Lightning Just Struck Literally Within 50 Metres of Me

It may sound like I'm over reacting but I'm being serious. I love thunderstorms but now this has ruined me. My window was open too. It was way too loud, my whole house shakes.Will a tinnitus spike or permanent increase be instant? My ears are ringing louder but not as loud as I thought they would. I'm worried they may later on though.

 

Anxiety i think, you are juste listening more your tinnitus.

Even loud, if it’s sudden ( like a "boom") it has probably not damaged your ears.

 

Happened to me a few times last year. Once it was night time and I was in bed and had the windows wide open, the thunder clap was right above the house and was loud as hell. I freaked out and worried about the tinnitus... in the end though there was no permanent tinnitus increase... the issue was more how freaked out I was by it. It's more of a shock then anything I think.

As hard as it is you really need to try and force yourself not to worry about such short term exposures, they are very unlikely to cause perm damage unless it is something ridiculously loud and very close. Ultimately I also got into the mindset of thinking... if such things have done more damage then what can I actually do about it... nothing... so the worry is really pointless and unproductive.

Seriously, I am sure you will have no perm' increase, keep busy today and force yourself not to think about it
xxx

 

Same happened to me about a week ago, but I was actually outside on my bike, so even an worse situation. Hard to say what kind of effect it had on my tinnitus though.

 

Hang in there and ride it out... I think you will be fine

 

Anxiety triggered by sustained worry & fear is indeed the problem. Once they begin to subside so will the level of your spike. I've been there a number of times over the many years of having to live with tinnitus. @Rhea says it better than I in her post.

 

Thank you everyone The tinnitus seems to have calmed down but my hyperacusis seems to have come back!

 

Ugh, I was woken up this morning by EXTREMELY loud thunder. I'm glad I'm not the only one who worries about it's effect on tinnitus. I haven't had any problems, though. The weird thing is that there was very little rain to accompany the thunder. Strange.

 

I'm sure it will go back down. For reference, last night (I'm a bachelor this weekend as my wife and son are visiting extended family out of state) I went to my gym class from 6-7pm that occasionally includes loud "bang" noises (ex. the "tire flip" exercise--where we literally flip a giant tire over) and then went to a pub (moderately noisy) with some friends to watch the NBA Finals. When I came home my tinnitus was more "crazy" than usual, but when I woke up it was back to its low level. I am lucky that my spikes don't last very long and thus don't feel distressing, but also I didn't feel anxiety because I knew I hadn't subjected myself to excessive noise at a very loud level for an extended period of time, and I had earplugs with me in case things got noisier.

BTW @geg1992 how did your soccer (football for you Europeans!) team do?

 

That's the same sort of thing that happens to me, I sleep and the spike is gone in the morning!

Unfortunately we lost in the semi- final to our fiercest rival.

 

Hi, I was unfortunately caught in a loud thunderstorm while driving, one very loud clap of thunder. I was wearing foam ear plugs at the time but it was extremely loud. This was 4 hours ago. I seem to be having a spike, although hopefully it is from nerves.

Am I screwed here? Thanks.

 

Sorry about that!

 

Sorry to hear that. I have chronic hyperacusis which I find improves with vitamin B. Amitriptyline brought major improvements too. How did yours improve before?