Permanent Spike? Or Possible Damage?

Need some help and advice.

Last weekend June 24th, I went out and did a bit of day drinking with some friends, earlier that morning I took a Allegra-d because my sinuses were really bad I had a bit of breakfast before going out. We went to a brewery chilled there for a bit, my gf and I had a couple of beers each. At this point I had totally forgotten I had taken the Allegra. A friend showed up and he suggested going to another bar like a beer garden. So at this point I wasn't to drunk or wasted but I had a few.

We arrived to the next place and it was a bit loud I'd say 80 to 90ish db level. (I didn't measure it but I could still talk to my gf next to me with out shouting). Then later it got a bit louder.

There I had much more beer... about 1liter which is about 33 ounces. So 2 more drinks?

Anyways. I left the bar feeling fine. Came home, took a looong nap. Didn't even occur to me that I had been drinking so much and had an Allegra D all this time! Woke up feeling a bit dull on my right ear but no significant changes persay. My head did feel stuffy. We went out again later night but I didn't drink like half of a beer (at this point I was tired) I drank water for the rest of then night. Got home again and feel sleep. Woke up the next morning with my right side feeling off or not straight. My right side felt like it shifted in hearing a bit. Considering I had above 8k heading damage. I can't hear anything on my right ear around the 13k.5 to 14k. Unless I crank up the volume on the tone generator. But even then I careful. I should have taken my plugs but didn't. And my right ear for about a week now has felt rather off and I'm noticing it just now? For the past two years I haven't had any issues with my T until this past weekend june 24.... and trust me, I haven't let my T stop me from doing what I like (fishing, going out, local pubs) but I've always carried hearing protection in case I feel it gets loud.

Went to an ent, my right ear felt funny, he took a look inside and pulled out three small human hairs that were on my ear drum. Any changes after that? Not really still felt a bit weird, so I went out last night but this time I had my hearing protection, I measured the bar at 77 to 82 db and still I had my plugs. I could honestly hear the person 5 feet away from me with my plugs on!

I get home last night and now I felt like I might have made my spike from the previous weekend a bit higher....

(Oh also the ent did a hearing test and no change since from three years ago, but doesn't mean my T could have chnaged).

Need help! Should I go to the doc and get some steroids to maybe help if I would had gotten damage? Am I too late? Could the alcohol and medicine caused it to spike?

 

@EatMoTacos Dude, chill about it. T can react or change for a thousand reasons. Best way of dealing with it is - let it.

If you've been out and had a few and been exposed to some normal loudness (not concert or nightclub levels, like chatty bar with background music is fine) the chances are your ears won't be damaged but they will have just reacted the same as everyone else. Little tiny minuscule bit of an increase in ring.
That's what ears do dude. Only we have adopted an ultra paranoia to any slight change in volume or pitch.
It may have changed minutely in pitch or volume and you are going oh shit about it. That attitude sets you up for a fall because one day you could have a bit of a spike for no reason whatsoever and you'll lose your head.
Let it be, let it do what it wants and accept it for the random animal it is. Drop the decibel reader, just put plugs in when you feel it's a bit too loud - we all know that level. Then put your mind back on life. Try not to get hung up on slight changes. Then you'll be far cooler about it.

 

@Fred-Bear I have had T since I was 14 off and on. Since four years ago it has gotten very strong and temperamental. And yes I agree it is very random. Not until 2 years ago, I was perfectly fine, I didn't even know I had it! And I had habituated very nicely to the point that I needed no supplements, meds, no sleeping aids, nothing. I ate what I wanted and drank what I wanted with no implication of any increase whatsoever.

What I'm trying to say is that I'd like it to come back to what I was before and I feel that since that day I didn't even care about my T. Then why all of a sudden as you say, we are all paranoid of any pitch or volume changes, it gets worse? All I can think of that could have attributed to my increase in my right ear is the day before driving with the music in my truck louder than normal and going to that bar or the alcohol with the Allegra. My right ear feels off and not like before. I stopped going to concerts/clubs/ or even live open events.

It's been a week and no change back to what I was before. Also I very much appreciate the support especially coming from another T suffere.

