Catastrophic Tinnitus Worsening After 7 Years — Caused by a Kiss on the Ear

That’s really interesting, is there a way to find out whether the stapes has been dislodged? And how did they replace the proteins etc? I somewhat doubt that that happened to me as the kiss was slightly off the ear canal and did not form a seal at all in my case. Thanks for the info!

 

Yes I had been going on walks which helped but now my hyperacusis is so bad I really can’t leave the house without it going insane. Think my last walk may have permanently spiked everything as it has still not come down. This condition is too extreme at the moment.

Thanks for the comment, I know you’ve had some real tough times too from your history. It helps having people who’ve been through it to understand.

 

Any tiny noise was causing me pain for a while so I spent about 2 months wearing earmuffs pretty much 24/7 and trying to be in as much silence as possible and I'm better now, although still far from perfect. Things are a lot better when you recover from your worst part.

The time it will take you to start to get better will be different to others but almost everyone does improve over time so keep that in mind.

 

@Theezy, in a past post, you mention, "I have a high pitched electrical squeal in my right ear and it feels like it causes a burning sensation and tightness in the right side of my face. It is quite generalized but typically the pain is most prominent in the ear, cheek, and near/behind the eye, sometimes it’s a headache on that side. It developed over the years with my original tinnitus but after my recent increase it’s noticeably worse."

Possible infection prone. Sometimes an infection will go to the inner ear as there's weakness - maybe from second-hand cigarette smoke.

Dr. Levi Reiter a professor in audiology at Hofstra University in New York, USA has identified more than 30 ear-kiss victims. The kiss can be off the ear canal and the stapes can tug on the tissue that connects the stapes to the oval window of the inner ear. This causes turbulence in the fluid of the cochlea - perilymph fluid and this can cause infection - tinnitus gets increasingly worse - more so with prior body infections - more so with burning facial pain and pain behind an eye. Sometimes infection to inner ear tissue is caused by saliva from mouth kissing.

Topical treatment is the first-line treatment for inflammation of the external auditory canal, without the need of systemic antimicrobial drug therapy. The ear canal is cleaned mechanically, by rinsing with saline, and then dried. A bacterial or fungal culture specimen should be taken, if the inflammation does not heal with the first treatment or recurs rapidly. High local drug levels without systemic adverse effects are achieved with ear drops. A combinatorial broad-spectrum antibiotic/corticosteroid ear drop is the most effective remedy for bacterial inflammation, whereas the most important therapeutic procedure in fungal infections is cleaning and topical medication.

Before treatment, ask your doctor for blood infection testing - tissue, red and white cells - extracellular enzymes and immunoglobulin and bacterial - fungal culture specimen examination.

 

@Theezy - how are you doing?

I've been feeling for you, perhaps as your story and current situation sounds very similar to mine. Different cause (also noise induced) but similar symptoms.

I'm also feeling the more I try even just little simple things it's fighting back meticulously. I also question whether even going out for a walk or coming out from my silencing headphones from within a quiet room is worth it.

The what-seems-sensible advice or becoming more tolerable of sound becomes somewhat counter-intuitive when it appears to be heavily working against you each day (as my tinnitus seems to be).

Hope you're doing better!

 

@Theezy, a doctor wrote to me per our conversations. He thinks you could have had received a neck injury from your activities before the ear kiss with raised blood pressure.

Biomechanics - twisting neck - muscle, ligament and soft tissue injury to the neck. Or pressure to the jaw can cause the same outcome. This can also cause underlying chronic painful hypertonicity of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles. Upper Cervical professionals can check for vertebral subluxation.

Dr. Levi Reiter, a Professor of Audiology at Hofstra University in New York, USA, who identified more than 30 ear kiss victims had cases where the kiss was off the ear canal - no seal. One case makes comparison to paragraph above. Patient's tinnitus went back to baseline within a year.

I don't know what could have had happened. Maybe it's all about noise exposure.

I know that loud high pitched tinnitus isn't easy to deal with. My first tinnitus was from noise and then high pitched tinnitus (somatic) was from a neck injury.

Hoping you get relief.

