Difficulty with Tinnitus Spike After Being Exposed to a Firework at a Carnival

Update:
- the ringing tone that I now have in both ears is reactive, more so in the left ear. I'm actually not sure if I havent experienced this before. Feels familiar.
- when I'm really relaxed my T is not much louder than before, but of course extra tones. Also currently applies only in silence because of the reactiveness. In general it's much more audible during the day, but I'm sure that it will stop bothering me once the reactiveness has gone away (I expect it to happen again over the following months...).
- I can adapt for H, but man is this terrible to have such a small life again (more limiting than the last time I got it).
- Deep down I believe that this is going to stay with me for a long while again. I find it hard to believe that it's only going to be a temporary spike, more like a new noise trauma that will take at least months to die down again.
- I can adapt, but many of my life plans have been crushed. Girlfriend, having a family. To be frank, that would have also been a problem before my worsening. But now it has been made clear to me. That would be still a risk even if my H improved a lot.
- Right now even my computer fan seems to irritate my ear, though it doesn't seem loud at all. I guess I'll try getting longer cables for now and position it farther away from me.

Question: I suppose if my T reacts to a noise, prolonged exposition to that noise is a problem, right? (computer fan makes my T a bit louder and also seems to give me a warm feeling in the ear).

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles especially after you took precautions as well. I have Tinnitus and Hyperacusis too and its just reduced my social life to zero. Life is just so boring now (no holidays either) and have to think about everything on how the slightest noise will impact. Now even all forms of exercise is causing issues too. Like yours my ears are just so fragile and weak - any noise will start to cause irritation. Hyperacusis is just the worse element as it does wear you down and magnifies Tinnitus Sad but what can one do but to stay positive and hope it resolve itself.

 

Update after a bit over a week:
- Pain H reduced, not fully though.
- Loudness H gone again (if it was loudness H and not an alert auditory system).
- T reduced mostly back to previous level, but I suspect it's mostly due to rehabituation.
- High pitched tone in left ear is veeery low, but reacts. Inaudible in quiet, somewhat audible with certain ambient noise (typing on keyboard for example). I think I had this tone as well one year ago (even less than now), but reactiveness left after 2-3 months and it became inaudible.
- T in right ear seems slightly different than before, but will probably be tuned out again soon. If I can play videogames again without ever thinking about T, I'm back to my previous state (I think only the reactivity on the left ear has to go for that).
- In a quiet room it's almost the same as before. I hope for fools luck that it reverts to it's previous state within the next weeks (or after I get some normal sleep ).

Things I learned of this so far:
- no flying until fx-322 or hidden hearing loss medicine (aye, that sucks, but it's good for the environment anyway).
- my own car might have aggravated my T a bit (the deep rumble always spiked my T for 10 mins after driving even with protection, no problems with my dads car at all). Gonna use my dad's car for the moment when driving longer routes.
- cancelling a outdoor party this year whose sound level I can't predict.
- gonna be extra careful with the wedding I'll attend this year (considering others have reported worsening after weddings).

 

Random megaspike in my left ear (gaspipe from hell, I blame bad sleep). Left within 90min. I want to erect statues now of Lord Fishbone and Crew. I have utter respect for anyone who continues to live with this shit.

 

Small update:
- Reactivity and H down.
- Sleep mostly normal (feels less refreshing though, I guess that's the changed sleep architecture...).
- New tones and increased volume have stayed so far (now a 3-4/10, previous 2/10).
- Trying to adjust to the new situation. It's a bit difficult to mask now (but not unmaskable). I have made peace with the incident insofar as it was very random from my own perception, so I just book this under "fate". Makes it easier to accept. Still going to live like a hermit for the next years if I have to avoid even unforseeable noise like this incident. >_>

 

I didn't really want to post, but I feel so shattered that I'm open to any suggestion for improvement.

Today was difficult, but I was able to manage the day. I was around people, and found out that meditation probably is the key to managing my worsening. I'm trying to cope and days are hard, but still worth it.

