Difficulty Hearing While Wearing My Peltor Earmuffs: Do I Have New Hearing Loss?

[ECP]

I had a very bad setback on April 6, caused by a loud but brief noise exposure. Since then, there has been a major resurgence of noxacusis, and I've noticed that my tinnitus is much louder than its usual baseline. I'm really afraid it will stay that way.

In the past, I was able to have conversations with people while wearing my Peltor earmuffs, but that is no longer the case. If someone speaks to me, I now have to take off my earmuffs to understand them. Do you think this is because my tinnitus has become so loud that it drowns out real-world sounds more than before, or because I have suffered new hearing loss?

Over the past two and a half years, I've had three hearing tests. None of them showed any hearing loss, even though my hearing has often felt muffled and distorted. I've been thinking about getting another test, but I suspect it will come back normal again. Should I even bother? The sound that caused my setback on April 6 was a sharp snapping sound that lasted only a fraction of a second. Although the setback was very painful, it probably didn't cause additional hearing loss. I believe the pain was caused less by the decibel level and more by how uncomfortably close the sound source was to my ear. I sometimes feel pain from unexpected sounds that occur very close to me, even if they aren't dangerously loud or prolonged.

My healthcare system only provides hearing tests up to 8 kHz, unless the patient has cancer. For cancer patients, testing goes up to 16 kHz, apparently because some chemotherapy drugs can cause hearing loss, starting at the highest frequencies and working down toward 8 kHz and below. I suspect I already have some hearing loss above 8 kHz, but nobody has offered to test me for that, and they probably wouldn't agree to it even if I asked.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, where they can no longer hear as well as they used to while wearing earmuffs or earplugs? What did you do about it? The tinnitus is so loud that I can't even think straight right now.

 

[quietatnight]

@ECP, I read your post, and I can understand what you're going through. I truly sympathize with you. I'm going through something similar that I don't fully understand myself.

I've had tinnitus since I was 23, after being exposed to a firecracker. I just turned 72 in April, so it's been many years. I've always been able to manage it, even through many spikes over the years. I would always return to my baseline, with no permanent increase in tinnitus and no hearing damage, so I considered myself lucky—until three weeks ago.

I've been taking maintenance medications for blood pressure, anxiety, and acid reflux for years and never had any issues with them affecting my hearing. I've been on Prilosec OTC for over 35 years, taking one 20 mg dose at dinner. It always worked well, but three weeks ago it suddenly stopped keeping my acid reflux in check.

My GI doctor increased the dose to 80 mg, which I took once, split into two 40 mg doses—one in the morning and one at dinner. Unfortunately, about three hours later, my tinnitus spiked out of nowhere. It shot up like a rocket within about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it.

I told myself it couldn't be the medication and tried to sleep it off, but ever since that dose, my tinnitus has been acting in ways I've never experienced before. I started to wonder whether I had some kind of ototoxic reaction to that single 80 mg dose of Prilosec. I checked, and it's not listed as an ototoxic medication.

I immediately stopped taking it altogether and returned to my usual 20 mg daily dose, hoping my tinnitus would settle back to baseline like it always had before. But so far, it hasn't. It's starting to worry me and causing a lot of stress.

My GI doctor then lowered the dose from 20 mg to 10 mg, which is the lowest adult dose available. The only lower dose is 2.5 mg, but that's a child's dose and wouldn't be effective for me. I'm still hoping this reduced dose will be enough to prevent further damage to my hearing and control the increase in tinnitus. My doctors believe this is the best approach.

I'm just wondering if anyone else here has had a problem with Prilosec. If so, I'd really appreciate it if you could share any input or personal experiences related to this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. I know it's a complicated story, but I wanted to be as clear as possible.

Louie
Quietatnight

 

[ECP]

@quietatnight, if you search this website for the word "Prilosec," you'll find many posts where people discuss the effect it had—or didn't have—on their tinnitus. Hopefully, one of those posts will be helpful to you. It must be incredibly disappointing to experience an increase in tinnitus after so many years.

 

[kingsfan]

I have similar issues. My tinnitus has gotten louder, and I now have trouble hearing people when wearing earplugs—even the radio in my car is difficult to hear while driving with the same earplugs in. I used to be able to comfortably listen to music in the car while driving, and it was a great escape, but that's gone now.

@ECP, I read your post, and I can understand what you're going through. I truly sympathize with you. I'm going through something similar that I don't fully understand myself.

I've had tinnitus since I was 23, after being exposed to a firecracker. I just turned 72 in April, so it's been many years. I've always been able to manage it, even through many spikes over the years. I would always return to my baseline, with no permanent increase in tinnitus and no hearing damage, so I considered myself lucky—until three weeks ago.

I've been taking maintenance medications for blood pressure, anxiety, and acid reflux for years and never had any issues with them affecting my hearing. I've been on Prilosec OTC for over 35 years, taking one 20 mg dose at dinner. It always worked well, but three weeks ago it suddenly stopped keeping my acid reflux in check.

My GI doctor increased the dose to 80 mg, which I took once, split into two 40 mg doses—one in the morning and one at dinner. Unfortunately, about three hours later, my tinnitus spiked out of nowhere. It shot up like a rocket within about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it.

I told myself it couldn't be the medication and tried to sleep it off, but ever since that dose, my tinnitus has been acting in ways I've never experienced before. I started to wonder whether I had some kind of ototoxic reaction to that single 80 mg dose of Prilosec. I checked, and it's not listed as an ototoxic medication.

I immediately stopped taking it altogether and returned to my usual 20 mg daily dose, hoping my tinnitus would settle back to baseline like it always had before. But so far, it hasn't. It's starting to worry me and causing a lot of stress.

My GI doctor then lowered the dose from 20 mg to 10 mg, which is the lowest adult dose available. The only lower dose is 2.5 mg, but that's a child's dose and wouldn't be effective for me. I'm still hoping this reduced dose will be enough to prevent further damage to my hearing and control the increase in tinnitus. My doctors believe this is the best approach.

I'm just wondering if anyone else here has had a problem with Prilosec. If so, I'd really appreciate it if you could share any input or personal experiences related to this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. I know it's a complicated story, but I wanted to be as clear as possible.

Louie
Quietatnight

It's not the same type of drug, but I had a spike and distorted hearing after taking Imodium a few years ago. It took several days for things to return to normal, and that was after just one dose. Maybe you just need to give it a bit more time for your brain to adjust.