The Story of My 1,5 Years Old Hyperacusis

I've been lurking around this forum since last year but until now I never wanted to share my story. I'll soon join the army for 6 months to complete my mandatory military duty and I'm kind of worried that gun noises will make my hyperacusis worse even though I'll use earplugs, I'm totally dependent on my commander's understanding since hospital didn't give me a report for this. Anyway, last year when I was pulling an all nighter to finish my case study -I was listening quiet music through earbuds- my ears started to ring for a short time then returned to normal. I didn't care much, thought it was because of sleep deprivation.

After that life was normal for a while, then one night I rode my bike in a very cold weather while listening music, I came home and continued listening music through earbuds -again very low volume- while trying to sleep since my sleep pattern was messed up. I woke up in the morning and noticed that dish noises in the kitchen were making me jumpy and angry. I put on my earbuds but my left ear started to burn and some sharp pain feelings -like something was stuck- went from the back of my eye to my throat. I stopped listening to music and looked for these symptoms, found hyperacusis. I went to a doctor and he told me my hearing was SUPER, I was hearing every pitch in the audiogram perfectly. I was like "then what's wrong with me?" he told me "you probably have hyperacusis, cover your ears. Also, do you have tinnitus? Ear ringing?" I said no because I'm %100 sure I didn't have it until that moment. He told me there was no treatment for the hyperacusis. I went to an another doctor and he told me I didn't have hyperacusis (I don't believe he understand it well enough) and my ears were perfectly fine so I might have something neurological.

I started to notice siren sounds and sharp brake noises were bothering me too or that "tssssss" sound coming from trucks or buses. I went home in very depressed mood, one thing I very very loved in this world was listening to music. Now it was bothering me. My ears were feeling pressurised. I tried to sleep and remembered what doctor asked me, did I have tinnitus? BOOM. That moment I realized my right ear was ringing. I still wonder if I didn't go to the doctor would I be aware of my tinnitus. Anyway, I'll try to summarize after that moment.

Btw, I couldn't get MR scan because I had braces for 2 months when hyperacusis hit me so I thought maybe it was the culprit. My orthodontist checked my jaws and bite said nothing was wrong there. But I'm pretty sure I felt two loud SNAPS in my jaw joints when hyperacusis first started like some muscle broke. I don't feel any pain in my jaw unless my hyperacusis gets really bad.

-For a few months I felt very depressed, suicidal and full of anxiety. I found out listening to the pink noise was blocking disturbing noises. I started to use earplugs. I've noticed that I was hearing every stupid sound like electric current running through closest outlet or vacuum cleaner running at four floor above. Even my laptop's HDD sound was bothering me.

-Headaches and tiredness. They are worse than pain because luckily I don't feel pain unless I got hit by hyperacusis bad but headache comes real quick.

-I once went to a movie (Deadpool) at the start of my hyperacusis era. VERY SURPRISINGLY and LUCKILY it didn't bother me. All those gunshots and music didn't worsen my situation but I realized it was a stupid thing to do I'm going to movies with earplugs now. I know how privileged I am since there are people even can't enjoy this.

-I realized even the lowest sound was bothering my ears when using earbuds. I felt hopeless because I was trying to listen a meditation lesson.

-I had a small hope that when my braces came off I would feel better but it didn't affect anything.

-Sometimes I felt worse sometimes I felt better. I'm not sure about that but I feel winter and cold weather making my situation a bit worse.

-Sudden sounds (dish clanking, explosion, honk etc.), high pitched noises (tssss, shrieking etc.) are bothering me worse than constant loud noises. I can stay unaffected by constant loud noises for a good while. I don't know exactly how long I didn't wanna risk it.

-Music with too much bass or electronic sounds bothering me. My right ear quickly starts to feel pressurized and I hear some ringing. I feel like my left ear hears less than right because it only starts to feel pain when someone yells near or noise comes too close. But it's worse than my right when it comes to the pain.

-I've noticed that I can alter my tinnitus's pitch while moving or straining my neck muscles, sometimes even my tongue.

-My tinnitus worsens when hyperacusis starts. Don't know really, chicken-egg situation.

-When I feel slight hyperacusis, if I take a quick sharp breath through my nose my ears feel full. When I gulp, it goes away.

That's all I can think for now. I wrote all these so maybe there's someone feeling same exact symptoms because as far as I can see while we all have hyperacusis/tinnitus our symptoms might differ slightly.

I'd like to thank you all because if it wasn't here, I'd be feeling very lost and stressed. I feel annoyed but continuing my life. I really hope there'll be a cure soon for this because I missed listening music while commuting, traveling, studying etc. I want to enjoy the social environments without worrying it'll be too loud for me. I don't want to feel stressed about my future. I know I'm somehow lucky because there are people having this worse than me and hopefully cure must be ready for them first.

Thank you all for reading, have a nice quiet day.

 

I'm more worried about your military drills. It's very fine that you now grasp of your condition fully, taking every measure you can and going to see a doctor, but it is not advisable to use earbuds and go to a movie, - Those idiots never care about people's hearing. They think loudness is dynamic.
I'm bit astrayed here. Anyway, do you know how to wear earplugs properly? It seems that many people don't and and if you use them tightly, it might save you from those loud gunshot noises. Every man in my country goes to serve in the military for about 2 years and some people complains about their hearing and tinnitus caused by gun shootings and most of them definitely didn't have kind of ear protection because superiors won't let them. It is ridiculous. But if you wear your ear protection, I assume it would be fine and tolerable.