Dropped a Metal Shower Head

[Jiri]

Hello,

So I've just had a shower and a metal shower head slipped out of my hand and dropped from about a meter high to the bathtub. Just when I start to think that my tinnitus began to stabilize this happens.

Can such an event cause a tinnitus spike? Or add some more damage to the microscopic hairs inside cochlea?

I'm worried that I might get a spike because of sudden noise exposures like these days after the event actually took place. Just like when I first got tinnitus.

Anyone has had a similar experience? Advice/Opinion?

 

[ridgew]

Really doubt it. Your T may change a tone or new tone may appear, but most likely this will mean that your T is of reactive type and not that there was any damage sustained.

 

[Jiri]

A new tinnitus tone is probably the last thing I need. I noticed it did increase a little in volume now, but yeah.. I hope it's only temporary. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[Bill Bauer]

This is comparable to a door slamming over a meter from you. I think that in the worst case scenario, you might get a week-long temporary spike. This is more likely if your ear began hurting or you began having a full ear sensation right after the incident. I wouldn't worry about it. Having said this, it had certainly not promoted your recovery, so make sure to be careful next time.

 

[Elinor]

This has happened to me several times. I drop shower heads and large shampoo bottles regularly.

Although I hate when it happens, it does not seem to make any difference. It's just incredibly irritating.

 

[Maruashen]

Hello,

So I've just had a shower and a metal shower head slipped out of my hand and dropped from about a meter high to the bathtub. Just when I start to think that my tinnitus began to stabilize this happens.

Can such an event cause a tinnitus spike? Or add some more damage to the microscopic hairs inside cochlea?

I'm worried that I might get a spike because of sudden noise exposures like these days after the event actually took place. Just like when I first got tinnitus.

Anyone has had a similar experience? Advice/Opinion?

@Jiri Ive had too many similar experiences.

You get all frustrated and anxiety usually comes back, but 95% of the time those noises won't hurt.
Even tho it usually feels like the tinnitus is increased.
Ive had tinnitus för 3 years now and I bet there have been a few of these situations each week.. and somehow my tinnitus never got worse from them . But I know exactly how you feel right now, and its frustrating.

 

[Karl28]

I think one quick bang is ok.

maybe if you were dropping it over and over......

 

[Jiri]

you might get a week-long temporary spike.

What? A week long?? Ok, I think I'm gonna upper intake my Clonazepam levels now..

Believe it, or not I started to wear safety headphones -27 dB even around the house now. Every little 'quick bang' (washing dishes - prime example) scares me much.

@Elinor I hear you. My anxiety levels went over 9000 today ಠ_ಠ On that note, it's good to hear that it didn't affect you

@Maruashen 95% is some pretty good probability! Did help to calm me down a lil (& yes, frustrating it is).

Thanks, boys and girls.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

I am clumsy and tend to drop things often. It happens several times a week, so if it can cause damage, I am screwed. I refuse to wear ear protection when at home.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Jiri]

Talking of dropping things, just found this scientific experiment.. and yes, it is a bit loud. Lower the volume.

The series's called "How Loud Is It?" In this episode: a dish drop. (@ 1:12)



@TheDanishGirl Same here.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

Talking of dropping things, just found this scientific experiment.. and yes, it is a bit loud. Lower the volume.

The series's called "How Loud Is It?" In this episode: a dish drop. (@ 1:12)



@TheDanishGirl Same here.

WTF?! Almost 130 db for dropping a glass or a bowl on the floor?? I'm shocked! I thought it reached maybe 90 db tops. He did drop it from a rather high point though, and the floor seems harder then it is in my apartment (I have carpets in most rooms, and linoleum floor in the kitchen)

 

[Jiri]

My thoughts precisely. I was like what the actual f*ck?? Next time, foam ear plugs + safety headphones. It's the only way to be sure. The same goes for showering.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Believe it, or not I started to wear safety headphones -27 dB even around the house now. Every little 'quick bang' (washing dishes - prime example) scares me much.

