Shotgun Went Off 3 Meters from My Ear: Now Constant Ringing Ears and Ear Pain

Hey thanks for taking the time to read my post!

About 4 weeks ago I was hunting with a friend of mine (it was my first time) and really wish I never went. I was in terrible position when he shot with no ear protection and the blast made me completely fall over with insanely loud ringing in the ears.

The next few days pain got really bad. I had extreme ear pain and my right side of my head and neck was very achy.

I went to the ER and the doctor told me everything looked normal which surprised me.

About a week ago I bought a new motorcycle that’s really loud and when I test drove it the motor brought all my pain and ringing back full force, ten out of ten pain.

Now that a week has gone by, the pain has somewhat gone down but definitely still there (from 10/10 to 4-5/10) but the on and off ringing I was experiencing is now constant and has really been playing a role in my anxiety because from what I’ve read there’s high chances of me being like this forever.

Has anybody experienced such an acoustic shock incident where the tinnitus gets better afterwards?

I have been breaking down these last few days. I’m just wondering if anybody has had anything similar happen or advice for me.

 

Hello! Sorry to hear you're not doing well. I know how that initial phase of tinnitus feels, it totally sucks but I guarantee you it's going to get better.

There are plenty of accounts on this website where tinnitus goes away after an acoustic trauma, check out the success stories section for some stuff to give you hope. One thing to keep in mind is that ears take a long time to heal, so don't worry if you don't start seeing results soon. Even people who have had tinnitus for years are known to make strange spontaneous recoveries, and even people (like me) who still have tinnitus have gotten to the point where our brain is much better at blocking it out and it doesn't have a dramatic effect on our daily lives. On top of that, this site has documented a lot of potential treatments coming down the pipeline that may be able to repair both damage hair cells and nerves in the ear. The field of medicine is starting to catch up on these weird ear-related conditions.

My biggest advice to you right now is to keep yourself busy and focus your anxiety away from the tinnitus, as your brain is just going to be listening and focusing in on it more if you're worried about it. Find some white noise, river sounds, cicadas, etc. on youtube you can play at a safe volume to block it out a little for those times it's really bothering you. And reallly steer clear of loud noises and damaging your ears further, I know it must totally suck not being able to use that new motorcycle but you have to focus on giving your ears time to heal. I'd recommend getting a nice set of ear buds if you ever have to be somewhere really loud.

Stay positive, focus on what you love, protect those ears, and know that it's going to get better with time. Whether that's because your ears heal, your brain learns to tune it out, or science catches up and gives us some useful treatments.

 

Thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I am doing my best to avoid loud sounds.

How loud is too loud is my main question? I’ve had the tv low but I’m wondering if maybe my 2-month-old toddler's crying is making it worse. There’s nothing I can do about it.

 

Get some earplugs / muffs. Anything that hurts your ear or makes it ring louder is too loud.

 

If you want to get really anal about it, there are phone apps you can download that can loosely measure decibels in your environment. You generally don't want to be hearing sounds at above 85 decibels for extended periods of time, although periodic crying and stuff like that isn't the kind of constant exposure you would get if you were, say, using a lawn mower without hearing protection. Worst case scenario there's always ear plugs if you're worried.

The toddler may be good for your tinnitus in other ways. Researchers are speculating that oxytocin, the love hormone, actually quiets tinnitus over time. My mother suffered from really bad tinnitus in her college years and now no longer cares at all, she's the picture of optimism and happiness. She said raising kids really took her mind off it, and by the time she remembered it, it had faded so much it wasn't audible 95% of the time. I bet your noise trauma will heal naturally and the increased purpose in life that comes with raising a little one will do wonders for you.

 

Doctors do not test for "hidden hearing loss" in otherwards nerve damage in the ear does not show up on test.

 

I'm not sure how much longer I can take this. I'm on month 3 of severe hyperacusis/tinnitus but I could care less about the tinnitus.

There is no way to explain what kind of hell this stupid ass hyperacusis shit causes. I can't even be around when my 4-month-old baby is crying... what kind of father can't be there for his son when he cries... FML.

I'm sorry. I just needed to vent this somewhere.