 

Still getting worse and worsening seems to be accelerating if anything. My sound sensitivity also really ramped up as my tinnitus has gotten more intrusive. I wish I could even see a path forward, but it’s pure grit for now. Practicing CBT and definitely isolating from sound a bit as that was clearly making things worse, but trying to also incorporate low level sound as I can. It feels like a razor thin line.

 

Sorry to hear about all your troubles. Sadly I know how it is, as I find many similarities to where I was 2-3 years back in time.

Based on my personal experience, you are in a negative spiral at the moment due to this extreme trauma that you are going through with hyperacusis + tinnitus. When in this hypervigilant fight or flight mode, anything and everything will feel like a threat - and you start believing that the ramping up will stay forever.

Speaking of my own experience, I'm pretty sure there is no permanent spiking due to your walks, as long as you try to stay away from exposure to loud noises at this stage.

Do you get any sleep? Are there sounds, at a low level, you feel somewhat comfortable around - to get some sort of auditory input?

I think you should try to implement some kind of sound input that is okay with you, on a high quality speakers. And implement some "tools" that may help you in calming down your nervous system.

Are there any specialists where you live in the field of hyperacusis + tinnitus that you can talk to?

Perhaps check out what @Greg Sacramento mentioned too. If you suspect there could be some connection.

 

What if digital audio bothers us? Would high quality speakers help? Define high quality

 

Somehow I missed this response, thank you very much for all the info you provided.

It’s possible I have some neck problems involved, my ear and face often feels tight or burning sensations. Although, from what I’ve read, these are also common for hyperacusis.

For the patient whose tinnitus from a kiss went back to baseline within a year, did it initially get worse for a period of time? Thank you again!

 

Thank you, I appreciate the insight. Even if the walks don’t permanently spike it, it is very flared up for a few hours or longer afterwards in my recent experience. And the overall trend has been that my baseline has grown much louder and more intrusive over the past couple months. It is painfully loud and shrill now.

I’m working with an audiologist on slowly incorporating sound therapy, but my tolerance for such background sounds has only declined since we started, and they even flare up my tinnitus no matter how much I tweak the noises or volume. I feel like an impossible case at the moment, but I am trying to keep going and doing the practices. I’m doing CBT exercises with the Oto and Curable apps along with some instructions from my audiologist. Recently it has been getting continuously worse day by day regardless of what I do which is just devastating. I really hope to make it through this rough patch and see a brighter side soon.

 

Interview with Levi Reiter, Ph.D., CCC-A, Professor of Audiology, Hofstra University

 

Thank you for all the resources. The more knowledge we have to work with, the better for these complex conditions. I really appreciate it.

 

Really getting to the very end of my rope with the worsening tinnitus and no relief from sound therapy (has only made it worse) or silence (only slightly slows the progression). What options/medications are there to try in a catastrophic situation? Money is not an issue at this point.

 

Stem cells.

There are some threads on this. It is not cheap and can take up to a year to see results, if it works for you.

 

Hi @Theezy - I'm so sorry to read about how much you're struggling right now. @SmallRonnie mentioned this a couple weeks ago, and I want to reiterate it here: a fast-acting benzo, such as Xanax, would probably be useful to you when you're in a spiral of despair. Additionally, building a foundation of psychological stability with the aid of an antidepressant would likely cut the intensity of future spirals of despair.

I assume that your question was searching for a medication to help you with your auditory issues, and unfortunately, there's no magic bullet.

However, if you're spiraling, everything is going to feel catastrophic. I really encourage you to focus on caring for your physical and psychological needs - rest, water, exercise, healthy food, medication to alleviate anxiety and despair - and also to consider cutting out the sound therapy for now.

Take care of yourself. I wish you relief and improvement.

 

Stop the sound therapy immediately.

 

I’m going through this at this very moment. I can’t get any relief from masking as the high tone screech competes with everything I try to mask it with. Unfortunately no medication or one pill is available for this kinda situation. For whatever reasons we have become hyper sensitive to sound and the only way to desensitize in my opinion is time. I’m talking 4-5 years of natural healing.

This is pure hell.

If you have the money I would highly consider renting out a cabin or lodge away from loud noise and let the healing process begin.

 

My own car alarm got me 9 days ago. 10 seconds with Peltor X5A's on and still got a permanent increase with new mid tones in each ear.

