Here I Go Again

You are in control! Don't let anxiety win, even though that's easier said than done! I agree with everyone else that no more damage should be done. I hope the rest of your night goes better!

 

Thanks. My T did seem to spike again at least it seemed so in the morning. But I wanted to do something to get rid of stress so I went to the gym and what do you know, here is this piece of shit person that slammed the locker door in front of me. That's what I get for trying to do something good for myself. Why can't these awful people ever get tinnitus, why! Seriously. This life is shit I wish it would end sooner rather than later.

 

Aww LeQuack,
Well done in going to the gym and im sure it will do you good and sorry to hear you in countered another loud sound.

Don't give up on life as their is lots to live for even though with tinnitus it might not seem that way at times.
Try to spring back from this and look forward to a better gym day..lots of love glynis

 

When it rains it pours or something. At work there was a framed picture that was just leaning against a wall on a table and accidentally fell over which wouldn't make a lot of noise if there wasn't a metal grate just below and me standing right beside it. Sigh.

 

Aww @LeQuack ,
Your ears are having a rough time with extra loud sounds.
Fingers crossed the week gets better for you...lots of love glynis

 

Thanks, hopefully T is going OK for you as well.

 

Im fine @LeQuack .
Had my little grandson over the weekend and today so ears don't stand a chance against my little ray of sunshine cross with a world wind around the house....lots of love glynis

 

Another day another loud noise. Today was just too much noise for me.

First at work they started to vacuum with these loud industrial vacuum cleaners so I excused myself and went home a little early. With earbuds in it wasn't that loud but it was an annoying sound nonetheless.

It didn't stop there though. I went to the gym and as usual there was a guy who again dropped a whole stack of plates on the machine. I did have my earbuds in but it was still quite loud. Then as I was leaving the gym I was stuck in traffic and of course there is an ambulance passing by. Luckily I was in a car but I still plugged my ears because he was going so slow and it still seemed quite loud to be honest when he was right beside me.

The worst though is after the gym I went to grab a coffee with my mate. I never wear earbuds or earplugs on such occasion cause it would be difficult to talk. Well some car that was near the coffee shop started honking several times, I thought he was just being annoying but it was actually a car alarm so the honking didn't stop. I excused myself and went to the toilet but I was still exposed to this loud honking for a short while. It's this last exposure that I'm most worried about, since I didn't have any protection and it was quite loud, I would say around 90 dB, I read somewhere a car horn is 110 dB @ 3 feet/1 meter and the car was some 30 feet/10 meters away.

So that was my crappy day. My T is spiking again as usual.
It's like I can't have a nice quite day anymore. Everything is against me.

 

Aww Lequack,
I think it's the noisy rat race we live in but our poor ears sure do hear loud sounds out of the blue.
Try to pass it off as a noisy day but no permanent damage done I don't think but Might be grumpy with a spike .....
Hope you get a relaxing evening to chill out....lots of love glynis

 

@LeQuack

Have you tried medication of any kind? Anti-anxiety or anti-depression meds? Are you getting counseling?

 

No medication or counseling.

 

I can hear what people with tinnitus describe of hearing - high pitch ringing sound; however, it is there only if I pay attention to myself. When I bring awareness to myself, even if the external environment is noisy, I can hear it. When my attention is outward, even if the external environment is dead silent, I will not hear any ringing sound.

Is tinnitus something that you hear it constantly no matter what you do? Because I only hear it if I pay attention to my bodily existence. I can turn off the sound by not paying attention to my mind. It disappears right away.

I was not even aware of tinnitus until I described this sound (when reading monk's teaching which mentioned sound of silence) to a friend who also hears it sometimes. We don't hear it constantly. We just hear it when we pay attention to ourselves.

When I practice mindfulness, full awareness of my body, feeling, mind, and mind objects, I hear the sound. I can easily turn off the sound by switching my focus away from myself. I am now using this sound for mindfulness and for meditation object. It is available when I need it.

