Delayed Tinnitus Spike and Ear Pain from Store Alarm at Close Range

Hey everyone,

Two Saturdays ago while at a retail store I was exposed to the store alarm going off at very close range. I immediately plugged my ears and was exposed to the alarm for maybe a couple of seconds. It was extremely loud, I would say it's the loudest sound I have been exposed to since my tinnitus started a couple years ago.

The night of the alarm exposure I had no ear fullness and no tinnitus spike, I was very anxious that night but I went to sleep and when I woke up still had no spike.

On Sunday I still had no spike and no ear fullness and was feeling thankful that nothing happened.

On Monday I went on a long walk and my tinnitus seemed a little more bothersome but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Tuesday was a great day. My tinnitus wasn't bothering me at all. I assumed I was in the clear.

When I woke up on Wednesday however, my tinnitus was louder than usual. I got very stressed out and anxious because of this and everyday since Wednesday my tinnitus has been louder and more annoying than usual and I've been very stressed about it.

Now yesterday I started noticing a little pain in my right ear, only when yawning. Today the pain is happening more often but isn't constant. I'm thinking it could possibly be impacted wax causing the pain but I don't know for sure if that's the cause.

I have an ENT appointment scheduled a week from today. Do you think this is something that can wait a week or should I try to have this looked at now at an Urgent Care? I was also wondering what you think might be going on?

Thanks everyone.

 

Urgent Care won't do much unless you report hearing loss and they might try steroids in that case.

You are likely going to have to wait for the ENT for any real work up. Avoid noise for a few weeks minimum as ear pain can set in and get a lot worse. Your pain not being constant is a better sign but protect your ears whether they hurt or not right now.

Wax or no wax, I would not let them microsuction your ear after an acoustic trauma. Search this site and you can read countless worsenings from that.

 

In addition to continuing to protect, I'd suggest taking some NAC which can help with spiking from stress and 3 mg Melatonin to help with sleep which can help with the stress you're experiencing worrying about the increase. Typically these events produce a short lived spike but length can vary from days to months.

 

Probably it will be temporary and not permanent. Take care of your ears for one week, take NAC, Magnesium and Melatonin to sleep as suggested and you will be fine.

Do not be anxious about it and relax.

 

@FGG, @Bambam0, @Amv, thank you for the advice and reassuring words.

I went to my primary care doctor a couple of days ago and he said both of my ears are full of wax. I'm not sure if the wax is related to the spike. I've had this amount of wax before and it never caused a change in my tinnitus but who knows. I have an appointment with an ENT on Tuesday to get the wax removed manually. Still hoping this spike doesn't last too long.

 

Update:

I'm still having ear pain, it's like a sudden sharp pain once in a while. The pain isn't as often or severe as when I wrote this post. The spike is still really bad, no improvement yet. It seems to fluctuate in pitch. Once in a while it feels like it's a little lower in volume but I'm not sure. I have an ENT appointment to remove the wax on Tuesday. I've been using baby oil drops to soften it.

 

@MikeO123, could you advise which brand of baby oil did you purchase, and where?

I have earwax issues too. And based on stories of wax removal posted here ,I am preferring olive oil etc for earwax removal.

 

@mohn, I used the CVS brand of baby oil. I think any brand of baby oil should be fine.

I've had no problems using baby oil and I definitely recommend it.

 

Got my earwax removed manually with a curette. She said the earwax was nice and soft so it was an easy removal. I did have short instances of pain during the cleaning and she said it was just the canal and not the eardrum.

Now I have slight ear fullness in one ear. I hope it's just irritation and no harm was done.