Possible Pain Hyperacusis Setback Caused by Dentist — Can Anyone Reassure Me?

A week ago I went to the dentist for a cavity filling. (Two more cavities to go. Ugh! ) I was wearing 26 dB reduction earmuffs. (There is conflicting advice about wearing earmuffs during dental work, but I've determined that it was the safer option. I had few issues during my previous crown and root canal procedures.)

As soon as I got home I felt some soreness in my left ear (the side the cavity was on.) And the next day there was soreness on the right. It felt like an ear ache. Thankfully no burning or anything like that.

Yesterday a balloon was popped next to my head. Thankfully I was wearing my earplugs (20 dB, filtered) and it was a few days old, meaning it probably wasn't fully inflated. I got home a little over 20 minutes later and took some Magnesium.

The pain was getting softer and I think I was getting over it, but then that damn balloon happened. The pain is back, lasting for a few seconds at a time. I've been under a lot of stress and anxiety lately, which isn't helping.

I plan on rescheduling my next dentist appointment to give my ears time to recover.

I take NAC every morning.

The whole thing has me anxious as hell. How bad does this setback sound? Any idea how long it might last?

 

Hi @aot

I’ve personally experienced a dentist setback (well done on the ear muffs) and incidents that happened after that. Please do not panic and have faith it will get better. I really think you will be fine. I know the fear of something happening right after a first incident which is why I wanted to reply.

I can’t tell you how long it will take as I feel it’s different for everybody and personally I’ve had times when it took me longer to recover than other times. The anxiousness also makes it worse. I sympathize with you as I know the feeling.

Hang in there!

 

Thanks, Laura. I'm doing my best. It's just it's impossible for things to be as quiet as I want (and probably need.) My twin nephews live with us and one of them is developmentally disabled, so there is lots of shouting. I rely on the bus to get to and from work, and my state is being battered with rain (which I usually love!)

This setback is the absolutely last thing I need right now. It getting worse is all I can think about.

Such bullshit that there's no proven treatment for this.

 

Any possibility to go to a dentist with laser next time?

They can do most except removing metal fillings.

 

I suppose I can try.

I don't have Dental, though. And this guy I go to now is the closest one that I can afford.

Oh, and now I'm feeling tingling/numbing sensations on the left side of my face. Great.

 

I feel the same @aot. I'm going through a setback as well but can't pin it on anything recent. I woke up this morning to severe burning in ear canal.

Could anyone tell me if a setback can be delayed? I went to a pub on Saturday with earplugs (14 dB protection). Could setbacks happen 48 hours later?

 

I would up that protection to at least 20 dB.

Setbacks/spikes can be delayed a couple days, but usually the hit the next day. At least in my experience.

Next time you go to the pub (again, with at least 20 dB), step out to "make a phone call" or something every once in a while. Stay in a quiet spot for a bit.

 

I'm so sorry. I want to move to a quieter place as well so totally understand your struggle.

I understand your concern about it getting worse perfectly as I've been in this position many times. I'm going through a massive setback in which I've lost basically all progress I've made in the last 9 months. Last year I thought I was doomed and saw no light at the end of the tunnel (couldn't even handle voices). But it got much better. It's just a very tricky condition to handle, which is why I'm back at square one now. I'm not giving up though; I got better before so I can do it again. So can you! I hope this doesn't sound like I'm making it all about having a positive mindset (which I found, for me, does help to a certain extent) but I wish at times people would have said something like this to me when I was in a dark hole.

Fully agree on the bullshit of lack of treatment. You'd hope they could come up with something to at least soften the symptoms, so that life is doable again.

 

It's hard to have a positive mindset when dealing with this hell. Good job on being to find a bright side.

What are your symptoms like? I'm having some facial pain, which is new to me.

What makes it worse is that my hyperacusis was previously really mild. A part of me thought that my life could actually be mostly normal.

 

@aot, thanks brother. Is it the same for hyperacusis? I thought hyperacusis hits almost instantly? My tinnitus is fine however, no spike. Right now I'm getting burning pain near the temple and in the ear canal. Seems like a nightmare.

 

@lauracolle, I agree, having a positive mindset does help, anxiety and panic makes it twice as bad. Really is shit how they don't have anything to atheist take the edge of. I've taken 60 mg of Prednisone today as I have no other option to fall on.

 

It’s good that you could stand the dentist drill. If I heard drilling in my mouth for half a second I would be in pain for the rest of the week.

Rest up and you will be all good. And stay away from balloons lmao. I hate them so much. I remember when my ears were bad, I took all the balloons out of a party when I was drunk and threw them outside. Those shits popping hurt like crazy!

