MemberAbout 2 weeks ago I was helping my dad with something on his car, and he decided that he needed to use an angle grinder. I'm not really familiar with them, but I initially went far away to get from the noise and put my fingers very firmly over the tragus of my ear (mine is kind of large and easily blocks my ear canal when I push on it) to block out the sounds. He needed some help while the grinder was off, so I came back and then stuck around while he continued to use it again for a few minutes. I still had my fingers hard over my ears and stood back a few feet but I'm guessing this wasn't enough because a 4 days later a feint high frequency T suddenly appeared. The sound didn't feel uncomfortable throughout the process so I thought I was fine, but apparently that was not the case. I guess this works better for low frequency and not high frequency? I just read about that part recently but it's hard to say for sure.
I didn't know we were going to use loud power tools, as it was an improvisation because something was stuck on some car part and he decided to grind it off. I was there to just help hold stuff initially. I've always worn ear protection where necessary, never listened to loud music, avoided clubs and just generally always tried to be mindful of my ears. However, this situation just sprung up on me and I was not prepared for it. I made a mistake and didn't take the proper precautions. Not to mention that my dad was sitting directly in front of it and using it without wearing anything. I can't imagine what his hearing will be like, but he was in the Navy and probably already has some hearing loss.
Regardless of what I'm saying here, I'm certainly not going to make my Dad feel bad over this--I just wanted to get what happened off my chest, as I am personally going through the entire gamut of emotions that are commonly expressed on these forums by other recent T sufferers.
The worst so far has been is at night where the complete silence makes it feel like it is screaming. It is like waking up from a dream into a nightmare. I have now been running our air purifier which helps immensely, and I just bought one of those small white noise machines. I also seem to suffer from some H in my right ear, which seems to only happen while watching TV. Something with the speakers, couch and wide range of frequencies maybe? I just found that wearing headphones and very lightly playing rain noise really alleviates it.
I was sleeping with ear plugs for the last few years, which I read was a possible cause for some people, but I think my recent exposure to noise with a loud tool really puts that as the most likely cause. I do have some mild TMJ, which got me on another research tangent, but again it's probably unlikely to be the main culprit.
I saw a doctor on Friday, who thought it could also be related to my eustachian tube due to some discharge from it into my throat and slightly uneven pressure in my middle ear. He prescribed flonase to see if that helps. I guess it couldn't hurt. I was holding out hope that ear was was irritating my ear drum, but my ears looked clean. I will see an ENT soon, but based on what people say here, they don't tend to have good news for us, especially if the primary cause was likely noise.
Anyway, credit to you if you managed to read through this whole thing. I want to say that my brief time looking through this place has been very positive and I hope to join the ranks of those living happy and fulfilling lives with this condition. I will keep a glimmer of hope alive for a few weeks that this manages to be acute instead of chronic, but I am going to try and make peace with this so I can get acclimated faster and just move on with my life. Thank you.
I didn't know we were going to use loud power tools, as it was an improvisation because something was stuck on some car part and he decided to grind it off. I was there to just help hold stuff initially. I've always worn ear protection where necessary, never listened to loud music, avoided clubs and just generally always tried to be mindful of my ears. However, this situation just sprung up on me and I was not prepared for it. I made a mistake and didn't take the proper precautions. Not to mention that my dad was sitting directly in front of it and using it without wearing anything. I can't imagine what his hearing will be like, but he was in the Navy and probably already has some hearing loss.
Regardless of what I'm saying here, I'm certainly not going to make my Dad feel bad over this--I just wanted to get what happened off my chest, as I am personally going through the entire gamut of emotions that are commonly expressed on these forums by other recent T sufferers.
The worst so far has been is at night where the complete silence makes it feel like it is screaming. It is like waking up from a dream into a nightmare. I have now been running our air purifier which helps immensely, and I just bought one of those small white noise machines. I also seem to suffer from some H in my right ear, which seems to only happen while watching TV. Something with the speakers, couch and wide range of frequencies maybe? I just found that wearing headphones and very lightly playing rain noise really alleviates it.
I was sleeping with ear plugs for the last few years, which I read was a possible cause for some people, but I think my recent exposure to noise with a loud tool really puts that as the most likely cause. I do have some mild TMJ, which got me on another research tangent, but again it's probably unlikely to be the main culprit.
I saw a doctor on Friday, who thought it could also be related to my eustachian tube due to some discharge from it into my throat and slightly uneven pressure in my middle ear. He prescribed flonase to see if that helps. I guess it couldn't hurt. I was holding out hope that ear was was irritating my ear drum, but my ears looked clean. I will see an ENT soon, but based on what people say here, they don't tend to have good news for us, especially if the primary cause was likely noise.
Anyway, credit to you if you managed to read through this whole thing. I want to say that my brief time looking through this place has been very positive and I hope to join the ranks of those living happy and fulfilling lives with this condition. I will keep a glimmer of hope alive for a few weeks that this manages to be acute instead of chronic, but I am going to try and make peace with this so I can get acclimated faster and just move on with my life. Thank you.