 

My T seemed extra loud today for no reason so went to a noisy restaurant had a couple of Manhattens and T backed off so go figure... I dont even try to figure out my T anymore but do wear ear protection when mowing grass, shooting guns, or loud cars or motorcycles,,,I am at a point in my life I dont care anymore for its there 24/7 and just have to live with it. If I keep busy or having fun with my friends it seems to back off and dont hear it..Nice break...

 

You don't find that shooting guns effects your tinnitus, even with ear protection?

 

@EatMoTacos Ive had it 7 years and last week exactly the same thing happened to me. I've locked onto it and now it's louder than before at a higher pitch. I can hear it over the TV.
I lost my head over it the first few days. Now I'm a bit depressed about it. But I've accepted it and I know that eventually I'll just get used to it again. There is no other choice. Sure you can go the ENT to see if something can be done or make sure it's not something else. But realistically it's just a big spike and I've simply got to get used to it again and carry on with my life. Slowly but surely I'll pay it no mind and be fine with it. You will too buddy. Just go do some nice things with your time whilst it's hanging around.

 

@EatMoTacos Im starting to get my head around mine now. Takes so much energy to stop your head from going down the negative path but if you keep it up you can turn it around and it becomes easier. How are you doing?

 

@Fred-Bear I feel like I have to habituate to it all over again. My pulsitile T and the regular T are totally out of whack. Im trying to stay calm and just stay busy.

Last night I was hearing a new tone come and go. A much higher one :/, maybe this is just temporary. But last night was really quiet for some reason. My pulsitile T was super low and my regular T was very low. This morning not so great, I woke up with screaming T and pulsing. Maybe lack of sleep? Who knows.

I did manage to speak with a family doctor and told him what had happen to me and he totally understood my situation and as a matter of fact he listened to me for awhile, he suggested I try prednisone for a few days and see if that clears things up, if not then maybe I was too late to catch my base line. Maybe with time it will go back, who knows. For now I'm just hanging in there and praying.

 

@EatMoTacos I try to adopt the mindset of acceptance rather than cure. Hope can f**k with you and trail you along. When it changes or has something new to do I try to separate myself from it and allow it to do its will. It's mindfulness really. Allow yourself to feel annoyed or upset, then try to accept (really hard) and then move away and try to mask or distract. You have habituated before so you will do again much quicker.

 

@EatMoTacos..did you spike subside ? I have been to your situation few times and it seems spike always go down .
Curious to know what happend to your spike .

 

Spike is still there. I don't think the prednisone is working. I'm only 3 days into it.

 

So spike is still there...

But I did go out again to try to relax and this time I brought my plug with me. Come to find out my custom plugs are not sealing my ears completely and some sound is actually going through!! All this time I went out the plugs have not been keeping sound out. I know the difference between bone conducting hearing and hearing through the regular way but when I put in some foam plugs last time I noticed a huge difference between my old plugs and foam ones.

So long story short, I came back from the lake house from vacation and now after almost a week if I sit in my living room I can hear a low rumble noise in my head when all of a sudden it gets quiet..... wtf I never heard this before!!

Yesterday I went and gotten a cleaning done to my teeth and now my left ear is ringing off the charts, she used that water jet cleaning for small increments, and I explained to her about my T and she was nice enough to do small increments. But when I got home my left ear felt weird and now I sit in the living room and I have a hiss in my left ear that I didn't have before.

I managed to get an appointment with an ENT tomorrow. I just got off of prednisone 5 days ago on a low does of 20mg for 6 days. Should I get back on? Or is it too soon? Would it be ok to get back on it? It's been 24 hours since the dentist visit. I still have some left over from my last week. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi what part of Texas are you from?

 

H-Town

 

Same here Got my T on may 1st....seen two ENT doctors...dr. Ahuja and dr. Chang

 

@JoyBenz007 do you know how you got your T? I've had mine for quite some time now. Have your ENT given you some oral steroids?

