Long-Term Sufferer: Tinnitus from Concert, Made Worse by Loud MRI and DIY Work (Small Impact Driver)

As with many on here tinnitus is not new to me.

Also like many I can pinpoint the time when I lost the ability to hear silence.

The now long gone Fibbers Cafe in York, I'd guess late 90's when I was about 16.

The band? Napalm Death

Bonus points if anyone knows the location / band!

It was quite the place for music at the time, naff little low ceiling venue that certainly was not the place to host such bands loud music.

Ears rang out for days afterwards and that was that.

Makes me angry when I think back, obviously a different time, not heard any volume like that at many gigs since.

So I suppose my tinnitus was quite mild really, only aware of it in a silent room or at night. Got used to it and it was stable, never really changed in frequency or pulsated. Just the solid static sound across both ears.

Fast forward to my late 30s and I have a house renovation and along the way although I am usually careful with protection I seem to have made one ear worse, a cycling effect in my left ear like someone running their finger around a glass.

I was referred to have a hearing test just before COVID-19, that meant a delay, but the test was fine. I then had a MRI.

A word of warning for anyone who hasn't had an MRI, on their head especially, it's bloody awful!

I don't suffer from claustrophobia but it was awful and super super loud, even with ear defenders I would be very hesitant to ever have one done again.

The day after oddly enough I was using a small impact driver, a glorified screwdriver putting some boards down in a loft space. Not a particularly loud tool but sadly as I got to the end of the job I could tell something was not right

Since then my right ear has rung out pretty badly, masking the original symptom of my left ear completely.

I have been like this for about 6 weeks now and feel that I am probably stuck with it, really angry at myself. I feel as if my ears are now super fragile, I do feel the super loud MRI scan and then doing the bit of DIY the next day certainly went hand in hand causing the damage.

Oh and as a final point... I just recently had a call from an ENT doctor giving me my all clear MRI results. He genuinely couldn't have cared less, when I said that doesn't change my problem, he told me to get used to it, more or less.

Well that's me as of now, maybe the right ear will change but I have a feeling that's me stuck with it

A shame that more is not being done to help people, the first week or so was really rough with this, having read some people's cases on here I really sympathize with how bad it can get.

So not too sure on the point of this ramble, but anyway that's where this tinnitus sufferer is at now.

 

If it makes you feel any better I shot (1) mag through a pistol with foam earplugs and have unilateral tinnitus. I had finished my MBA 10 days earlier. I've lost my career and nearly my life because of it. Protect your ears from noise. I just turned 34 and if a cure doesn't come out, my life is over. I hope yours calms down. Protect yourself from noise exposure.

 

I've read quite a few people on here suffering from short exposure to fire arms, really feel for you, that must be bloody awful.

One thing that my brief time reading this forum is I may have got away quite lightly but has certainly made me aware of how debilitating mentally increases / changes in tinnitus can be. My latest change has brought me to tears more than once.

It's a very delicate thing that one attunes to and anything causing it to peak its head above background means you have to learn all over again. And that takes a long time.

 

Your pain will not make anyone else feel better. I prefer to hear you found a resolution for your tinnitus.

 

I'm sorry this happened to you, ENT's really are the worst when it comes to bedside manners for tinnitus patients I also have that finger around the glass sound, it's no fun. Did your MRI techs give you hearing protection?