Let's Suffer Together — My Story

I've been lurking for a long time now. I've seen the rise and fall of 'miracle' drugs, and the waxing and waning of this community's excitement as they've come.

I got tinnitus when I was 15. MUSE was playing as the opening act for My Chemical Romance at the Gwinnett Center outside of Atlanta, GA.

My drunken, deadbeat father had just put his hands on me the night before, and my mother decided it was time to leave. The only reason I had a ticket to the show was because my cousin felt obligated to invite me due to the familial nightmare.

I was on accutane at the time, and little did we know accutane allegedly can impair hearing. My position right in front of the stage's left speaker and MUSE's penchant to make loud noises before actually playing any music was a perfect combination to induce an acoustic event in my pubescent body.

The first stroke of the guitar was all it took to induce screeching pain in my right ear. I cupped my ear and cowered from the speaker, but nobody else was having the same reaction: maybe I was weak? Maybe I just wasn't used to the noise? This was my first concert, after all. Either way, I wasn't about to ruin my cousin's and his friends' fun because I was having an issue.

I stayed. I stayed and my ears took every bit of it.

"Man up," I thought to myself. "You'll get used to it."

A few hours later, I walked with my cousin and his friends outside, but something was different - there was a ringing in my ear.

I asked my cousin about it and he said, "Oh, it'll go away - don't worry about it."

It never did.

When I brought it up with him a few years back, he said that "You gotta be more careful, buddy..."

I love him. He's a great guy. But fuck that. I was 15. I don't blame him, but come on.

Fast forward 9 years and I get prescribed doxycycline for a sinus infection because I've developed an allergy to amoxicillin. 400mg a day and 10 days later, my tinnitus had significantly worsened.

It's been three months now and I keep hoping the noise will subside to my pre-doxy level.

At least it's not in my left ear, even though it often feels like it is.

Help,

A fellow sufferer

 

I'm sorry to hear about that. I have long thought that some medications can weaken your hearing and then a loud noise provides the coup de grace.

 

Sorry to hear. Our stories I think are very similar. Mine started after going to a super loud bar. I was okay for a number of years after I had finally habituated and then took antibiotics a few months ago, and my T increased a ton. Then, loud music in a restaurant spiked it even further just a few days ago. I'm at my wits end at this point though it is nice to know this forum exists to vent and share with people who share what you're going through.

Have you tried anything to alleviate the symptoms? Supplements? Meds? Seen an ENT about it?

 

how do you know that it wasnt the sinus infection that worsened your t?