Sudden Hearing Loss

Hello.

I'm 25 years old and currently having the worst time of my life. Two weeks ago I was swimming with my brother. I decided to dive down at the bottom of the pool. (5m / 15 feet). When I came up again my hearing in the right ear was reduced to almost nothing. I could only hear bass/middletone. I also got a really bad ringing in my right ear. It was so loud it totally overpowered the other sounds inside the swimming hall. I went straight to the emergency room, but they had no clue. I had no pain or dizziness.

The next day I went to an ENT. But she had no exact answer either, but she put me on 60mg prednison for ten days. I had a 100 decibel drop after 4000 hertz. After 6000 hertz completely deaf. Not good. I'm pretty sure I have fucked up something inside my inner ear. Barotrauma or some shit like that. The ENT did not find any damage in my middle/outer ear.

Well, today it's almost two weeks ago. And I have not experienced much relief or improvement. My tinnitus only gets better if I'm in complete silence, (I know, that's weird). If I'm out in traffic or other places with alot of sound going on at once, my tinnitus gets much worse and I get easily disorientated. Since I only get release when its completely silent I have isolated myself very much the last two weeks. I have almost not been outside my house. I also get a feeling of fullness inside the ear when a lot of sound is going on. It' feels like the ear is turning itself of when there is a lot of sound going on. It is a very uncomfortable feeling. Music and masking don't seem to help much either, it only make the tinnitus louder.

The last four days I have experienced a small change in the ringing. It has gone from a lower pitch to a higher pitch. And another sound has been saying hello too, similar to the sound that comes from vinyl records. The "vinyl" sound seems to be there all the time, but its very low. And the high pitch sound seems to trigger when there is noise in the background. All over the tinnitus have decreased slightly. But its still very dominant. Hearing, however, has not come back.

I don't know what more I can say, except that I'm so frustrated and I really don't know what to do. I really just want to put a bullet in my head. But that would be a little selfish. I have put my whole life on pause. I can't do anything. I'm also very sensitive for sharp sounds. Such as a glass hitting a table or a car horn. It's like getting a knife inside the ear. Followed by 10 seconds intense ringing. My appetite have gone to about zero, no sex drive and I can't sleep without sleeping pills.

All this only because of a 30 second dive to 5m / 15 feet. I don't know if I can accept that. I was not even scuba diving. Just normal swimming / playing with my brother.

I don't know why I'm writing in this forum, I know you can't fix me. Its just that I feel my family don't understand how bad this really is, and I don't know anyone who have experienced anything like this. I have just been reading similar stories at the Web. Most of them not positive.

Yeah...

 

Hi my previous psychiatrist described how a bomb went off next to his ear in WW2, and they said he would never hear again. After 6 months he started to hear some roaring sound in his ears, and then gradually get some hearing back, but with permanent tinnitus. Eventually the tinnitus got kind of mild. I know how you feel, I feel exactly the same - I just got some dental work done, and now I am like a basket case. This is a very devastating disorder. I managed to still cope today, and hopefully i'll be able to cope tomorrow. - paul

 

Thank you for those words! I guess anything is possible.

At this moment I think I have to cope with how things are right now. I can't go around and wait for it to be better. I have to live my life somehow, but now I just don't know how.

I just realized that if I'm standing up, and bend my head to the floor, and press blood to my head. Some of the tinnitus goes away. Maybe that is a good sign.

I called my doctor now, told him that I'm depressed and really don't know what to do. And that I have just been sitting inside my house in two weeks doing nothing. Told him about no appetite, no sex drive etc and thoughts about gun to my head.

Luckily, I live in a country with totally free health care.

 

meeruf, you mentioned sitting in the house two weeks doing nothing.

Start with something you know you enjoy or use to enjoy. I know that may seem hard to do at first. Unlike you, In a quite room mine seems bad. For me outside, the background sounds seem to help a little. I don't want anyone's life to take second place to this damn ear ringing. Take the pills, sleep good, don't put you life on hold. Try some fun things.

 

Sorry to hear that Meeruf, hang in there it'll get better. Yesterday mine spiked like crazy , today was a much better day. Hate how it has taken over my life.

 

Hi meeruf, most stories on the net aren't really positive so i guess it's not a very interesting source of information.

