Introduction, Tinnitus Situations While Flying and on High Terrain and MRI Experience

Hello, I am Luna and I have had tinnitus since 2017. The cause is acoustic trauma brought on by an oversensitive smoke alarm. I am originally from a different country but moved to a European one. I am not stating exactly where because these forums are open to the public and I would like to keep some privacy.

It was one of those things that could have easily been avoided, in fact I was trying to get rid of the smoke detector by putting it in a different location. I lived in a very small apartment with one bedroom so it wouldn't have made much difference in security if I moved it away from the kitchen plus we have built in smoke detectors. Anyway, the reason why it didn't happen was because of my husband. My husband is someone you would call stubborn as a mule. He wouldn't let me move it due to safety concerns and would refuse to listen to any counter argument. He would get very angry if I ever brought it up and would tell me it's my fault for "burning" things. As I have said, the detector was very sensitive and even steam would trigger it. I liked to bake things often back then because baking was so much easier, but everytime I would open the oven door steam or a bit of smoke comes out, depending on what was in there but I never had burnt food.

I guess he never cared about the sound the alarm made because he was never in the kitchen. Now, I am only 162-164cm (I am not sure which) and my husband is 183cm so he puts things on very high places, this included the smoke detector. When the smoke detector goes off, I couldn't reach it so it takes a long time for it to shut up. The only thing I could do is wave newspapers or anything at it to make it stop detecting smoke or steam. Our windows barely open because my husband is allergic to pollen so there is that other issue. I have brought up how the alarm hurts my ears but he never listens and says I am over reacting and everything is my fault for not doing something about it. I am trying to do something about it but he's a total **** that wont let me. He says I am just dramatic. We had had several fights about it but it stayed there.

This goes on for a long time until it finally took it's toll and I now have tinnitus due to constant exposure. I have been to many doctors and sleepless nights. Only then did the alarm get removed. In hindsight, I could have just taken a ladder and threw that thing away, but I didn't because I had no choice but to listen to him because I was unemployed, in a new country with literally no one I know besides him and his circles and I did not speak the language. He wasn't threatening me or anything, but I was really insecure and in a bad place because I was used to being in control of my life and having my own source of income. I was suffering from depression that time and the tinnitus made it worse. I had suicidal thoughts and was forced to go to a therapist which was utterly worthless and wanted to give me meds but I refused. It was a bad decision being talked into seeing a therapist that absolutely did nothing for me because my medical records now show that I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression and I couldn't get approved for private insurance anymore. HA!

*I travel often, there was one point in my life where I only get out of my house to go to the airport and fly. Tinnitus has not affected that aspect, but I am now more conscious of pressure changes especially in smaller planes. They do not affect my tinnitus at all.

*High altitudes don't really make any difference in my tinnitus. I was in Xining, China whose elevation was at 2,275m above sea level.

*Movie theaters cause a temporary spike in my tinnitus even with ear plugs, but they go away in less than 24 hours.

*I do not know how loud my tinnitus is, but I can hear it over car rides, conversation and other things.

*I wear protection when I have to use certain appliances like food processors, blenders and other things that make loud sounds.

*Vacuums and Roombas affect my tinnitus so I stay away from those and wear protection.

*Sometimes car rides aggravate my tinnitus so I wear protection. This doesn't happen all the time, thankfully.

*I have 2 Siberian Huskies and their footsteps and play sounds bother me. Thankfully, not at a level where they spike my tinnitus. More like they annoy my tinnitus but no consequences so far.

*I went to an ENT (Ears Throat Nose) specialist in my country and he suggested I try Ginkgo Biloba. I bought a month's supply or so, but before I was able to try it, a fertility specialist my husband and I have been seeing told me not to use it because it will affect my pregnancy chances. Like bummer.

*I went to a dentist for a routine check up and some fillings. We ended up talking about my tinnitus and he mentioned that he has had cases like this and some of them were solved simply by extracting some dead wisdom teeth. I have 2 that needed to be extracted anyway so it MIGHT help. I plan to do this in August after my vacation.
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I recently had an accident which involved a knife falling on top of my toe and lacerating a tendon. I had local anesthesia but nothing happened to my tinnitus.