If I were you, I would wear those headphones when doing some activities that are high risk (e.g., washing the dishes). You want to do this only for a month or two while you are in this sensitive acute state. But you want to make sure that you are exposed to normal sounds (like a video playing at a moderate volume that is not loud enough to make your ears feel uncomfortable). It hasn't happened to me personally (and I have been trying to protect my ears a lot), but people do describe H getting worse when they "overprotect" their ears.

 

[Bill Bauer]

What? A week long??

It will most likely end once you go to sleep. I was just trying to ensure that you don't freak out if it ends up lasting longer than a couple of days. Even if that happens, chances are that it will not be a permanent spike.

In this episode: a dish drop.

129 dB?!?!?!!?!!!!!

The same goes for showering.

You can take baths.

 

[Jiri]

This feels almost like a joke now. Very frustrating. Don't know if I should cry or laugh? I hear a dog bark behind the window and I'm taking cover. I hear people laugh or raise their voice and I immediately cover my ears.

129 dB?!?!?!!?!!!!!

WTF?! Almost 130 db for dropping a glass or a bowl on the floor??

I know he dropped it from a high point, but just imagine dropping it among other plates in the sink. Very loud. So even something as simple as doing chores now can be a potential hazard that may inevitably add damage to ur ears.

You can take baths.

No. I still prefer showers. Here's what happened. I bought those earplugs for swimmers (-26dB too), in the process I realized that one of them might not be fitted properly, I got nervous that some shampoo might get inside and cause irritation/inflamation later on so I took it out and that's when the shower head slipped and bang.

How is this even living? It feels iterally more like surviving.

 

[Jiri]

I believed my tinnitus stabilized in the recent 2 days too. I'm on that Prednisone, Betahistine etc. Especially when I woke up in the mornings I felt like I could only here the cricket sound and no whistling in my head/ears. Then yes, it got gradually worse towards the afternoon and especially evenings.

However, I still saw some progress and was very happy about it. Yesterday i.e. (before the shower incident) I could only hear the laptop fan and thought to myself 'whoa, great!'. May be I can even get back to working on my dissertation now and be able to concentrate. Guess what, had a bad nights sleep and woke up with the ringing again

 

[Lex]

If you have hyperacusis, sudden noises are the ones going to hurt you the most.

 

[VRZ78]

Man relax. Those kind of sounds aren't going to do any damages. In my 1+ year of reactive T and H, those sounds have never increased my T permanently. They only gave me small H setbacks and at worse a louder T for like a day.

The sounds you should be worried about are things like loud music, power tools, motorcycle or sirens. And those only cause a permanent T increase when you're exposed to them for some time. They can give you bad setbacks of H though.

Stop wearing earplugs at home and stressing from every noise. I know it's hard but at some point you'll notice those sounds doesn't do any harm.

 

[Bill Bauer]

How is this even living? It feels iterally more like surviving.

Live this way long enough, and there is a good chance that you will improve and won't have to live like that. In addition, soon you won't feel as bad about living like that. You will get used to it, and it will feel natural.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Those kind of sounds aren't going to do any damages.

Unfortunately, you might be wrong about that.

 

[Bill Bauer]

They only gave me small H setbacks and at worse a louder T for like a day.

Sounds like that (e.g., a loud phone) had given me spikes that lasted over three months. Had I not stopped exposing myself to sounds like that, it is possible that eventually I would end up having to deal with permanent spikes.

those only cause a permanent T increase when you're exposed to them for some time.

The acoustic trauma that gave me T in the first place, lasted a fraction of a second, and it wasn't even that loud.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I believed my tinnitus stabilized in the recent 2 days too.

You can notice changes in T only on the time scale of months (Not days or weeks). But if you have been close to hearing silence only a month after onset, your outlook is very positive. Your T might be gone within the next 3-4 months.

 

[Jiri]

If you have hyperacusis, sudden noises are the ones going to hurt you the most.

Man relax. Those kind of sounds aren't going to do any damages.

I wish you were right, guys. I truly do. My common sense tells me otherwise, though. If a gun shot (say, 140 dB) is loud enough to cause tinnitus or a bad tinnitus spike, then how is that much of a difference to dropping a dish among other plates (130 dB) as shown in the video above?