I'm at my lowest point once again and I was just doing fairly well. Now this setback will set me back another 3 years, if I'm lucky... or it can stay or get worse, and then it's my turn with the grim reaper.

The amazing thing is that I've had big noise exposures like a firework going off nearby, a huge slam outside with my neighbor dropping a plank, 3 bottles falling on kitchen tile, etc... and in every case my tinnitus went through the roof immediately, fullness, muffledness, pain, but subsided in a few days. This time no other symptoms but a steady worsening and it feels permanent.

This shit is scary. I may not make it this time. Pray for me.

Do warbing sounds tend to subside?

 

Dan, I feel this post to my core. Not many could understand the brutality of this condition. To people without it, I probably sound like the boy who cried wolf with how many times I say mine increases. It’s unimaginable it could really behave this way until you’re in it. I’m so sorry you had another noise exposure, I know the insanity of the following days - the pain, the trying to come to terms with your new sensory reality, the frustration about how it could have been avoided, the feelings that this is permanent, the thoughts that it was already bad so this has to be the final straw. I have a slight idea of what you’ve been through brother and what you’ve done is the mental equivalent of summiting Everest every day for years. Except everyday there’s less oxygen, and it’s a couple degrees colder, and your sherpa stabbed electric ice picks in your ears.

I was actually coming here to write an update on my own situation. Feel free to laugh at how dumb and random my events tend to be. I was half asleep last night and a snowplow hit the pavement right outside my room. In my daze, I instinctually snapped my hand to my right (worse) ear. As my fingernails scraped the pillowcase sandwiched against my ear, the coarse sound against my ear canal immediately caused discomfort along with an increase in tinnitus, and within minutes pain began to creep in. Today has been the largest jump in my tinnitus since I started this vicious spiral 3 months ago. It has been the most painful noxacusis symptoms yet as well. I have spent a lot of the day in bed as my nervous system is simply overwhelmed for now. I will attempt some CBT and hypnosis sessions tonight, although it is clear nothing will put much of a dent in this at the moment.

I understand the frustration with the setback delay component. I had suffered increasingly for 3 months, and as I started to come up for a tiny bit of air, I have the largest setback yet. I pray our ears will heal faster than we believe. Always here if you need to talk or just vent to someone. And can you describe what you mean by warbing sounds?

 

Hi @Theezy -- Just in case you're interested, you can check out the following two posts of mine. In them I describe a very simple spiritual technique that works well for me (similar to meditation, but much easier). -- Take care!

Post 1 -- Post 2

I might just add that occasionally when I sing the song of HU (out loud) that I describe in the above links, I actually feel a soft, gentle (and might I say healing) vibration in my inner ears. Almost like a pleasant tingle. Doesn't happen every time, but when it does, it feels really soothing.

 

Believe it I had several "bedroom incidences" with my blanket causing temporary spikes. One of them was exactly like yours and another was kicked so hard while dreaming that it made a loud bank sound in the blanket, sort of like towel smacking someone. Then lying there in the wee hours half asleep wondering wtf just happened... And yes, I have similar with garbage trucks driving by and there's this sunken manhole on the road in front that make commercial vehicles make a huge bang going over it.

Oh, I meant warbling sound.

 

Thank you Lane. I am going to check these out before bed! Similar to meditation but much easier sounds ideal to me.

 

This pillowcase incident has had insane fallout, sheesh. Did your sheet spikes usually settle down at all? Did you get new sheets or anything? It’s the pillowcase sounds right against my ear that could set mine off. Honestly can’t believe it can get to this point.

 

I use a cotton shirt as my pillowcase, otherwise it's like sandpaper sound. Yes, the previous spikes settled after a couple of days. Seems like the permanent spikes are caused by major noise incidents - alarms, TV/computer/headphones on max volume kind of accidents.

 

I love this reply, for the most part, and can relate to the OP, because I'm going through what seems like a catastrophic spike at the moment. I did just get five head X-rays for a sinus condition, but I'm not sure that's the cause.

At any rate, I just wanted to warn people that taking Benadryl for sleep has been linked, by Harvard Medical School, with developing Alzheimer's. I don't know if that applies to other antihistamines, but I did want to mention it, as that may not be widely known. Again, this reply really helped me a lot, so I'm thankful for that, Heavy Mantra! Hope you're feeling better, Theezy.

