Still Alive and Doing Better! Hyperacusis and Pain Have Reduced by About 75%!

That's great. Can you describe briefly how it helped you to not focus on the tinnitus?

 

@Uklawyer, I think Curable can definitely help with hyperacusis and tinnitus. If you listen to some of their podcast episodes on the website, I think you'll be able to see why. Focusing on any negative sensation in the body tells our brain that it's a threat and fuels our reaction to it. Our reaction to it turns up the volume. Curable teaches a lot of CBT without really calling it that.

 

My therapist went through that with me and it really did help a lot with my tinnitus.

I'm going through a setback now where I'm in pain every day. Finding it much more difficult to change my reaction to the pain but I haven't put in much effort into it. Might need to look into it again.

 

Wishing you a short setback!

 

Thanks! This time I'm better mentally because I am pretty confident it will get better over time. I started pushing myself too much. My noise tolerance went way up after being in huge pain for months last time.

As soon as this pain eases up, I'm going to book some stem cell therapy and pray that it helps a little.

 

DNRS promotes not focusing on symptoms and instead bringing your attention to other things that make you happy. I think @OnlyUP gave a really good description of how focusing on a negative sensation (tinnitus, pain, etc) tells our brain that it's a threat which fuels our reaction to it.

 

I started the Pulsatilla. It says to take drops 5 under your tongue 3 times a day. That seems like a lot. How often did you take it? I'll report back after a few days.

 

Any update on the Pulsatilla?

 

I think dosage depends on the potency of the remedy, the person taking it, and their symptoms. My Pulsatilla is in pellet form. I put three pellets in about 4 oz of water and let it dissolve. Then I only take a teaspoon of the water. When I was taking the 30c potency I took it once every 1-2 weeks. Now that I take the 1M potency, I only take it about once a month.

When I take lower potency remedies (6c) for other things like fever, colds, bug bites, etc, I might take three pellets under my tongue 3 times a day. So it really just depends on the remedy and what you are taking it for.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm taking the 200c, 5 pellets under the tongue once a day. I'm guessing the higher the number, the more potent it is?

 

I am just curious. How old are you? It seems like younger folks with these audiological issues tend to improve at a faster rate.

 

@Marin, did your ears get irritated and did you get neck pain from talking? If so, was it worse when you had earplugs in?

 

Yes, the higher the number, the higher the potency. I don’t know a whole lot about dosing, but I don’t think you should be taking a 200c daily. If you take too much too often it could cause temporary “aggravations” which are new or worse symptoms.

 

I’m 40, so I wouldn’t consider myself one of the younger folk.

 

Talking caused me a whole lot of ear and face pain. I can’t say that it ever caused neck pain. It’s been a while now, but I think it was worse without the earplugs. Even though the earplugs made my voice louder in my head, it dampened the higher frequencies that were excruciating. It still hurt to talk with earplugs, though. I could barely whisper for months.

 

43 here and I second that!

 

Since I’m logged in I’ll give a quick update. It has been about a year and four months since I started getting better, and I continue to slowly get better and better. I can vacuum and use the blender. I have driven across the country, flown, ridden a train, and been on a boat. I listen to music and the TV at a regular volume and I just turned my surround sound subwoofer back on. I can socialize as much as I want without giving my ears a second thought. I still occasionally experience some ear discomfort, but it doesn’t stop me from doing what I want to do.

I still use homeopathy. I don’t spend a whole hour everyday practicing DNRS rounds anymore, but the mindset it teaches has become a way of life for me. I still eat mostly meat because I enjoy it, but I also occasionally eat veggies when I feel like it. I also sometimes indulge in a sweet treat with my kids.

I recently started taking Biotin for my hair and nails, and I think that has helped a little with the ear discomfort as well.

My heart breaks for anyone dealing with these ear issues. It really is hell. Don’t give up. If you are suffering, my best advice would be to keep trying whatever you can until you find what works for you.

 

@Marin, thank you for all the time that you took to inform us of your progress and describing your improvements. I’m so happy for you.

Thanks,
George

 

I just want to jump in and say I’m also much better than I was a year ago when I had a major setback. I’m not quite to Marin’s level of recovery but I can watch TV and listen to music, as well as go to restaurants and bars. I’ve been to 3 weddings this year, all with loud music and dancing, and I haven’t had any long-term effects from them. The most recent wedding was this past Saturday.

I still suffer from severe tinnitus with tons of tones, and I still have smaller hyperacusis setbacks and burning pain here and there, but overall I’m in a much better place and hoping to continue to improve. I still can’t use blenders or vacuums, and I will never use phone speakers or other cheap speakers again. But I believe another year without a major setback will lead me to maximum recovery and basically a “normal” life, although I’ll always protect my ears whenever I leave the house.

