Journal of Mild Tinnitus/Moderate Hyperacusis Treated with LLLT/Oxygen 3 Weeks Post Initial Trauma

Hello to anyone reading,

I am beginning this thread in order to document the onset of my brother's hearing condition. I am unaware of anyone beginning clinical laser therapy 3 weeks post noise trauma, and I would like to record his progress for others to witness. Most of us on Tinnitus Talk have had to discover this forum during a state of anxiety or desperation, and then slowly become informed on our condition and treatment options; fortunately, I have been able to immediately guide my brother on a course of action before he, like many others, underwent an injurious audiogram that accentuated his cochlear damage via immediate raw frequency exposure.

I should state that while I am circumstantially a proponent of Low Level Laser Therapy, I am not necessarily an advocator of the infamous Dr. Wilden; though I have tried his product, and for those who are interested, here is a link to my intermittently documented personal experiences regarding Wilden, and then beyond concerning clinical laser and oxygen therapy: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...nitus-—-experiences-dr-wilden-etc.295/page-67

Before I begin the anecdote of my brother's trauma and elaborate on his condition, I would like to write how this scenario has effected me. I recognize that this community grasps the alienation which is a result of our conditions, and how difficult it is for our friends and families to comprehend the severity of something which is invisible and intangible. It was a wonderful sensation when my brother came to me immediately expressing empathy; though this notion provoked a grievous guilt in me as well. It was heart-wrenching to learn that my flesh and blood now comprehended the turmoil of my own malady.

Regardless, my brother, I shall refer to him as "Luigi," is 26 years old, is of Mediterranean decent, lifts weights and plays soccer consistently, is 178 pounds, has very low body fat, eats a diet of organic vegetables and lean meats, has hashimoto's or thyroiditis, and is a drum set percussionist. He used a chainsaw without ear protection for the better part of an evening, and then noticed some slight ringing and fatigue in his ears after retiring from his labor. The next day and following 2 weeks Luigi continued some corporate electrician work, and as a result, he was on a construction site. As you can imagine, there was an abundance of noise in that environment, and it exacerbated his condition. Since he was cognizant of my own condition and past experiences, upon realizing the aforementioned detriment, Luigi elected to indefinitely distance himself from that work.

Luigi has been experiencing tinnitus in a decent range of area, though at an easily maskable volume. He has multiple tones within his T, and they range from the higher register of a guitar, all the way up to the barely distinguishable frequencies. Being a drummer and having cultivated concepts of rhythm rather than pitch or intervals, it is somewhat difficult for him to identify and communicate his tinnitus; as a pianist I have been guiding him through his self-assessment. Luigi has noticed the slightest hearing loss in one ear, only associated with the texture of sound or overtones (I imagine that this is a deficiency which probably only a musician or audiophile would discern). Lastly, he experienced the discomforting sensation of inner ear fullness and swelling, which he noted seemed to so slightly inhibit his ability to perceive volume.

Regarding precautions, my greatest fear for him has been reinjury or accentuation of his injury, (I remember when I could still talk on the telephone after my own initial onset); and though his ears are naked in quiet settings, Luigi has been wearing earplugs habitually (even while sleeping and showering), and doubling with ear muffs while in proximity to any decent environmental volume. He has refrained from the habit of sleeping with a white noise generator, as he obviously found that this fatigued his precarious hair cells. Luigi has accepted that he will not wear headphones, put a telephone to his ear, purposefully go to any environment where there is heightened noise, or do anything that puts himself at risk for at least 1 year, even if he feels confident in his hearing. A doctor once told me, "Symptoms are the last thing to come, and the first thing to go." So even while feeling confident, it would be imprudent to live without caution.

Since week 3 after his injury onset, Luigi committed to undergoing clinical laser once to twice a week for the foreseeable future. He is now at about week 6 post trauma. The specifications of his treatment are: an MLS (Multiwave Locked System) clinical laser which employs 660 nanometer red light, at 3 to 3.5 watts (3,000-3,500 milliwatts) power output, administered with about 1 inch of space between the laser diode and the superficial ear. The duration of application is 30 minutes active laser for each ear.
Prior to laser, Luigi had experienced no fleeting tinnitus or "ear resets," or improvement of any kind. Immediately after laser treatment he began having deep/penetrating, and somewhat frequent ear resets. He noticed that these resets correlated with less hearing fatigue, more stamina for noise, as well as a distinct reduction of inner ear fullness/swelling.
Luigi began oxygen therapy with an oxygen concentrator at 5 Liters Per Minute output, and he utilizes that daily for about 30-60 minutes. The only result he has noticed from oxygen is that it makes the activity of his tinnitus change slightly. The laser can make the tinnitus either diminish or spike in volume, and ringing can be both a result of fatigue or healing activity. As Luigi becomes more acquainted with the subtleties of his cell response, I will share his findings.

Regarding the progression of his therapy, I expect more of what has been previously stated. If I am not mistaken, Western Medicine claims a 3 month healing window for noise trauma, and claims only 1 documented case of healing being witnessed at the 12 month mark. Luigi is well within the orthodox medicine window, and I am intrigued to witness the outcome of consistent LLLT and oxygen therapy with such reactionary implementation. Luigi's prognosis is unpredictable, but I feel that this scenario will at least give our community an idea as to whether it is possible to enable cold laser to heal cochlear damage by acting with near-immediacy.

To be slightly tangential, I have been considering the possibility of genetic disposition now that the two of us are afflicted by very similar manifestations of inner ear damage. My own ailment is mild tinnitus and moderate to severe hypercacusis, which is hypothesized by my neurologist to be engendered by noise exposure compounded by ototoxicity. My brother has had less noise exposure (though comparable), and likely far less or no ototoxicity. I would be curious as to the thoughts of my readers on this subject.

I will update as time goes on, and would be happy to answer any questions, or to pay attention to other's considerations; Luigi would be happy to vicariously answer any of your questions as well.

Take care and thank you for reading,

HumptyDumpty

 

Luigi has expressed that while driving in the car, the constant flow of air conditioning has fatigued his ears even while he is wearing ear plugs.

He says that after clinical laser, he feels that he should be especially careful to avoid noise because noise nullifies the laser prompted progress. He feels that his hearing is in a state of active improvement after laser, though if he then experiences noise, it will force him back to a condition of neutrality regarding progress/regression. If he has not undergone laser within the past few days, he feels that experiencing noise moves him from a state of neutrality to a state of fatigue and potentially regression.

Luigi explained that he experienced his first oxygen induced ear reset yesterday; it was a deep and penetrating reset in his better ear, though it was moderate in duration.

So far, his hyperacusis seems to be mildly improved, his tinnitus is fluctuating between softer and louder as it reacts to laser therapy, and in general, he has somewhat more tolerance to the duration he can be exposed to sound/noise.

Hopefully we will witness more progress; and I am especially hopeful that some of these positive changes will become permanent, or at least that he will be less likely to be reinjured when exposed to innocuous sound.

Sincerely,

Humpty Dumpty

 

I am interested in this - any update?

 

What exactly do you mean by "ear reset" here? I haven't heard this term before, especially with regards to (as implied by your language) fleeting tinnitus. Are you suggesting that fleeting tinnitus is a good thing or a good sign, or am I misunderstanding?