Slap-Induced Tinnitus

Hi, I have been checking out these forums almost daily for nearly two years now. This is my story.

I got slapped on the ear, this happened to me almost me almost two years ago now and unfortunately I still have it as well as slight hyperacusis which is an intolerance to loud noise.

I was laying in bed when I did something that annoyed my wife unknowing to her I was laying with my head on my side she went to give me a slap and it ended up completely sealing my left ear. It was like a tsunami of sound waves entering my ear going deeper and deeper, when she pulled her hand off my ear which was very quick, the most horrible noise you could imagine raged from my ear.

My first words were what did you do that for you have just destroyed my life.

The sound was so bad I knew this was not going to go away anytime soon.

So here I am almost two years later so many doctors and specialist appointments, so many tears I have cried.

The trouble with tinnitus, well in my case what started in the ear progressed to my brain.

I have had to cut out so many foods due to the salt intake that I have now a very bland diet.

My life goes on, I am still working, I go on holidays and try my best to enjoy life.

I am still with my wife as we have five grown up children and four grandchildren. I know she is sorry for what she has done and she tries to support me the best she can.

Like myself before I had tinnitus, I never knew really what it was. I remember going for work medicals and them asking if you have ringing in your ears, what's that?

We can all relate to a stomach ache or a headache toothache etc , etc, but the general population can not relate to tinnitus. Hence we have no real relief available.

I took 2.5 ml Valium each night for about six months to help me relax and sleep, I found a YouTube sound therapy noise that is fantastic for me, it has like white noise with high pitched beeps. I play this sound and my tinnitus almost goes away. I am now listening to an external sound that almost sounds like my tinnitus, amazingly it cuts it out.

I always play this sound therapy at night going to sleep or during the day when it is bad. I still take 2.5 mg Valium if I am stressed to try and settle things down.

I try to remember to drink plenty of water, and get as much sleep as I can as this is what helps me cope during the day.

I really hope we can all find some relief from this horrible condition in the near future.

Best wishes to everyone.

 

Hello Steve!

I got my tinnitus in my left ear because of a slap/punch aswell, I was unlucky and crossed ways with an drug addict and he though I was someone else and slapped me on my left side.

The ringing started directly and my ear felt all clogged up, almost like when you get water in your ear.
A slap or punch like that can reach same dB lvl as a gunshot I guess.

This was however about 11 months ago now and I would say I've habituated quite well, the ringing is very loud still but I've started to learn to live with it.
I wish I didn't have it, but I would still say I live a happy life with it altho it's very loud from time to time.
The trick is to not think about it.
That works for me at least!

 

incredibly disturbing post....

 

WHY do people think it's ok to lay their hands on their partner in this way?!?! This stuff bothers me so much, especially since this is the 2nd post about domestic abuse this month. OP I am sorry that you are going through this, your wife assaulted you and because of that...you are living every second of every day reminded of her callous decision. Words cannot express how frustrating it feels to know someone willingly inflicted T on another person, it is awful and I'm sorry that you had to deal with it in this way.

 

I really feel sorry and am saddened by this kind of story.
A single slap causes a life-time night mare.
Reminding the people of the WORLD.... please...please be very gentle to our ears.
They are very fragile.
Wishing you live a normal life and habituate to the tinnitus very soon.

God bless !

 

Lol ask my ex girlfriend. She would punch me almost everyday.

 

I would've punched her back for you.

 

It's cool I just broke her spell over me like the dude in the little mermaid and Ursula. I got my little mermaid now, and a little baby merman.

 

@Steve G i don’t even know how to digest this post.....Awful.

I cannot even imagine the anger you surely must feel while your wife basks in the silence at home and sleeps soundly and you get tortured 24/7 and have to pop Xanax every night to sleep.

I’m f***ing outraged on your behalf dude.

Don’t get me wrong I’m sure she didn’t mean to even hurt you, but your immediate reaction, was as if your soul instantly recognised the severity of the moment and nailed it I’m afraid........she has utterly destroyed your life.

