Reactive Tinnitus and Ear Pain Getting Worse: Almost a Year In and Things Aren't Better

Hello all,

Last November my tinnitus which I was totally habituated to got much worse after a noisy weekend. At the time I was distraught but now I would happily go back to that increase.

My symptoms are just getting worse and worse. The tinnitus itself rarely bothers me but I now also have:
- Reactive tinnitus (in the sense that I hear my tinnitus over certain sounds e.g., traffic and running water makes it very loud)
- The past week I’ve also noticed my left ear getting sore. The soreness comes and goes but seems to be linked to a noisy day as in it will be sorer at the end of the day.

I really do not know what to do I don’t want this to keep getting worse and worse. I try to not over protect and listen to normal every day sounds, the radio etc and that has resulted in my ear getting very sore last night and my reactiveness increasing. Yesterday evening I had to just go and sit in a silent room all evening.

Does anyone have experience of this and can you help? White noise or anything like that which I previously used as masking (but below the level of my tinnitus) now really aggravates it. I thought almost a year in I would be seeing progress but everything is just getting worse We would like to start a family soon but I have no idea how i would cope at the moment.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

Better protect your ears. Try to avoid all sounds which cause you discomfort / pain / spikes.

 

Overprotection is a myth. At least in the early stages. Take a week and do absolutely nothing that makes your ears twinge even a little. Wear protection when cooking, doing laundry, etc. Take quiet baths, no showers. This works every time for me when I have a setback. If you don’t do this it will get worse.

 

HI @Zigs

On your Avatar it reads cause of tinnitus ear infection? An ear infection doesn't usually cause the symptoms that you are describing and since the onset of your tinnitus was 2009 it would have cleared up a long time ago. You may have had an ear infection at the same time as the onset of tinnitus but I believe you have Noise induced tinnitus. In addition to this, the Reactive tinnitus you mention is hyperacusis which is having an over sensitivity to sound that often accompanies Noise induced tinnitus. There is no such thing as Reactive tinnitus, it was a term made up in tinnitus forums many years ago. Your tinnitus is reacting to sound but this is oversensitivity known as hyperacusis, caused by noise trauma to the auditory system.

You probably habituated to your tinnitus over the years but I suspect your hyperacusis (oversensitivity to sound) hasn't been able to reduce to low levels or being cured successsfully. If you have been using headphones, going to places where there's loud music or listening to loud music at home, in the car or working in a noisy environment, any of these things or combination of them would make your tinnitus and sensitivity to sound more acute. The fact that your tinnitus and sensitivity to sound has increased suggests me it is using headphones/headset/earbuds or loud sound of the types I've mentioned that is making your condtion worse. If hyperacusis is not treated or doesn't improve naturally over time, a person will always have problems with oversensitivity to sound to some degree and this manifests itself with tinnitus spikes.

Overuse of hearing protection is not a myth I assure you. It is something that is very real and if one overuses hearing protection, then they will undoubtedly lower the loudness threshold of their auditory system and make it more senstive to sound. Please click on the links below and read my articles particularly: Hyperacusis, As I see it. You may need to see an Audiologist that specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis treatment and management, if self help doesn't work. Staying in a quiet room or enviroment for a set amount of time will not achieve much long term. As soon as you begin to be around normal everyday sound or raised sounds this will probably spike the tinnitus and hyperacusis. You need treatment that is the answer and not hiding away from sound. It is this that is a myth thinking that shutting yourself away from normal everyday sounds will help or cure you it wont.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/

 

Clearly my ears must be wrong. I'll tell them the illustrious Michael Leigh said they were not responding as they should.

"Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” - Groucho Marx

 

It is not your ears that are wrong it is you. On your Avatar it reads cause of tinnitus unknown but this is unlikely to be the case, as something usually causes it and the most common is exposure to loud noise. Some of your previous posts mention oversensitivity to sound so there's a strong indication you have Noise induced tinnitus with hyperacusis.

The setback you refer to is a clear indication that I am right as this wouldn't occur if you were habituated and your oversensitivity to sound (hyperacusis) had improved either naturally or with treatment. You can continue using hearing protection as and when you feel the need but you are treating the symptoms not the underlying cause. Unless you deal with this which I have mentioned many times in this forum and to @Zigs you will forever be plagued with oversensitivity to sound. Sorry to sound so sobering.

I wish you well and will not be commenting further on this topic.

