Increased Tinnitus, I'm Such an Idiot...

I've had tinnitus since I was 17 (22 now) due to being close to speakers at a concert and being an idiot and not caring about protecting my hearing. Until now I've managed to survive and for 99% not caring about it at all. It was noticeable when I went to sleep and when I was in quiet rooms, but for the most part I only had real trouble with it when I didn't get good sleep, had a cold, woke up in the middle of the night, was stressful etc.

I haven't always been that good at protecting my hearing, but I think that over the last years I've been more and more careful about it, making sure that I wear protection at concerts and clubs, making sure that I have earplugs available at home etc.

But then, last Wednesday me and some friends went out drinking. We were mostly outdoors at some pubs with not very loud volume. But then on the way home we got into a taxi-van playing really really loud music with extra loud speakers. Being the idiot that I am, and pretty drunk, I hadn't brought any earplugs and didn't care to protect my hearing enough or ask them to turn it down. The taxi ride was probably only for 15 minutes.

On Thursday, I noticed increased T and some minor ear fullness in my left ear, but I didn't pay it much notice. I had friends over and had not much time to pay attention to it. Then at friday I went to my relatives to celebrate midsummer, and even though I noticed that both things persisted, I didn't pay much attention to it. I was out fishing with my dad at Saturday and didn't notice much.

Then came Sunday. I woke up in the middle of the night with extra loud T, and kept twisting and turning until falling asleep some hours later. I opened the window but that didn't manage to mask it. Since then I feel like my T has definitely increased since the first couple of days. I went home late on Sunday and started my summer job at Monday, so since then I've been home alone with not much other stuff to distract me from my T. Even though it's louder than before at night, I don't have any trouble falling asleep, but just like at Sunday I woke up tonight with loud T and had trouble falling back asleep...

My T right now is probably best described as a high-frequent hissing sound that is almost always there in the background. Even though it goes more silent when I actually do manage to keep my mind from it, it doesn't go away like before. It persists even when I'm riding my car (although it goes away with the window down or with the radio at a moderate level) or when I'm out walking in the forest, though at a low-level. Previously I mostly heard my T in a somewhat quiet room. In everyday situations my T isn't really that loud, but as I'm unused to hearing it in such places I'm paying more attention to it...

I did some online hearing tests(such as hearingtest.online). My hearing loss is from 5-10 db maximum on all ranges, depending on how loud volume I use, and the loudest khz I can hear is 16khz at loud volume. These are the exact same results I had before this latest incident.

Needless to say, I'm feeling like a complete and utter idiot I am never leaving home without a par of earplugs in my pocket again. I know that I should be happy that the T isn't louder than it is, or that I got some further hearing loss, but yeah, can't really get rid of the negative feelings. I'm planning some quiet activities this weekend to try to take my mind of this, such as going fishing and watching movies with a friend. Next week I'm also going to our summer house with my parents for a couple of days, so I'm planning to stay active so I don't just stay at home in despair. I also managed to get out to the gym today.

Right now I'm feeling very down. I'm trying to tell myself that it might be a spike and that the T might decrease in the coming months or even weeks, and that I probably had a louder T-level at my onset but then it decreased and/or I managed to get used to it so that it faded away into the background, but right not it's feeling hard to believe... Even though I guess that it's a good sign that these problems weren't as bad the first couple of days. The sleeping problems didn't show up until sunday. Maybe then atleast some of the increased level and sleep-problems is due to anxiety and increased focus on the T?

I know that I should keep my head cool and not freak out, and that things probably will look different in a month or two, but yeah... I can't really listen to my logic side right now. If you made it this far I want to thank you very much. I really appreciate you reading all of this, I didn't mean the post to be so long. I would also really appreciate if anyone had any similar experience of increased T, and how it ended up for you. Did it decrease or diminish into the background?

 

All I can say is last week I got some fleeting tinnitus in my left ear (which is usually my quiet ear and the one I sleep on) and it was freaking loud as hell.

Usually after a few seconds this kind of stuff usually goes away but for whatever reason this time it stayed and persisted throughout the night. As panicked as I was mentally I knew the only way through this was to stay calm.

Eventually I got some rest and the next day I noticed some improvement and by the end of the day it was a nonissue and things were back to normal.

So my advice to you man is just hang in there and stay calm. You have been doing this longer than me and I'm sure as the days go on things will improve.

 

Hey bud,

it's ok..you are human. We all made mistakes, i have made many and my tinnitus will never ever shut up

Don't blame yourself bro, what is done is done. What has happened has happened. Move forward and in the future be more protective of your ears. Hopefully your spike goes down, try to remain calm...

Be well...

Ps- I recall in college, going to a frat party and i was dancing next to a mega bass speaker. I could not hear out of my ears for 3 days almost. It was a huge mistake and if i could change things, I would. We all make mistakes, and please people don't dance next to loud things and protect your ears...