 

So sorry for only replying now, having some really rough days as well with this setback . My symptoms are actually all facial/head related. I don't experience any ear pain, which has always seemed peculiar to me. So when it's really bad like right now, my whole face is like tense and I experience a sort of pulling sensation underneath my skin. A lot of tension around my jaw and weirdly, from the beginning on, I experience the reactions to sound around my eyes. So I get real bad pain on my eyebrow and whenever there's a loud sound, it cramps up underneath my eyes. Lately my whole head hurts as well, most of the time especially around my temples (sort of feels like somebody's pressing into my skull real bad) and a lot of tension at the back of my head. I have terrible tension in my neck and shoulders as well. In a setback like this, these symptoms are constant unfortunately. When I was doing better a few months ago, the pain and sensations were gone most of the time. Really miss that time right now.

I should point out that my tinnitus and jaw pain (which I had prior to hyperacusis) started at the same time, so I've always been convinced that it's related to each other. However my jaw pain kinda stabilized (only comes up now due to the hyperacusis).

How are you doing @aot these days?

 

The dentist must be one of those tricky situations where there is nothing one can do. Earplugs are a no no, since they would produce massive occlusion.

Earmuffs also conduct sound through the bone so not a great option either.

I think someone on the forum said best route was to take frequent breaks from the dental work, although not a great solution either.

 

I'm so sorry you're suffering with this. My symptoms are very similar. Not fun at all.

You can get to that place again. Don't give up hope!

Feeling depressed, lying in bed most of the day. My tinnitus is bearble most of the time, but keeps changing, keeps fluctuating. And I was doing well ignoring it for a few months. I just hope it goes back to normal.

 

Could over the ear headphones help a little without any bad effects?

Some of us might be more sensitive for the sharp drill noise and not so much the rrrrrr into the tooth?

I had very much dental plaque and the picker made a sharp awful noise when it sprung off my teeth with a twang sound.. I put ear phones on but then he was finished with the lower front teeth which were loudest, so I couldn’t tell much difference... wasn’t nice anyway.

 

In theory earphones that sit on top of the ear but do not cover them as an earmuff could be better, but anyway anything that blocks the ear when there is contact and vibration and noise transmitted through the bone is not going to help...

The dentist is just very complicated for us.

 

@aot, something similar happened to #metoo.

A few weeks ago a balloon popped next to me.

Imagine this, I was at a clinic (my working place) and this boy was playing with a balloon that popped in the very moment I was passing by. What were the odds?!

I was very furious and desperate at the moment that my tinnitus will become louder, but that wasn't the case.

After that, I had to go to the dentist.
I had some old fillings that I had to get rid of.

There's not much you can do at the dentist regarding the noisee.
It's bad with naked ears and worse with earplugs.

The drill itself isn't that noisy, but in contact with the teeth... it's horror.

The good news is that after a few days things got back to "normal".
Now my old hissing and all the other sounds are reduced to a somehow manageable level.

 

Frustrating! I loved balloons as a kid, but now I hate the damn things.

My tinnitus hasn't gotten louder per se, but it has a few more tones now, and is a bit more reactive. Starting to calm down though, thankfully.

Isn't it? I hate going to the dentist, tinnitus or without tinnitus. But the more you put it off, the worse it will be.

Very happy to hear!

As I said, my tinnitus is calming down a little bit, though my hyperacusis still has me worried.

 

Those things don’t happen to people without ear problems

 

And googling it sure didn't help...

"Researchers found a balloon inflated to rupture peaks at 168 decibels (dB)..."

 

It's important to note that there's a difference between 'inflated to the point of rupture' and 'being inflated, and then rupturing.'

 

That reminds me of when I calculated my headphone+amp max volume to be at 112 dB... I held that to my ear for a few seconds.

 

@aot has got a point...

Hope it’s going okay...

WTF are mommies bringing their kids around with balloons for anyway...

 

Update to the update.

I just fell on the stairs and sprained my ankle.
Just what I needed now. More NSAIDs.

 

So sorry...

I did that once, it took 10 days but has been okay ever since...

Have frozen peas or something on it for a while... don’t step on it.

 

I did, frozen corn

I can't step on it. It's too painful.

I will go tomorrow morning to a hospital.

 

Good

It might get even more painful tomorrow when it’s bruised.

I went to ER and took an X-ray because I have osteoporosis. They didn’t see anything wrong but it was an old X-ray machine.

They sold me new crutches there and told me to not step on the foot in case the small bone inside the ankle might have a small fracture.

It was painful for a long time but had no fracture so I think you’ll be fine

Goodnight.

 

Osteoporosis at your age?

 

Yes my dear, I’m a complete mess...

Crohn’s disease which in my case gave way for malnutrition and a lifestyle of sitting inside nose in a study book and hands on the stomach. Not to mention the great doctors who never checked my vitamin D % and told me to not bother with vitamins because it could make my stomach more troublesome.

Add in long term use of steroids...

How are you today? How’s the foot?

Sending a lot of hugs to you.