Is This Hyperacusis? Help, I'm New in Dallas

Hello all! Wanted to introduce myself and see if anyone can give me any pointers on this strange affliction.
I'm 51 and I had this once before about a year ago. I believe it stemmed from either a. A fall I had that hurt my neck or b. A bad yoga move that hurt my neck. I went to ENT and neurologist and all tests were normal. My chiro always said my neck is 'a mess' and I started going to physical therapy. The therapist told me the same thing, that my neck was very tense and the muscles around the neck and upper back were almost in a spasm. She worked on these areas and about 2 months later my symptoms slowly faded (except my tinnitus which I've had for many years and is moderate). Fast forward to this year. About a month ago, like an idiot, I decided to try Pilates. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some simple exercises. Within 2 days, my symptoms returned! I couldn't believe it! That feeling of water in the ear, pressure/fullness, some sounds making my ear flutter or vibrate (with pain) like I have a bad head cold, that almost electrical-feeling hum (my worst symptom I think). Certain sounds really hurt, like a plane flying overhead, or a fan, the AC coming on, toilet flushing, faucet running, my dogs barking, trucks idling. On top of that, my tinnitus is very loud and high pitched, like a jet engine! I've had T for many years but it's always been mild.
So, with that said, I went back to another ENT (I'm living temporarily in Dallas so couldn't go to the same one, which is fine since he couldn't do anything anyway). This ENT is a neuroTologist so I had high hopes. He did a test for hydrops and said it was normal. He said "I have no idea why your ears are doing this" but he gave me a course of Medrol to take just in case (???). I can tell you, I didn't take the Medrol. The first neurologist gave me the same thing and it did nothing for me other than make me sick to my stomach. I've had these symptoms this time for a couple months now and I've had good and bad days. Sometimes I think it's gone and I wake up the next morning and there it is! I suffer from anxiety as well so it sure doesn't help! I try to keep my thoughts positive and believe that this will pass but it's getting harder to do with each passing day. Does anyone have a suggestion for a doctor in Dallas? Thank you and praying for us all.

 

Hi TeresaD,
Do you have hearing loss? The sounds that hurt your ears hurt mine too. One doctor calls it hyperacusis and another calls it recruitment. I have a profound hearing loss in one ear and that is what caused my collapsed tolerance to sound.
Anyway, welcome to the forum. I hope you find help here.

 

@Lorac
I have very mild hearing loss at some level, nothing that warranted the ENT to even mention it (the audiologist told me). How long have you had it and what do you do for it? Thanks for the reply.

 

@TeresaD,
Sudden sensorineural hearing loss three years ago. Chronic tinnitus, ear fullness and sensitivity to sound since then. It continues to bother me every day but it doesn't scare me any more.
I don't do anything to treat it. I tested for hearing aids twice but they seemed to make things worse....same with masking. I don't take any drugs because I have the anxiety under control now (took about a year). I reduce my exposure to sound but I don't completely isolate.
Many on this forum do find relief with drugs or masking. Everyone's situation is different and I hope you can find helpful information here.

 

H presents itself as a much lower threshold to percussive sounds etc than you normally would have.
There is an element of pain reaction to it.
Imagine prior to any of this your wincing reaction to a fire alarm or something like a snare drum crack in too close proximity. With H you get the same wincing, painful reaction to say popping voices on a cellphone or in some folks even something as minor as typing on a keyboard.
It definitely sucks..

 

Thank you all for replying. I just returned from a trip to Seattle and I've been pretty good for these last few days. I still have very high pitched T but I can deal with that. The H seems to have calmed down considerably although it's happened before so I hate to get my hopes up. It's strange but, my ears popped really hard on the plane and it felt so good! Could this be something to do with the eustachian tube? So many things!!!

 

@TeresaD

Since you are in Texas and Florida, thought I would mention that the two ENTs (and both are neurotologists) who c0-authored the paper last year on surgery for hyperacusis practice in Austin and Sarasota. I have not seen either one of them, so I have no personal experience to relay, but very few ENTs are familiar with hyperacusis, so if you are struggling, it might be worth considering seeing one of them, since at least they will understand it - possibly the two ENTs who are the most understanding of hyperacusis in the whole country, given they are the only ones who have published a research paper about it.

In Texas, it is Dr. Emmy Wu in Austin. Her info:

http://www.capoto.com/MeetOurPhysicians.aspx

In Florida, it is Dr. Herbert Silverstein in Sarasota. His info:

http://www.earsinus.com/

Here is the abstract of the research paper they co-authored (the third author is an audiologist, not an ENT) on surgery for hyperacusis in 2015 (unfortunately you have to pay to see the full version):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25456168

They have been doing a lot recently with hyperacusis and will be presenting the results next week in Chicago (see page 2):

http://www.americanneurotologysociety.com/images/forms/16ansoralabs.pdf

Best of luck!

 

@lymebite
Thanks so much!! I had heard of Dr Silverstein and im looking forward to the results coming next week. Not sure how we'll hear about it but I'll keep searching until I find it. I really hope to be able to get in to see him if this doesn't improve.