Another Dumb Loud Concert Casualty

Hi everyone, been reading for a while now and decided to join and share my story as relating to others has been the only comfort I've gotten lately.

I'm 26 and have had very mild tinnitus since I was about 9 or 10. It would fluctuate over the years in tones but was never really above a 1 or 2/10 in volume. My family doctor back then didn't have much to say other than to try the valsalva maneuvre. No idea what caused it, it came on out of the blue. I've always suspected it was my overbite causing TMJ issues.

As a small town boy I had never been to a concert in my life, and to my knowledge never had excessive loud noise exposure. No guns or fireworks either. Never been a big headphone user other than for communication on team video games.

However, starting in 2019 I went to 3 loud heavy metal concerts each at small venues. As a total concert newbie I had no idea how vital earplugs are. Especially since the majority of people weren't wearing them either. The first 2 shows, one in April and one in October, I walked away seemingly unscathed and while I experienced the typical post-concert symptoms, they went away promptly and my tinnitus didn't get any worse. The 3rd concert on Nov. 25th, was just brutal on my ears, I learned the hard way that I should've left or worn earplugs. My tinnitus has since moved up to about a 4/10 baseline, but it gets worse. (Of course my buddy was fine.)

The next day, everything sounded glassy, as if someone had sucked all the warmth out of sound. I was overwhelmed by the sound of shopping carts at the grocery store. Dishes and cutlery clanking seemed unusually loud. As of now, this sensitivity has died down a little, but certain pitches in voices, including my own, still cause my eardrums to pulse/flex. Almost every sentence I say at a moderate volume finishes off with the eardrum pulse. I can make my right eardrum twitch on command by shaking my keychain. If I hold the phone on my right side the left eardrum will twitch. Wierd. My ears and TMJ region experience a tense, a dull ache, and feeling of pressure that seems to come and go. I suppose this is a combination of (mild) hyperacusis accompanied by TTTS?

Despite still being in the "normal" category on my audiogram (lowest notch is -25 dB @ 500 Hz), I feel like there's definitely hidden hearing loss. It feels as if each ear no longer picks up as much from the opposite side of the head, like surround sound, if that makes any sense. Overall loss of uniformity in hearing. My own voice seems significantly clearer in the left ear despite the right being only "a touch lower" according to the test. Environmental acoustics also seem to play a much bigger role in how well I hear speech. I had my ears flushed and each ear ejected a wasp sized amount of wax, didn't change much, though. I took all of my vacation and sick time to rest after the concert, but not much changed and it feels like this is gonna take a lot longer to 'heal.'

I work full time overnights at a Home Depot as a forklift driver. We run basic LPG sitdown forklifts as well as narrow-aisle reach trucks. I've measured the dB's of the machines on my phone and none of them are excessively loud. The sounds generated range from 60 dB to 82 dB and averages out around 70 dB. Nobody wears ear protection in the building. But now, the reverse horns that never bothered me (or anybody else) before are almost painful. Regardless, I have since been wearing earplugs just to be safe.

For the past 2 years I have admittedly pushed the crap out of my body on the night shift. Not enough sleep, lots of energy drinks, junk food, and copious amounts of recreational pot smoking (no tobacco or alcohol, though). Leading into the concert my stress levels were almost PTSD level over a separate issue. Not sure if this made a difference, or if it's contributed psychosomatically. I have since started eating healthier, eliminated caffeine, and quit using cannabis cold turkey as it now makes the tinnitus worse. I am also taking magnesium, vitamin B12 and D, and Valerian Root for anxiety.

Tomorrow, I see an audiologist for further evaluation. My family doctor referred me to an ENT but due to our slow healthcare system in Ontario, it's going to be a 3 to 6 month wait. Based on all of my research, I don't expect much either can do. But I'm trying to stay positive and hope some of it may get better in time. I am barely coping with the anxiety and guilt over being so foolish with my ears.

I'm hanging on to my night job by a thread and am seriously considering quitting for a health break. I am lucky that I live with my parents and they support me in this. It's very hard to walk away. I know I need to rest my ears, but should that mean finding a quieter, slower paced job? I really don't know what to do.

 

Hey man! I am so sorry that happened to you. You should consider wearing ear protection at work, as those moderately loud sounds can cause damage if you already have hyperacusis.
I will let tinnitus experts speak more on this topic, but yeah, consider ear protection.

 

Yeah I've been using foam earplugs when I'm on the machines. I think I'm going to resign, however. The stress of the job and the toll of overnights isn't helping.

I saw an audiologist today and she just administered another audiogram. The results were minor improvement to some lower thresholds but I still don't feel any better. She didn't seem to believe in the reality of Hyperacusis and brushed it and my TTTS symptoms off along with Tinnitus as things I just need to stop paying attention to.

I feel incredibly alone in this now. My audiogram says I'm hearing normally, but I know my hearing is still mangled. Everyone around me is tired of hearing about my ears and arbitrarily sides with "the professionals."

 

It's sad when the professional doesn't take these things seriously.

It's amazing how quickly people turn on you when they don't want to hear something they don't like or can't cope with.

 

Be careful with the vitamin D. Studies have shown that high quantities of this vitamin can aggravate tinnitus. The other things you are taking can be useful but you may want to add vitamin C instead of D.

 

Thank you, I was unaware.

 

Interesting, your case is pretty similar to mine. Have never really been to disco's or concerts, but got T (mild) and H (mild) on a concert where I underestimated the importance of ear protection (since, again, nobody else was wearing anything either). Guess we're just the unlucky ones. Fortunately I have a normal desk job in the country side, so no noise problems...
Guess we can't do anything but wait for a solution, even if it feels unfair that we are the "chosen" ones, when other's were far more negligent with their hearing...