There's one big problem and then another that I have.

When I went to sleep my hissing tone got so aggressive that I got a panic attack. It was as if there was an animal around. I am scared to go sleeping again. I also have intrusive images of thoughts coming up (like images from bad dreams, but while awake). Masking doesn't really help (to the extent it's possible). My sleep hasn't been to great since my worsening, but this is by far the worst. I don't know what to do anymore. I have this extremely bad feeling that my days are about to be counted. I fear that I can't keep my job (that wasn't fulfilling anyway) and that I just can't keep going. I'd love to just lie in my bed and waste away. I've had emotional difficulties all my life and I had to deal with them again and again, but somehow I managed to keep going and found myself in a somewhat stable position. But now I just don't know what to do. It just doesn't feel worth keep going. I hate myself and I have the feeling that I've hated myself for all my life in secret. Deep down I believe to deserve this, for whatever reason. I do not want to die. I want to life. But I don't know how to life anymore. Did I ever know how to life?

What should I do? There's people in here with worse tinnitus and they can still go on (it must be a personality thing). Realistically if I can make it just for 2-3 years, there's a good chance it will either improve again or we will get a functional treatment. I can only think of two things at the moment:

1. Time out/quitting my job. I'm not sure if it's a good things because it will increase isolation which is another problem of mine. It will also make me feel even more worthless.
2. Extensive psychotherapy to address my self destructive tendencies.

What should I do about sleep if I fear going to sleep because of my tone? Medication? Waiting it out for habituation?

 

Sounds like you could use some medication.

I've been able to find a good ENT / neuro-otologist with experience treating tinnitus. If you don't have one already you should find one and see about getting a prescription for something like amitriptyline or nortriptyline (as a starting point).

 

I don't think prednisone is always the best option. There has been some questioning as to whether it is effective or not. It has also increased some people's tinnitus.

On the flip side it has definitely helped a lot of people as well. It is a very powerful medication and shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

I agree. I don’t think it should be used for tinnitus spikes but when there is clear potential for acoustic-trauma related SSHL, I’d rather gamble on protection than gamble on a permanent baseline shift.

That being said, I’m always highly dosed with NAC, ALCAR and Nicotinamide Riboside to make sure the SSHL factor is null.

Are you not on any meds for sleep atm? I have no idea how people manage without them. I hate being on them but at least they allow me to get to sleep. I’ve been going through a rough patch with them this last week though. I take 225mg quetiapine and 15mg Mirtazapine.

 

I have valerian root available and it works for me. I'm going to do some exercise in the gym today to reduce stress (far away from weights).
Even though I slept terrible I'm doing okay. I seem to have gotten some habituation since it's mostly in the background at the moment.

 

Exposed to random high pitched yelping from a dog in a close room (couldnt notice it before). I hope the increase in T today is just my anxiety, because otherwise I'm really starting to wonder if fate wants me to quit eventually. I mean, am trying my best to protect myself but still get screwed over by unpredictable events. Fml...
No worries, I'm still kinda stable.

 

Buy a Lectrofan or other masker to sleep with at night before starting any sleep medication IMO.

Prednisone shouldn’t be treated lightly, and neither should any medication including sleep meds.

 

A small update after a month:

Reactivity seems gone (or unnoticeable).
Hyperacusis almost as before.
Tinnitus back to mild (because anxiety is gone?), but the new tone (very high pitched ringing) has stayed so far and is a bit louder than my very mild hiss from before. I also have a deep drone that I hear in silence when the ringing is lower than usual. So from a scale from 1-10 I went from 1,5-2/10 to a 2-2,5/10. Can't really complain about that. VS was unaffected. In fact I'm starting to reach the level of "don't notice it unless reminded" with my VS. Guess I'll go there with my tinnitus too in a year or two.

After all: a liveable state (I can often tune it out, a bit harder than before though). Let's see what happens in the coming months.