For the record, I know just exactly how I sound now. Like a wuss, right? That is because I still have in a vivid memory the past few weeks where I was in pain and couldn't sleep AT ALL. Not to mentinon the stress and anxiety...

 

[Jiri]

And guess what happened like literally about 10 minutes ago? I'm sitting in the living room and a freaking phone rang right next to me! Good lord, why? Just why? I took a chill pill like 30 mins ago, then this happens... shoot me.

The thing is, I'm on all of these drugs now and it is my understanding that they are meant to relax the muscles in the ear area, hence more blood flow in, reduce a possible inflamation etc . etc., the point I'm trying to make is I feel now even more vulnarable to sudden loud noises (like that of the bloody phone rang e.g.)

So my big question here is, since I'm still new to all this, and have close to 0 idea as to how my body will respond to that phone rang.. would I notice smth is wrong immediately? Does it take hours or even days?? Anyone?

(Thx for your patience with me btw)

 

[ridgew]

If you're panicking and exhausted you can get an increase in loudness simply from that. You take clonazepam and still can't sleep? How much do you take? Why you're taking Prednisone and Betahistine? Were you prescribed that or smth? Do you actually have hearing loss? The events you described don't cause hearing loss, they can only affect your brain or nerves. Betahistine acts only on inner ear, you can drop it. Prednisone could only help if you damge your nerve futher, but to damage it from such events is extremly unlikely. Most likely it's just hyperexitation state. So it's useless as well. You can't take it long anyway.

If clonazepam doesn't work for you, try some other benzo. After my 2012 spike I didn't sleep or eat for 3 days straight and only clonazepam 1mg put me to sleep for 6hrs.

I had hyperacusis 2 times, it resolved completly without taking extraordinary precautions.

 

[VRZ78]

I wish you were right, guys. I truly do. My common sense tells me otherwise, though. If a gun shot (say, 140 dB) is loud enough to cause tinnitus or a bad tinnitus spike, then how is that much of a difference to dropping a dish among other plates (130 dB) as shown in the video above?

For the record, I know just exactly how I sound now. Like a wuss, right? That is because I still have in a vivid memory the past few weeks where I was in pain and couldn't sleep AT ALL. Not to mentinon the stress and anxiety...

This video is BS.....

 

[Julien87]

Hello,

So I've just had a shower and a metal shower head slipped out of my hand and dropped from about a meter high to the bathtub. Just when I start to think that my tinnitus began to stabilize this happens.

Can such an event cause a tinnitus spike? Or add some more damage to the microscopic hairs inside cochlea?

Sure, according to the experts, when a metal shower head falls in the bathtub, the level of noise is so extreme that your eardrums can blow out immediately, and all the people in the whole neighbourhood risk an acoustic trauma. This is actually the second most common accident leading to hearing loss, just after walking on a mine.

 

[VRZ78]

And guess what happened like literally about 10 minutes ago? I'm sitting in the living room and a freaking phone rang right next to me! Good lord, why? Just why? I took a chill pill like 30 mins ago, then this happens... shoot me.

The thing is, I'm on all of these drugs now and it is my understanding that they are meant to relax the muscles in the ear area, hence more blood flow in, reduce a possible inflamation etc . etc., the point I'm trying to make is I feel now even more vulnarable to sudden loud noises (like that of the bloody phone rang e.g.)

So my big question here is, since I'm still new to all this, and have close to 0 idea as to how my body will respond to that phone rang.. would I notice smth is wrong immediately? Does it take hours or even days?? Anyone?

(Thx for your patience with me btw)

Taking all those pills have way more chance to do some damage to your body than a phone ringing next to you.

Be careful with clonazepam, one of the side effects of quitting it is T and hearing loss....

 

[VRZ78]

Do you have hyperacusis (pain or discomfort while being exposed to moderate sounds) or reactive tinnitus ( increase of tinnitus when being exposed to normal sounds like conversation or traffic) ?

 

[Bill Bauer]

phone rang right next to me!

If a phone rings a couple of inches from your ear, it might be bad. But if that phone is further from your ear than that, then it really ought to be ok.