Smashing a Mug Into the Sink — Needing Medication?

I just can't seem to get any peace.
I was sitting at my computer working (even though it is Christmas, I need to pay my bills!) and my partner was doing the dishes. The kitchen is in our living room (small appartment) and was like 3 metres away from me.

Apparently the faucet was too hot or something, but the end result is that my partner dropped an IKEA mug into the metal sink, right where the sieve is. It gave a HUGE dull BANG. I am so scared. How loud can this be? I cant get prednisone here. Is this an event where I need to go and ask for something? Anything? What can I ask for, what can I take? I have some Magnesium oxide, VItamin C and NAC I got because I am battling a head cold right now. Its supposed to take away congestion or something, I haven't taken it, though, because I felt it may be smarter to keep it or cases of emergency. You can't buy NAC here so it is important to keep a stash at the ready. Is this something were I should take it? It happened an hour ago.

I am scared because I felt it in my bones, it made me JUMP and my heart sped up like crazy so much I was left trembling. Is this because it was so loud? Partner said it was loud but not explosion level. But it fell right into the sieve where there are some huge holes for the water to pass through. What if that created an echo? How loud is this event? 130db? I read about some video where they showed dishes are minimum 130dB. The mug didnt break, though. It just created a HUGE BOOM sound. I can't think straight. My partner says it's only panic that it's okay but they don't really get it! Please help I am still shaken and feel so very desperate and depressed. The kitchen is very much like an U in form, with a width of about half a metre. SO it's quite enclosed, too, but I was sitting just outside of the U.

If so, what should I take? What has evidence? I have read about all kinds of Vitamins! Problem is I cant buy tomorrow or Tuesday because Christmas holidays! Please help me. What do you take?

 

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

My ringing is through the roof and that's why I am so worried. @Bill Bauer you seem to know a lot about acute impact noises and harmful levels. What would you do in such a situation?

 

My knowledge is based on minor accidents like the one you described happening to me many times despite my best efforts.

First of all, three meters away is reasonably far away. I had a door slam about three meters away from me, it was loud, but there were no long term problems (just a temporary spike).

You know it was bad when you get louder T or a full ear sensation or some tenderness/pain in one of the ears right after the event. It doesn't sound like your body had reacted that way to that noise. I don't think you need to worry.

Having said the above, this is the kind of an event that would cause me to take a prednisone pill. Since this is not an option for you, the only thing you Can do is take a NAC pill. Take it tonight. Tomorrow, if your T spikes, or if you experience a full ear sensation, then continue taking NAC. Otherwise, I would not bother.

Look, I am one of the more neurotic people here. I take incidents like the one that had just happened to you very seriously. Based on my own numerous experiences and on the experiences I read about on this forum during the past 10 months, I learned that the vast majority of spikes due to minor accidents like that are temporary.

In order to promote healing it is important to avoid sudden noises. However, most of these events are Not going to lead to permanent T spikes. If you are not even experiencing a temporary spike right now, there seems to be no reason for you to get too worried about it. You are most likely going to be ok.

 

Has it ever been this loud? When did it get louder?

I had a glass plate drop onto another glass plate 10 cm, while being about 30 cm away from my bad ear. It was loud, but I didn't take prednisone. The spike ended up being longer than usual, but it wasn't permanent.

Are you sure you can't go to the ER, lie to them about your T spiking after you had to turn off a screaming fire alarm, and have them give you some prednisone?

 

@LisaCuddy
You would need to provide more info on what exactly caused your T in the first place and when

None of these things you mention are acoustic traumas

 

Neither are two plates clanking and a loud phone, and yet both of these had caused Serious temporary spikes for me.

 

I honestly don't think encouraging people to lie to ER doctors to get meds is helping them.. all it's going to do is reinforce the stress and also encourage people to over-estimate the damage that happened.

It sounds like a loud event which rattled some nerves. Lisa I hope you are able to relax and in the morning things have improved somewhat

 

If you are assuming that the medicine they can get this way is completely useless, your statement above makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, I confess that I don't think that it makes sense.

When I took prednisone, the temporary spikes ended up being shorter and the resulting spiking sound wasn't as disturbing compared to the times when the noise was similar but when I hadn't taken prednisone. I am also talking about things that were less serious than having to turn off screaming fire alarm. The doctor most likely doesn't want to turn you down - by lying you are making it easier for the doctor to comply with your request (providing him or her with a good excuse to do it), that's all.

 

When I pressed a loud phone to my ear, the resulting spike lasted over three months. Not only was T louder, but it also changed from a hiss to a high pitch tone that was a LOT harder to ignore. "Loud events" can make a big difference as far as your T sound is concerned. I am also convinced that these spikes have the potential to become permanent. So it makes sense to not take this lightly and to pull out all stops.