Michael

 

Does anyone use pain meds?

 

My opinion is that nutritional protection needs to come hand in hand with acoustic protection - in the same way that you are avoiding loud noises, I would ensure you continue to supplement chelated magnesium, ginkgo, and a good multivitamin, perhaps indefinitely. I would also consider nicotinamide riboside depending on your age.

I am not a doctor but would research anything that can help prevent further hearing loss/trauma, and give you the best shot for recovery possible.

 

Hey Michael, you said an ear infection cannot cause hyperacusis? I remember my tinnitus came right after treating my ear infection with some antibiotics and then ear drops. The tinnitus is still here but mostly very mild, my hyperacusis however came later and has gotten worse (constant burning, soreness, sandpaper feeling in ear and pain reactions to sound).

What do you figure?

 

HI @tiredofit

I don't believe I said a hearing infection can't cause hyperacusis, although I might have said it's unlikely. Hyperacusis usually but not always accompanies noise induced tinnitus. It is often a result of being exposed to loud sounds. If you were a regular user of headphones, earbuds. Used a headset or frequently went to clubs, concerts where loud music is played, or worked in a noisy environment, any of these could have caused tinnitus or oversensitivity to sound.

It is best to discus your symptoms with an ENT doctor or Audiologist that is experienced with noise induced tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Michael

 

Yeah my hyperacusis and tinnitus came immediately after the infection. Yes I listened to music on headphones full blast before it all, but with hearing aids that were set at a lower volume and never had any struggles with that. Ear infection it is.

 

If you think it's the ear infection that caused your hyperacusis then I won't try to dissuade you. In my opinion I think it's headphones that has caused your problems with hyperacusis.

Take care
Michael

 

I feel like a LOT more people would experience hyperacusis if headphones were that dangerous. It's such a seldom condition that most ENTs do not even know about it.

 

Headphones ARE dangerous.

Think about it. Noise is getting fed directly into your ears. Not only that but even if it's at a "safe" listening level, duration still matters.

Yes hyperacusis is rare but some people just are more predisposed to it. That's why you only have a handful of musicians who have it or tinnitus but the rest can be putting on shows for decades and come out with just mild hearing loss.

I'd theorize that noise exposure can set you up for H even if it's through other means. I had to turn my headphones up because I was mildly hard of hearing. I would listen for hours. Nothing too heavy and didn't blast but it was still a lot. On top of playing music games. My hyperacusis was caused by chemicals but I have no doubt my previous exposure "set the stage" so to speak.

 

Hmm yeah might be, I'm just so skeptical because my symptoms came like DIRECTLY after the ear infection. And I don't even listen to that much music, my friends all listened to upwards of 40,000 minutes this year on Spotify and I did about 19,000 minutes.

But if there are that many treatments coming, why am I even worried?

 

No I totally feel you. I have friends who shoot guns, go to like 20 concerts a year, and would crank it to max in the car. Guess who doesn't have hyperacusis? :/ It's a very unlucky roll. That's just my theory though so who knows.

I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic about medicine. There's no guarantee but it does seem like there is a reason for hope.
I'm praying it works for situations like ours too. We're definitely minorities here.

 

I always felt like infection related onsets are more likely to recover, no? Or is that not the case?

 

I honestly have no idea. I wish I knew the mechanisms with purely auditory damage vs infection or ototoxic means. I want to say it's still all cochlear but who knows.

 

I don't think you have experienced severe tinnitus and hyperacusis otherwise you would be worried. They can be very debilitating conditions. If you keep rocking the boat you might regret it.

 

It's a fact that some people acquire damage to their hair cells easier than others, you can't compare yourself to others when it comes to this. It's unknown why only some people with hearing damage gets tinnitus and hyperacusis, but this is also a fact. Why do you think than at any given concert, only a few people who don't wear protection get hearing damage or tinnitus and the majority don't? There are so many factors involved here. The same goes for antibiotics.

If the inner ear hair cells are damaged it doesn't matter what caused it, they do not recover. So ototoxic antibiotics is basically the same thing as noise trauma when it comes to that.

I don't know why you think the ear infection caused your problems. Look into the antibiotics you used and see how ototoxic they are, chances are they are the culprit.

Face the reality of this situation man. This can become a serious problem sooner than you realize, most of us that are trying to help you have made the mistakes we're trying to make you avoid.

People have been saying there's a cure on the horizon for a few decades now. The horizon gets moved constantly...