Is It Safe to Go to a Bar/Club with Long-Standing Tinnitus?

I mean testing it out with ear plugs won’t result in a permanent spike?

Go to the bar early, wear earplugs, stay 30 min and socialize. See how you’re feeling.

Are we really that vulnerable now that we have tinnitus that even a bar can make our T infinitely worse forever?

 

some days are better, I dont spike as much!! thanks for asking.

 

Noise exposure can certainly lead to a spike in the T. Ears with noise induced T seem to be quite fragile for a lot of folks. I think it is safe to say that the majority of these spikes are temporary. Unfortunately, at least a few of these spikes can go on to become permanent. The difficulty is that it can be hard to predict which noise exposures cause a spike, and which are the permanent ones.

Therefore, it can be hard to give advice as to what is safe when it comes to these potential exposures.

 

What's story digital doc?

 

My story is noise induced from using lawn equipment without protection. Last fall a combination of a neighbor putting up a tall plastic fence, and a new, loud weed wacker sent my ears over the edge.

 

Oh. High decibels then. From your posts, I see you're coming along though and experiencing fading, right?

 

@GSC

Yes, major fading, with some really great days. Today I went to the Mall and a restaurant and did fine without any hearing protection. I am still vigilant at protecting from anything loud. For example, I wore my earplugs the other day for a walk along a noisy road. I also think sleeping with the earplugs helps a lot, and the omega3. Not sure but the green tea may have helped as well, but at least certainly does not hurt.

 

That's good. I'm so happy for you. I hope it goes away completely. Omega3? I have some of that, but I thought that was bad for Tinnitus. I also thought sleeping with earplugs would make hyperacusis worse...

EDIT: How is your most recent audiogram?

 

Sign of a true MPPer right here!

 

Quietly sits in my quiet home as I wait for Otonomy to save me.

 

I hope it goes away completely as well, and others get the 2nd chance as well that I appear to be getting. Truth be told, I think my T may not have been as bad as some others, but it was a single tone and about 70 db at one point. It was also waking me up from sleep for a time which was terrible, but it passed.

I still have some bad days, and staying up overnight still makes the T increase in volume to an annoying level.

I did some research online for supplements, and omega3 seemed worth a shot as it reduces inflammation. I saw an effect quite quickly with a daily dose, and continue to take it. Not only did the T lessen, but also the spikes were blunted by quite a bit. I take one dose daily, and plan to stay on it for life at this point.

The earplugs are interesting. In the Fall when I initially got the T, I was very strict with the earplugs using them only for loud exposures, and did not use them overnight at all. Then an alarm clock went off in my ear around December, and I spiked quite badly, and felt like I was back to square one. I once again was having difficulty sleeping, and got some H (that I had not experienced to this degree before), and was willing to try just about anything at that point. That was when I started the omega3, and also the earplugs to sleep that prevented me from waking up with every passing car and noise. The spike thankfully passed with this regimen in a few weeks, but this is hardly science as who knows it would have taken without any of my interventions.

I continue to use the earplugs at night, and think I am sleeping better than before I got the T at this point. My T is always less in the morning, but the effect is magnified with the earplugs. Also, on some mornings, my T is quite minimal in the AM, and at the lowest right when I wake up. I am not sure if this generalizes to other users, but share my experience to try and help the others here.

 

T must be mild to sleep with ear plugs.

I am burdened with loud noise outside my place at any time but plugs just narrows sound to just the tinnitus sounds. That's torture.

It's also a long time to be wearing plugs, consecutively?

But, don't pay attention to me because I have major and serious ear issues at the moment.

 

Depends a lot on the person. My tinnitus definitely isn't mild and I've had to resort to medication for the moment to deal with it and have a normal life -- but even when it was really bad and totally uncontrolled, I was able to sleep with earplugs, because I spent 2 months teaching myself to meditate with earplugs in, and after that sleeping with them got pretty easy.

I can always hear the tinnitus no matter what, so who cares? The plugs make it possible to sleep through my cats/kid/local wildlife being frisky (robins love dive bombing our windows; my wife literally had to physically stop me from going outside to start shooting at them at 530 AM today, as I had fallen asleep without plugs).

As for the topic in the OP, I just got back from a weekend jaunt to the city I went to college in. I mostly stuck to quieter places but I definitely did an hour or so inside a whiskey bar my friend manages, with an obnoxious band wailing away, and I was fine for that with silicone plugs. So, between stuff like that, sleeping and driving, I used my 12db dubs and 20db silicone a bunch, but I never needed the 33db foamies I also brought. I guess I would have if I had gone to the weird punk/industrial show I got invited to, but I was just too tired and I feel too goddamn old for shows like that in general. Give me established bands, I'll leave the weird local stuff to the kids.

 

I have that problem with a male cardinal. I bought a plastic owl and hawk that helped some but then the bird went to another higher up window. I think they see their own reflection and are territorial. I've heard robins can be the same way.

 

That could be a while. Their stock has dropped drastically after some of their treatments failed. Need something for the here and the now.

 

You can definitely go out. Bring earplugs.

Personally, I avoid very loud bars. But not because of tinnitus, because they just generally suck.

