Possible Tinnitus After Clubbing

Hey all. I am an 18-year-old male from Australia with no pre-existing heath conditions and have properly been clubbing a total of 10 times in my life.

Occasionally I have felt minor ringing in my ears upon leaving the club but this has subsided by the time I would get home that night.

However, last Saturday 16 December, now 5 days ago I went out clubbing as per normal and arrived home with minor ringing. I woke up the next morning and my hearing was extremely muffled, ears felt full like they needed to be popped and I got bad ringing. The muffling stopped after a couple days and the ringing has gotten a bit better. However, my ears still feel full and ringing is present.

For reference, I was partially sick when I went out Saturday (I know it's stupid to go out when sick) so that could mean something, not sure? I was also intoxicated.

So now after 5 days of continuous ringing I am wondering what should I do? Is this permanent tinnitus? When does it become permanent? Should I see a doctor?

Please give me advice. I’m quite worried.

 

You got acoustic trauma while sick. Yep, no doctor will tell you it but I am convinced this is what makes acoustic trauma more likely or more severe. This is what happened to me - loud noise with some cold/sinus infection.

That's bad, but you are young and you can heal. Your chances are VERY GOOD.

What you CAN consider doing now is to run to an ENT and get steroids. They can give you oral or thru-eardrum injections. The latter are better, more targeted. Oral ones have many side effects. They can make you worse, especially the oral ones. Steroids for acoustic trauma are off-label, but may help. The time to get them is right away, 24-36 hours after trauma. It can be prescribed up to 1 month after trauma as a salvage therapy. The later, the less chance they will help. Generally ENTs give it for diagnosed hearing loss. It is possible you do not have hearing loss within the normal range (up to 8 kHz), so it may be hard to get them prescribed. You may try begging for them or you may need to fake your hearing test if you want to get them. It is rolling a dice. I did not take them, because it was too late for me (3+ weeks).

Important warning: absolutely do not let them do any loud tests/procedures like tympanometry, acoustic reflex, MRI, etc. You cannot afford another acoustic trauma, especially now. These most likely would injure you further.

Otherwise rest, avoid loud noises, but do not overprotect, as you may develop/worsen hyperacusis. Eat well, no smoking, no alcohol, avoid coffee, sugar. There are no supplements or other drugs that can help. Try staying busy and occupy your mind with something nice. I know it is hard.

If you get depressed (try not to), avoid antidepressants. They don't necessarily, but they CAN worsen noise-induced tinnitus (or they can lead to tinnitus in people with healthy ears).

Good luck to you. I am very sorry you got this being so young - but on the other hand - your odds for healing are better than like me in 45+ age range. Remember even if you heal, your ears will never be the same. No more loud noises for the rest of your life.

 

It's a good sign that the muffled hearing stopped and the ringing has gotten a little better. Your ears are healing.

However, you need to protect your ears from loud noises to ensure that they can heal as much as possible. We don't know if it's permanent or temporary, but as long as you avoid loud noise exposure, it should continue to get quieter over time, and hopefully it can go away completely.

The ear fullness should fully resolve within a few weeks to a few months, as it does for most people. Your case seems mild, so hopefully a few weeks.

I highly recommend you stop going to clubs, along with any other noisy places like concerts. Even if your symptoms fully resolve, going to these loud places will cause your hearing issues to resurface, even it's 30 years later. So best to play it safe.

Doctors likely won't have any treatment to offer. Typically, all they do is give you a hearing test and check the inside of your ears for things like wax, fluid, infection, etc. But in many cases, they find nothing.

However, they may also offer additional tests that are dangerous, like an acoustic reflex test or an MRI. These tests are noisy and can worsen tinnitus, so you should avoid them. They almost never lead to a solution anyway.

So the best course of action is to keep your surroundings quiet and let things heal naturally over time. Your improvement is encouraging, so you should be okay.

 

I can't tell you whether it's permanent or not, but I just want to put your mind at ease as best I can.

I went clubbing and to too many gigs over about a decade, having already a very mild tinnitus, and it remained mild until a few years ago. Had I done what you'd done, and found us online, I'd have started protecting my ears considerably more (foam plugs whenever at gigs or concerts).

The vast majority of people with tinnitus completely habituate and only notice it when someone asks about it or they think about it. It's only about 1-in-10 of those with tinnitus that report moderate or severe cases where other symptoms crop up (hyperacusis and so on).

It's interesting you mention feeling a bit sick. I suspect quite a few people's tinnitus are exacerbated by viral infections. Aural fullness is common with viral infections, and unsurprising that it would coincide with heightened tinnitus.

All that said, don't panic yourself into a state of despair. You'll forget about it within a couple of weeks, annoying as it'll be until then! However, to repeat for the sake if drilling it into your head, remember to keep protecting at loud venues if you want to keep attending. Perhaps keep away from speakers, to minimise exposure as best as possible. Maybe avoid for a couple of weeks to let your ears rest.

You can always go to ENT or an audiologist if you're worried. There are some treatments going through pipelines at the moment that may be available in the next couple of years (only saying this if it helps you relax), but you'll likely not bother with them after habituating soon enough!

Reach out if you need.

 

Hey guys. I went to the doctor and turns out I have an ear infection which may have been the cause. He’s given me antibiotics and says it should go away in a week. Hopefully he is right.

 

Well, for god's sake, do not forget to come back here and update your story if it goes away. Most of us are stuck with it for life.

 

Yes, I am really hoping he was right. I will definitely let you guys know.