Pulling Earplugs Out Making Tinnitus Worse? / Update on Life

Hey everyone! I am doing even better than when I last posted here. About half of the days the ears don’t stress me out too much, even though I can hear them.

Question for you all - have you ever had tinnitus increase from accidentally taking earplugs out too fast? I’ve taken them out too fast before with no bad incidences, but a few days ago I pushed an earplug in too far, and while I was taking it out as slow as I could, I did hear a smallish ‘pop’ of suction noise as I was taking it out. I don’t think my tinnitus is any worse, but just checking with you all to reassure myself

Another interesting thing is my identical twin, after three years of me having tinnitus, now has tinnitus! He’s getting anxiety from it (much like me!) and I’m trying to help him through it as best as I can, since I have 3 years of working with it.

Have a good day!

Mark Ellman

 

Hey Mark! I haven't experienced exactly what you're talking about, but wearing foam earplugs does always spike my tinnitus a bit, usually as I take them out. My ears get very irritated, and I think that may be the cause. The spike always goes down for me though. Glad to hear you're doing better though!

 

This has happened to me, and there are multiple posts describing similar experiences. The resulting spikes are temporary, but of course it makes sense to be careful when pulling out earplugs.