Just a Month in Hell... Somebody Please Give Me Some Good News

Hi everybody. I am in the darkest place I've ever been in my life so I really need to talk about this with somebody and I decided to make this thread.

22/7/2017 was the day that changed everything. I am a Turkish guy living in the Netherlands. I was suppose to go to NYC early September to do my graduation internship at an online marketing company. I had everything lined up. Needless to say that has been canceled by now. I am literally in hell right now. I cant believe what a U turn my life has made. I went from having everything to having nothing.

On that particular day i listened to music with headphones (iPhone) at work at maximum volume for 2/3 (jay z album) hours. I worked in a factory to gather the money for my internship trip and i hated working there. Just wanted to go through the shift as fast as possible.......

I don't want to bore you guys with all the details so lets fast forward to now.....

The results is that I have hyperacusis. Sounds hurt my ears (especially in a closed small place). I am constantly dizzy for about 70% of the day. My ears feel sore all the time. They get full really fast even after exposure to relative normal sounds. I occasionally get headaches as a result of my hyperacusis. My ears dont actually burn anymore like it did in the first two weeks. Lets call my hyperacusis problem number 1.

Problem number two: I have a Tinnitus in my left ear. It sounds like an electrical sound and it is easily maskable. Its always the same volume, a volume that is only hearable when i am in a quit room. And even then it doesn't stop me from sleeping. It gets really quite when i get sleepy so it doesnt prevent me from falling asleep. It seems to be louder when i wake up though. I believe this is regular plain Tinnitus.

Problem number three: This is the one that's calling me extreme stress and anxiety. It seems like it is more in my head. Its like a ´Beep´sound. But the problem is, that it is kind of reactive. At its base (in a quiet room with headphones on) it is even less loud and bothersome than problem number two. But it changes in volume instantly when I hear some types of noises. Especially longer lasting noises. I don't hear it when I hear one time noises like for example something falling of a table. I hear it with continuous sounds like the sound of water in a sink or the sound of a car engine. The strange thing is that it is instantaneous and it doesn't last. When the sound is gone the extra volume of the beeping is also gone immediately. It goes back to the base unnoticeable volume. It also feels like it is tying to match the frequency of the external sound as well. I remember in my first two weeks that I also heard a beeping after my own voice. I dont have that problem anymore though I am not sure if that was the same thing as this one. For the record: I don't have any hearing loss.

Question: does anybody think Problem number three and number one are related? Could it be because of the hyperacusis? That the volume keeps rising as a response?

I am really losing my mind at this moment. It will be five weeks tomorrow and I am in deep depression. I don't know whether to worry about the H or problem number three. I am not even eating properly at this moment. I don't know what to do with my life and whether or not i can overcome this. How am I supposed to habituate to a sound that gets louder? I am really in a dark dark place and beginning to question whether or not life is worth it at this point...

What should i do?, get TRT? Get anti depressive pills? Can somebody please give me any hope. Can this get better?

 

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
Tinnitus can be in one ear or both and head.
In the early months your tinnitus will be trying find its base sound apart from spikes that can come and go.
The unwanted emotions that sadly come with tinnitus can spike tinnitus as stress and anxiety take hold.
There are medications to help with dizziness like Betahistine or Bucastem .
I would have a talk with your doctor if need medications to help you.
Try not to avoid noises and build up time around them help your ears adapt but have ear plugs with you if it's to loud.
Our brain is quite clever and will start to build up its own filter and not see the sounds as a threat and not focus on the sounds when it has other things to stimulate it.
Keep posting for support as we are here around the clock to support you.
Love glynis

 

Hi @Salih ,
Yes, it can get better. It has gotten better for me and for many others. That's why there is a section on this forum called "Success Stories". Sometimes the noises decrease over time in intensity and frequency, and sometimes people just get more used to the noises as time goes by. It could be a combination. I lost all of the hearing in one ear on July, 20th, 2013 and I began experiencing problems very similar to your #'s 1,2, and 3. I was terrified, depressed, and suicidal but I am not afraid or depressed now, even though some variation of those problems still linger.
You noted that you have no hearing loss so I assume you have been examined by an audiologist or ENT. What have been your experiences with doctors in all of this?

