After the Initial Ear Protection: How Far Should I Go?

I've heard this before. I wonder how? Does your hearing gets extra sensitive somehow?
I think I might have had this the first few months though, because I was so scared of any noise.

 

I think Ed makes some good points and all others do as well. Do what you think is best, but your ears need some sounds. I use light rain or running water from a slight distance. I've gotten plenty of spikes with subjective T and they were temporary from noise at 85 decimals. I also now have somatic T from a dental visit so I now need to be careful with high tone sounds. In that dental situation I had my neck bend forward. I had a front lower dental implant placed - so my somatic T is related from nerves from jaw to my ears effecting my neck.

The use of many drugs do bother my T. Some of these same drugs are fine for others. Flu shots give me strong spikes for weeks. I wear headphones on a high traffic busy highway. In my area, many highways across over and under each other. Car horns bother my ears. I always remove my headphones in a quiet environment. I will pull off the highway to do that.

I posted a link before for Bill B. where a researcher (right or wrong) said for those with new T and H, should not have audio testing until your ears settle down. Not to use noise blocking headphones or ear devices with sound or tones just after an onset of T and H.

I had a brand new technology of improved 3D scanning from shoulders up. A team of radiologists, brain specialist and other specialists examined the scans. They found problems in my ears, mouth, jaw, nerves and neck that all other testing including MRI testing did not. The new 3D machine machines are silent. They also have the new MRI machine @ 65 decimals at this mental center. The center that I went to was like a MIT NASA space research lab.

 

From my dental visit above, this is what was recommend, plus having a needle placed into ear to separate two touching nerves seen from 3D scanning. Two agreeing doctors say:

Hyperacusis is a very real problem and one that is hard for people to even believe–unless they have suffered from it themselves.

I’m sure that hyperacusis was brought on like you suspect–from the dental work that had been done. Not only could it be from opening of jaw too wide, but it could also be from neck getting out of alignment at the same time, not to mention the sound of the drill. So it could be a combination of factors.

What’s the solution? First thing I would do is get head, neck and jaw all in proper alignment. The muscles, ligaments and tendons to be relaxed and in proper alignment as well.

Personally, I’d start by going to a special kind of chiropractor called a upper cervical chiropractor (you can find one in your area by going to http://www.upcspine.com/ and clicking on “Practitioners” and selecting your state or province. Once he has got your neck and maybe TMJ back into correct alignment, you may have to go to a facial massage specialist or physiotherapist and get the facial muscles aligned and thus relaxed. I wouldn’t be surprised if that will be all it takes. Note that since you has been “out” for some years, it may take several months of treatments before the ligaments shrink and the muscles and tendons stretch/shrink to hold everything in proper alignment again.

 

Fleeting T? Is it fleeting T if you always have tinnitus? Or is that reactive tinnitus? Or hyperacusis? I feel like I need a tinnitus dictionary.

I have young children. It is nearly impossible to avoid every loud environment for a year or two. I am not talking loud like 100 decibels, but more like 80 decibels.

Initially I did for nearly two months. I stopped volunteering, going to school parties, and attending their sports practices. I missed church. I did not take my kids to visit family in another state. You know what happened? I was miserable, depressed and anxious. I was in my quiet house trying to ignore my tinnitus while being acutely aware of just how much of my life I was missing. And during that time my tinnitus got worse, not better.

My tinnitus also increases in volume when I sneeze, sniff, cough, and chew. I don't think my body is trying to tell me to avoid eating.

Those are not particularly loud sounds, which makes me wonder if my tinnitus increases to sounds that fall in the hearing frequencies that I've lost. Does anyone know if that's even possible?

 

Fleeting T is when the sound of T becomes 10 times louder for 30-180 seconds or so.

Reactive T is when you get an increase in T volume (following noise exposure) that can last 1-3 (or more) days.

Hyperacusis is when sounds bother you more than they bother other people. For example, other people might not notice slamming car door, but you will find it to be too loud.

 

Bill: from your post above and from private conversion, 3 specialists that I asked on your behalf said that you have an electric or electronic sensitive condition. I just talk to a electrical sound engineer and he said that it would take 7 seconds for this sound to cause tinnitus without having ESC. An electrical charge for ESC is less than one second if a charge happens near the ear. ESC is a known cause of tinnitus. I explained to you the home testing you need to do. That is, do not use electronic power sources for a full day. Do not use zinc or magnesium for a few days. You have a good chance to clear your spike by doing this. Your spikes have been from electronic use. The sonic tooth brush, the phone and from a hearing test.

Also check outside your home for power lines and utility power sources. Use an electronic tester in your home, your car while running and in your neighborhood. You can't get ESC from a cell phone, but you can from the old land phones. You may have too wear earplugs while using electronic sources.

 

That's very helpful! It even does that when I talk. For some reason, I like thinking that it's fleeting tinnitus. It makes me feel more positive that it might go away in the long run. The loud increase bothers me more than the constant noise. It's like it's trying to get my attention, despite me trying to ignore it.

 

This is exactly what I'm trying to say. Avoiding life isn't a solution, it's an added problem that will add to one's misery. Everyday sounds are just inescapable and largely safe (however you want to define that). People have: screaming kids, barking dogs, environmental noises, dropped plates and cutlery, etc, to deal with everyday. It's part of life, and should not be considered dangerous unless it's something profoundly loud. If we're talking about impulse noise then think more along the lines of powertools, guns of any kind, fireworks, explosives etc). I believe the more likely danger is exposing yourself to sustained noise above a harmful threshold (80db-85db). Obviously, the longer you expose yourself - and the higher the noise is in Decibels - the more at risk you are. However, exposing yourself in this way is largely avoidable. We're talking nightclubs, concerts, loud headphones etc. These are the biggest problems. We can mitigate this by avoidance, or by using earplugs.