I was asked to do an MRI during the follow up. I did not want to go through an MRI and my anxiety was pretty high. We have a trip to the US this week and the accident was really bad timing. The specialist wanted to make sure about the damage so an MRI was somewhat necessary. I was going to cancel it because I had a strong feeling that it might be a very bad idea, but once again my husband pressured me into getting it and said I was just being dramatic and overreacting- the same shit he pulled on me about the smoke alarms.

I went through the MRI against my better judgement and the staff gave me earplugs and rubber and a headphone that really didn't give any protection. I refused music and only my legs went into the machine. I do not know the exact model but it was a SIEMENS brand MRI. It looked very new in my opinion. The MRI scan took about an hour- give or take. It was quite loud but I tried to keep calm as possible because I don't want to mess it up and start all over. I remember making myself think that the sounds sounded like a boss battle theme in videogames. They were loud but somewhat tolerable because of my mindset.

The MRI ended without any issues and for a while I thought I couldn't hear my tinnitus after removing the earplugs and rubber. The MRI was on a Friday and my tinnitus was OK until I woke up in the middle of the night on the Monday. I woke up around 3am to the sound of an increased tinnitus. It was horrible and the pitch seemed to have changed. I couldn't go back to sleep and I was in horrible shape so I had to cancel one of two medical appointments for that day, the canceled appointment being a fertility test procedure. I went to the 2nd appointment which was about the MRI results. I have completely cut my tendon and that it was too far gone for surgery because 2 weeks have passed and scarring had taken place. I mentioned to the doctor about the increased tinnitus and he says it will subside but I don't take his word for it. Public healthcare doctors seem to be clueless about everything, which is a worrying trend.

Today is Tuesday and the 2nd day of my tinnitus spike. I woke up at 5am after struggling to fall asleep at about 3 am. It's horrible really. I am truly upset and have lashed out at my husband because of this. I am still lucky enough that despite the constant and louder sound, my tinnitus is still something I have been able to deal with, but I don't know for how long because of the sleep deprivation. I am now just trying to calm myself as much as I tell myself that this is temporary or may just be the same tinnitus but fells worse due to the stress and anxiety.

 

A couple of weeks ago I got a spike (after listening to music at a picnic). Which caused pain in the ears and increased the noise. Now it is better, the pain is almost gone...

Maybe in two weeks you will be better.

 

I do hope so. I have a 14+ hour flight coming up on Thursday and I really hope it's not going to affect that.

 

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your struggle with the spike and having trouble sleeping. Spikes usually settle down after a while. Try to stay calm as much as you can to prevent more anxiety and stress to the body which then can make your tinnitus worse. Try masking your tinnitus at bed time if possible. During my initial days that was something I relied on heavily to get some sleep. Take good care. God bless.

 

Make sure you know what dB level is. Get up walk around. Stay away from the loudest part of the plane. You'll do just fine. Happy flying!

 

I am trying to sleep right now but I am having a bit of trouble. My T has changed pitch and now has a glassy bell like tone to it. It is shriller than it was and its quite disconcerting. I am tired but this new sound quality is not making it easy for me

 

I will do just that! Thank you.

 

The glassy quality of ringing may suggest you have some degree of hyperacusis. Do you think you have that? Do you have some background sounds or music to help masking the ringing at sleep time?

When tinnitus is new or at a new irritating level, and the ringing is causing much anxiety and panic plus sleeplessness, it is advisable to get masking going so you won’t be so anxious and fearful and can sleep better. Stress and anxiety are toxic to tinnitus. So try masking if you haven’t done so. When my tinnitus was new, I used to mask all day just to prevent panic attacks from hearing my ultra high pitch loud dog whistle tinnitus. Try these if you haven't done masking or don't know how to start. Best of luck. Take good care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time if having trouble sleeping, by using options such as a sound machine, sound pillow, headband etc. There are good sound machine & pillow therapy systems like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-...d-Oasis-Therapy-System-Speakers/dp/B00MH5HKTA

2) If you need masking on the go, try a smart phone with which you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds, or load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. Use wisdom in the use of headphones or earbuds as extended use or excessive volume may hurt your ears. Try set the volume slightly below that of your tinnitus. Alternatively, you can use a blue tooth speaker for your phone to play masking sounds from the apps or from youtube videos of masking sounds.

3) For masking sound sources using PC, you can try these excellent masking sounds to see which one masks best:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator ‘aire freshener’: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' or whatever sounds you want to hear.