Hyperacusis/Tinnitus Setbacks Take Gradually Less Time to Recover from

I had a setback last week with all the usual elements I suffer from. All started with a tell tale 'stab' in the ear from talking on the phone. Then gradually I feel the building up sensation of the pain I know is on the way. The next day the raw, open wound, ulcerated feeling pain is randomly triggering in my ear and the tinnitus is uncontrollable and through the roof, plus the achy jaw and face pain. After several days in silence, gradually day by day the tinnitus lowers, and the 'open wound' pain, and facial aching gradually subsides. I'd say I'm about 2 days from being back to where I was before the setback.

Since the last acoustic shock I'm about 15 months into recovery and the setback recovery times are definitely reducing.

Does anyone else seem to have a similar timeline?

@Diesel I saw you post something similar in your status a couple of days ago.

There is absolutely no way, this is 'in my head'. When it happens it feels as physical as any ulcer, cut, or open wound. Not just from a pain point of view, but also in terms of the gradual healing sensation. Plus the reactive spike in tinnitus is always hand in hand with the pain in terms of severity and recovery.

 

Usually my recovering time from setbacks depends from several factors, like other unexpected small/medium noises exposure during the recovering, and where I'm recovering. For me home is too quiet and sensitivity gets worse, even with pink noise generators or sound enrichment. I tend to improve staying outside but of course avoiding loud noises. ex. mountains, forests, lakes, etc).

I also noticed my recovering improves if I talk, chat with real people, focusing on the chat theme instead of my disease.

 

I experienced a similar phenomenon and still do to a degree - agreed, it's a very real feeling and can in no way be attributed to "just in my head."

So last week or so I attempted to listen to some music on my laptop (this is still the worst trigger for me in terms of artificial audio). There wasn't an immediate sensation of 'this is too loud/high frequency/painful" so it's definitely more tolerable now...but after about 15-20 minutes I start to feel that familiar feeling of trigeminal nerve "tension" and my ears start to feel a bit "stingy" as if I am picking at a wound and it is becoming exposed.

I then usually end up with delayed facial/trigeminal discomfort and my ears feel sort of raw and "weak" My tinnitus doesn't get louder per se but it definitely becomes more shrill and feels more piercing. It's definitely milder than it used to be and I bounce back in a day or two nowdays but generally the next day my ears will feel quite raw and sensitive. It sort of feels like there's a protective filter or something that has been taken off my ear but then my ears start to revert back to "normal" after a while.

That said, even when mild I almost forgot how debilitating this condition is in terms of functional impairment. Like today, I went into the city to run some errands and do some shopping and I found it so stressful as nearly every place I went - bank, shoe shops etc had the radio on. So I had to ask them to switch it off lmao but could feel myself inwardly panicking and stressing out. It doesn't seem to have given me a setback which is encouraging but dear god the cure couldn't come soon enough!

 

That's a "new" trend, unknown 20 years ago. Now every place has piped music, loudspeakers everywhere. Even supermarkets, and supermarkets also have those screens displayed all around, where they advertise and show how to use a certain product at full blast.

It is just crazy that shop owners think people like "music" (THEIR music, by the way, not chosen by clients) in a place as a supermarket.

 

Yes. I have noticed recently that setbacks that involve noxacusis flaring up and increased tinnitus have gotten shorter and less severe.

I am about 2 years in with this condition. Over the past 6 months, I have been taking NAC daily at breakfast. I am also much more careful about wearing earplugs when outside the house, as that’s where most of the setbacks are triggered.

I very much have experienced the same progression of pain starting in the ear that works it’s way out into the back of head, jaw, face, neck, etc. In this most recent setback, only very minor irritation only that faded after about a day.

 

I wish my setbacks were less severe. This current setback has me worse than ever.