 

During a moderate noise exposure a couple hours ago my right ear felt like it was fluttering and now that side of my face is burning and my tinnitus is roaring louder than it’s ever been. It’s already been getting continuously worse so this is really hard to bear right now.

Does this sound like TTTS and will these symptoms likely subside? The sound didn’t seem loud enough that it would have triggered a spike but it’s like the fluttering really aggravated things. I’m worried because my tinnitus spikes usually don’t subside all the way and this one is bad.

 

I’m so sad guys. Although my symptoms continued to slowly worsen, I was beginning to feel more in control mentally. I started to have some hope, and I have been feeling healthier overall between eating healthy, working out, and keeping the mind in check with hobbies, family, friends, and faith.

However, my tinnitus has been skyrocketing and even adding new tones over the past day. I thought this morning was already as bad as it could get, but then 2 hours ago I accidentally shut a door too hard and that was all it took to send my already delicate ears haywire.

This is by far the worst my tinnitus has ever been and I feel completely strung out. I had to have a half glass of whiskey to even settle down enough to type this. I know I can habituate as I do it over and over. But guys, I don’t think any human can take worsening after worsening like this. And each time is harder than this last especially in the acute first days since it gets harder to mask. I’d have to listen to sounds at a dangerous level to mask this current level. Excuse the word vomit, I feel so destroyed after starting to build hope and now at my lowest.

Now that the venting is over, here is a more objective summary of what I have done, in case anyone can help provide guidance. I moved from my noisy city apartment to my parents suburban home almost 3 months ago after the initial sharp increase in an attempt to give my auditory system a chance to rest. Early on I realized that everyday sounds such as dropping silverware on the granite counter caused an objective increase in my tinnitus.

Basically the pattern seems to be it spikes hard for a few days after the initial exposure, and then it tapers off to a level slightly higher than the previous baseline. These events have been happening about once a week, sometimes multiple times a week. They all stack so my tinnitus now is much worse than the beginning of this ordeal. These events led me to lean towards overprotection (and not visa versa) by spending nearly all my time indoors and mostly in my room (I work remotely). I do not wear earplugs or earmuffs at all regularly unless I need to do something with potential for hazardous noise such as unloading the dishwasher. While working I often play podcasts or audiobooks to have some background noise. White/pink noise always aggravates my tinnitus and is honestly uncomfortable at almost any audible level. I still try to do a little bit of pink noise, maybe only half an hour total listening each day. I plan to ramp up the pink noise time once I start to get some traction, but with these constant setbacks I cant bear it for long. I know one camp says I need to push the sound exposure, and another will say to isolate. I try to go somewhere in the middle but my sound tolerance has gotten so low. The tinnitus and hyperacusis have sharp spikes from the accidental noise exposures, and then everything is more sensitive and I can’t handle the sound as much thus a vicious cycle.

Today it feels like I have hit an escape velocity where there is no return. I am hopeful it doesn’t feel like this in a couple days let alone a week, but the trend is terrifying. And regardless, I am in so much agony right now. It will be hard enough to make it through tonight and the coming days like this. I feel broken tonight - I could use advice, recommendations, or simply some empathy. Thank you if you read all this, it’s a lot

 

@Theezy, I'm sorry to hear it's so tough for you but I really don't get why you're doing any sound therapy. If I were you, I'd try to get as much silence as possible. The research on sound therapy isn't conclusive and you know that sound is making things worse for you.

I'd use as much hearing protection as possible all the time. You might develop a tiny bit of loudness hyperacusis but it's a good price to pay if it slows down the worsening of your tinnitus.

 

Hi @Theezy -- Sorry to hear difficult things have become for you. Just in case you're interested, you can check out the following two posts of mine. In them I describe a simple spiritual technique that works well for me (similar to meditation, but much easier). -- Take care!

Post 1 -- Post 2

I might just add that occasionally when I sing the song of HUuuuu (out loud) that I describe in the above links, I actually feel a soft, gentle (and might I say healing) vibration in my inner ears. Almost like a pleasant tingle. Doesn't happen every time, but when it does, it feels really soothing.