My Tinnitus Started During a Workout While Holding My Breath on a Heavy Set

Hello there, this is my first time on this website.

I am 20 years old and a week ago I went working out while holding my breath on a heavy set and my ears began suddenly ringing in a high pitch and has not stopped since. I went to an ENT and it appears I’ve lost some hearing due to this.

I am wondering if the tinnitus will stay forever or can I expect it to get better?

Are there others who got tinnitus this way and got better?

They currently have me on a steroid. I started taking it 5 days after the accident and I am hoping that it will help/fix the ringing problem.

 

Any dizziness with this? Your history makes me think of a perilymph fistula being a possibility.

 

I didn’t not have any dizziness with it, at least not immediately, I am getting a CT scan in a week however.

 

I agree with @FGG.

What does it mean, were you dizzy later, and what does your hearing loss look like exactly?
By the way, usually neither MRI nor CT show PLF, in most cases it is invisible on these scans.

 

You are correct. I believe this MRI won’t show anything and believe it is most likely as you both have described. My hearing in the higher pitches was severely worse. The prednisone has helped tremendously and my tinnitus has gone from a 8/10 on average to a 2/10 and I believe some hearing has gotten better. Is this a good sign it will heal?

 

@noah283

Just one more thing, if you haven't heard this already, keep your head elevated (don't bend over during the day, sleep on two pillows during the night) and avoid any kind of straining especially during the first months, and avoid coffee and avoid taking a lot of salt for a while.

 

@Backpacker thank you! I’ve actually been sleeping with two pillows because I realized it’s louder when I don’t.

 

Just an update for anyone who is in a similar instance of non noise induced tinnitus. My tinnitus is now a .5/10 and will hopefully be gone soon, definitely try prednisone early on, I got it 5 days after the incident and it saved my sanity.

 

I think you cannot get a better proof that tinnitus can be caused without noise but just due to pressure on the tympanic membrane and thus stress on the TTM...

 

Noise is not the only thing that can put unbearable amount of pressure on the membranes (eardrum or oval/round window).

Types of IMPLOSIVE pressure:
Sudden loud blast of music can cause the same injury like a slap on the ear, an airplane descent barotrauma, scuba diving surfacing too fast, or like water skiing accident.

EXPLOSIVE pressure is obviously lifting, pushing, pulling more than you can, seat belt injury, and any type of excessive straining which can subsequently increase intracranial pressure suddenly, which can put pressure on round/oval membrane and a little bit of perilymph can leak from fluid-filled inner ear into air-filled middle ear and that is how SSHL/tinnitus/various types of dizziness can occur.