Wear earplugs at concerts and you'll most likely be fine.

The vast majority of people that tell you it's not safe don't actually do it. I go to shows all the time and it hasn't had a negative impact once.

 

Just curious, how loud is your tinnitus? Mild, Moderate, Severe?

 

When my tinnitus started, I had a very hard time adjusting to my new "lifestyle" with no bars and restaurants. Tom's posts were always very positive and gave me hope that when my T "stabilises" I'll be able to go back to the things I like to do so much. Just randomly saying thanks.

Anyhow, I avoid life music (I'm not a fan) but I go to pubs reasonably often and it's almost always OK. I'll tolerate life music in a pub if it's not too loud, but I still occasionally find a place that is just too damn loud and I leave immediately.

I have ACS custom earplugs though (26db).


EDIT: I tend to enjoy chatting over a pint so I tend to choose places that are rather quiet. It's a matter of preference and not tinnitus, however.

 

Here's how I view decisions like this:

It is not safe to go to very loud places when you have tinnitus.
But, it's not specifically dangerous (if you're wearing earplugs).
It's just risky behavior.
You're using technology (earplugs) to mitigate that risk, but it's still risky.
We live with risk every day.
We could walk down the street and be exposed to a siren or jackhammer that could cause a permanent spike in our tinnitus, but there's a very low probability of that.
By going to a very loud place, you're knowingly exposing yourself to an environmental hazard that you have a history with. You intend to mitigate that risk by wearing protection, but it's riskier than walking down the street for sure.
It's like riding a motorcycle on the interstate, but... you're wearing a helmet.

TLDR:
As long as you realize that it's risky behavior, and you're honest with yourself about it and understand the potential consequences, then you're good.
Not trying to be a downer... this is really just about giving yourself permission to engage in risky behavior.

 

It was very severe.

I had hyperacusis. My tinnitus modulated when I moved my eyes for weeks.

I used to hear it over my dishwasher, W/D and AC and TV and a 640sq foot NYC apt.

Now it’s mild. I hear it in bed only.

I recently had a flare up where the .tinnitus was loud for 3 months from ear infection.

It’s mild again for about 5 weeks

I went to 4 concerts during the flare up.

I have altered my life BTW. I don’t really play gigs anymore. Stage requires monitors to point at your ears at close range. This to me isn’t safe long term, so I gave up that part of my life for the most part.

 

I’m glad to hear it! How long did it take to go from severe to mild?

 

@Flamingo1 You've got to live your life!

Some people will accept shutting the world out to protect themselves but that isn't enough for others.

I hope you enjoy the night life and it gives you time to forget about T just avoid the speakers!!

 

Hmmm, for me tinnitus has to be mild NOT to heard over those. I can always hear mine over the tv, dishwasher etc. because it is high pitched, but mine is not really that loud, and nowhere near very severe. Was yours not high pitched?

 

@Flamingo1
I know how you feel, it's difficult finding places to socialize and meet people with T/H. It's a personal decision, but I know for me a bar/club would be too loud, and even if it was just borderline, it would be too loud for me to be able to enjoy myself.

 

No club is worth risking permanent louder tinnitus, but that is just me though...I'd say give it time to see how your tinnitus develops before jumping into loud places.

I haven't gone to the movie theater in years, but I have been entertaining the idea. I've noticed my tinnitus can handle A LOT, I don't expose it to too much but on occasion during accidental exposure to noise... it can handle itself without spikes or problems. Just gotta take it slow and let your ears heal.

 

It's not an easy question to answer, but I wouldn't say it's meaningless.

 

If you think tinnitus clearly audible in a 80 dB room isn't severe I dunno what to tell you. Like I said - I was in a one room apartment running all that things at the same time. Loud enough that my wife wouldn't be able to hear the TV well and would turn things off.

My head rang so loud it felt pressurized. I couldn't formulate thoughts or do math at work at times. I didn't sleep more than 2 hours for like 5 months. I wore earplugs when I had more than 2 other people in the room with me.

That's the last I'm going to talk about severity.

If you don't want to go out... don't. Sounds like a shit life to me though.

 

I don't think one can conclude that tinnitus is severe purely because it can be heard in 80 dB environment. You can also hear rustling of leaves in 80 dB environment... but rustling of leaves is low volume. It is mostly about pitch. A very high frequency tinnitus like mine (and many others on here) is bound to be heard over the tv, even at fairly low volume because tv rarely reach that high frequencies.

I am purely speaking of volume in tinnitus and also was before. Tinnitus could be not so severe in volume, but very severe in how it affects you. That's how it is for me for example. I would never call my tinnitus severe though (in volume).

Listen... I didn't mean to undermine your suffering. I just wanted to point out that tinnitus doesn't have to be "loud" to be heard over tv/dishwasher.

And yes, I don't go out and yes it is a shit life, but unlike you I don't really have a choice because of my ongoing fairly bad hyperacusis. I tried and it spiked it, even with ear plugs... plus I get a really fucked headache as a result... not exactly enjoyable. You got lucky that yours got much better... treasure it and don't bring down people who are not as fortunate as you.