 

My bachelorette was on April 29th and then may 1st, I was moving to a new apt complex...that's when it started...I went to urgent care on the 5th and gave me a steroid shot and prednisone...after that I starting getting hearing sensitive and hearing distortion. May 11th I saw dr ahuja and he gave me a hearing test and had hearing loss at low decibel and diagnosed me with cochlear hydrops...said no sodium no coffee no alcohol...and put me on a diuretic and I got very sick, I called him and he told me He couldn't technically diagnose me with cochlear hydrops and to get used to the ringing...I got married may 20th....show must go on right? Went on the honeymoon and came back and was absolutely distraught...I was very depressed and anxious. So I booked another appt with dr Chang...he diagnosed me with sudden hearing loss. My hearing is perfectly fine, I just have the ringing now...no longer have sensivity or distortion. Like you I enjoyed doing all these things like breweries and bar hopping....now I'm scared!

 

@JoyBenz007

I know the feeling all to well, I got T first when I was around 13 from a firework accident and it went away for the longest time. Until I was 27, it came back with full force mainly on my right ear. Due to loud clubbing and not taking precaution I was plagued with this since then. I have had spikes about 3 or 4 and they usually go down on there own, but this spike seems different. Before this spike, I was perfectly habituated for like almost 4 years, didn't even notice or hear it. I only would hear it at night or even when I would lay my head down on my bad ear.

Sometimes I would sleep with pillows covering my ears and by me doing that I would drown in my T noise and it would like fade into the background, I did this for the longest time when I would sleep. I read there was a therapy called "Ultra Quiet Therapy" based on some studies I heard this works, so I would intentionally sleep with my T ear on the pillow and concentrate to lower it, I found that it would fluctuate up and down. Now I did this when I first got T in the beginning, I habituated very well and I lived my life again! Until about three weeks ago this spike happened from foolishly not thinking I was OK to be in a semi-loud environment.

An Audiologist told me once, that hearing damage is cumulative. In other words, constantly surrounding yourself with loud sounds, areas, and places will not make your hearing get used to it but will little by little chip away at your hearing without you even noticing. And it would just take one incident for the T to hit you. I am praying this spike to go down in my right ear. I just feel I am probably to late to get any steroid medicine, as I took it around 7 days on the initial spike at a low dose.

In your case, it still is very soon and it actually may settle down in your case. I feel that giving time for your ears to heal properly over time and giving them a break from loud noises helps a lot. I guess I won't be going to any breweries for a long time or maybe stop drinking for awhile. You will habituate, it is a process but it takes time. If you ever need to talk to someone about this feel free to contact me. I honestly have not met anyone who has this, except for my mother who has it as well.

 

Do you have T in both ears or just your right ear? I'll be praying for you as well! My dad has it....several people on this forum think I'm healing and it could go away but I won't get my hopes up, I am far from habituation, audiologist said it's too early for TRT .... I went to the casino mon - Wednesday...did not affect me. I'm not sure what's too loud to damage your ears further or what is being to overprotective because can't that cause sensitivity? Thank you and feel free to message me as well... I would still try to get steroid treatment if I were you...I hope your spike is temporary.

 

It first started out in one ear. My right. Now I feel it's creeping on my left now after a dental visit I have two days ago.

I'll try another round of steroids again and see if it would make a difference. Maybe the first round I took was too low. But it's already been over three weeks since the spike and usually the best time to do it within 48 hours. Others say within a month, others says 3 months. So I'm not too sure. While others say steroids don't do much for noise induced T which is what I have.

As a general rule of thumb, if you have to shout to someone to speak to them at a pub or place then it's too loud. I'd suggest getting some custom earplugs made or start carrying some foam ear plugs. I have NR 33 rating ones I have.

 

Not sure what type of breweries you like but...city acre is very chill and no loud music. And b-52 has music but you can sit at a distance and it's not loud

 

I've been to almost all the breweries in town!! I'll check those out sometime.

 

I went to an outdoor summer festival with a cover band and wore my plugs but not the whole time.

Woke up with no T sound but after I ate breakfast, it spiked big time and that was over a week ago!!

I know it will calm down but I should have worn the plugs the whole time.

I also tried using my cell phone with my Right ear which has the T and it not only stopped but gave me a break from the "dentist drill" for about 10 min after the call.

Lastly, I'm on a super health kick with no salt, meat or dairy. Also, starting Magnesium and Zinc soon. -- Even if I get better thanks to placebos, I'm fine with that. Ha ha..

T is so unpredictable. I agree with the earlier comment that we need to remove the anxiety from it. -- Easier said that done but that is what we need to keep striving for.. Hang in there!