Having a Rough Day :(

Hello all!! As much as I hate to admit it, I am in desperate need of some reassurance today. Be for I get into why I'll give you a little background on myself. My name is Scott!! I'm currently living in Tampa, Florida, USA! I have had mild tinnitus for around two years now due to a night out at a club. At its onset I was extremely troubled by it, however now it rarely bothers me. I have had relatively severe hyperacusis for the past 6 months or so (ldl 55-60) and I've had some TTTS symptoms to go along with it. I have had to use noise cancelling headphones or ear plugs everywhere I've gone over the last 6 months. sometimes even with earplugs in 85db can be uncomfortable for me. The hyperacusis has led to some pretty severe social anxiety. Even with ear plugs in I'm always worried that things are too loud.

Now to why I need some support. This past weekend I took my girlfriend to Naples for her birthday!! I spent the weekend wearing ear plugs essentially 12 hours a day. We returned home sunday night, and on monday morning everything related to my T and H seemed perfectly normal. That evening I decided I would take a trip to the grocery store and I would simply wear my headphones (not noise cancelling, just regular apple ear buds). About two minutes into the drive I was stopped at a red light and a car pulled up on my right with their music thumping!!! luckily (or so I thought) they were a whole car length ahead of me on the right so I figured it wouldn't be so bad. I was wrong!!! One thump from their car and I could feel the inside of my left ear tingling (similar to the way it did the night I acquired T at the night club). I had taken my headphone out and plugged my right ear with my fingers just in case and didn't feel the tingling in that ear. the thumping lasted only a few seconds before the light changed and the car pulled off. The rest of the trip went without incident, but nonetheless I was, and still am incredibly anxious about the whole event. When I got to the store I took my headphones out and sat in my car in silence. My hearing hadn't been affected and neither had my T. However this morning my hearing in my left ear seems muffled, the ear feels full and my T has increased. I am freaking out about it and I could really use some positive words!! Is it possible that the sound went through his car, through my car, through my headphones, and damage my hearing despite the fact that it only lasted for a second!?? Please tell me I'm just being paranoid lol.

Thank you all in advance for your input!!!

 

With hyperacusis it does make you a tad more paranoid, has it spiked your tinnitus at all? By the way quick tip, I have cured my hyperacusis with a drug called keppra, if you can obtain some, I would like so much for you to tell us if it works for you cheers.

 

Perhaps it is going to be a temporary spike. Give it some time to settle. Protect the ears for the time being. I don't know if seeing ENT will help anything. Perhaps the doctors at the Doctor's Corner can advise you. Generally, the less stressful we are, the less loud T is. Take it easy and give it some time to settle.

 

I agree, depression can make tinnitus worse.

 

With T, paranoia can be such a huge problem. I used to try and be careful with everything I did and careful with everywhere I went. I still do, but not as much. But I believe the stress and over anxiety has cause most of my spikes rather than from some outside noise. Good luck! I hope things ease up for you.

 

Yeah sounds like you're being totally paranoid. That can't be that loud at a car length away. And if you had your windows up, you are really being paranoid.

 

I appreciate the responses!!! My T is pretty much back to baseline but I'm still struggling with my hearing being muffled. I'm still really worried that I caused permanent damage to my ears by being so careless. Uuugh

 

I wish the pharma-cos knew half as much about how serotonin regulation works as they would like you to believe they do.

Whether or not the current model is accurate, depressive states clearly have something to do with serotonin, and it appears that tinnitus does, as well, at least for a large number of people.

Actually solving either problem is a lot harder. Serotonin synthesis and reuptake is complicated as hell, impacts the gut as much/more than the brain, and what happens in the gut is relevant to the brain both because of the direct vagal connection, and because the flora/fauna of the gut appears to have deep connections to gene expression in the brain.

It's all amazingly complex and makes me both fascinated by the world, and irritated at how badly some of our neural systems seem to "work" sometimes. A maddening thing: as much as this condition sucks, it's not going to affect my decisions about having kids... so duh, this is not something we're going to out-evolve.

 

I don't think you have anything to be worried about. You were not careless, and it seems unlikely you were subjected to truly damaging levels.

 

Thanks for the response!! I guess it's just hard for me tto tell which sounds are actually damaging and which only seem damaging due to my hyperacusis. Either way, I wish I had another explanation for my hearing being muffled. ahhh the anxiety continues

 

do you have any TMJ issues? When my jaw muscles get tight it makes my ears feel muffled and even seems to impact how well I hear.

 

I don't have any TMJ issues. Just the T, H, and TTTS.