Just wanted those of us who are suffering to know that this can heal even for extreme cases. I had awful pain hyperacusis as well as constant noxacusis. Both of these have reduced over the past year. I can almost see the finish line, but I still have to put in the work and be disciplined for the next year.

 

Love you Marin ❤️ Glad you're better.

 

That's wonderful! Did you follow a similar path to Marin? Or did you just protect when you felt necessary and saw gradual recovery?

Thank you for your input

Makes me happy to see people recover like this. I know I'll join you one day.

 

Glad to know that you are feeling better and thanks for your feedback.

When I am out and face a loud sound, my tinnitus gets worse. Does this happen to you? Do you always use hearing protection when you are out and about? What protection do you use? How are you able to speak to people when you use hearing protection? I am struggling with it.

 

Mostly protecting when necessary and avoiding cheap speakers entirely. Always resting and protecting whenever I feel my ears are starting to relapse. And slightly pushing them more each week or so to raise the threshold.

It’s a dance that we have to learn depending on what types of hyperacusis we have and the severity. My major setbacks since 2019 have all been caused by phone speakers, laptop speakers, and headphones, so I’ve completely removed all of them from my life.

 

Yes, my tinnitus is like that, it’s called reactive tinnitus.

I use hearing protection whenever I leave the house and whenever something loud is happening in the house. I don’t use it while sleeping.

When my hyperacusis was severe I used foam earplugs, but now I use musician’s earplugs which let a little more sound in so that I can hear what people are saying to me.

Hope you heal up over the next year! It can be a very long process but it’s possible even for severe cases like mine.

 

Aw, thank you @Brian Newman, that means so much. I sincerely wish the same for you. Sending you a big virtual hug...

 

Despite everything I can do now, I still avoid those tiny speakers as much as possible, too, because they still cause me the most discomfort.

 

Hi @Marin, I just want to let you know that whenever I’m in my deepest fear and depressive moments, I come to this thread to try to pick me back up. I am 4 months in with reactive tinnitus from an ear infection in my right ear that caused hearing loss at 12 kHz and above. The hearing loss was not caught early on, so unfortunately no steroid intervention took place. It started as a high static hiss in my right ear (just like yours), then as I got 1-2 more colds/viruses shortly after, I gained tones in my left ear along with reactivity. I have about 3 tones in my right ear and 1-2 in my left that are always going “haywire”. It’s so scary as it sounds like an electrical/tonal mess, and of course external noises exacerbate this. I do not have pain or loudness hyperacusis, but I am realizing the more this continues, the more and more am I growing fear toward louder noises because I just don’t want to get worse. However, I do not protect in the house and I do car rides to go to therapy and short store trips 1-2x a week without protection. I don’t notice any “worsening” in doing all of this, but I’m also not improving.

My goal is to get my reactivity down and the tones/tinnitus to not sound so crazy. I know it will take time, but I have an appointment with a functional medicine/homeopathic doctor next week and I also have a TRT eval scheduled for February. I also have been trying craniosacral therapy to calm the body/mind, and some Neurofeedback. Really going to try to tackle this from all angles with hope that it will be of benefit.

I was wondering how bad your hearing loss was in your right ear? Did you receive steroid intervention for it? Did the hearing ever come back? Thank you again for all of your knowledge.

PS - I also work with a genetic functional doctor and I take a DAO supplement before meals that helps lower histamine in the body when eating. Not sure if you take something similar or have heard of it, but just thought I would share!

 

@Traumasux, I wanted to ask how did you find the Deanxit? Any effect on tinnitus and mood? Did you suffer from side effects?

 

Thank you so much for your kind words! I am very sorry to hear about your reactive tinnitus and hearing loss.

To answer your question, I have profound hearing loss in my right ear above 4 kHz, and I can't hear anything above 4 kHz in that ear. I think that's why the tinnitus in that ear is such a hissy static mess. The hearing loss is annoying when things like crickets are making noise because I can only hear it out of my left ear and it makes it impossible to tell which direction the sound is coming from. Other than that annoyance, I really don't notice the hearing loss anymore. I was given two weeks worth of prednisone about a week after the hearing loss incident, and I also had 3 steroid injections into my right ear... unfortunately, it didn't really do anything for me.

I'm wishing you much luck and success with the therapies. I've spoken to two different women who had what sounded like bad reactive tinnitus that they greatly improved with desensitization or TRT. When I reached out to one woman to ask her about her success, she was living completely normally and had even forgotten that she had gone through such a terrible experience years before. So, have hope that things can get much much better.

 

Hi @Marin, I love reading your success story. It gets me through the hard days!

What did you do during your recovery to keep sane? I’ve been going on walks through the park everyday, getting workouts in, joined a pottery class, stretching, eating healthy, kind of staying to myself etc and wearing earplugs when needed.

I hope you’re still doing well on your end!