By the way, have you heard of hyperbaric chamber therapy ? It's supposed to be used with barotraumas

 

Some updates:

Was back to the doctor today. Took a new hearing test. The results showed some improvement. From 100 decibels to about 60 decibels. That's good news. The doctor said that the steroids have had some effect, but it may have been randomly also. Who knows. Anyways, my ear show improvement, and that's nothing but sweet.

Except from that. The ringing is still there, but today it has been okey. I don't know if its more quiter, but I am more used to it. As I'm writing right now the high pitch sound is gone, now its just the "swosh" sound. And thats actually a quite nice sound. Nothing that bothers me.

Last night it was bad, really bad, I had a breakdown. I was actually crying, and that is something I don't do often. I was so sick of the ringing, and just really felt like shit. My girlfriend was really worried and almost called 911 for my own safety. My girlfriend have never seen me cry, so, I think she freaked out as much as me. She did her best, love her for that. Poor her.

Today I have been in a better mood. But sometimes the tinnitus trigger and gets superloud, and that's superscary. Everytime that happens I freak out. That have not happened before, first time today. I hope it does not happen again. I know it's normal to sometimes get high ringing out of the blue, but right now I'm super sensitive. Other times, the tinnitus just suddenly stops 1-2 sec. That too freaks me out, maybe its a good sign. Maybe some healing shit is going on in my ear.

In the middle of this, I think I have developed some kind of anxiety. I think I will never jump out in a pool again. And I will definitely not dive again. Ever!

And some other rules:

- Never a consert or nightclub without earplugs again. ( I'm already quite good at it, but sometimes it slips)
- Never loud music in my headphones again. I got the doctor to show me how loud 85 decibel actually is. I was surprised.

And finally, I will be super nazi against my brother when it comes to loud music on the ears. He's only thirteen years old, and always go around with those bad ipod plugs with only treble. I know I'm a cool guy, and that kids look up to me. He won't listen to his mother, but I know he will listen to me.


Some tips:
- I got a prescription on a sleeping pill that is called: "Stilnoct". Its not a good type, but I find that the ringing gets quiter when I take them. Maybe it's something for you guys to try too. The brand is: "Sanofi Aventis".

This song is amazing. All the violins really mask out the ringing.
-

Yanni - Renegade HD

 

Unfortunately the video is blocked in my region (US) for copyright reasons. For others in the US, Stilnoct contains Zolpidem, which is the active ingredient in sleeping pill Ambien. -G

 

Ah. Thank you. The name of the song is: "Yanni - Renegade". Maybe you can find another version on Youtube that is not blocked.

I'm not from the US, I don't know the name of the sleeping pill in that region. I'm from Norway. Norwegian doctors are btw very very strict in giving out sleeping pills. So, maybe it is easier in the US.

 

Hey Meeruf.

I got sudden hear loss 1.5 years ago. I have a -80db in my left ear (from 250 to 8000Hz) with a constant loud (equivalent to 3/4 to full blast on my Ipad) screeching tone (see the attached file). I suspect I got my hear loss following putting my head in a hotel exterior whirlpool during winter.

I am fortunate enough to practice Vipassana meditation, which is observation and awareness. The day I loss my hearing (I was on ski vacation with my wife and kids), I stayed at the hotel and meditated. I observed what was going on, the hearing loss and the Tinnitus. I realized that this would be with me probably forever and started the process of accepting things I cannot change. The first few days were hard because even when I slept, I heard the noise. It was always with me. It still is. Now, a year and a half after, I accepted that T is part of who I am. In a way, it made me stronger.

If your familly don't understand how bad this is, find a Tinnitus recording similar to yours on the American Tinnitus association website in the section (sounds of tinnitus), adjust it to level what you hear and have them live with it for a while. My wife and kids, don't last a minute with my screeching sound at the level I hear it. Now, when I ask people for a bit of quietness, they are more understanding.

But before putting a bullet (or medication) into your head, try Vipassana meditation and try walking the path of accepting what you are, now.

 

Thank you for sharing your story Eric. I appreciate that. Your tinnitus is much worse then mine, sorry for that. If you can cope, then can I.

