More Than One Long Lasting Spike (Lasting for a Couple Weeks or More). Has Anyone Recovered?

My question is: has anyone had more then one prolonged spike and recovered? I've read about people recovering from spikes that lasted for months but has anyone done it more than once? Or am I really screwed this time?!



You see. I'm having a pretty bad spike ATM. My "old" tinnitus, that is a very high frequent hiss, is louder and I also have a new tonal head sound. This has been going on for almost two weeks (since July 7th).

The cause is loud noise from attending a wedding reception. I did wear earplugs the whole time. During the dinner I wore my custom made SNR 25+ db earplugs and then when the music turned on I went to the bathroom (where it was quiet) to switch earplugs and put in large foam earplugs. I wore them correctly, putting the plug all the way in as they are supposed to be worn. The foam plugs are specified as SNR 35 db. When leaving I waited until I got to my car before very gently pulling the plugs out and once again putting my custom made plugs in for the drive home. I drank no alcohol either, so I was able to drive home.

The music was loud but not crazy loud. I'd say 100 db at the most but probably around 90-95 db (it was a private party and not a concert after all). And now I have T from hell, even though I was meticulous about ear protection!

I did have a spike from loud noise previously over three years ago (when I was little careless with protection). That spike lasted for weeks and resembles this one. Although I don't think I ever fully went back to the old pre-2015-level it did quiet down a lot. The tonal head noise was present then as well but subsided later on (although it might have just quieted down to a point I didn't notice it but has been there all along and has now flared up again).

The last few days I have noticed that my T is low after I wake up in the morning (back to the old, I think?). But then about 5 min after I wake up, the new hellish T sets in with the new head tone. Very strange!

I'm not in a panic. My anxiety has definitely gone up but I'm not panicking and I do get good sleep. I've been on 45 mg per day of Mirtazapine (also goes by the brand name Remeron) ever since my last spike in 2015 and it does put me to sleep at night at least.

 

and this is why we need a treatment asap, tinnitus can worsen as the case with this person and myself included. Having Mild T dosent mean you are out of the woods yet, it can come back with a vengeance.

 

Much agreed! It's ridiculous that I could have made it worse given how careful I was using protection. I'm pretty sure I was the only one there that wore earplugs. It's just so damn unfair! How can we not have anything more than "learn to live with it"-crap in the Year of 2018!? We've sent men to the Moon and are thinking about sending people to Mars and drilling/mining Asteroids for Gold but giving people relief from the hell called Tinnitus is not a thing yet! Personally I'd rather take a 20 year prison sentence. At least when you've done your time you're free. It really is completely unreasonable having to pay with living the rest of your life in hell just because you went out dancing for a few hours one night, WHILE WEARING EARPLUGS!!

 

I agree I would gladly go to jail for 20 years, or die at age 50 of brain/lung cancer, tumor, car crash, get hit by a car, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart attack, aids, etc you name it give it to me..i want it..i really want them but in 25 years just so I can have 25 years of a good healthy life without any health issue such as this one. People dont understand how bad this can be. This is truly horrific and what makes it even more horrific is that people are not getting educated on it. I feel like the doctors/educators want people to be deaf, hearing aids=$$$$$$.

 

Well, if everyone knew how bad this crap is I think there would be a maximum of 10 people attending any concert. And not tens of thousands! I've had this conversation with my fiance (so I guess I'm going to gave to attend at least one more wedding reception, not optional this time) and I don't think I've managed to get through even to her! And she has seen how badly I'm suffering! She declined to wear earplugs at that same reception for example, and I brough 16 pairs with me!! I bought two fresh packs at the pharmacy that same day before we went. In two different sizes!

I've said to her when I had my last spike: "Sadly, or gladly (for her), for you my spike will be a passing thing. You'll feel bad for me a while. But since you don't have it you'll stop thinking about it and you won't feel bad for me anymore after a while. But for me, the struggle never stops. Every day, every minute, every second, my struggle goes on. I don't have the luxury of ignorance."

 

This is terrible...….I pissed my life away man. I cant work or do anything anymore and I am only 28. What the hell did I do to deserve this?

 

Well, the bright side is that you only are 28. I'm 35 and have had it since I was 22. I'm sure that we will at least have relief in the coming 5-10 years. It's that thought that keeps me going. If I really thought I'd have to live like this for another 50 years or so I'd probably just hang myself and be done with it. But at the same time, how stupid would it be if I did that and a cure comes a year later or so!?

There is a lot of research being done. I have high hopes for Frequency Therapeutics for example. They managed to get hold of $45 million funding and are about to begin a phase II trial. I've read the science that the researchers did before they started the company and they are on the right track I think. They discovered the whole hidden hearing loss thing and have managed to regrow hearing cells in animals. They have also found that the therapeutic window could be very long, at least years.

Then we have Susan Shore, that has a device that is about to go through the testing. The science behind that one is also robust. She discovered that tinnitus starts in the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus in the brain. So even if the earguys at Frequency don't help our tinnitus she might be able to rewire our brains to at last have some peace and quiet. So there is much to hope for at the moment!

I'm willing to wait till 2021. If there is nothing on the way by then I'm going to Bangkok for some stem cells! That's the plan at least.

Who knows. You just might end up having it for a shorter time then me!