I felt the same way when I woke up to this noise. I knew immediately in the core of my being that I was f***ed.

What is utterly terrifying is that a ‘little playful slap’ can have the same life altering consequences as someone throwing acid in your face. A lifetime of anxiety, depression, insomnia and trauma.

Poor you, poor her. This is one the saddest T stories I’ve ever heard. You have my full sympathy.

 

When I was young I took part at a telephone crisis hotline center. I received a call from a married mother during the middle of the night. One morning her husband was getting ready for work. She was busy doing what a mother's does. Apparently one of the children opened the house door to the garage to let a younger child play in the garage. The father then went to into the garage and got in his car to leave for work. A tragic moment happened.

Who knows - stuff happens, who can judge. I can't judge what happened to you @Steve G. If your wife is truly sorry and a caring wife then love her.

 

Very sad Greg but very different circumstances. The father didn’t drive his car at the kid in anger. Your example was a tragic accident, the OP’s incident sadly not. Deliberate action......Boom! Tinnitus for life.

 

She owes you for life... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

@Bam But how do we know. Maybe Steve was having a bad dream and she poked him in a dark room to wake him up. Tinnitus can happen in many strange ways. Maybe we should ban all physical activity because a drill instructor said lets do a forward bend or a summersault where someone ended up with instant tinnitus.

I have made postings where I think that proper care and assistance should be given for those with tinnitus. For those who need professional mouth guards and hearing aides as being part being part of tinnitus awareness and funding. We will all get old and we know what happens to hearing while waiting for cures. I think that I'm being very compassionate with these thoughts, but I can't judge others for not seeing my views.

 

I have been in the op's shoes before and I have never ever hit or punched any of my exes , i just clenched my fists and walked away. I couldn't possibly assault someone i love, and trust me...men can also intimidate and man handle women, that doesn't give you the right to assault someone.

 

Hi , Thanks for all your support. It was an over reaction from my wife in a spur of a moment , sort of like trying to slap a insect thats been bothering you. She was laying back in bed with her arms above her head outstreched I was laying on my side facing her, as I stated I did something that annoyed her while she was relaxing . She meant to just give me a slap on the head, right hand over her body, unfortuanteley it was my ear that got the direct slap completely sealing it with downward air preassure, then to top it off a massive negative preasure when the hand was pulled up off my ear and released. If the slap had hit my head It would of been nothing, I may of said ouch and knew what I done wrong which was harmless. It has been very hard to take it all in over the last two years. I have lost some of my hearing in my left ear , my ear always feels full and blocked and the I have the somatic type tinnitus that changes if I open my mouth or rub the side of my face, it pulsates as well. What were my options? We have been married along time with children and grandchildren never any heavy domestic issues. My wife also has to live with what she has done to me. She is a good person. Unfortunetely like I said most people do not understand Tinnitus I never did. I could never of realised what it was like before I had it. Even if someone played me the sound I still would not of got it. All we can do is wait for a medical miracle that will hopefully give us all some relief from this life and soul destroying condition. All we can do is be strong and carry on. Don't let it win. Cheers Steve

 

Steve thank you for sharing your story. It's nice to see how you have seemed to move on and live your life the best you can. You mention how the ringing eventually "progressed" to your brain. Can you describe what you mean and when this happened? Was it random?

 

I'm sorry for what you are going thru. Sometimes tinnitus is caused from the straw that broke the camel's back.
This is often the case with somatic tinnitus.

Certain injures such as damage to a nerve can cause somatic tinnitus instantly, but most of the time other disease or conditions have involvement. A single full discussion on somatic tinnitus would have to be a million pages long.

It's possible without your wife touching you that future muscle spasms of the neck or pressure to your jaw from your next dental experience could have caused somatic tinnitus. There's thousands of things to consider. Unless you have perfect posture, a perfect neck and jaw - a perfect non aging body then her touching you could have made no difference in your destiny.

