Hi, I am a 57 year old pathologist, and I used to use hearing protectors almost constantly while working, due to the noisy office printers, and I like to concentrate with quiet. Also I used to use hearing protection constantly while sleeping. This led to a severe hyperaccusis condition, that was getting quite bad by 1989 or so, and then just driving the automobile would now trigger tinnitus. I was admitted to hospital in 1992 due to unable to sleep due to tinnitus, and the low frequency rumbling of trains would spike the tinnitus, even though the rumbling was very quiet and barely noticeable to a normal person. They mis-diagnosed me with depression, and so I got hooked on amytriptiline for sleep, and with higher and higher doses 400-500mg, which is toxic, so I switched to cannabis, and that helped me for a while, but I was still using hearing protection at night, so my hyperaccusis and tinnitus was not being treated properly, so kept getting worse. Finally I got a visit from law enforcement, and they charged with narcotics, and i had to go to drug rehab. As a result of the constant noise in rehab, I lost about 30dB of hearing. The hyperaccusis cleared up, but I still had a moderate amount of tinnitus. They said nothing could be done for it, but since I tried to kill myself, they felt I was "agitated" and so put me on seroquel. As a result of seroquel, finally I could sleep, and function reasonably o.k. and get back to work. The problem occurred last year when I was playing the stereo too loud for about 30 minutes, and then 3 days later all of a sudden the tinnitus got screaming loud. That was one year ago. During the past year, it gradually eased up a bit, but then the muffler on my car broke, and tinnitus went beserk, and then a truck backfire also made it go beserk, and last week I had dental work to install crowns which means a lot of dental grinding, and the tinnitus went just insane. I use seroquel, mirtazapine, and doxylamine, and yesterday i went to emergency dept of hospital and the gave me 15mg of imovane. Even before I went to sleep last night it seemed like tinnitus was not as screaming loud, and after sleeping with the imovane, the tinnitus is just moderate, and I can still cope with living.
Is this pretty normal? I am 57 and I want to keep working - what is the chance for me to keep working long-term?
Due to my bad experience with noise, now at all times I use a Bose noise-cancellation headset, the kind of device used to kill aircraft noises with. I play an MP3 player through the Bose, with the sound of Restful Rain, in order to provide a low level of wide-bandwidth pink noise. I notice my hyperaccusis is kind of bad, and I always ask people to speak more quiet. I cannot tolerate noises like shopping carts clanging, motorcycles, bad muffler vehicles, loud trucks etc., so I just always wear the Bose during the day, except in the office where I have a white noise generator going all the time. At night time I have the Restful Rain CD playing contantly at a low level, just below the tinnitus, because I am trying to TRT treat the tinnitus with the rainfall pink noise. Is it o.k. to wear the Bose headset almost constantly, because I can't risk a sudden loud motorcycle or truck back-fire; this has caused me immense grief in the past. And no way can I possibly get any more dental work.
Does this all sound pretty typical. I am so frightened that I lose my job or have to resign for medical reasons, and my family still needs me to provide support.
thanks, I am really glad I found this forum. - yours truly, paul m.
Is this pretty normal? I am 57 and I want to keep working - what is the chance for me to keep working long-term?
Due to my bad experience with noise, now at all times I use a Bose noise-cancellation headset, the kind of device used to kill aircraft noises with. I play an MP3 player through the Bose, with the sound of Restful Rain, in order to provide a low level of wide-bandwidth pink noise. I notice my hyperaccusis is kind of bad, and I always ask people to speak more quiet. I cannot tolerate noises like shopping carts clanging, motorcycles, bad muffler vehicles, loud trucks etc., so I just always wear the Bose during the day, except in the office where I have a white noise generator going all the time. At night time I have the Restful Rain CD playing contantly at a low level, just below the tinnitus, because I am trying to TRT treat the tinnitus with the rainfall pink noise. Is it o.k. to wear the Bose headset almost constantly, because I can't risk a sudden loud motorcycle or truck back-fire; this has caused me immense grief in the past. And no way can I possibly get any more dental work.
Does this all sound pretty typical. I am so frightened that I lose my job or have to resign for medical reasons, and my family still needs me to provide support.
thanks, I am really glad I found this forum. - yours truly, paul m.