Some updates for today:

Today I was back at work. It was hard, really hard. But I managed to get through the day somehow. My mood is really fragile and goes up and down like a roller-coaster. I feel very weak emotionally. I have to work with that.

The biggest problem is that I work in a place where there is alot of background noise, like, shopping mall kind-of-noise. I have big trouble with hearing what people say when there is noise in the background. I also got very dizzy after one hour at work, I think its because my ears gets so much sounds from different places and angels. My ears just can't handle it yet. But after some time, I kind of ignored it.

My ringing still trigger more when there is other sounds around. Now I'm in my bed, I can still here the ringing, but its almost gone. That's so wierd. But, I hope it is a good sign. Today at work, I had to go away from all the noise, go to a silent room, stick my fingers in my ear for 10 minutes. Then it got less ringing. Then I went out again.

 

Last two days:

Yesterday I was also at work. The day went better then the day before. Until the very last hour. I don't now what happened, I just got really stressed and my tinnitus went to through the roof. On the bustrip home from work I really had to focus not to freak out. I had some serious disaster thoughts about doing a base-jump without a parachute, I had fantasies about calling 911 and tell them about my base-jump fantasies and I was just moments away to actually do it. Not jumping, but call 911. Just really bad. When I came home, I just swallowed a sleeping-pill and went straight to sleep.

When I woke up today it was still there. Not as bad as at the bus-trip yesterday, but still there. I almost freaked out today to. I don't know how much longer I can take this. It's just not fair. When I was in Thailand this summer, I used ear plugs at every nightclub and consert I went to, because I knew that one can get annoying ringing in the ears because off noise. Then it happens to me when I'm just swimming. It's just too unbelievable to be true.

I think I have to go to the doctor again at Monday and get some medicine against depression and anxiety. Maybe that can lower the ringing some. Who knows...

The weird thing is that my tinnitus goes away after I have taken the sleeping pills.

 

Some updates: Hope!

I have decided to keep writing. I enjoy it and I actually forget about the ringing sometimes when writing. But from now on I am just writing to see my own progression. If you want to read too - that's cool too.

This weekend was very rough. I tried to go out and live a normal life. Me and my girlfriend went out to eat. Did not work out well. My tinnitus went through the roof, so I just had to go home again. I think two things was happening here, one, my T triggered because of the loud noises of traffic and, two, because my T triggered, I got anxious and it triggered even more. Vicious circle.

Well, got back my home with my girlfriend. I was really upset and crying. After some time, I got to myself again. And we fell asleep.

Today I was back at my GP. I know he can't do anything, that is how life is. But I told him about my crazy thoughts when I get my depression-attacks. So, tomorrow I will go to therapy for trying to cope with my feelings.

I'm not coping with tinnitus, tinnitus just is, can't do me anything. My feelings towards it is the challenge.

 

Thank you! This night I have experienced silence for the first time in 3 weeks. The tinnitus is still there, but I just forgot about it. That was a nice feeling. Looking forward to go to therapy tomorrow. They know what they are doing.

 

Hope

I woke up today and had my first morning without head music. It was just fantastic. Normally when I take a shower, my head music goes up in volume. But this morning, nupe, it did almost not go up in volume after the shower. Progress, I hope.

I also had another 20 minutes later today with no head music. Fantastic. But after that, It came back. It actually came back when I was stressed. And have stayed since. I took sobril today for the first time just to see how I reacted on it. Did not help ringing much. But it sure helped me to not care. The effect lasted maybe 2 hours.

Was back to another ENT today. This ENT was just awefull. I had so many questions and ideas. He just muttered back to me. He was very negative. I asked about maybe trying a hearing aid to boost the trebel, because when I listen to masking noise with a lot of treble, the head music seems to go down in volume.

Took a new hearing test. No progress on the hearing since my last test. But when I take my own hearing test, I have noticed that some of my hearing around 12000 hertz have come back. I also had a dip at exactly at 6000 hertz some days ago. That is gone now.

If I wake up tomorrow without my head music, I will do everything I can to not stress. Just take it superchill. See if that helps.

 

Wow 20 minutes of silence, would love that ! Glad you're making progress.
That's so strange shower lowers my T volume for a while , mine and a few others on this forum ! Sorry to hear about the Doc, same negative experiences here.

