Someone Screamed in Front of Me — Now My 'Good' Ear Has Tinnitus Too

I'm extremely upset about an incident that happened yesterday afternoon. It's been close to 24 hours since the noise began and I feel awful.

An idiot whom I'm unfortunately acquainted with got scared and accidentally screamed REALLY loudly with me standing only 3-4 feet away in a small living room with no open doors/windows. That's what started it.

Background: I'm in my late 20s. I have the tiniest amount of hearing loss in L ear, which I had noticed since I was about 17 (in 2011) but has caused me no problems. But from winter 2019 onward, my ears sudden gotten worse for no apparent reason. I developed tinnitus (three tones) that persists today in my L ear; it improved 75% with a night guard and soft foods for months, but has not fully resolved, so I'm seeking more treatment options. I also get a static sound in both ears worsened by stress and fatigue, sort of like the noise a TV makes when it's on a non-programmed channel. Finally, I think I have moderate hyperacusis. For ex., I can't tolerate the sound of dropping silverware on our metal table without being in pain.

Because of this, the scream put me into a state of shock - apparently my whole face turned red. I couldn't focus my eyes for a second or two. But there was no feeling of fullness in my right ear or the classic 'eeeeeee' whine of tinnitus as one gets after an acoustic trauma.

This is why I'm partly in disbelief that I now have a weird higher-pitched sound in right ear. It is much more noticeable when I hold it shut. I'm 99% sure I did not have it when I woke up yesterday.

Having suffered so much with my left ear and my ears in general, I'm just devastated and so angry. I know it wasn't on purpose but I don't even like this person to begin with. I feel terrible about this, so worried it'll never go away like left ear.

What can I do? Should I try and take prednisone, ginkgo biloba, anything? I'm avoiding all noise.

Any support is appreciated. Thank you.

 

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Tough to say if new tones will go away or not.

I had a new one develop from a trash compactor incident where I threw a bag into the compactor that wasn’t mine because I didn’t want to leave trash laying out in the apartment complex. I wasn’t wearing muffs or plugs and it turned out to have a lot of glass bottles in the bottom. Made a very loud noise. Like you effect not immediate. Woke up that night with new tone. Went away after a few days. Then came back at a later date and still have it to present day. Asked Dr for prednisone. Would only give me 2 50mg pills.

Another day went to KFC drive through. Very scratchy distorted speaker. Later that day developed new tone in left ear that was facing the speaker. This one went away and has not returned. Hopefully this will be the case for you. Didn’t take any prednisone in this case.

Was taking NAC, Nicotinamide with Resvertrol and Acetyl-L-Carnitine during both instances.

 

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm really worried but I know that isn't going to help. It's just so frustrating to me because there were other people in the room, including one person standing even closer and non one else is affected. I just don't get it.

This has also opened my eyes to the fact that I need to start seriously looking into what's going on with my ears. I've had signs of Zinc deficiency and copper overload for some time, which I didn't even know until this past month. I'm going to supplement, slowly upping my dosage to prevent any kind of harsh detox. Not necessarily saying that will 'cure' T but I do think I have something wrong with my nervous system. I'm also b12 deficient for no apparent reason and just got that dx recently, so I'm beginning treatment for that this week.

 

I would go see your doctor, they will probably want another hearing test done.

I think, ideally a course of cortesteroids should be prescribed as a preventative in this situation, so long a there are no other medical reasons not to. However I would expect a doctor would want to have evidence of "sudden sensoreal hearing loss".

 

Thanks. I'll see what I can do. I'm in the US so it's the holiday weekend, things won't be open and such until Tues. morning and I don't think it's THAT bad enough to warrant me going to urgent care for an in person doctor visit. I'm still high risk for Corona as well. Honestly that just makes it even more frustrating...In a normal situation I could just bite the bullet and pay for urgent care rather than waiting for an appt., but since me and my house mates are all high risk it's just a lose-lose situation.

I'm hopeful that by some miracle, it will be better or gone by Tues. morning.

 

The other thing to do is take antioxidants.

This isn't as clinical as cortesteroid treatment, but there is some indications that antioxidants can help.

The big one to take is NAC - just don't take too much. Also ALCAR is often taken along with this. NAC has sulphur in it, it smells like rotting eggs.

And then perhaps also Vitamin C and E and CoQ10.

It's not necessary to take everything though. I would recommend NAC. Again, don't take too much, just a tiny bit with every meal is what I do.

You are taking magnesium,zinc and B12 so that's good.

 

Nicotinamide riboside over NAC personally.

 

Do you happen to have a recommendation for where you can get low-dose NAC and what your preferred dosage is? Do you/have you ever experienced side effects? (If anything I do tend to become easily upset to my stomach from the wrong supplements. Just wondering about your experiences.)

I'm going to slowly introduce new supplements overall. I have read that vitamin E in low doses might be good, but before I take them all at once and not realize which one is making me have a reaction [if any] I'll be careful.