 

Well they basically told me there was nothing they could do about the Tinitus. They referred me to an audiologist for my Hyperacusis but the first available moment is 14 weeks later (!). Il probably be leaving for Turkey in the next few weeks to see a private audiologist clinic over there.

I was wondering which one of those three problems you still experience and which of hem have been fading away? I know every situation is different but i would still like to know.

 

All of your problems are related to that one acoustic trauma. You messed up your ears. Ears take months to heal. Chances are you will see improvement in 3-6-12-18-24 months. H becomes permanent a lot less often than T. So I wouldn't worry about the first problem.

Try to protect your ears from even mild noises like that of a vacuum cleaner or a blender. Remind yourself that chances are this is not permanent, and even if you end up experiencing the second or the third problems three years from now, it will likely feel different from what it feels now. It will most likely fade in the long run, and it won't bother you as much. You will habituate, and it will not cause such a strong emotional reaction.

I know how you must be feeling. The time between weeks 3 and 6 after onset were the darkest time for me. Then it gradually got better, and my feelings are no longer as intense as they used to be during that dark time.

 

It is going to take time, time, and then more time, but you should see significant improvement. It may take a year for your H to go away and it might take up to 2 years for your T to fade away. No more headphones!!

 

Thanks everybody for giving me hope. You all are truly beautiful people.

Hmm, i was under the impression I always had to have background sounds in my einvoriment to help me desensitize my ears in order to combat my H.... Would you not agree with that than?

 

Many people have the same reaction at first and go through the exact same feelings you described, but eventually they're able to go back to living their normal lives again. The tinnitus will get a lot easier to cope with. Please don't give up. Things will get better! This post is from three years ago but I've found it very helpful and I would recommend reading it https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...nd-the-sound-of-the-crickets.3984/#post-37797

 

Initially, I had both H and T. I guess my H was not severe - the quietest noise that bothered me was that made by a microwave oven. About one month after onset, I decided to listen to what my body had been telling me. I started to protect my ears from all of the noises that felt uncomfortably loud to me. In fact, after getting bad (3-day long) spikes on two separate occasions after being near slamming doors, I started to wear earplugs whenever I would be outside of my home. When I was inside my home, the loudest noise I would be exposed to would be the sound of the video files on my computer. I set the volume level to medium. Soon after that, my H began to improve. It was mostly gone in about a month, and was totally gone in three months.

So, in my experience, it makes sense to be exposed to regular every day sounds, but not to loud sounds (like that of traffic involving trucks or motorcycles accelerating, blenders, etc.). Now I am no longer protecting my ears against sounds like the microwave oven, or the sounds made by the garage door being opened, but I am still making sure to stay away from the vacuum cleaner and the lawn mower.

 

Have a look at LLLT threads. This is meant to help with hyperacusis. Anne Harila practices LLLT in the Netherlands.

 

I have been experiencing the EXACT same thing for the last 4 days. I can never be %100 sure if that beeping is coming from the devices in the room or not, because it is gone once they turned off.

 

For h lllt can help a lot
It's cheap now with LED

 

1) I very rarely feel dizzy now. I never had a problem with headaches. I still have constant fullness and a burning sensation in my deaf ear but it is not as intense as it was in the beginning. I find that pain is harder to ignore than noise so the physical discomfort is what bothers me the most, even though it has much improved.

2) I have constant tinnitus in my left (deaf) ear but this noise has reduced over time. It is a hissing, electrical sound most of the time with some sort of distant murmur - not too loud if I am in a quiet environment. I am able to sleep.

3) I still react to every sound. My deaf ear reacts to all sound my hearing ear hears. It is not a beeping though and it is not in my head. It is swishing, hissing, knocking, and it is in my deaf ear. It increases as my exposure to sound increases so when I am in a busy store or restaurant, it is like a loud vacuum cleaner running in my left ear. The reactiveness has not decreased over time but my reaction to the reactiveness has decreased. It does not alarm me like it used to. I don't focus on the noise I don't wish to hear because I am too busy trying to focus on the sounds I do want and need to hear. This physical reaction to every sound has been consistent since the beginning but it doesn't cause anxiety any longer. I know I will hear reactive hissing when I speak. It's expected and I don't often think about it.
I naturally prefer quiet environments but I do go out and about in moderately loud environments, knowing that I can retreat to quiet and baseline. I tend to avoid really loud environments and I always carry earplugs, just in case.