Hi, all. I figured I might as well post a synopsis of my life for the past year and 4 months. It'll be interesting to hear if anyone here has experienced anything similar and recovered. My life sure has changed a lot, and it'd be nice to have the old me back.
I am currently 25 years old.
In September 2012 I began to experience a spasm in my left ear in response to my own voice. Throughout September, I went to many doctors and tried amoxicillin for a misdiagnosis of ear infection, and meloxicam for a misdiagnosis of TMJ inflammation. I developed hyperacusis throughout this month, and at the time I believed it to be caused by TMJ disorder.
In October my tinnitus began. I remember hearing it over the sound of the car engine on the drive to my ENT. Near the end of October I saw an audiologist and a very well regarded neurotologist. I had many tests done, including an LDL test, and I was diagnosed with hyperacusis and tinnitus. At this time my LDL's were around 70 and 80.
The following months I began to listen to pink noise, and continued to progressively worsen. I made sure to expose myself to gentle, comfortable sounds, and to not use hearing protection in normal environments. I stopped working because it became too painful, and I started experiencing a little dizziness here and there.
On new years eve 2012, I got drunk with a friend and we played with his RC helicopter. At the time the noise felt fine, but the following day the sensitivity had increased as well as my tinnitus.
Near the end of February I got a very severe cold, and the sound of my own coughing once again worsened my tinnitus and hyperacusis. My tinnitus eventually went back down, but the hyperacusis remained. I started experiencing burning pain in my left ear, and an electric shock type pain and fullness in my right ear that happened in tandem with very piercing fleeting tinnitus. The dizziness got much worse at this point as well, and I was stuck in bed for two weeks straight, worrying that I would throw up if I moved too much.
The following months the pain died down, but the hyperacusis did not improve. I purchased in ear sound generators on the advice of my audiologist, and used them for a while, but they began to cause very severe sharp pains in my ears at the lowest volume, so I stopped using them. The same thing started happening when I wore ear plugs for extended periods of time. It appeared my ear canals had become sensitive to touch.
My measured LDL's at this point had lowered to the 50's and 60's. I stopped exposing myself to sound, because at this point it had become obvious that it was only making me worse. I retreated and began to wear hearing protection much of the time. Whenever I cooked or cleaned, whenever I went to the store, whenever I spoke to anyone.
My condition did begin to improve a little bit, and I watched the full series of Breaking Bad in November and December on very low volume with subtitles with much difficulty. Often following episodes my ears were in so much pain I would have to take days off from watching. By the end, my ears were in so much pain I had to retreat to silence once again. Ever since then the pain has been fluctuating. Some days are good, other days are horrible. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for the pain, but most often it is caused by uncomfortable levels of noise.
Right now I am in total silence and my left ear is burning in horrible pain. Normal conversation levels of sound causes awful pain in my ears that gets worse the longer I am exposed.
In addition to ear pain, I get very severe, but thankfully transient, burning pains on my face and neck. I have ear fullness, violent spasms in my left ear when I speak, and moderate nausea and dizzy spells that can last for hours at a time. I get very strange numbness and tingling on the entire right side of my head and face, especially in the temple and cheek area. I have had every head scan imaginable, and there is no evidence of a tumor. My neurotologist cannot explain what is happening to me.
There is so much more to my story, but I also have carpal tunnel syndrome and find it difficult to type for long stretches. Because of this, I had to shorten it quite a bit and leave out potentially important details. Ask any questions and I'll try to make my answers as detailed as possible.
I am currently 25 years old.
In September 2012 I began to experience a spasm in my left ear in response to my own voice. Throughout September, I went to many doctors and tried amoxicillin for a misdiagnosis of ear infection, and meloxicam for a misdiagnosis of TMJ inflammation. I developed hyperacusis throughout this month, and at the time I believed it to be caused by TMJ disorder.
In October my tinnitus began. I remember hearing it over the sound of the car engine on the drive to my ENT. Near the end of October I saw an audiologist and a very well regarded neurotologist. I had many tests done, including an LDL test, and I was diagnosed with hyperacusis and tinnitus. At this time my LDL's were around 70 and 80.
The following months I began to listen to pink noise, and continued to progressively worsen. I made sure to expose myself to gentle, comfortable sounds, and to not use hearing protection in normal environments. I stopped working because it became too painful, and I started experiencing a little dizziness here and there.
On new years eve 2012, I got drunk with a friend and we played with his RC helicopter. At the time the noise felt fine, but the following day the sensitivity had increased as well as my tinnitus.
Near the end of February I got a very severe cold, and the sound of my own coughing once again worsened my tinnitus and hyperacusis. My tinnitus eventually went back down, but the hyperacusis remained. I started experiencing burning pain in my left ear, and an electric shock type pain and fullness in my right ear that happened in tandem with very piercing fleeting tinnitus. The dizziness got much worse at this point as well, and I was stuck in bed for two weeks straight, worrying that I would throw up if I moved too much.
The following months the pain died down, but the hyperacusis did not improve. I purchased in ear sound generators on the advice of my audiologist, and used them for a while, but they began to cause very severe sharp pains in my ears at the lowest volume, so I stopped using them. The same thing started happening when I wore ear plugs for extended periods of time. It appeared my ear canals had become sensitive to touch.
My measured LDL's at this point had lowered to the 50's and 60's. I stopped exposing myself to sound, because at this point it had become obvious that it was only making me worse. I retreated and began to wear hearing protection much of the time. Whenever I cooked or cleaned, whenever I went to the store, whenever I spoke to anyone.
My condition did begin to improve a little bit, and I watched the full series of Breaking Bad in November and December on very low volume with subtitles with much difficulty. Often following episodes my ears were in so much pain I would have to take days off from watching. By the end, my ears were in so much pain I had to retreat to silence once again. Ever since then the pain has been fluctuating. Some days are good, other days are horrible. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for the pain, but most often it is caused by uncomfortable levels of noise.
Right now I am in total silence and my left ear is burning in horrible pain. Normal conversation levels of sound causes awful pain in my ears that gets worse the longer I am exposed.
In addition to ear pain, I get very severe, but thankfully transient, burning pains on my face and neck. I have ear fullness, violent spasms in my left ear when I speak, and moderate nausea and dizzy spells that can last for hours at a time. I get very strange numbness and tingling on the entire right side of my head and face, especially in the temple and cheek area. I have had every head scan imaginable, and there is no evidence of a tumor. My neurotologist cannot explain what is happening to me.
There is so much more to my story, but I also have carpal tunnel syndrome and find it difficult to type for long stretches. Because of this, I had to shorten it quite a bit and leave out potentially important details. Ask any questions and I'll try to make my answers as detailed as possible.
Member
Must be very difficult. Is the LDL level 70 and 80 high nd do you have any idea why it was that high?