 

Hi, When the slap first occured the screaming noise was coming from my left ear only. It took a few weeks for it to progress to my brain. I drive a nice V8 which had a nice V8 exhaust note, when it first happened I drove with the windows down on nice days as the noise of the car nearly screened out the tinnitus sound , as time went on I became super sensitive to the sound of my car and had to infact remove the mufflers and fit much quieter ones, I now have to keep my windows shut as even wind noise is too much for me .
It is really strange as I am writing this my tinnitus is clustered in my brain on my left side above my ear it is sort of fizzing, buzzing , pulsating sound . If I eat a lot salty food which most food is, I sometimes get electrical fizzing, buzzing noise all over my brain. That is why I try to remember to drink plenty of water. I can remember waking up often early on when it first went to my brain, my brain was just buzzing all over like high pitched electrical type noise almost like hearing the brain working like a gate had been left open, that gate was into the workings of my brain. I would have large glass of water and the high pitched buzzing would quieten down a bit. It would not dissapear but would definetely be quieter. I still have not narrowed it down to one particular thing that makes it better or worse. It really has no rhyme or reason. It is a terrible condition for all who suffer it. I also would like to add that lately I have been getting fleeting tinnitus where the tinnitus all of a sudden screams from my right ear and my left side goes silent, then it slowly but surely it returns to the now normal flow of my tinnitus left side. What the? I hope this is of some help.
Cheers, with a glass of water . Steve G

 

Hey man, I know the exact thing you're talking about with the head buzz/ electrical zaps. A few of the members here also have the same things. Mine was super-shit at the start and became more intermittent as time went on. I still have it and am looking for ways to alleviate it. I can eat ear tinnitus for breakfast.

 

There's no doubt that you have somatic tinnitus as to association with all the things that you describe per your brain and buzzing. The real cause is most likely nerves, muscles or joints in your jaw, facial and/or neck. There's nerves that connect to your ears from other places. Special tests would be needed to find the cause.

From the symptoms that you describe any one or more of the following things most likely have input. Semispinalis capitis, facet neck joints, deep vertical neck fibers, suboccipital - occipital nerves, lateral pterygoid, jaw joints - nerves or structure, facial nerve. Possible sternocleidomastoids and trapezius input. A series of questions would need to be answered before more thoughts can be given.

 

This may sound odd to some, but I do a reflexology technique involving TOE TWIRLING that works remarkably well for breaking up pain, tightness and tension in my neck. I gave a pretty in-depth description of this technique at the above link.

 

@Lane Yes I agree as this method has validity from professionals.

On another note just to mention. Besides DMSO, --- Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Ultra Turmeric Curcumin concentrated, Apple Cider Vinegar and Magnesium Chelate has value. Also some other stuff that you had mentioned before.

About about Magnesium Chelate. Some is needed , but it should not be used for months on end without a break. The reason is that it can eventually weaken nerves and muscles too much causing more harm than good.

 

Hi Greg, I read your post with interest as I do all the others. Is there a certain type of specialist who would deal with these issues you have mentioned?

 

Hi Steve: You have some somatic input taking place. Any success in treatment could depend on amount of hearing loss.

First a good relationship needs to be established with your primary care doctor. Bring with you an overall article on what somatic tinnitus basically involves.

A CT of neck for consideration. I would get your jaw looked at. Others tests may be helpful later on. You can view a list of tests for all aspects of somatic tinnitus, but I wouldn't go there yet.

A general discussion, exam and maybe some testing with your GP should be considered. Some get a neck X Ray along when they get a lung X Ray.

Do you have audiogram results?

 

Hi @Steve G, @Greg Sacramento

Thought I'd chime in with a few of my thoughts. Even though my initial onset of severe tinnitus/hyperacusis occurred earlier this year from a single dose of an ototoxic drug, I've discovered that addressing various structural issues have impacted things in various ways. I started going to a physical therapist, with the intent of focusing in on some TMJ and/or neck issues I thought might be contributing factors. She works intuitively, and felt she needed to start working first on my right knee and ankle instead of going directly to the TMJ area.

