to try and find a pair of earplugs that you like (comfortable, can still understand most conversations, discrete etc) and use these for when you are experiencing pain from noise exposure. (Personally I use downbeats)

Now this is something that a TRT specialist told me to try to help with becoming accustomed to normal noise again:

Select your most favorite music and listen to it attentively once/twice every single day for 20-40 minutes. The music should have a reasonable stable level without going from very quiet to very loud.

The treatment consists of three-week cycles, repeated as many times as it is needed.
For the first, week, the sound volume should be set for the most comfortable level.
For the second week, you should set the level just one noticeable step louder than the most comfortable level.
For the third week, the sound volume should be increased by another step, that is sound is initially set at the most comfortable level and then increased by two just noticeable steps louder.

Then, this three-week cycle is repeated.

I have not been doing this religiously so I can't say for sure that it will help or not, but I am going to try and start up again in hopes that I can become comfortable to normal sounds. It may be best to talk to a professional to see if this treatment is right for you but I thought it would be good for you to at least know about it. I believe it's called the misophonia protocol. As far as making my T quieter, I'm still trying to figure that out..

Anyways, hope this helps.

 

IMO take it easy for couple of months and avoid even "normal noise" (70db-85dB city traffic, inside of a car in highway 75-90dB, clubs/pubs with lots of chatter 70-85dB) etc.

Biologically humans are not designed to listen constant loudish noise - even if it's something which in considered normal today.

I've gotten my T for 15 months and blocked/clogged feeling in my ears started to fade away when I stopped listening to ENT's and started using ear plugs in everyday noisy environment.

My biggest screw up was that I didn't protect my ears during 2-3 months after onset. I bet that I've had, my hearing would be better now.

 

I am on month five of my T. I have the same problem. It ramps out when the noise is too loud. At a concert you can put in the earplugs and still hear ok but you can't talk to anyone as you think you are talking loud or normal when you are actually whispering. There are so many unexpected things you can't control. Such as the dentist drill or walking past someone's car that just double clicked it so the beep is loud. The other day I was talking on the cell when an amber alert beep started and that ramped up the T the rest of the day. Not much you can do but live your life.

 

The noise erupts in places you wouldn't expect to hear noise. Yesterday I was in line at the post office, when somebody came in and decided to wrap their package on a counter behind me. She was using that brown shipping tape that screeches as it comes out of the roll. Screeeeeee, and she puts a piece of tape on. Screeeeee, she puts another piece of tape on. Screeeeeee, another piece. Then screeeeeeeeeeeee for a really long piece of tape. I wanted to grab the roll of tape from her and smash it against the wall. But all I could do was keep standing in line and pray the noise would stop.

There are a lot of physical/medical afflictions in this world, but not many of them are so much at the mercy of other people's actions as tinnitus is.

 

Last time I was in the dentist office they had a treasure chest for little kids and they had balloons in it. Two kids were blowing them up and letting the air escape with this high pitch noise. I just had to bear it because there was no place to go. Never in my lifetime would I ever think I had to fear normal noise.

 

@Zechariah hiya - thanks for your reply!

I've been really suffering bad pressure and pain in my ear - I suppose my Eustachian tubes are damaged from the loud music exposure from reading all the stories on this forum. I've seen an ENT doctor and he said he couldn't see anything and dismissed me. I explained that perhaps my Eustachian tubes were damaged and he said nonsense no such thing... 5 months later blocked ears, pressure and in pain. Every time I go into a restaurant or a place with music my pressure and pain gets worse. The music is not even loud.

How long was it for you before your pressure and blocked ears disappeared?

Thanks

 

Well tbh, I agree with your ENT. It is highly unlikely that sound damaged your eustachian tubes. If someone states that sound damaged your tubes - he doesn't have a clue about human physiology. If you had barotrauma - maybe then you could have some eustachian tube dysfunction but I doubt it even then.

If you hear so loud sound that it damages your eustachian tube, you will bleed from you ears and die

The clogged/blocked feeling is likely caused by some degree hearing loss/damage. The damage may in haircells/nerves which are responsible of hearing above 8000Hz - this means that hearing loss won't be detected in standard audiogram which goes only up to 8000Hz.

It takes awhile for brain to adjust to the reduced input. For me it took over an year but I still sometimes feel like my ears are clogged. I believe habituation to hearing loss takes even longer if your other ear hears fine but other is damaged (like I have).

If I were you I'd follow EPA recommendation for rest of your life. Volume levels easily exceed 80db while in crowded bar/club with "low volume" music or driving at high way. EPA recommendation was designed so that if you follow it, it is likely that you won't have any measurable hearing loss over your lifetime.

Wrap up of sound level safety standards (including EPA): http://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/spldose.htm

 

@Zechariah thanks for your reply.
I'm at a loss now- ENT say there's nothing-
I have a constant high pitch sound in both ears in addition to a roaring undertone in the left ear. 24/7 pressure, fullness and pain.
My ears feel like they are about to explode.
I can't seem to get the medical assistance I need...I don't know what to do anymore..

 

@MJC, your symptoms on the reaction to normal sounds seem to suggest you have hyperacusis. H is known to make all normal sounds unbearable. They seem too loud and distorted in quality. During my worst time with H, all sounds appeared glassy in quality and were piercingly hurtful. I couldn't tolerate normal sounds such as TV, driving, dishes, restaurant noises, not to say cinemas or parties. I can't even stand my wife's soft voice when speaking too close. Sigh. I bought $200 worth of various types of earplugs and earmuffs, and was ready for a long haul of ear protection. But forum members advised me not to over-protect for fear of developing sound sensitivity or misophonia. So reluctantly the earplugs were coming off slowly. Luckily, as with the case of many people who develop H after T (particularly high pitched T), H just slowly faded away within the year it started. Thanks God.

Dr. Charlie is a retired ENT who said he has on-going H, but he seems to be doing well. Perhaps you can message him about your condition to see if he can advise you about your condition. You can also post your condition in the Hyperacusis forum so others who have H can comment about your condition. Take care and God bless.