Foolishly Attended a Loud Concert 2 Weeks Ago, Now My Tinnitus Is Back. Will It Go Away Again?

Hi everyone.

I'm an 19 year old girl about to turn 20 next month.

I've been here before, I had a bad bout of tinnitus almost two years ago that eventually completely subsided after about 2 months. The initial onset was not as a result of noise trauma. To be fair I have no idea what caused it. It may have been a cold, but it started with a faint ringing in my left ear, that became full hissing, ringing, chirping and morse code in both ears. In its final phase it became a low pitched drone that alternated from sounded like it came from outside me or inside my head. Once I started coming to terms with it, it all settled and vanished. I've enjoyed silence for the past almost two years with occasional, temporary bouts. Until recently.

So here we are again. I'm less distressed than last time, but I have to admit I'm still peeved. The one thing that is giving me reassurance now is the fact that this onset is more or less following the same course as last time. Ringing in left ear, ringing and hissing in both, low drone, and then hopefully, silence again. Also, I've only had this for a little over 2 weeks now, while I had my last battle with tinnitus for almost 2 months. So I would hope that there is still plenty of room for recovery.

I've been protecting my ears lately, but making sure I don't get hyperacusis like I did last time when I went overboard with protection.

Right now I'm hearing the low pitched hum and it sounds the same as it did last time. I still have the ringing and hissing but that fluctuates. This morning I woke up and heard nothing for a good few minutes. I hoping these are good signs that it will go again.

I know nobody can tell me for sure whether or not it will go away, but I somehow have an instinctual feeling that this is just a matter of waiting it out. What do you think, will it go like last time? Thanks.

 

No telling. If you do pull out of this again, you're amazingly lucky. No more concerts.

 

Oh believe me, I don't plan on going to another concert ever again. I wouldn't have even gone if not for my friend dragging me along...

Will it get better at least? It's only been about 2 weeks, can it decrease? It fluctuates a lot which reassures me that it won't be stuck being as loud and intrusive as it is being right now.

 

Nobody can tell you yes or no.

definitely

Mine does too.

Perhaps go immediately to a doctor and get some steroids. Like as soon as you read this.

Best of luck!

 

Thanks! I've booked an appointment to see a GP later today so hopefully that goes well. Can steroids work even two weeks after the initial onset?

 

Sorry to seem pessimistic, but that seems like too long to me. You need to take them anyway just in case.

 

@Optigirl19 -- Not only can it decrease, but I would say it's quite likely, especiallyt since you've got fluctuations going on. However, your ears will almost assuredly be vulnerable for the rest of your life. I'm very happy to hear you've already sworn off future concerts!

 

If taken early enough, can steroids really help? And how?

 

There are tiny hair like cells in your inner ear that when over stimulated produce a chemical called glutamate. Glutamate in high doses can cause your little hair cells to die, which is called apoptosis, and can take several days.

A class of drugs called catabolic steroids inhibits the process of apoptosis by a really complicated chemical process.

"several cell types have an anti-apoptotic response to glucocorticoids that is cytoprotective"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3972684/

 

Cheers Lane, thank you! I was thinking that too, I've had periods where it goes down to nothing. They were brief, but they've happened. So I don't think this will stick around.

I know, my ears have been compromised. I really pushed it by attending thay concert, although I assumed it'd be at a reasonable level. It wasn't until the music started that I realised how loud it was. I should have left as soon as possible. Ah well, no use in feeling all regretful now...

Yeah, no concerts ever again. Not worth it. And I will lay of the earphones too.

 

Thanks for that helpful explanation and the link as well. I'll see what the doctor says.

 

the only convincing evidence is for SSNHL, not acoustic trauma.

the only mildly convincing evidence I've seen in the case of noise trauma comes from the military, where they used IV steroids which were given within minutes/hours of exposure. That's what your window is. After that excitoxicty is already kicking in. Also -- you might do as well to predose with magnesium as to take steroids after the fact, which is much safer (but requires knowing you'll be exposed).

this forum loves them because it scratches the itch of "I need to do something" that people feel early on, but... I've seen very, very limited accounts where it did anything that helped long term... and a few reports of people having psychotic breaks from steroids. So, high potential reward but very unlikely, also insanely high risks, which are nearly equally unlikely.

