Spiked and It Is All My Fault

Hi guys,

I am experiencing the big fear here wrought large.

I visited a restaurant with several school friends I hadn't seen in sometime.

The restaurant had no music. On my iPhone app the noise ranged from 75-93db. It was the noise of groups of people talking and eating. I had earplugs which were inserted, so believed I would be ok. I was there fore 2 hours and took a couple of breaks from the noise which I did find bothersome, but put this down to anxiety and phonophobia, or increased sensitivity from overprotecting.

Now, I am really paying the price. I hope this settles. I feel sick and panicked and, frankly, suicidal with it.

Could really do with some support right now.

 

Don't panic...you said you had ear plugs so right there your exposure was lowered probably by 20 dB and you were protected in the high frequencies, which is usually where the problem lies.

Could be that the anxiety is getting better of you...

I don't see how you could have created any damage at that noise level (assuming your plugs were inserted correctly)

 

It will most likely end up being only temporary. However, I hope you will learn from this, and try to stay away from loud places for at least another year or two, to give your ears time to recover. Earplugs can provide a false sense of security.

 

Thank you both, guys, for responding.

I currently feel so sick and panicked and full or regret and remorse. what was I doing. My ears are now singing away. I am praying, PRAYING, that it will settle.

@Wolfears I am definitely anxious and was during the meal. I had the moulded plugs and kept pushing them in, so I was checking that they were inserted. I do njot know whether the rises in volume were a result of anxiety and focusing on it, or from overprotecting. I wear the plugs a lot and so may have increased the sensitivity of my hearing. If this happens, can you be damaged by quieter sounds?

I am so scared now. I do not know how I will ever cope with this. I genuinely feel so ill with this.

How stupid can I be!

 

@spikedears ,
Your tinnitus should settle over the weekend.
Noise reduction plugs work better than foam plugs so you don't get a rush of sound when take them out.
Going for a meal early evening is better or late evening as it's a little quieter then.
If a few of you go for a meal I find sitting at the end of the table better as find it hard people chatting on both sides and across from me....
love glynis

 

I spiked mine quite bad this July by going on a friends boat for the day. Lots of people. long boat ride. The spike only lasted less than 3 weeks, and it went back down. You will be fine

 

Thanks Glynis,

I had noise reductions plugs in, but I wear them so often and limit my time in these environments that maybe I was not used to it and it was too much, despite being people talking. I was exposed for 2 hours.

I feel sick with it now and traumatised. @glynis do you go to similar environments? Does your ringing always settle post spike?

 

thanks man. Did you have protection? Anything you can do to limit the time of the spike?

 

@spikedears

I'm learning that one of the biggest traps with "t" is anxiety, and also that a little reassurance from others who understand this can go a long way. The fact that you were wearing plugs and the fact that you took breaks would seem, to me, to both work in your favor, here. Please let us know how you're doing.

Mystery Reader

 

@spikedears ,
My tinnitus more or less stays the same and very loud in both ears but due to Menieres and have some hearing loss.
I find with my tinnitus and hearing it just makes it hard when around lots of noise.
I do have hearing aids with maskers but I have been coping better without them as after wearing them for a long time 3yrs + I was finding tinnius unbearable when took them out at night and felt like I could not stand my tinnitus any longer as like my early days.
I have quite a good threshold with sever bilateral tinnitus over 14 years so now only wear them when I'm letting them get the better of me .

love glynis

 

Yeah, I had foams in for about 1/2 the day on and off, and it was probably as loud or louder than your restaurant, as there were about 10 large boats all hooked together for a "party" (music, jet skis, ect....). I was not informed that this was going to happen, I thought it was going to be a nice quiet day on the lake. Believe me I was not pleased but I was trapped. This was about a 6 hour day.

 

Jesus man, that feels like hell.

I've been trapped before when at foreign weddings; one of my friends once got married in France and told me that the party the night before would be a quiet cheese and wine affair. We got driven to this remote house. Turned out there was cheese and wine, but also some moroccan dance music blaring out over the hills. I was stuck similarly for hours and had to take refuge in the car park.

Do you visit restaurants @jjflyman etc without plugs?

 

I wake up and this new volume is here instantly raging away.

It’s tsking me to a very dark place.

I don’t want to die, but I can’t see how I can live with this any more

 

Temporary spikes can last for more than three months:
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/

Ears take forever to heal. During the first year or two, it is reasonable to hope that your spike will eventually come back to your old baseline. I hope you don't do anything irreversible at the very least during the first three months. It makes sense to try to ride it out for at least a year or two. If the spike doesn't settle and if you don't habituate, that would be the time (a year or two after the beginning of the spike) to consider all of your options...

 

I dont see how any damage could be done even withou

That wont do anything dont worry.

 

Could I ask a question about spikes please? Does T normally stay at a constant level for most people and a spike is something unusual? I’m just asking because mine spikes hundreds of times a day whenever there is background noise then dies down again instantly when it is quieter. Is this how it is for everyone or are spikes like mine unusual when they happen on a daily/hourly/minute basis ?

 

Hey I hope you feel better, I've had noise exposures before and recovered. Hope you are well and hang in there! Sometimes stress and anxiety will cause it to increase