Best wishes.

 

20.09.2013

Woke up today. Head music was back this morning. It was even in my left ear. Got really depressed and anxious. My left ear is okey again. But ringing in right ear is still there. I have found that some sounds suppress the ringing, and other sounds make it more aggressive. White noise is no good, makes it worse. I don't want to listen to that anyways, because my ringing sounds like white noise. lol.

Hearing today: 20-8500 hertz - 11500-13500 hertz.

Wondering about why I had moment of silence yesterday. Something had to trigger it. Could it be that I was going to the ENT, and had some unconscious hope of him fixing me, and that made me less stressful that morning? Because, yesterday it was gone, no doubt. I put my fingers in the ears and heard nothing.

 

Hmmm maybe keep a journal of what you're eating , for me food affects my T volume immediately.

 

21.09.2013

Head ringing still present. Been up and down in volume all day. As I'm writing now, it is not loud. It was louder earlier today when I was playing GTA 5. Still it gets louder when I'm doing stuff, if I'm just chilling, it is on a acceptable volume.

 

22.09.2013

Head ringing when I woke up today. However, it has lessen during the day. As I'm writing now ringing is gone. Or, its not gone, but so weak I can only hear it if I put my fingers in the ears. If it stays this way, I look at myself as cured.

I have been taking some Sobril today. Maybe thats why my T is lower. I honestly don't know yet. I will start to take Sobril every second day to see if it has some pattern.

 

22.09.13 --- Number two

head noise even lesser late today. When my girlfriend came, I totally forget about T. First time for 4 weeks I don't constantly think about my T.

PROGRESS!

Now my beautiful girlfriend lies next to me. Will go and hold around her, in silence. Amazing day. ZzzZzz

 

26.09.13

My ringing have been very silent since Monday. Sometimes it spikes a little bit. But not like it was in the beginning. Sometimes it goes away. I don't dare to be entirely optimistic just yet. But I really hope this continue. It seems like there are less and less ringing

Another good news:

My old tinnitus. The low humming have started to come back. This gives me hope, because this sound I have been hearing in my head for many years. I'm not bothered by it. I can only hear it if I give it my attention.

My T still spikes when I'm out in noisy places. Like shopping malls and trafic But not at the level it did before. But if it gets to bad, I can just put some ear plugs in my ears. And it goes away again after some minutes.

Even better news:

I was back at work today! And in two hours, I will go and work even more.

 

Oh man, that's awesome! Hope things continue to improve!

What sort of humming did you have by the way? For most of my life I had a low/deep hum in my head, didn't bother me at all either because I was so habituated to it, it went away when I got my tinnitus though.

 

You seem to be making great progress in a very short period of time. Good to know you got prednisone as soon as possible, many people don't have this chance...

If it's ok to ask, isn't the hearing damage bothering you more than tinnitus itself? I am personally very worried of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Tinnitus no longer bothers me, but I just know that my right ear is messed up and something bad might happen one day.

My best feelings are with you mate, please keep us updated.

 

No problem. Off course, I have been thinking about that. And maybe my tinnitus gets worse when I get older and age related hearing-loss starts to make its impact to. But, I can't take sorrows in advance. I can die in a car accident tomorrow for all I know, or get cancer next week. You see? Anything can happen. Right now I'm getting better everyday, so I have to be grateful for that. I try not to think to much about the future. You have to live in the moment if you want to be happy. Actually, the only thing that exist is now! Past and future are man made concepts. It's an illusion. Of course, tomorrow will come, but when it comes, its now. If you understand.

You ear is not "messed" up. After this happen me. I have been talking with a lot of people about hearing and tinnitus. You will be surprised how many people who have hearing-loss in some form. It's quite normal. Tinnitus is not synonymous with hearing-loss either. And people with no hearing-loss can also have tinnitus. Whoho!

Yeah, I still have a high pitch hearing-loss in my right ear. But to be honest, I don't notice it much anymore. Seems like it's starting to stabilize itself.

 

29.09.2013

Tinnitus off and on today. Today I experienced that my tinnitus got worse after I ate egg with bacon, with some Coca-Cola. Maybe I have to stop eating bacon. (salt), and stop with Coca-Cola (coffeine and sugar) for a while. That sucks.