Exposure to Fire Alarm

Hello guys,

I wanted to write a minor "success-story" around New Years since I had finally habituated to my T after 2-3 weeks in.
However life happened again.

My fire alarm went of three times during the last days. First time I forgot to turn the fan on (window was open) and I got startled of course. The alarm is right above me (1-1,5 m up) and I cover my ears right away. I had to let go of one hand to turn the fan on. It beeps for another 5-10 seconds (with ears covered). Then after a 5-10 min it goes off again (!) even with the fan on and the window open. This time I had my headphones on (those that covers the ears) because I don't know why, I had the sensation that "just in case it goes off again" I had some kind of protection (also my boyfriend was playing video games and I got tired of hearing the sound from it). This time I didn't cover my ears since I mostly got annoyed with it going off again. It beeps for 10-15 seconds. What surprised me was that it wasn't as loud as I remember it from the first time it went off (which was 3 weeks prior). So I felt kind okay, didn't think about it for the whole day. At night I started to worry since I tried to listen to the T and see if had changed. I couldn't hear anything different so still anxious but had no evidence of it to be damaging for me.

Two days later, or yesterday rather, it goes off again. I swear I wanted to tear that crap down (but didn't because I wasn't sure if it would start beeping if I removed it in a wrong way). Fan on max, windows open but no it starts beeping again. This time I stood a little more to left, the sound just felt like it screeched right into my right ear. Startled of course, and covered my ears within second (heard two BEEPs uncovered) and ran into the bedroom (which is like 2 meters away) and just stood there with my ears covered (same like before, took 10-15 seconds until it stopped). I felt instantly that something was wrong after it, and my body was shaking and my boyfriend tried to talk to me and make me feel better but I don't know. My first reaction was that "this is it, this will damage my ears for real, it was much louder than last time and it feel like it just tore into my ears". I will talk to the landlord and have them to turn the alarm off, however I am mostly scared that the noises have damaged my ears or made the T worse.

I can't say for sure if my T has spiked, I do want to say that it changed a little, from more buzzing electronic noises to a more clear "iiiii" in the right ear. But then again, that "iiii" has always been there more of less, and I don't know if me, starting to listen for it has made me think it has spiked or increased. I don't feel that it has been a major increase in loudness, if it has, then it's maybe a slight increase. I don't feel muffled in any of my ears. I feel rather anxious again, and angry. Angry that I finally felt good, habituated and all, and now I am back on square 1 or 2 with the worries again.

Please, does anyone know if I should be worried about causing damage or increase the T in loudness permanently?

 

Hi Fangen,
Im sure you will be fine and no permanent damage done I would make sure your alarm works and not faulty as can be life savers.
Try to stay calm and don't keep listening out for your sound as its best not give it any attention and you will hear it anyway when loud.

The unwanted emotions with tinnitus can be hard going but staying calm and relaxed and keep anxiety down will really help you cope better with the sound itself. ...lots of love glynis

 

Hello Glynis,

Thank you for you reply, I am feeling as anxious as on the onset on T, since I know that I can be better and have been ignoring it for the past 2 weeks. It just makes it very annoying and hard to be exposed to unwanted sounds, I didn't think about having to have to use ear plugs being in your own home (the alarm have never gone off for almost half a year) and it's just typical that it did three times in just a few days. Feels like life is messing around with me.
I just feel angered by the fact that I was very happy and finally felt like I could handle the T, and now I am just kicked back so many steps again

 

Do you feel better ?

 

Hello!
No really. I mean I still feel like I posted above, it's been a few more hours but nothing has changed dramatically no

 

Did you try to use medecine ? Like cortisone, etc...

 

I just copy and past a message from a member of this forum. Maybe it can help you :

treatment protocol is
1) corticostreroids
2) N acetylcysteine
3) vitamins b1 b2 b3 b6 b12 c d e
4) aminoacids
5) creatine
6) magnesium
7) ΗΒΟ
8) most important -> huge amount of sleep (sleep a lot of times fixes T from noise)

 

Hi Fangen,

I think your anxiety/worry about your T being affected is actually causing it to be worse.

I also had a major scare on NYE walking home from work. I was only a few weeks into T at that point, and was starting to habituate nicely after a harsh 2.5 weeks.

As I walked round a corner some kids playing with fireworks mishandled one, dropped it and ran off, it went off about 5m from my head while I had no time to react or get my fingers in my ears. I had an immediate onset of strong T (My T is only mild generally) which lasted at least a few minutes.

I was terrified about this affecting my T or making it worse, I mean just as I was starting to become OK with it, what a disaster right?

I found when I worried about it, the T was indeed stronger that and the next day. I kept thinking about it "is my T stronger?" Well, whenever you do that, it gets stronger! Because this is more of a nervous/neurological problem than waiting for something in the ear to fix itself.

Look up the "Back to silence" thread in the success stories forum. It teaches you more to acknowledge your emotional response to T instead of listening for it, trying to gaugue its volume and such. That's what habituation is, you are still rather new to it so it won't be a deeply ingrained habit you have to keep listening to it.

You are just having a few bad days, it happens, but there will be less and less of them as you go on. Try to keep yourself distracted and busy, and don't measure your T ever! If you find yourself thinking that way, add in some kind of blocker statement. "Oh, today my T is..." "...not to be measured!".

Today has been my best T day yet, and a firework 5m from my head is going to have a much higher sound pressure level than your alarm beeping a few times.

 

Hi Daniel!

Thank you for your reply, I think your post make a lot of sense. I didn't get immediate higher T after the alarm, which I haven't had before when it went of a few days ago. I suppose my body and mind was already in a tense state and having the alarm go off yesterday, when I was already worried about my hearing from two days before when the alarm went off twice didn't help at all.

It feels better knowing that you are having a great T day despite having firwork going off close to you. I know that the sound from alarm shouldn't be damaging in that short time and that the alarms are somewhere between 85-100db. It's loud but shouldn't be a cause for damage. But yes you're still worried because you know now how much noise can damage.

I will do my best to stop worrying, I was on a good way into habituation and that is what makes me most irriated. That I felt great and finally made peace but have to start over again.
Thank you for your advice, I appreciate it a lot! It does feel better knowing that it's probably just my mind that is spooking.

Take care!

 

Just a few days ago the fire alarm went off in our household and I was later told I didn't even wake up to it still got the spike though

 

This may make you feel a bit better then:

http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/

You need to be exposed to a continous 85dB for 8 hours, and 100dB for 15mins to have damaged your hearing, it doesn't sound like you got anywhere near that.

 

Hi!

Thanks for the link! I know that I should be fine, even if ut went above 100 db I still have some "room" to work with. I feel that some people say that high frequency can cause more damage at a lower db, some say it doesn't matter but rather length and db. Hoping for the latter to be true. Feels like I have some reactive T, it does feel slightly higher pitched now that I am in my bedroom. Hopefully just a spike and it'll go down again soon.