Just be sensible; you really don't have to go overboard like many on here would suggest, because this too will exacerbate your tinnitus, and you'll likely end up with other problems. Such as: anxiety, depression, OCD, phonophobia, misophonia etc.

 

What does ESC stand for?

 

ESC - Electrical Sensitive Condition

 

I assume he means electrical sensitive condition as per his post.

 

Google doesn't seem to know much about "Electrical Sensitive Condition", so I'm not sure how widespread a name it is... is it the same as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity?

 

Isn't this just another way of saying electromagnetic hypersensitivity? Or am I wrong. This reminds me of the tv show 'Better Call Saul'.

EHS, is currently hotly debated. I've read many papers and seen some medical documentaries on the subject. Mainstream science still doesn't believe this condition is real (rightly or wrongly). Historically, we all know that it can take a while for things to be proven beyond doubt, and then there can be a paradigm shift.

I've never heard of an 'electrical sensitivity condition', but then again I'm no expert.

 

Yea, you beat me to it. I've never heard of ESC, but I've heard of EHS. In fact, I was watching something about it last week (other than Better Call Saul) lol.

 

I just know ESC as 'electronic stability control' in my car.

 

@Ed209 currently watching season 2 of Better Call Saul. I actually thought that was a fictional illness!

 

The jury is out Sam. It may still be! I believe the common consensus is that it's a somatic symptom disorder. The current science to back it up as a real physical condition is weak.

 

Yes, that's why I was so surprised by the assertiveness of the post by @Greg Sacramento - who claims that 3 "specialists" agree about such a controversial topic.

 

I was labeled with CFS before. Some people fight for that label but I consider it a cheap and easy diagnosis. I noticed it mentioned how many people with CFS/FM would say they feel better when the power would go out. It does seem like I can hear the electricity going through the walls at times.

 

https://wearetheevidence.org/electromagnetic-sensitivity/

Symptoms - Tinnitus

Other articles are in my history that I considered of value: My computer history has pages under Bing, so I will find them in time.

In a study by an electromagnetic engineer who is going to send me information - lists
tinnitus, sleep disturbances, pain in the ears and exhaustion as top symptoms in order
Followed by head pain, headaches
Then followed by dizziness for those that use medications
and finally vomiting - rare

The study above lists all these symptoms, but not in strongest condition first.
tinnitus - with difficulty and restless sleeping is what I was told being highest rated symptoms

 

I believe ehs exists, there is no hard evidence so far

http://nerdist.com/better-call-science-can-people-be-allergic-to-electricity/

http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/index1.html

 

I read a paper by Dr James Rubin (just had to look his name up, it was ages ago) where he did a test on 1000 participants. The result was that they couldn't replicate the symptoms under double blind controlled conditions. I also saw a medical documentary a week or so ago, where this condition was debated.

My instinct tells me that it's bogus, but the symptoms these people experience, are indeed, very real. However, maybe time will tell? Who knows, but the current science makes it seem unlikely.

It was actually 'Better Call Saul' that made me look into the condition out of curiosity.

 

It's far more likely to be the nocebo effect, or psychosomatic. The symptoms are real, but the cause is always disproven under clinical conditions.

 

Also there is no evidence it is a nocebo effect. I guess it will remain vague and requires further research like so many unresolved deseases.

 

This link provides a quick summation of various papers over the years:

http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/8315564

Some quick excerpts:

This review showed that the large majority of individuals who claims to be able to detect low level RF-EMF are not able to do so under double-blind conditions. If such individuals exist, they represent a small minority and have not been identified yet. The available observational studies do not allow differentiating between biophysical from EMF and nocebo effects.

No robust evidence could be found to support this theory. However, the studies included in the review did support the role of the nocebo effect in triggering acute symptoms in IEI-EMF sufferers. Despite the conviction of IEI-EMF sufferers that their symptoms are triggered by exposure to electromagnetic fields, repeated experiments have been unable to replicate this phenomenon under controlled conditions.

 

There are also studies, just google, where there is evidence ehs exists.

 

It could be that electricity fuels the triggers - audio or visual for instance- and not an actual allergy to electric field itself. So maybe they are focusing on the wrong thing. Also it could be the stressor that is the tipping point but on its own not enough to cause symptoms.

 

It's hard to say. We certainly aren't going to find anything conclusive because this has been debated for years. I wonder if anyone with this allergy would still have symptoms if all the phone masts and electricity pylons were de-activated. The earth would still be awash with electromagnetism from the sun, and more subtly, the earths magnetic field. If there is truth to it, then maybe it's a specific frequency or something else. Who knows?

 

The only problem with the theory of electricity fuelling the triggers: is why doesn't it fuel them under controlled conditions? What's the missing factor? Is stress getting in the way?

Everything listed as a symptom of EHS can also be a symptom of stress. Reliably differentiating things like this is notoriously difficult. Without undeniable proof, you could say air pollutants in the atmosphere cause this condition.

 

Can you please provide a link to one (or more) scientific study, because all that google is returning to me is evidence of the opposite.