 

I know, right? There really ought to be warning signs right on the tickets, just like cigarette packs. I gladly would've worn earplugs but as a concert noob it seemed counterintuitive. I feel like I walked into a trap. I'm just grateful I have two loving parents who are supporting me through this.

 

What is the source of this? My tinnitus started on January 19 after a doctor's meeting who prescribed me classical medicine for high blood pressure but she added 100 000 UI of Vitamin D because I was Vitamin D deficient.

Is it possible that that amount of Vitamin D triggered the tinnitus?

 

Are you taking Magnesium as well? Take a look at the thread below and the referenced links. There are indications that high Vitamin D doses can deplete your magnesium levels, and that is what can allow tinnitus to increase. I have no personal experience of this, I'm just going by what I have read. Personally I take B complex vitamins and have taken vitamin C and magnesium, but no D. However if your doctor has prescribed you Vitamin D then the answer may just be to take extra magnesium along with it:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/vitamin-d-magnesium.5399/

 

Interesting. I take 300 mg of magnesium per day.

 

Quit the junk food, and switch to a super healthy diet, fruit, vegetables, dry fruits, green tea. I think you are going to notice the difference.

Also, the ears when have been affected by noise or stress can feel worse at odd times, like night shift, or very early in the morning. You have to find the moments where you feel better and try to work those shifts.

If you are considering to stop working for a while, if this came to your mind, then rest, stop working. You have a better chance of recovering if you stop than if you keep going despite all the warning signs from your body.

I hope you get better soon.

 

Thanks for the advice. Almost immediately after the trauma I took 3 weeks off. I went back to work for a couple weeks after that (using earplugs) but my GP generously wrote me a note for a 4 week shortterm disability. I'm not due to go back until Feb 10th. Still, I think I need a lot more time. Very strongly considering quitting for a 6month rest. I am blessed to be in the position to do so.

 

Yes, I think it is a good idea. If you don't feel well, 6 months off is very reasonable. Hearing heals or gets stable extremely slowly, we can be looking at 6 months at least to see some results.

 

Here are my audiograms, exactly a month apart.

 

I was surprised by the improvement to the lower thresholds on the 2nd test. Voices are definitely a little less 'dim' than they were around the time of the 1st test.

Right now, my biggest issue is that despite the 2nd test showing my right ear being equal to the left, the volume is there but the clarity isn't. My Left ear hears more crisp and clear. The right feels as if there's a screen over it. It's extremely noticable with the letter S. The odd thing is that when I pop my ears with the valsalva, the right ear starts to hear more crisply. Not as good as the left but better than it's unpopped state. Anybody have any idea why this could be? My left ear also seems to be the one that's going nuts with TTTS style twitching/vibrating. My right does it, but not as much and to different sounds.

 

I have not seen an ENT yet, my appt isn't until April 7th (backed up Ontario healthcare). My Dr. and audiologist didn't say I have any fluid in my middle ears but is it possible there could be some, even a small amount in the problematic right ear?

 

An issue I had taking both tests was that it was extremely difficult to pick out the fainter tones over my tinnitus. My tinnitus vol. taking both tests was around 4 to 5/10 but of course in the soundbooth with the headphones on it was just roaring. I informed the 2nd audiologist about my difficulty the first time around picking out the tones and she said that it wouldn't matter. I felt myself guessing at some of the tones. Is it possible for the tinnitus loudness to mask the lower tones? Or just perhaps make them indecipherable even if my ears could in fact hear them?

 

@Tweedleman -- I would strongly advise you to do just that. My severe tinnitus/hyperacusis (from one dose of an ototoxic drug) didn't really start stabilizing until toward the end of my first year, and the 2nd year seems to have added to that stabilization. I don't believe I'd have been able to achieve these incremental improvements had I been continually exposed to the type of work environment you describe. Sometimes you just have to take a year or so off from life to get things back on track in a meaningful way. -- Your time off from your regular job might just give you the incentive to look for alternative work that won't jeopardize your ears for the rest of your lives. Try to take full advantage of this "opportunity".

 

Very good audiometric tests, specially the second. You have excellent hearing in both ears, in pure tones. However, an audiometric test cannot measure how we perceive words or how we extract meaning from sound. For that there is a specific test where you hear recorded words with all the tricky letters (f, t, s, sh, z) over noise in the background. Anyway if you had trouble understanding words one of the first indicators is turning up the volume of TV, or not hearing the background little tunes and sounds played behind speech on the typical TV game shows.

The fact that sounds are more "crisp" on one ear indicated there is something, but no doctor will probably worry about that. My journey with hearing problems started like that, so my advice, be very careful will loud noise, don't overworry, it is very early and you should be fine in a few months, eat healthy, do exercise, go on holiday (spend the money!), relax, and forget about ears and doctors, and about any medication. Just live peacefully, and avoid loud places and very loud sounds. This seems plain common sense but it is actually solid advice, believe me.

 

Do you mean there is something in the right middle ear causing the lack of clarity or perhaps the inner ear is just damaged in more of a "hidden" way. Thank you for your help!

 

Either there is slight cochlear damage (and this does not clearly show on tests), or there is a problem of eardrum pressure (negative or positive pressure). The second one goes away in time. The first one may come back to normal but it is like a "baseball strike", first strike, which means you will have to be very cautious with loud sound from now on.