Exposed to Loud Sounds in Venice Beach — Should I Take Prednisone?

Yesterday I made the mistake of going to Venice Beach. I haven't been in years, but I was hanging out with my kid and we decided to go check it out.

I never realized how loud it is there. There's a lot of loud music playing outside of the stores and street performers. I had in 13 noise reduction rating (NRR) earplugs as I can't have a conversation with anyone if I have anything stronger in. Most of the loud music I was only exposed to for maybe 5-10 seconds at a time as we were walking past. Measuring on my Apple Watch, a lot of the sounds we walked past were 80-85 dBA. There was a drumline playing that was ultra loud though. I plugged my ears with my hands over the top of my plugged ears as we walked by. When I got past, I checked my watch real fast and it was about 90 dBA and 97 dBA when they would hit the accents on their drums.

As we were walking down the street to my car, two ambulances came by with sirens blaring. I had nowhere to escape to. I could only stand there with my hands over my plugged ears, but it was insanely loud. The rest of the day my tinnitus was just roaring and making all kinds of robotic sounds. Today, it's kind of calmed down but I'm still getting those weird robot sounds. I do hear this here and there throughout the day but, I don't know, I'm afraid I've made things worse. My ears also feel like they need to be popped, but I have no problem popping them and they feel kind of... sticky? I guess?

I just started a regimen of low-dose Nortriptyline. I took the first dose the night before and then the second dose last night. I don't know if that is a factor or not at all.

This sucks. I didn't realize I would be exposed to such loud sounds. I was trying to live life a bit normally and spend some time with my kid.

Should I try getting Prednisone from urgent care today? I took a megadose of NAC last night and again this morning. I've never felt I had success from Prednisone but things just don't feel right today.

 

Very frustrating that we can’t even go to the beach.

I hope it goes back to baseline.

You had some protection with the earplugs and fingers so I’ll think it will calm down if you didn’t feel any pain.

Prednisone has not helped me after noise incidents.

I tried twice, I once actually started the Prednisone a day before a major noise trauma because I sneezed and was being paranoid. :O And I went up to 40-50 mg for a week and then scaled down for another week.

Best regards.

 

In all likelihood, it isn't permanent.

 

I doubt Nortriptyline has done this to you from 2 doses...?

 

I second this.

@kingsfan... at least you have the guts to try and live life, don’t beat yourself up.

 

I went to Urgent Care anyway, but they just gave me a taper for 6 days starting at 60 mg. I just taper down 10 mg each day. I don’t know if that would be helpful at all but it’s what I got.

I have enough from what I already have from a past asthma treatment to do 50mg for 5 days and then taper down over 4 days. If I want to.

 

Do it properly if you do it. 50 mg a week then taper sounds good

 

Perhaps take 60 mg of Prednisone on the first day if you weigh 70 kg or more.

Take it when you wake up in the morning as it’s better for your body.

Let us know if it did anything.

 

@kingsfan, it's a good thing to go out and enjoy life. Don't let the tinnitus spikes hold you back from doing things that you enjoy. That is what I did and it significantly helped me to get to the point where my tinnitus would take the backseat.

 

13 NRR is like 1. I don't believe you should have exposed or stayed one minute longer once you realised the loud noise. Hope things quiet down for you. Those NRR are misleading.

 

I think the math that makes NRR so low is to account for improper fitting. Mine absolutely fit properly and I fully insert them, but I do agree that I was not prepared and didn't have strong enough ear plugs for the situation I found myself in.

 

This is exactly what I have been trying to do. Life is absolutely not worth living, for me, if I can't have even a semblance of normalcy. I'm trying to ease my way and test the waters as to what I can and can't do. But it certainly is scary.

 

I can't remember exactly how I spread out the doses, but I took 60 mg the first day and then 50 mg for the next 4 or 5, then tapering down ~15 mg every other day... so 2 days at 35 mg, 2 days at 20 mg, and 2 days at 10 mg.

 

Sounds like you are already finished with the Prednisone? That was quick :O

If I misunderstood and you are asking about dosing, my understanding is that your dosing regime/taper sounds very good.

I think if you want to go longer on 60 mg, that is fine too, but after 2-3 days on 60 mg I am having trouble sleeping and, faster heartbeat and louder tinnitus.