 

I buy NAC in powder form, the container recommends 1g a day, however other sites recommend 200mg-500mg, which is more in line with what I take.

I got over-enthusiastic and was taking high doses, I experienced a histamine reaction, with a rash over my body, along with upset stomach.

I think it's important to recognise that you may want to take more to maximize your chances of recovery, however it doesn't work like that. Just a little bit works best.

Also NAC is not an essential nutrient, the body can produce it, and so high quantities will imbalance the body to no effect.

 

Could you briefly summarize why you'd choose this one over regular NAC? Zacc mentioned he has a Histamine response from taking too much NAC. This concerns me. I already have symptoms of histamine intolerance through constant stuffiness and sinus issues, among other things. Thanks

 

I take Nicotinamide Riboside as well, however it is expensive.

It's a form of Vitamin B3, a NAD pre-cursor that is involved in DNA repair, it is thought to have anti-aging properties, and is reported to be of benefit to tinnitus and hearing but it is not an antioxidant like NAC - it's antioxidant activity isn't like NAC.

They do different things.

 

I'm here once again from posting days ago. After consulting with everyone in my home, they don't think that the person who shouted for a few seconds near me was loud enough to cause the severity of my tinnitus and pain at present. I suppose they're right. (The scream happened several ft. away and not directly in either of my ears; the person who stood a foot away has no problems with his hearing.)

However, the audiologist I talked over telehealth said it's possible that going too hard on lifting my 8 lb. weights almost every day for 2 weeks could have triggered something ... especially because I've experienced pulsing pains deep inside my ear and pain in my jaw. I also have TMD, and it feels like it's 50x worse on the right side where I developed the new tones.

I'm just feeling so devastated and having a hard time functioning. Along with the right ear starting, the left one got worse after being relatively settled for many months. I was using the weights heavily for both arms, for the first time - and my back and cervical neck are also now hurting... even my middle spine. I guess it makes sense that it caused bilateral problems.

For any of you who developed somatic tinnitus from a back/neck/spine injury or irritation, or had your somatic tinnitus get worse from lifting due to moving or exercise that required lifting... How long did it take to disappear?

I'm going to take a full-dose Prednisone lasting around 10 days... did day 1, two tabs. Noticed fluid drainage and a lot of popping in my newly affected ear. No decrease of the tones in my ear.

I'm thinking of also just going to see the audiologist in person, even a head/neck orthopedic doctor to evaluate the pains in my back and neck. But I'm scared of getting COVID-19, especially after taking a steroid (it seems to increase your chances of infection).

Thanks for any advice or emotional support.

 

I’d go to the orthopedic doctor after your prednisone is done. It usually only takes 24 hours for prednisone to leave your body so you should be back to normal immune function by 3 days after the dosage is done.

 

If you have damage to your ears that is causing your tinnitus, then you cannot compare your auditory system to the person you are referring to who was a foot away from the screamer. Your threshold may be compromised and make you more susceptible to a noise insult. Even if your ENT says the noise insult couldn’t be a factor, ENTs are notorious for telling people everyday noise can’t hurt them when newer research does not support this assertion. @Autumnly may have the source handy as I’ve seen her quote it elsewhere.

Your TMD and possible other inflammatory responses of a somatic nature could be the sole cause of your issue, or could have caused inflammation that made you more susceptible to the noise insult leading to your current state. It’s hard to say.

 

@Lyris We talked a few days ago and I asked you how many years have you been lifting. Need to know if you started to lift before grinding and TMJ.

It may be that neck muscles spasms from forward head motion of lifting placed pressure on your C spine and from that added pressure to your jaw. Depending on jaw damage joint, muscles and nerves, this awareness process can then cause one to grind their teeth, but you may now have seesawing of muscle pressure of both C spine and jaw. This would indicate that jaw is 50% to 75% responsible for tinnitus. The neck being 25% to 50% - but the neck may be the trigger to your jaw and also partly to tinnitus. The seesaw that now may have developed would cause both neck or jaw soreness. This problem can develop when one is lifting and turning head to one side while causing the C spine and the JAW to become unbalanced.

It's probably a given that your jaw is off balance, but neck X rays would be needed to see if your C spine has straightened. If you don't get headaches, then the vertebral artery that runs thru the C spine probably has not been pressured causing tinnitus. Your tinnitus may be caused from nerves that go the ears from your jaw. If a mouth guard has shown tinnitus improvement in the past, then it's probably these tiny nerves (2) which can cause the ears to be sensitive to noise. However, if your tinnitus increases with certain movements, while the jaw is motionless, then there's also a few other things to consider as giving input - the 25% - up to 50%, but probably only 25%. One would be stressed neck muscles, including the sternocleidomastoids - Probably only one - on one side. If your tinnitus increases when top of head is to a pillow, then your occipital nerves and fibers have been upset from neck injury, sort of close to a whiplash injury.

Use a mouth guard, but neck X Rays is needed. Magnesium would help to loosen neck muscles, but it may also loosen your jaw muscles too much. It's worth a try along with trying both cold and warm compresses on neck and jaw (side of face area on outside) to see which works better.

