Am I Starting All Over Again? Loud Walkie Talkie — Ear Pain / Sensitivity, Tinnitus Screaming

Hello TinnitusTalk, it’s been a while since I’ve been on this forum. I wasn’t going to post but changed my mind because I am looking for some support.

After almost 2 years I almost reached habituation! I felt like me again My tinnitus & hyperacusis rarely bugged me anymore, still on occasions but I could deal with it.

Well I feel like I am back to square 1, and I’m so frustrated with myself. On Friday, I had a incident with a handheld transceiver. I was in a truck with a friend and he had his “work” walkie talkie with him and he had the volume so loud. Instant pain to my ears. And within 12 hours, everything changed; ear pain, ear sensitivity, my tinnitus is screaming at me now with different new tones and it hasn’t settled. My anxiety has definitely kicked in and haven’t had a good night sleep since Friday.

Was this incident acoustic trauma? Perhaps just a really bad spike?

I really need some encouraging words at this time, if anyone has any please!

Thank you

 

Was it just a quick sound or was it extended? You're probably having a small spike that is being amplified by anxiety

 

Thank you @coffee_girl, it was not a quick sound. It was extended, on and off for at least 15 minutes.

I’m hoping it’s just a spike but the question is for how long now ....

 

Was it a voice on the radio or did it make a high pitch feed back sound?

Because the frequency of the sound can aggravate your tinnitus to act up. It will get better, carry earplugs with you always.

 

Thank you @Rajin, it was both, voice and the high pitch feed back sound.

Looking forward to the day my T settles back down, hoping within the next few days!

 

Update:

This last week has been one of the worst weeks I’ve experienced in the last 20 months. My anxiety kicked my butt, many many sleepless nights, loss of appetite, ear pain, jaw pain, neck pain, ear sensitivity and an increase in my tinnitus.

I’m not sure if that incident caused permanent damage or not, but the thought of it still makes me sick, so I try to avoid thinking about as much as I can. It’s only been 10 days, but i’m feeling a bit better, the ear pain has lessened, I am noticing more noises are bothering me tho, and i’m still dealing with the T increase.

So I’m still hopeful that this spike will settle back to my baseline and that no permanent damage to my ears happened, but I guess only time will tell.

It’s crazy to think that 10 days ago I was feeling more confident in my future with this condition and how 15 minutes took that all away from me.

 

Did your old hyperacusis/pain go away or did you just learn to manage it?

 

@Contrast

Prior to this incident, my old H and pain lessened, didn’t bother me as much. So I guess I just managed it better but it didn’t totally disappear.

 

Same boat. Same. I was habituated. My H was better than ever, pretty much gone. No pain. I could tolerate louder noises. I spiked very rarely.

Now reactive T and worsened H has brought me to despair and has taken away everything that made me happy.

 

@Red

What caused your T & H to worsen?

 

How are you feeling?