When I don't hear the sound, I know that I am not mindful (staying with the consciousness of moment to moment). When I am watching a movie or TV or listening to radio, I don't hear this sound at all, because my mind is focused on the object that is entertaining me.

One day I will have to ask a medical doctor to ask what is it that I have. Is my condition tinnitus? Or there is such a phenomenon that we can call it the sound of silence?

 

How is it that you think that you can walk around in public and not encounter noise? The things you are complaining about are every day noises, what is it that you expect?

 

Maybe you are just imagining the sound of tinnitus when you search for it? And you don't actually have it.

 

That's true I guess. But I can't tell if my ears have really become more sensitive or if it's just my reaction. Or the fact that my T has become so unpredictable day to day, back when it was stable I always knew what to expect in the morning and so possibly the everyday noises didn't bother me.

 

How do you know how much noise a person with damaged ears can tolerate? Are you trying to embarrass or shame people into not sharing their stories because they don't match your personal opinions and experiences?

 

Haha. Pardon? I think you might have posted to the wrong person? I didn't mention anything about tolerance. Those types of noises mentioned bother me as well. I'm saying they can't be avoided. Maybe read before you go off buddy.

 

Newsflash Telis, those are your exact words. I was quoting you from a different thread where you gave me and another member shit for basically stating the same thing you just did in this thread. So I guess it's okay for you to tell people that they are "complaining about everyday noises" but God forbid anyone else does.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/theatres-performances-laughing-and-clapping-people.13191/

 

LeQuack, it might help to look into these options. Some counselors can teach you relaxation techniques that can, eventually, help you worry less about encountering loud noises. The relaxation exercises have definitely helped me to take a "Oh well, that's life" approach to unexpected loud events. Now when things happen unexpectedly I handle them much better and they don't bother me as much as they would have in the past.

Hang in there!

 

Not the "same thing" at all. Telis said they were everyday noises, he definitely did not say they were not a problem for someone with damaged ears. It does not work to fudge the distinction because he clarified for you: "Those types of noises mentioned bother me as well."

N.B. This is not just feedback, it is damn good objective feedback.

 

Yeah I know they were my words, and they have absolutely no relevance here. I'm not even going to address this one. All I can say (again) is read before you post.

 

All I'm saying man, is that you can not avoid it, I try as well but someone will always drop something, yell, honk a horn etc etc, you can not expect anything different, it's going to happen whether you want it to or not.

You have two choices, you can wear protection or not, but the one choice you do not have is controlling the volume in a public setting.

 

I'm sorry if I gave either of you the impression that I was anticipating a quid pro quo line of logical discourse here. I wasn't. I mean, come on guys, you have both proven that neither of you is capable of it so why would I bother?

We're done.

 

I'm surprised Telis didn't pull you up on this one. Normally, when I try and help put things into perspective, scientific proof is required or it's not valid. I've been saying this in lots of threads! @LeQuack, your biggest problem is anxiety. It sounds like you may have phonophobia; literally a fear of loud sounds.

Here is a description of it taken from m.hear-it.org:

1. 
   Phonophobia is an anxiety disorder, not a hearing disorder. Phonophobia is a fear of loud sounds. Phonophobia is also called ligyrophobia. The name “Phonophobia” originates from the Greek words for sound and fear. Phonophobia is not a hearing disorder.

Again, I'd restate that short sounds, even loud short sounds are not really deemed dangerous until you get into gun shot territory. There's a thread on here where I tried to get information on the danger of short loud sounds. The reason I asked is because one of the tests a local audiologist does (who's a tinnitus expert) is a loudness test. They literally play loud sounds in your ear until you find it uncomfortable and ask to stop.

From what I have read about these tests, they go above 95db. I'm pretty sure they must have a fair degree of certainty that this is safe?

You can't remove yourself from life lequack, but at the same time you're most certainly going to come across loud sounds. As long as you are not going to raves, loud concerts or doing shift work amongst industrial noise I wouldn't worry about it. Your senses are heightened because you are in a constant state of high alert because of the stress you are putting on yourself.

