Fire Alarm 2/21

So a fire alarm went off in my bedroom, I had no earplugs but managed to run out and put some on quickly.

I was exposed to the alarm for 10 seconds though, it was loud in pitch. It came on suddenly when i was watching a movie on Netflix.

Tinnitus has spiked up and it sounds like a high pitched dentist drill it covers mostly everything just not when I am in the shower. It is quite bad and it wakes me up at night. I am loosing sleep and I cant focus anymore, it has gotten to the point that now I am scared that every sound might damage my hair cells/auditory nerve.

Did I damage hair cells? I want to do another audiogram to see whether i have more hearing loss. My hearing was normal (perfect) back in October, some mild hearing loss in February (did another hearing exam), so i am wondering whether more damage is caused by these sounds.

I quit my job and I am not going outside anymore at all, well i go to the store but otherwise i dont go outside at all anymore.

 

No, the fire Alarm was probably 90 db it didn't do anything in that short period of time. Why did you quit your job?

 

You can always try and get a prescription for prednisone if you are worried about more damage. It could mitigate it, But you have to get on the course within a few days of the exposure for it to still be effective (apparently).

 

If he were to be healthy, a fire alarm for a short period of time would not hurt him. But he has T... Below is a recent post that I think is relevant:

While those noises are not damaging hearing, they are doing Something that ends up causing spikes.

 

And in my case something in addition to spiking. Some kind of swelling or inflammation that causes temporary low frequency conductive (I think) hearing loss, that only returns to normal once the inflammation has subsided. Plus return of worse H.
Be grateful if it is just a spike.

 

It is bad. I had this high pitched drill sound in my head. It is so loud it is driven me crazy. I need to start wearing earplugs inside the house. Had it for a week, pretty sure i caused further damage.

 

I can’t believe how often prednisone is brought up on here like it’s as simple as taking candy. Firstly, there’s not much to say it does anything, and secondly it’s hard to get hold of. It’s a strong drug and shouldn’t be taken so lightly; especially at the advice of forum speculation. I’ve seen people hoarding the stuff up on here and taking it everytime they hear a knock or a bang. It’s crazy and it’s also ototoxic.

There’s almost no consideration; people seem to just pop them like smarties. It’s purely anxiety driven in most cases.

 

I would not touch that at all. Read up on the side effects it has..... People can make their own choices, but i'll skip this drug....

 

Exactly fishbone. I doubt people do any research at all on the side effects, let alone seek the advice of a professional. There is a culture of popping prednisone on tinnitus forums like it’s the holy grail, and yet there’s nothing concrete to say it really does anything.

 

I always kept silent on this matter ,but i'll say one thing. Pred can cause anxiety and depression and these two alone are HUGE culprits for tinnitus and spikes... I have borderline BP and I avoid this med like a plague.... It will do me more harm than good. This is how I feel, This forum can make it's own choices, but it's good to know the full scope of this med as well.... I am not advising the use of it or not telling people to not use it...

Now in some cases if I REALLY have to take to take it (chest infection), then I will take it.

 

For people who haven’t looked at prednisone in more detail there’s a breakdown of it here:

https://www.drugs.com/sfx/prednisone-side-effects.html

 

Yea, my moms been on it for a while for breathing issues. Taking it willy nilly gets a bit ridiculous on here at times. Problem is people under a lot of stress will take anything and don’t really look into things properly. It’s bad that it gets perpetuated by people with absolutely no pharmaceutical or medical knowledge at all. Most of us here are just regular joes.

 

I agree, I've been taking pred too much as well!
But I doubt is ototoxic though, it's bad for almost every other aspect of your body, that's for sure.

 

Dude it's great seeing you active on the forum. Your spirit shows that, you are doing a little better...compared to when I first... interacted with you

 

It’s known to be ototoxic. That’s the paradoxical nature of drugs sometimes. Sometimes the thing they are treating is also the thing they can cause.

 

Here’s an excerpt off livestrong. Notice what it says towards the bottom:

Dangerous Side Effects
Drugs.com warns that prednisone can cause visual problems, trouble breathing, rapid weight gain, swelling and bloody stools. It can also cause hemoptysis (coughing up blood), convulsions, depression and hypokalemia (low potassium). Symptoms of hypokalemia include an arrythmia (irregular heartbeat), frequent urination, muscle weakness, leg pain, thirst and confusion. Prednisone can cause pancreatitis, a condition in which your pancreas is inflamed. Signs of pancreatitis are the following: nausea, vomiting, tachycardia (fast heartbeat) and stomach pain that radiates to your back. Sometimes, prednisone can provoke hypertension (high blood) and cause an excruciating headache, tinnitus (ringing in your ears), chest pain, confusion, arrythmia (irregular heartbeat) and seizure. Other major side effects include hives, itching, stomach pain or swelling, difficulty swallowing and vomiting.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/59752-prednisone-side-effects/

 

Depends what your sources are, I guess literally everything can be ototoxic.
That article says indeed that ringing in the air is a side effect, but that's quite different from actual ototoxicity.

But I won't argue against the use of pred, it's nasty, and I regret that I was "hooked" on it as well. It felt like the only weapon against sound exposure.

 

It is known to be ototoxic though Jurgen, unfortunately. If you’re still taking them everytime a noise concerns you I’d urge you to reconsider as its not really a drug to play about with.

There’s a list here for quick referencing of ototoxic drugs:

https://renewhearing.net/reNew_Hearing_Ototoxic.html

 

I've almost quite the use of it completely, there was a time that I started a popping a few every other week.
But that's over, now I do have to admit I took 4 mg and another 4 mg last month. Which is very little, but still I shouldn't have.

But let's not go too much offtopic for the sake of the OP, thanks for the warning though, I think it's a common problem here.

 

That’s good to hear bud.

And yea, sorry for sidetracking your thread @dpdx. When I saw prednisone brought up for the millionth time I was compelled to post.

 

Sorry not meaning to downplay it at all. I know spikes can be horrible, was assuming it was a temporary one.

 

this is not a spike i had it since Feb 21 and today is March 2. I cant sleep anymore, it is so loud that it causes my eye to hurt. it is a very very high pitched drill, it makes me skin crawl.

 

You’re probably right saying people overuse it, but I don’t think you can outright imply it shouldn’t be used. Doctors prescribe this stuff and in many countries it’s standard procedure in the event of acoustic trauma.
You can choose to be against it if you wish, but have you experienced an acoustic trauma?
I’ve never taken the dosages many do here, in fact only have been prescribed the 5mg tablets. It helps immensely with inflammation. It’s a real drug that helps people with other conditions too.

 

I’m not against it. I’m saying people shouldn’t be influenced by the overwhelming overuse that saturates the forums. There’s no evidence to suggest it really does anything in the case of a noise trauma. It seems more likely to be useful when something else is causing the tinnitus such as an inflammatory response or infection maybe. Noise trauma causes oxidative stress which is best relieved with anti-oxidants.

If a Dr prescribes it it’s a different story. They can review your case and check your history. I just find the number of people going to a Dr and demanding it because of a forum culture (and without doing any research on it) a bit concerning. It is rife.

 

What happened at your home that might have caused a micro-acoustic trauma?

 

I think it caused major trauma.

 

Oh, you were talking about the alarm. Is it the case that you have no ability to disable it?

 

I can but its so easy to get acoustic trauma.

 

You could wear earplugs when you or someone else in the same room as you handles glass (plates, mugs, etc). I can't think of many other ways to get exposed to a sudden noise when you are at home.

 

I wish people know how fragile our ears are, one screw up and that's it, lifetime of problems.