Almost unbelievably, as she was working on my knee, I felt a fairly subtle but significant "unwinding" begin to occur in my knee, reaching up into my lower back, up into my neck, and then over into my right shoulder area (my t is louder on the right side). As this occurred, I noticed a subtle but definite lessening in volume and intensity of my tinnitus. It only lasted for about a day, but this experience was an eye opener for me as to how structural issues seemingly a long way away from our head and ears can impact tinnitus.

Another experience: Last week, I moderately sprained my groin muscle on the left side. I continued to try to walk on it, but I soon noticed pain developing in my lower back. The next day, I noticed a significant change (tightness) on the left side of my neck. And guess what? The normally lower volume in t in my left ear suddenly became louder than my right ear. This persisted for several days as I recovered from my sprain, and in the past 3-4 days, has now returned to my baseline of right ear louder than left.

I've done a fair amount of research on addressing various kinds of structural issues over the years, and have been impressed by the work of Pete Egoscue. He runs a number of Egoscue clinics nationwide, focusing on addressing structural issues of all kinds. Jack Nicholas struggled a lot with back pain, and has apparently credited him with saving his golfing career. Below the dotted line are links to good introductory videos on some of the Egoscue techniques. One thing Pete Egoscue mentions repeatedly is that issues that we're currently trying to address--such as pain in a shoulder or neck--often originates 1-2 joints away.

BTW, I agree with Greg, in that you may have had some kind of "predisposition" to getting tinnitus. I believe the same thing for myself. Though it's clear the ototoxic drug kicked off the tinnitus in a major way, I suspect any number of other catalysts might have done the same, given my own predisposition, which I feel has mostly to do with a prior head injury, chronic neck issues, and various other structural issues. -- In that vein, you may want to check out THIS GUY on youtube, where he talks about tinnitus and neck issues. Also, you may want to check out ATLASPROFILAX. That post gives some testimonials of some who've had it done, and had a significant or complete resolution of their tinnitus. -- Best!
.......................................................................................

EGOSCUE LINKs:

Embracing the Tower
5-min. video -- very good introduction and description:

The Egoscue Tower - Supine Groin Progressive
13-min. video which goes into greater detail:

Series of about 30 Egoscue videos covering a wide variety of very specific topics...

Series of Egoscue Videos

 

Thanks again for all your support in all the posts. I will have a look at some of the treatments Lane and Greg have suggested.

 

My tuppence worth is don’t go through life giving up this and that...

Go to Cbt therapy and learn to let it be & separate emotions/reactions to tinnitus, after all tinnitus is tinnitus
Cbt, mindfulness & feeling good will bring anxiety down along with bad thoughts or feelings..

Then over time you’ll quite likely get used to it just being there, it will spike from time to time but if you learn to be mindful with it you’ll soon get back on track...

I’d say forget the slap (accident) & the wife doing it, no blaming the past is gone can’t be changed, the future isn’t here yet so no point being anxious about that either, she seems ok to me big family still together this day & age... perfect...

Think about right here and now, let tinnitus ring don’t get anxiety over it... let emotions stay mutual...no what ifs etc

 

Thanks Marc, from London, I was born In London-Middlesex and came to Australia aged 6. Anyway, thankyou I will a have a look at some Cbt therapy. And I agree with you in regards to the slap. It has happened my wife would take it back a thousand times if she could. She feels terrible for a simple stupid impulse she made that night who would of thought Tinnitus and all the other conditions would of arose from a slap to th ear. Not that she was aiming for may ear but just goes to show how delicate the structures of the ear are. Thanks again, Cheers Steve G

 

Why?

If you have been reading this forum, you will see that people who followed your advice often end up with louder T.

 

That would depend on what you're giving up surely?