So Much Flying in Past 2 Days! Ears on Fire! :-(

Wore noise canceling headphones for my flight home. No music on them of course. Don’t have anything else for ear protection. My ears are so loud. It sounds literally like a radio is playing static in my whole head on top of my three regular tinnitus tones.

Feeling so lucky I should go buy a lottery ticket.

Can anyone offer encouragement today?

 

@Michellejean
Welcome back to USA.
Sorry to know your ears spiked.
Please hang in there. Give it sometime to subside.
God bless !

 

In the future, you might want to wear good earplugs underneath the NC headphones (at least when the plane is at a cruising altitude).

Temporary spikes can last a long time.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/head-movement-spikes-tinnitus.25179/#post-290614
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-do-your-tinnitus-spikes-usually-last.23110/
No need to worry about this being permanent unless you don't experience any fading after 3 months or so.

 

What airplanes were you flying in?

 

@Michellejean i flew a month after my T onset without earplugs (7 hours in a loud boeing) and had a small spike when i came home. I had also a loud static over my normal T. It calmed down already the same day a bit and after a few days most was back to normal. Try not to worry to much

 

The problem with luck is that eventually it tends to run out:

I hope that in the future you will protect your ears (noise-cancelling headphones or earmuffs over earplugs) when you fly.

 

Absolutely Bill. I would never risk that again, but at that time i wasn´t on the forum and didn´t thought that i needed to protect my ears. Luckily i found the forum shortly after.

 

@Deamon22 thank you so much for the encouragement. I was also on a Boeing 757 and other large aircraft. I can’t believe how loud the plane is and the airport itself!!

How is your tinnitus these days?

 

@Alue i was in a Boeing 757 and another larger aircraft. I actually did 9 flights altogether while traveling and feel like it will be a long time before my t settles.

However over the course of two weeks I was in silence every day and managed it. Now back home I can’t even deal with it and I am freaking out and don’t know why.

 

Boeing's engines are louder than Airbus.
Give it sometime... T will subside.

 

Why did you wear noise cancelling headphones while flying?
They're not designed to protect your ears from acoustic trauma.

You should have worn earmuffs such as the 3M X5A Peltor which would've been a wiser choice.
They give you much better, and proven protection against the damaging noise levels of an aircraft.

 

@Michellejean Unfortunately, your tinnitus is reacting to your long flight. It tends to do those things. But not to worry, it should return to normal within a day or two.

Just happy your vacation helped take your mind off it.

Huh, vacation from tinnitus? You may have stumbled upon something here

 

Airbus is usually better than Boeing in terms of noise. Boeing just doesn't seem to care about the noise levels in their aircrafts. I fly a lot and wear earplugs plus noise canceling headphones for the full flight. There are some types of airplanes that I avoid as much as possible.

It will probably settle over time. Freaking out is only going to make it temporarily worse. I know it's hard not to, I have very reactive tinnitus and have been there many times too.

 

They might not be designed to protect one from noises like a fire alarm, or a large metal object falling/slamming. They are designed to eliminate constant low-frequency noise like the noise one would find in an airplane. I tried both Bose Q25 NC headphones (with no music) and Peltor X5A, and they seem to provide similar noise reduction. Q25 are more comfortable.

Having said this, there are many stories on the net and on this forum of people who wore noise cancelling headphones (e.g., Bose NC headphones) and had their T get louder. As far as I know, none of them wore earplugs underneath those headphones. So you will want to be wearing earplugs together with your NC headphones or muffs.

 

May I ask you to please list those airplanes?

 

Try not to worrie to much, i normally never get spikes after noise, however the plane and a long car ride also had an impact on my ears. So i think all will settle in a few days.

My T is really low this week, i hope it will stay like this or continue to go down.

 

@Deamon22 i am really happy to hear your t is low. How long have you had t for? Thank you for your support friend!

 

@Alue thank you for the encouragement. Sometimes that’s really all someone needs.

 

No worries, we are here to support each other. I am now nearly at 3 months. It fluctuates a lot normally but this week it was really low. I hope it continues to go down and will eventually disappear

I‘ve seen on Instagram that you are working in the fitness industry? How are you doing in the gym? Notice any changes while working out? I was a competitive powerlifter before T but i had to quit

 

@Michellejean Do you feel better today ?

 

@Deamon22 whenever I work out it spikes my T pretty much the whole time. It settles after. Since my T spike I haven’t worked out much because I can’t handle anymore than what is going on already. I’m sorry you had to stop working out. But that’s such good news your T is lower at only 3 months. What caused your t?

 

@robHing my spike from flying has settles thankfully but my spike from my ear surgery 5 weeks ago has not. I am making a plan for habituation hopefully I can achieve in the next year. This new T is ten times worse than my old t. I miss my old t so much. I’m just trying to do my best for my family.

 

Fortunately i can still work out normally, i just quit competing. I use foam earplugs in the gym, but doing heavy lifts like squat or deadlift always seem to spike my T a bit...maybe it’s the pressure together with the plugs? However it normaly always goes back, it just sucks while you‘re training.

My T came together with a cold and some ETD problems, however i also had a car accident 1,5 months prior with a head trauma so i don‘t know for sure. I hope it will continue to fade with time....

How are you doing today? Btw i‘m happy for you that your spike from flying has settled. Thats fantastic. You‘ll see that also the spike from the surgery will settle with time.