But I weigh only 60 kg.

If you lack pills, I think you can taper by 20 mg every 2 days without problems until you reach 20 mg. Then go more slowly because of the adrenal glands need to start produce cortisol on their own.

Last time I did 50 mg for 5 days and then went straight to 20 mg because of my osteoporosis. So: 50 mg - 20 mg - 20 mg - 10 mg - 10 mg - 10 mg - 5 mg - 5 mg - 2.5 mg.

Some people here are prescribed one week of 50-60 mg without taper because it is just one week. Sounds like an unnecessary risk in my head...

 

I've taken two doses so far: 60 mg and 50 mg. I sort of followed the way I my doctor has me taper for asthma which is 3 days 40 mg, 3 days 20 mg, 3 days 10 mg.

I didn't know it would be okay to jump from 50 mg or 60 mg down to 20 mg. Hmmmm. I would like to taper as slowly as I can.

I weight roughly 75 kg or around 165 lbs.

 

It is OK to be scared. It is OK to have fear. Accept it, but don't run from it. If you run, the fear will grow. If you sit it out, the fear fade.

I realized early on that it was the fear that was causing all the bad things, the anxiety, the stress, the sleepless nights, depressed feelings, dark outlook. You name it. I also realized early on that it would be impossible for the same thing (whatever it is) to cause fear forever. So I just sat it out patiently. I accepted all the bad feelings and took them on the chin. When the fear started to fade, so did the anxiety and the sleeping problems.

 

@kingsfan, the slower the taper, the better!

I did it that way because my bones are already 100 years old so I wanted to come down from the high dose as quickly as possible.

I just thought in case you’re running out of pills that I would bring it up.
Doctors try to keep things simple to follow.
Some doctors say to cut in half every day for instance!

The important thing is to let the adrenal glands get back to producing cortisol because they stop producing cortisol when you take the pills (long term) because they contain that substance in some way.

Also taking Prednisone in the mornings is easier on the body because of the natural way of producing cortisol when you wake up. So the books say if taken only once a day, take in the mornings if adequate for the underlying illness.

I checked the book again:
1 week course of Prednisone: no taper needed.

2 week course of Prednisone: Taper, for example half dose every day or reduce by 5-10 mg every day.

Long term treatment: Taper slowly, 5-10 mg every day it says. And they really stress the importance of the taper on the 14 day treatment.

If you’re young and healthy as a fish, maybe 60 mg would be more appropriate, but 50 mg is still in the (almost) high dosage scheme for your body weight. 10 mg x 7.5 = 56 mg.

The higher the dose you take, the more side effects you may have, and those can be chronic. Like diabetes and kidney failure stuff

So 50 mg sounds good to me. But I’m no doctor just to make it very clear. Just a sick dude.

 

This is all really useful info. Thank you.

I don't try and mess around with Prednisone, so I'm doing as slow a taper as I can. I forgot about taking it in the morning. I've been taking it in the evening since that's when I could get my prescription filled, but I now know it makes it hard to sleep if taken late in the day. I really didn't sleep last night because of it, so I may just take my next dose in the morning instead of this evening.

 

Yup, take it first thing tomorrow morning if you haven’t already taken it today.

Glad to be of some use, thank you.

 

Man, my tinnitus has been annoying since starting the Prednisone. One of the tones that was really bothering me has disappeared while on, but the hissing is louder and the ringing in my left ear is like thinner and more piercing. Last time I took Prednisone for my asthma, only 40 mg, my tinnitus calmed down and was pretty nice. I haven't been sleeping well either though because of it and overloaded with work.

I feel like I can't even type a coherent sentence.

 

How are you doing now?

 

Thank you for asking. I have not been well lately. I came out of the whole Venice Beach incident unscathed, but I was duped into an unfamiliar test at the audiologist/ENT about a week and half ago and my left ear (which was previously made worse buy a test at the audiologist) has just increased a significant amount.

 

Can you update us on how's your condition and has there been any changes with your tinnitus by taking Prednisone? Hope you're doing well now.

 

It's hard to judge whether Prednisone is helpful. It hasn't made any previous symptoms better, but has it prevented things from worsening? Is there a way to even tell? I don't bother with Prednisone anymore. I just take NAC if I'm ever worried about noise.