I'm Glad There Are No Concerts Right Now: I Have Tinnitus, Pulsatile Tinnitus, and Hyperacusis

Hi all
I was looking around in the forums for some weeks now and decided to introduce myself here and share my experiences with you. Maybe someone has an idea of how I could make the best out of this situation...

So, I am 26 years old and work in the IT branch but I also make music since I was 8. Later on I had some gigs as a dj and I recently finished my new home studio.
On some bad day in december I was helping out a friend with renovation. I hit a stone plate with a hammer very hard and I can tell by the way it hurt in my ears that something was not okey..but I did not go to the ENT for the next 4 weeks, thinking the 20khz tinnitus in my left ear would go away.. It was barely noticable.
One day in january I only had 4 hours of sleep, woke up on that ear and it hurt a little bit, but the tinnitus was now very loud. It felt like an inflammation and I felt very sick. It also felt like I have some liquid in my ear at some point.
This is also when my hyperacusis started. Some days later I had the appointment with my ENT and got some cortison for 2 weeks but he told me there is nothing more he could do for me.
So in february I visited my local hospital and asked if they have an idea and then I made the stupid decision to have a cortison injection for 3 weeks in a row.
I now also have pulsatile tinnitus (3hrs a day) and hyperacusis (this started with the inflammation) and my hearing which was very good beforehand got worse instead of better.
Now that I did not listen to music for the past months I dont know what to do anymore, sitting in my flat and cant even visit the beach in my country because of travel restrictions...

I already tried Safron for a week and magnesium but even with this it feels not good having music playing..

Thanks for listening
aionly

 

Hi Aionly. I also got tinnitus from some renovation work just a few weeks ago. Like you I enjoy listening to and making music and had just bought some new music equipment (synthesizers) that I was getting a lot of enjoyment from up until the accident which made the injury extra depressing.

It's not clear when you stopped the cortisone injections but if it was recent then perhaps the issues its causing will fade. When I was on prednisone my tinnitus was louder, and a few days after it settled down. I only took a 6 day course of steroids so I'm not sure if you might experience it getting better over a longer period of time since you had injections over a longer period of time.

I would recommend you seek out a specialist with experience in tinnitus though. As someone new to this community I can't offer advice on the pulsatile tinnitus but it is a different condition than regular tinnitus from what I understand and there is more potential for medical intervention to treat it. Your description of inflammation also sounds like something that may need to be addressed. As you'll read time and time again, doctors in general know very little about hearing conditions. Even many ENTs don't really understand or care to treat tinnitus since it is a difficult condition with many different presentations and few treatment options. If you do go to the doctor write down all your questions beforehand to make sure you ask them at the visit or its easy to get stressed and walk away feeling like you didn't make any progress. If you aren't satisfied with the answer, try to find another doctor. Seems like you are not in the US so I apologize if I'm making suggestions that aren't possible where you live. But either way writing down all of your questions will result in a more productive visit the next time you are able to see a doctor.

As for listening to music while healing, I found I was able to enjoy listening through a single speaker at very low volumes. I tried to listen in stereo at my desk with studio monitors for the first time since my accident yesterday and it sounded awful. I could easily detect the difference in hearing between my ears, which gave me a lot of anxiety. This is not good for healing. When you listen through a single speaker, hopefully you won't hear the dramatic difference between the ears as much. I also have been able to enjoy playing keyboard this way at low volumes, which really distracts my mind from everything. I find electric piano sounds to be really easy on the ears and soothing. Whatever you do, don't push it and try to add volume to mask the issues with your hearing. And if listening to music is adding to your stress then discontinue it and try again once you have healed more. Maybe try some other hobbies like drawing, crossword puzzles, anything to distract yourself while you heal.

Try to relax and take it day by day. Hopefully we will both heal but if not we will slowly become accustomed to our new hearing conditions and be able to enjoy music again even if it involves some compromise.