When two glass plates clanked close to my bad ear, I began hearing T in my formerly good ear (in addition to hearing it in my bad ear). This is still the case - I no longer enjoy silence in one of my ears.

 

If the doctor wanted to give you the medicine you wouldn't have to lie to get it. I think learning to deal with normal loud noises that occur in the course of life is part of learning to manage tinnitus. The more I don't freak about about loud sounds, the less they impact me and the quieter my tinnitus has become.

 

There has been no research done on the kinds of things that can cause spikes for T sufferers. As a result, doctors are not being taught in medical schools about this. They are just being told about what can lead to hearing loss for healthy people. Based on countless posts on this forum, what a healthy person won't even notice (e.g., a loud phone, or plates clanking) can lead to a huge spike for one of us.

My T happens to not be correlated to my stress levels at all. I guess it depends on a person and on their original injury.

 

Right.. well the OP has "stress" listed as one of the causes of her tinnitus and not acoustic trauma.. so it makes even more sense that her spike is stress related and not from sound

 

Makes sense.

 

So to sum it all up, you clank plates, are exposed to a loud door shut, hit the wall with your earmuffs on and on you get a spike and you @Bill Bauer suggest to go to your ENT and 'ask' to get on a course of Prednisone?

Like everytime you get a spike? Or how do we know where the line is to go and take a Prednisone?

I was told by my doctor (and this is no rocket science either) that even though corticosteroids are a natural part of our body system, long term exposure to them does more damage to the body than help.

 

Normally, you would want to do it if you feel ear fullness or if your T spikes soon after the event. I suggested it in this case, as OP said that she perceived the noise to be super loud

Of course. Normally, these events don't happen more often than once every 2-4 months.

 

And what about the dosing? With corticosteroids it's even more difficult then say, some antibiotics as you ought to take certain amount of pills orally at different times of the day and then slowly be decreasing the volume of distribution. That needs to be stated in the docs note and precisely followed.

It's not like taking a Paracetamol.

 

You are spot on! It's about controlling our nerves are fears. I have had many accidents in the past 2 weeks and they been loud as well. Did not have a spike, because I didn't get over-emotional about the events. Spikes at times happen more because of the stress, rather than the incident. This is not 100%, but stress can do lots to the human mind/body.

 

Lisa, I think the source of your tinnitus seeming to be worse is because of your reaction to the noise and not the noise itself. Tinnitus really feeds off anxiety, especially if it was partially caused by stress to begin with.

When something like this happens, step away, and start taking slow, deep breaths. Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly. Take some time to listen to whatever music calms you, or watch a cute puppy or kitten video online to lift your mood. Anything you can do to reduce your anxiety will be helpful. (Anything legal, that is.)

Even if NAC isn't readily available, look for L-theanine supplements. It acts fairly quickly, but it can have a sedative effect, so don't take L-theanine when you need to drive or do anything else that requires you to be alert.

 

Thank you for all o your replies. It has been a bit better today. Maybe most came from the shock.

My T started in childhood, but it got to this anxious inducing scope after I was in a car accident which made it worse somehow (no airbag but I got messed up in my jaw and broken teeth from hitting the steering wheel, my neck has been more prone to tension and pain since then, too.) and when someone shot a gun some 10 metres from me. I wasn't expecting it, it was a very stressful situation.

I think it was then when I started to react with a full blown fight or flight reaction to sudden, unexpected and loud noises. I know that stress and anxiety is a big part of mine and I hope to conquer it but right now, I am sliding into the state of anxiousness too often. My tensor tympani muscle (or stapedius muscle?) seems to do what it wants, too, I feel it far too often for all kinds of stuff and sometimes randomly.

I think that it also was a factor that I was completely concnetrating on work and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I usually can't do that but around my partner I do let my guard down. She knows about T and all the issues so usually, she is understanding and careful but she doesn't see dangers everywhere and doesn't scan situations for possible "threats". I wish I could be more like her.

 

You can find this info if you search this forum. My doctor told me that the rule of thumb is to take X mg, where X is one's weight in kg. A standard course of prednisone is 14 days + tapering. As a result of scarcity of prednisone pills, I would take a 50 mg pill right after an incident and stop taking it as soon as the spike is over. A lot of the time I would end up taking just 2-3 pills.

You would then end up having more accidents... I think that scanning for threats is a very useful skill that I have been working hard to develop.

 

Take a Valium or something similar until you get a handle on the anxiety this causes you. That is the greater and most immediate disabling problem for many of us than any potential for further ear damage.