Greetings from Buffalo

Hello everyone. I have some sort of hearing problem, almost constant noise/roaring in my ears. This has been with me since I awoke in the hospital from a month long coma. I was walking on the shoulder of the road near home one night and was hit by a car. It was a drunk driver who left me in the road with a fractured skull and fled the scene. Fortunately he returned a bit later and was noticed by the state police as he sat there in his car (which was minus the passenger side sideview mirror) watching the EMTs working on me on the side of the road. I was taken to the emergency room. Our hero was taken to the trooper's station where his BAC was found to be .19. I was in the hospital from February 16th until July 3rd.

I don't use drugs and had not been drinking so my toxicology was completely clean. I have been on the mend since then but am left with this almost constant noise and also double vision.

Needless to say I am out of work and have no idea when I may return, probably not any time soon. I just turned 52 and have been playing guitar since I was 12. Was planning on putting together another blues/rock band but that may not happen now. Life for me now is a series of doctor's appointments and therapists coming to the house almost daily.

It sucks to be me but it could be worse, I could easily have been dead. I am trying to stay positive and optimistic and hope my ultimate outcome will be better.

Anyway, chin up and keep the faith

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458888/

post TBI tinnitus

 

My goodness @Tinhorn, what an ordeal you've been through. Your determination to stay optimistic and hopeful is highly commendable! I myself had a serious head injury as a teenager, and suffered for years, not knowing it had left significant residiual damage--the kind of damage that often does not show up on standard medical tests and examinations. If I may make a couple of suggestions:

There's probably no better therapy for head injuries and post concussion syndromes than HBOT. I myself purchased an mHBOT (mild HBOT) unit last year, and feel it's helped heal some of the damage from that head injury decades ago. It's given me many other benefits as well, including significantly helping my sleep.

I would also suggest looking into DMSO, as it has remarkable abilities to reduce pressure and inflammation, two things that could be contributing significantly to your tinnitus. I created a thread on my own expereinces with DMSO on the following thread: -- DMSO & Magnesium Oil for Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome (TTTS).

Take care, and I wish you great success in your continuing recovery!

 

Thank you for that, Doc. That's quite a read, lots to absorb but time is certainly what I have plenty of these days. It will help me to understand what has happened to me and what I am facing in this recovery. Educating myself as much as possible and hoping for the best is my main focus these days. Again, thank you

 

Thanks Lane! With all the injuries I sustained I'm feeling like something the cat dragged in. Fractured skull, broken cheek bone, initially diagnosed with a torn left rotator cuff but later determined to be atrophy during the coma so my shoulder is actually o.k. now, whew! I landed on my left shoulder and left side of my skull (my last vague memory). I was a mess when I awoke from the coma in March. I have no memory of it, I just marvel at all the pictures of me in ICU when the top of my head was shaved and sprouting all sorts of wires and hoses plugged into my scalp. I had a HALO/ back brace to immobilize me and basically the whole left side of my face and left shoulder were one big scab. I once tripped over a guy's leg who was seated on the floor in the open door of a Huey helicopter. His back was to the aft bulkhead in the gunner's position with one leg outstreached along the floor in the open door and one foot on the skid, behind me. Just as the pilot lifted it off I got bumped into, tripped backwards over that Aussie dude's leg and out the open door I went. Sounds more dramatic than it was and fortunately the ground was there to break my fall. Fell about 15 feet and landed flat on my back knocking the wind out of me and I bit halfway through my tongue. I swear, I didn't get half as messed up then as when that drunk hit me with his car. The Aussies and Navy Docs we had just picked up were pretty comical when they came back and found me, blood all over the front of me then realized I was basically o.k. Crikey mate!

Anyway, having an eye procedure done later this month to hopefully correct my double vision. Seems a muscle in my left eye is somehow bound up, out of place. This makes it so when my right eye is looking straight ahead the left is looking slightly up. That's why I walk with my right eye closed to compensate. Sorting out my vision is the least of my worries, this constant roaring is driving me nuts!

 

You are welcome, and thank you for your service. I wish I had more to offer, but TBI's just need a lot of time to heal, and you never know how much better they will improve until a while has passed.

Best of luck on your upcoming eye procedure.