 

If you have a point, make it. I'm open to a little back and forth, but quite honestly I really have NO idea what you are going on about here, I decided to cut things short for this reason. I was a little taken back and confused by your post, I'm sorry but I thought that you came off as confrontational and just wanting to bait me into a stupid argument. To me this is child's play, totally immature, I'm not going to waste my time with trolls.

The quote that you pulled has absolutely no relevance in this thread (that I can find), maybe I'm missing something? I would honestly like to understand what prompted you to pull a quote out of context and try and use it against me? Vindictive anger issues? Lol. Maybe an anger management forum would be more suitable for you?

I guess I jumped to the conclusion that you were just some creepy internet troll trying to bait me into some nonsensical debate and dismissed you too quickly. Maybe you ACTUALLY have something to add? If not, I'm sorry, I will have to stick to my previous assumption.

 

Yeah I want some proof, a lot people here (including myself) have worsened their situation following these guidelines, this is the reason that I question validity. Is this not a fair reason to do so? I'm pretty sure that you would do the same? I can't ignoir my body, if it hurts over and over again, it's trying to tell me something? And if it stays hurt, this should send a clear warning signal to not do keep doing it, shouldn't it?

 

@Ed209

Quote from A New York Times article:

"“Short-term improvement is deceptive,” said Mr. Pollard of Hyperacusis Research, who seeks to educate audiologists and ear-nose-throat specialists about “the horrible facts of how a noise injury typically behaves and what a patient really experiences.”

“Significant relapses occur with new noise exposure,” he said. “We continue to hear from people who follow the bad advice they receive and who go right back out into the world, confused and hurting themselves further.”"

**Are you one of those people that hand out bad advise Ed? Could your advise cause someone to hurt themselves further?

Source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2014/12/01/when-everyday-noise-is-unbearable/?referer=

 

LeQuack, get yourself a good pair of ear muffs and wear them outside your house - all the time. You will never be able to control external noise.
I have sensitive and damaged ears now,so I take it as my own responsibility to protect them.

Sure I can blame others for making noise but that's pointless and is only going to make my more stressed anyway - there WILL be doors slamming, people or kids shouting close to me, sirens passing and various others noisy events that's just normal and a matter of time unless you live in a desert or deep countryside.

I don't like to wear plugs all the time as they tend to be uncomfortable over time, sometimes they move out when you eat/talk and then its hard to put them deep enough so that they block noise well and a pain to remove when they are deep.

Muffs are easy to put on right away, hard to wear them wrong and you can easily give your ears some air each time you want .

Here is a link to the one i use most often outside and in restaurants, gym etc.. : fits the head well, quite low profile and also good look given the noise reduction level - maybe a 30db - , does not jump when you walk and does look like a pair of regular music headphones to others.

I bought a lot of other types of muffs over time but those are quite good overall given the price

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Folding-Sho...886281?hash=item5413b510c9:g:M4UAAOSwMmBVlcvk

 

Has anyone developed phonophobia for no good reason? I don't think so. While some do overly stress about sound incidents and only receive temp spikes. .Others get worsenings that do not go away..And what exactly is scientific? I have to laugh cause in sincerity they don't know jack shit about us folks with these ailments. @LeQuack ..man..carry some plugs! Wear them! Take Nac and Mag glycinate. Also..try actually assessing the situation. .Has this happened before? Were you ok? ...ps..I have gone back and measured lots of times..Is it pointless? No, because in my mind I sometimes think that the more we stress to noise events, the more likely a worsening or spike..Of course that is just theory..And if the sound is just a little above my tolerances I feel much better..If it's alot..well I panic..hate myself and wallow..and then lay low for a few days...But that's me with h..where setbacks DO occur with noise events..setbacks are pure torture/soul sucking/crushing/hell on earth and you pray to the stars it doesn't stay permanent. Good luck.

 

Wow guys so much good advice, didn't expect this thread to become this popular. I'll have a good read.