Don't beat yourself up too much; I got a permanent increase from a truly insane concert in 2010 after knowing damn well I'd had tinnitus for 11 years. It's a bummer. I still go to concerts, though, I'm just a lot smarter about it and have not had any more problems.

 

Thank you for youe long and detailed response. That's why I'm waiting on the doctor's orders. I know steroids are nothing to be played with. I didn't take any sort of treatment last time and this all went away.

How have you been? Has it gone down a little, or at least become more bearable? I was at the concert for three hours, had my friends scream in my ears whenever they wanted to talk to me. I was even trying to stay at the back, away from the stage, and it was still ridiculously loud. Then my crazy friend tried to pull me closer to the stage, where it was unfathomably loud. Honestly, how can that level of sound even be enjoyable? The whole time, I was worrying about my ears, but I was just trying to suck it up as to not be a killjoy. Lesson learned.

 

Life is pretty great these days but I do take a medication combination that helps me but is fairly hardcore and I would not encourage; also, it only partially relates to tinnitus (I have a long history with psych drugs that predates tinnitus).

I think it got a lot better over the first year -- but when tinnitus hit me, hard, I was super unhappy living in a super stressful situation, money was tight, I was dependent on opioids that I'd continued to take following a surgery, and basically life was out of control and really unhappy. Now I live in the woods, have a wonderful family, etc. So it's very hard to compare.

I do know that if you wanted me to relive that first year, you'd have to pay me enough to be set for life.... it gets better.

 

Hey @Optigirl19 -- I would consider that a BIG lesson learned, which extends to circumstances outside of ear protection and tinnitus. Seems to be that in almost ALL facets of life, people often try to get us to do things THEY want us to do, even though it may not be WE want or need to do. So if you've learned to resist those kind of pressures at a young age, then that's a feather in your hat.

If I may make a "suggestion" as to what you might do to help your current circumstances: I'm a big believer in the power of so called "alternative therapies". I made a brief post on reflexology and how it might help with tinnitus and ear problems for some people. In case you're interested in checking it out, here's a LINK. BTW, no risks whatsoever!

 

Good luck with the recovery - I foolishly attended an open air concert 2 months after getting tinnitus and I'm worried I have set back my recovery even though I was wearing ear plugs and I was a long way from the standing area (I was always in the area at the back of the field where people set up picnic tables, tents etc) - I know for a fact that I will never ever go to any noisy event again (never really enjoyed them anyway but my partner and her brother love concerts!) as it's just not worth the risk as I now know how nasty tinnitus can be even though there are people who have it far worse than me.

 

Don't listen to the negative people here...

I have had tinnitus after concerts too, and guess what, majority of people have, there's even memes about it. It usually just go away, just like your first tinnitus.

What make it stay is stress and focusing on it, so we can thanks the st*pid negative people here making you stress about it because they are likely to BE the cause of it staying..
Seriously, can't some people just shut up? It's not because your tinnitus didn't go, or got worse, or whatever, that it will be the case for her. I am sick of negative people here.

Stop stressing about it, go out, enjoy life, don't think about it, and your brain will just erase it like it does in 99% of cases.

Just put earplugs next time you go to a concert and you'll be fine.

 

Great advice if you have NIT and want to ruin your life further!

 

People have NIT everyday man, and it disappears for 99.99% of them. Do you see everyone at concerts wearing earplugs or almost nobody? Yeah almost nobody. And guess what they all have tinnitus after the concert and it goes away.

Plus I told her to wear earplug while going to the concert, which is enough.

So stop being negative because you weren't lucky. Stop making her depressed or stressed for nothing. Ear protection while going to a concert is fine.

 

Citation needed, I'm guessing. Even if that was the case, millions of people nonetheless have chronic tinnitus. It's not a rare condition.

It's definitely not enough for everyone to prevent a temporary or permanent tinnitus increase.

 

This is what I think:

It seems that some people have their brains wired in a way which produces tinnitus, while the majority of people don't get tinnitus even when they have NIHL, stress or what have you.

Everyone that goes to a show without earplugs gambles with the risk of getting T, but only some will get it because of their neurology.

Many of the people that go to shows without earplugs will get NIT when enough damage is done.

