New to Hyperacusis

Hi all.

My name is Ofer and I'm a 23 year old musician who recently(past few months) started experiencing Hyperacusis.
I'm looking for possible treatments for my case, and I'll try and describe my situation in as much detail as possible without it being overwhelmingly long.

Backround
I've suffered from pain in my right Knee for more than 4 years, and still do. I've also been suffering from pain in my left arm for more than 2 years; mostly in my wrist, but there's stiffness and pain starting at my fingertips, through my arm to my shoulders, neck and even left side of jaw and head. I had many(!) tests done including blood-work, different kinds of imaging, EMG etc. with almost no results that indicate any kind of inflammation, damage or any other kind of "flaw" that would cause the pain and stiffness. I don't want to go into the full depth of this past 4.5 years but I'll say that right now it is speculated that I have Psoriathic Arthritis(because psoriasis runs in my family) but it's not a definitive diagnosis. My subjective symptoms are pain and stiffness, felt mostly in the tendons of the left leg, right arm, neck and upper back that increases with physical activity(from standing for more than 30 mins, washing dishes, swimming, playing the guitar or the piano etc.) I'm a guitar player and I had to quit my musical undergraduate studies after just one year to focus on getting my arm better.

Hyperacusis and I
For about a year I had not-very-frequent manifestation of sound-distortion(crackling sound) in my right ear which didn't bother me too much and so I didn't do anything about it. Also, my right ear felt "clogged" and I attributed it to wax, and the blockage feeling was indeed reduced when Dr. No.1 removed the wax from my ear. I'm a musician and a few months ago(I don't remember the exact chronological course of events) I was working on mixing a project with my headphones and also was exposed to VERY loud music at a party that was taking place where I work. I started feeling pain in my right ear as a reaction to volume(noise, music etc.) and decided to stop working on the project and let my ears rest. The effect of sound-sensetivity decreased significantly. Some time has passed and I started mixing again, and also DJing. the pain came back, much stronger than before and this time it won't go away. I've done some testing(which I'll link to later on) and been diagnosed with hyperacusis.

The symptoms I experience
Pain in the right ear accompanied by heat/burn and throbbing sensations and sometimes an inner-ear itch induced by any kind of sound. I can't hardly play or listen to music at all and after sometime watching TV also gets unbearable. Although I was told it cannot be related to sound-sensitivity, to me the stiffness and pain in my tendons and neck feels like it's connected to the ear pain. Also, part of the time, especially after being exposed to noise/music I can feel a kind of pain in my inner-ear when I swallow. I know it's not advisable but sometimes I can't help by tunring off the right speaker of my computer, or "lefting" the balance in the car, otherwise there's no way I can listen to anything - I guess some exposure is better than non at all(?)

The tests
Are attached to this post. I know there're not 100% english, but I think it's close enough. I'm obviously available if any clarification is needed. I'm also currently waiting for results of an inner-ear MRI I did a few days ago. I was told there's evidence of physical damage to the ear or tinnitus.


In conclusion
My tests might not look that bad, and I'm probably not the worst case in this forum but for me my situation is extremely disturbing, especially since I'm a musician. Even so, although I'm almost completely limited from making any progress in my profession I'm not taken back by the pain and I'm trying to be very active in finding a working treatment. Dr. No.2 diagnosed me with hyperacusis and suggested exposure to pink noise for as long and as loud as it doesn't cause pain. he told me to just get a pink sound sample from the web and download it to my iPhone but I didn't have good experience with it so far, it seems to make it worse. I know that pink noise treatment(TRT right?) is a main tool against hyperacusis and I'm wondering if my Dr. simplistic instructions are not specific enough and therefore can't yield good results.

I would very much appreciate any help and possible treatment direction,
Ofer.

 

Hi Ofer

Welcome to the board, Im new here too, so we have that in common. I just got hyperacusis a few weeks ago and Im listening to Pink noise as well, its probarally going to take time to see any results. I used to be a musician like you too. I gave that up years ago when I developed tinnitus, and went back to school to learn a new line of work. I know how you feel about the loss of music in your life. All we can do is hope it gest bettr soon.

Just you need to talk or have any questions just give a yell
Good Luck

Louie