Hello from QLD Australia. New to this.

I'm 22. And I suffer from anxiety and depression. My story seems to be the usual, I went to a concert on the 15 of June (go figure) And i was front row near the speaker.

The first hour I was fine.. As i was in the middle, But then I migrated to the side near the speaker for the next 2 hours.

The first hours was fine. I didn't noticed anything wrong when the band took a break. But after the second hour when things got a little louder. I came out of the concert with a quiet loud ring in my left ear. I knew I had been too close but thought nothing of it and assumed it would go away when I had woken up.

So began the nightmare of the next couple of days.

The following day, Thursday, I had a slight ringing still left in my ear. And from there anxiety kicked in and I started to panic. I searched up my symptoms and came across that awful word Tinnitus.
I instantly had panic attacks, wondering if it would be temporary or permanent. Also having suicidial thoughts, wondering how I called live with this if it was to be permanent.

That day I became ill, due to a virus or anxiety I don't know. I was vomiting, dizzy and just in and out of sleep.

It was then I knew I had to call a doctor.
The doctor came around the next night and did a check up.

He said I have T and that it should go away 3-5 days. If not I should follow up with my GP. He also said that the ear I said was affected (left ear) was clogged of wax and that my right was a little red. He left after prescribing me some stematil (I think it's called, to stop dizziness. Although the drowsiness was a side effect I loved the idea of sleep after being sick and hearing my T)

He also said to use some waxsol to soften was for when they remove it.
(Since I had already searched it, I know I'll need to go to an ENT.).

And so I got worse.
The next day I was bed ridden, I only got out to shower, had not eaten, and only had sips of water when I was "conscious"(at this point I was dopey from the drugs).
My eyes were sensitive to light and I had been in bed for the next day, feeling sick and worried all over again. Not drinking much until I felt better that night (Saturday). At this point I was so dopey I didn't really notice my T and I needed help to shower and bath, keeping my eyes closed almost the whole time if I wasn't in my dark room sleeping.

Come saturday night I felt a bit better and ate some banana and watermelon as I had waited for another doctor to come and See me as I was dehydrated.

At this point I was told I needed to urinate again before I slept or I'd have to go to the hospital to get an IV in.

And the thought of being in a hospital with no fan by myself and with T sounded terrifying as I had been using my fan to distract me from the T.

So I drank as much as I could and ended up going to the toilet.

Sunday (today) is here. And I feel better and have eaten more, but now I am more aware of my T. It spikes here and there. I do hope it's only temporary but if not I am happy to have come across this forum as many users have given me hope.

I'll have to go to my gp and hopefully ENT tomorrow to see what they say.

 

@LukeYoung I feel for you. Your story is very very similar to mine sadly apart from the vomiting. I assume you, like me, didn't know this was possible to happen. Stay positive as hard as that is because your tinnitus will go through a lot of change in the beginning and will hopefully fade away. Take magnesium, zinc and b12. Look up vitamins on this forum. Keep hydrated like you mention. See the ENT plus GP as soon as possible and ask questions and don't feel pressured to just disappear.
We are all here for you.

 

Thank you very much, the support will carry me through in the end I think.
But yes, like you I was unaware this could happen as it was only my third concert I have ever been to, and never had symptoms from the previous 2.

I've read a bit about magnesium, what exactly is that supposed to help with?

And the other vitamins?

 

@LukeYoung it is meant to assist in the nerve repair I believe but go off advice found on other threads regarding vitamins after loud noise exposure.

It was my 8th* concert in 40 years.........
* not counting outdoor gigs where I was so far back it was less loud than a backyard bbq.

I remember my ears had rung when I was young from clubbing sometimes. I didn't know this was actually hearing damage nor what it was until after tinnitus started after that fateful concert............ we know nothing about this in Australia. No sound level guidelines for live music so I now know nor any public education or warnings for the punters (victims).......

 

That's what thing I can say I was never really educated on, was hearing related issues and the venue had no gates or anything in place to keep people from being to close.

It's almost ridiculous that they can get away with having live acts over a certain dB for a start.

 

Completely agree with you Luke. I really feel your you too. Same thing happened to me. There is no regulation or warnings about using hearing protection.

 

You know how I feel in detail @Tamika and vice versa about this very issue. I have thought more on it today. I am actually thinking a coordinated combined effort to really hit head on the so called health authorities in Australia which are meant to protect our health. Maybe we should have a separate Australian thread? @valeri has already done some fine individual work but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. Pun intended sadly.

Has anyone on TT taken their health department to task over hearing safety alerts and the noise volume from live events?

 

It really just needs more exposure and awareness. Also events should be aloud to be louder than a certain dB.

And fences should be placed in front of speakers a safe distance.

It's simple stuff that could save a lot of people.

 

Welcome, @LukeYoung !

One of the terrible things about T is that anxiety makes it worse. Which makes you more anxious, which makes the T worse, etc…

I had some of the same symptoms as you when I first developed T, though for different reasons. My T started with an ear infection. So I had some vomiting and dizziness and not sleeping well, but I think it was from either the ear infection itself or the antibiotic they put me on to get rid of it (Augmentin). I joined TT and read that caffeine can make T worse, so I quit caffeine cold turkey (which was maybe not the best idea), so also had withdrawal symptoms from that (fatigue, mostly).

My ENT had initially told me that the T would probably go away after the ear infection did, so I called him worried a few weeks later when the T was still there and he told me it was probably related to hearing loss, likely permanent, and harmless unless I had other symptoms like vomiting and fatigue (which of course I had, for other legitimate reasons…) That clearly didn't help my mental state.

Some things I’ve learned from this experience, that I hope will help you: doctors, even specialists like ENTs, don’t necessarily know that much about Tinnitus. Don’t let whatever they tell you freak you out. And if you’re having trouble keeping down food, you’ll have to build up towards eating normally again slowly. Your metabolism starts slowing down and your body thinks it wants less food when it gets used to eating less. So drinking water or tea or juice with crackers or something easy to digest, whatever you can get down will help. Eating a little more each day until you’re back to normal.

The scientific studies on T are woefully inadequate, but a lot of people on TT have found that healthier life/eating habits have helped their T. Including reducing caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt. Things to consider once your nausea/vomiting/dizzyness subsides. Right now, just eat what you can and try to get enough sleep.

Did you get to visit the ENT? How was it?

 

Get prescribed Prednisolone ASAP from ENT... the first line of defense and only medicine against tinnitus. it might help or it may not.

 

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I'm slowly eating again now, but I haven't dared touching coffee, and have only really been drinking water which is good. I see my ENT in a couple of hours. Mainly for a hearing test and such to see the extent of damage as I know T is most likely permenant.

I've been sleeping okay I think, I've been using a masking application on my phone at night time.

 

Thanks for that advice, I see my ENT in a couple hours. I will ask about steroids, but it's been a week today since my onset, and I've heard you need them in first 1-3 days but I will enquirer anyway.

I haven't really read anyone having a lot of success with the steroids though?

 

Hi Dave I've been writing as well. Will PM you to discuss. I think a combined effort is a good idea.

 

The more the merrier!

 

Had wax removed today. I think me t has been reduced. T ear was basically half full of wax. A fair bit! Other ear not so much, but feeling good. Go back for hearing tests tomorrow.

 

Have you experienced any improvement compared to how you had been feeling 6 months ago?