Anyway, to each his own. I actually consider my outlook positive because it minimized suffering. I think people should know that once you have NIT, very little is sometimes enough to make it permanently worse. Good luck with your chosen path

 

I would normally just bypass a post like this. But I have to say, this is just about the WORST advice I've seen written on this forum. While this may be suitable advice for somebody with somewhat of a gambling mentality, it's absolutely terrible advice for most people on this forum who already have compromised ear health.

People that have already experienced tinnitus will almost assuredly be more vulnerable to further deterioration than the average person without tinnitus or other ear problems. -- Everytime you go to a concert and get "temporary tinnitus", it's another assault that almost always only accumulates over time.

 

This girl had tinnitus ONCE, two years ago.

And do stress help people with new tinnitus ? No, it actually makes it worse, and some articles even suggest stress and focusing on it is the reason why it doesn't disappear. And people telling her she is amazingly lucky if she get out of it or that her ears will be vulnerable for the rest or her life... seriously ?

All she needs now is too chill, not focus on the tinnitus and rest her hearing.

 

@Gabriel - Just to point out, your words are not entirely accurate. @Optigirl19 said she had a BAD Bout of tinnitus for Two Months two years ago. This is a LOT different than somebody going to someplace that's loud and having temporary ringing in their ears for a few days.

To me, her account says some really, really important. That her ears were vulnerable a bad bout of tinnitus back then, and will almost assuredly be more vulnerable going forward. Why wouldn't a person--who obviously does not want to have permanent tinnitus--not take appropriate protective measures to make sure that doesn't happen?

This forum is filled with people who also had a few occurrences of "temporary tinnitus", until it was no longer temporary. What they wouldn't give to move back the clock and be able to make different choices. This young woman is still very new to this all, and it would appear she's going to be able to recover again, just as she did last time.

But she's not going to be young forever, and she also may not be so fortunate as to get another opportunity to protect her tinnitus-free life. The choice for me would be crystal clear--and which I hope is equally clear to her: Do not take any unnecessary chances. Tinnitus is too difficult a burden to carry to make such choices that may end up to be foolish ones.

This is true, but there's a HUGE difference between being constantly stressed and focused on tinnitus to the point of it becoming debilitating and detrimental, and being prudently concerned and cautious about finding the right balance in protecting your ears. That's all many of us are trying to say here: At this critical time, weigh your choices carefully.

 

Lane - thank you. I appreciate your cautious words here. I have personally resolved never to take any more risks with my hearing. I've thrown my ear buds out and have purchased earplugs to ensure I don't so any more harm to my ears. It does look like I am unfortunately susceptible to tinnitus and it doesn't help that I already have mild to moderate hearing loss for unknown reasons. Please tell me what I need to do to prevent another bout from occurring in the future. I say my tinnitus is going and while the ringing has subsided substantially, I am now experiencing what appears to be auditory hallucinations, which also occurred last time. Not sure if this is still tinnitus but it appears alternate from coming inside my ear to sounding like it's coming from outside of me. I've heard of musical ear syndrome and I'm wondering if this is it...? I also hear the sound of bells going off occasionally.

 

Count me as another of the "0.01%" who got NIT from live music. On 3 occasions. And it gets worse each time.

Not negative, just realistic, even if I learned the hard way.

 

you did learn the hard way. Your post are useful warnings too new comers.

 

@boliston @Mister Muso

Count me in the group that went to a concert after getting tinnitus. I habituated (or at least felt content) within a month of the concert that first gave me tinnitus so I wasn't looking for support sites like this one (with its wealth of advice on protection and avoidance). And I though that wearing protection and being further from the speakers would be enough. It wasn't. A new, more intrusive tone, developed afterwards and which thankfully went away after a prednisone treatment. I was back to my less-high pitched 3/10 tone.

But the tone came back a week and a half ago for some unknown reason (tissue irritability??), though is thankfully not as intrusive, or not as /constantly/ intrusive. Definitely not doing concerts again. Don't see myself doing anything loud like weddings or movies for the foreseeable future either.

TLDR for noobies/lurkers: If a concert gives you tinnitus, even a perfectly manageable 2/10, just don't go to any more. Not even after Lenire comes out lol.

 

You can give it a try, although this sort of medication should not be taken often. Get Prednisone or Deflazacort. Anyway, they do not work miracles...

Sound damage is a bit like "strike one".. "strike two".. and then there's no solution anymore. It means hearing damage is cumulative and sometimes you can be ok at a certain point for years and then suddently things go wrong very fast.