 

Interesting. Where can this new research be found?

 

https://www.entandaudiologynews.com...avelling-the-mystery-of-hyperacusis-with-pain

It’s from this paper. I forgot it’s a paper regarding hyperacusis, but I do feel the part related to clinical advice vs sufferers experience regarding everyday sounds possibly causing worsening or setbacks can apply to tinnitus alone also.

 

Thanks for your input. I don't know if it matters one way or another, but the tinnitus sound has transformed multiple times today, taking on different qualities. Not sure if that's a good or bad sign. I hope it's good, as in that suggests it won't be permanent.

I know for sure that I have very bad TMD and the scans revealed it affected the L side worse. I truly thought the night guard and avoiding daytime clenching were helping. But then in the last two months or so I've felt a slow decline creeping up on me. I wish I had been able to see the oral surgeon sooner, but I was a prisoner of my own house due to the pandemic which also makes me incredibly bitter.

Leading up to this the only noise I ever had was occasionally doing headphones at 30% volume or softer during studying or a walk. No concerts, no screaming, nothing weird or unusual. No car accidents or banging things around.

 

Hello again. Thank you for the informative response. I have never lifted 8 lb except in the last 2-3 weeks. Besides that, just light weights - usually 3 lb, but occasionally no more than 5, but which have occasionally caused a strain in my left neck and upper body.

I'm upset with myself for worrying enough about being overweight [slightly] to push myself to do 8 lb weights when I really shouldn't have... I did overhead presses and tricep exercises with the 8 lb pretty aggressively in the 2 weeks leading up to this incident.

Besides the weights, I was also going hard with the fitness, doing knee push-ups a few times every other week and generally a lot of cardio since late April 2020. I have had several severe neck spasm incidents on the left (worst) side since I began working out more, but I've had this neck issue for many years and forced myself to work through it. Probably not a good idea. (Disturbingly, the gravel sounds in my head that come from left jaw did not exist prior to when I began going hard on fitness - but who knows if this is coincidental.)

I noticed that the tinnitus sound has transformed/changed in quality the last 5 days, sometimes one tone, sometimes another tone that more resembles a hiss, and sometimes both at once which I hope suggests it will not be permanent. I've taken to wearing loosely a pair of regular earplugs during the day and trying not to sleep with my sound machine up too high. Even though I hate listening to the tinnitus sounds especially from the new ear, it's best to protect myself just to be safe...

I also have noticed that in the right ear [new tinnitus ear] it gets louder and worse as I speak, especially fast or many words. The hissing noise dies down in volume 30-40% when I stop talking and keep my teeth apart. The tinnitus tones I always had in the left ear have also gotten louder and there was a brief new noise, almost electrical and it has since disappeared from the other day... Both tones in my ears oscillate, going up and down, one taking precedence randomly over the other. But sometimes I can get one tone to disappear completely depending on how I move my jaw back and forth.

I Googled sternocleidomastoids and I've had really intense pain in that area before from lifting and posture. That area has been hurting me also for over a week. My tinnitus issues tend to get worse when my head and neck are not properly supported, like if I'm lying down funny. I have been doing better either propped up on a 90 degree angle or standing. Sleep has been very hard this week.

 

It is interesting as it supports the idea of certain kinds of tinnitus being related to neuro-inflammation:

https://www.audiology-worldnews.com...le-neuroinflammation-the-trigger-for-tinnitus

 

I just wanted to kind of check back in with everyone here. @Greg Sacramento no need to worry about replying to my other lengthy comment here, but I was wondering if you're around this week - have you ever heard of prednisone or other oral steroids making tinnitus worse?

I consulted with the audiologist today and explained that I wasn't really sure if I had acoustic trauma just from a 2 or 3-second shout near me. He didn't seem convinced, either. I also explained that my jaw and neck became incredibly swollen and painful (as you know) on right side where I developed the new tinnitus tones. Wasn't able to get an appt. with the oral surgeon as soon as I would like, and I'm on the waiting list for Botox shots. I didn't know who else to ask.

He didn't have much to say about the steroids not helping or even worsening tinnitus, which sucked. But yeah, that's been my experience. My anxiety also went through the roof! I've only been on 20 mg for 6 days, and since it was such a short period of time, I just stopped the prednisone today. I found some of the worst of the tinnitus actually got better within the course of 6-7 hours. I actually developed some pretty nasty tones by the 2nd day of the prednisone course, right when my jaw and neck got extremely swollen and painful to the point of not functioning normally, too. And they're literally the same sounds in both ears, they just switch between my ears.

I'm really confused. I guess oral steroids only really aids you if you have genuine acoustic trauma?

Honestly, the steroids didn't seem to do anything for the inflammation of my jaw/neck. I took a lot of Tylenol and used ice packs around the clock, especially on the side with my crazy wisdom tooth. I think the inflammation there just de-escalated on its own...

Needless to say, this has been an absolutely exhausting week.