This Storm Will Pass

Two days ago (7/20/17) I got out of the house and drove to the grocery store. I live in the mountains, and we have intermittent storms here all the time. Before these ear problems I've developed, I loved rain / storms, and still do. There was no thunder, only rain, and it started coming down hard. I was only driving around 60mph, and instinctively pulled out my plugs, but then put then back in my pocket, thinking 'okay, let's make this a tolerance / desensitization test.' It was a bit uncomfortable, but I didn't feel any pain, so kept driving without plugs, with hard rain coming down. This is something I loved to do in the past, and wanted to feel it again. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the store. On my way home, I plugged up, but unplugged as the rain lessened.

Today, my left ear (the more sensitive one T & H wise) is a bit more clogged than my right (which it always is anyway), has a tiny bit more T, and I've been experiencing some mild pain. The pain is what worries me, because I'm a little concerned I caused more damage, but think I needed that test for myself. I have intermittent pain anyway, from ear to ear, so it's possible that what I'm feeling now isn't a direct result from my drive in the rain. I've been at this 9 months now, and need to start testing more / desensitizing whenever I can. I also think I need to get another wax cleaning, because it's been a while, and that would probably help with the fullness feeling. No micro-suction, of course.

But the message in the back of my mind, on that trip, and even now, as I'm possibly dealing with some after effects, is that This Storm Will Pass. And sure enough, when I got home, it stopped raining. I have a little regret about not plugging up when it really started coming down, and it's such a burden that our now fragile ears require such constant attention / monitoring, but every now and then you have to consciously (and intelligently) test yourself, and have faith that whatever happens after, is a storm that will pass.

 

Hi ,
we got T in the same month and year! God bless u

 

I actually think you did the right thing there , de sensitising is really important, and I would say one test would not be enough.

I used to have a fear of car brakes as my sensitivity would be within that frequency. I decided to quite literally face my fears and try and absorb the car brakes in a effort that desensitise.

When we are experiencing an increase in T or noise sentivith we often think it's down to what we did, where I say actually blame anxiety for a lot of it.

People use rain as a type of masking for their T and I don't think you would have damaged your ears more with this, just my two cents.

 

@Tommi_boi Thanks, yea I think so too. More desensitization is always good, unless you overdo it, of course. My ears are back to their messed up baseline now anyway. I agree with you, more anxiety creates a nervous system response, and flare-up of symptoms. Ughhh, this is so debilitating, can I wake up from this dream already?

 

Haha, that's the spirit , I Think? Overdoing it is one thing but I think to do that you would have to really over do it to make your H worse, unless you belong to the more severe H bracket of people.

Most people have a mild sound sensitivity and with this, as long as you are sensible wth your ears you are gonna be fine.

On another note, you living in the mountains area sounds amazing!