Tinnitus After a Gun Shot without Wearing Hearing Protection

Hello everyone. My name is Chris. I’m 19 years old and 2 1/2 weeks ago, I fired a gun without ear protection.

I instantly knew something was wrong with the loud bussing noise and a slight amount of pain. I stopped after I shot the first time. I also noticed my hearing was muffled in my left ear.

I went to an ENT 5 days later, and she prescribed prednisone. I have recently finished the prescription and the muffled sound in my left ear is completely gone.

However, I currently have a very loud buzz or ring in my left ear. My ear is also sensitive to high pitched noises like the ring of a truck backing up. The buzzing is typically worse if I put an earplug in or if I’m in my house when it’s quiet. Will the buzzing ever get quieter or will it stay this loudly forever? I have another ENT appointment in 2 weeks.

Any information helps. Thanks.

 

For many people, it usually takes a few months for the tinnitus to lower in volume. And like many people, it is unfortunately permanent but some do recover to the phase where they only hear it in quiet room.

However, it usually take months to years to recover to the "quiet room" phase. You're young and healthy. I'll give good odds that you'll reach the quiet room phase.

So my advice is to protect your ears (ear plugs when going outside, take it off inside). Since you said the tinnitus sound is worst with ear plugs, you'll just have to tough it out because protecting your ear from sudden loud noise is better than not. You don't want another acoustic trauma like some car suddenly honk!

Eat a healthy diet with vitamin supplements to boost as much recovery as you can. Don't use q-tips. Try to keep your ears as dry as possible. It will naturally clean itself for most people. And do NOT use ear phones anymore.

Be careful when taking medications. Some are bad for your ears and will spike your tinnitus. You can search the American Tinnitus Association for ototoxic drug list.

If you have difficulty sleeping, then grab some white noise music in this site and play it (but not too loudly) while you sleep.

 

If it's worse in a quiet room, then it's not that loud. Mine is so loud it doesn't matter which environment I'm in.
It's louder than everything.

I'm not trying to have a competition with you, on whose is louder.
I'm just trying to give you some reality. And the reality is, if you look after your ears, especially over the next few weeks, there's a good chance it will fade or disappear.

That means no headphones, no loud pubs or bars, no loud environments without ear protection.

Get some good quality ear plugs for when you need them.

If it doesn't fade or disappear, you'll know in a couple of months.
But if it's staying, you'll be fine and with a positive attitude you'll get used to it.
If you allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself and dwell on it, you'll be in for a rough ride.

So at the moment there's not much you can do, except look after your ears, eat healthy, drink lots of water and stay positive.

Let me know how you're getting on in a week on this thread.

 

Hi Chris,

You are still very early in to your ear trauma. If this is the first time you’ve ever really hurt your ears, I think you have a great chance of the ringing subsiding if you are careful. Your ears are vulnerable now and you need to protect them as much as possible. You are also lucky to have been prescribed prednisone after your trauma.

Concerning your sensitivity to high-pitched noises, it sounds like you have hyperacusis. That can take a long time to go away, but it does get better. Do you best to shield your ears from noises that feel painful, but be careful not to protect yourself from noises that don’t hurt you, as you could cause your ears to be more sensitive to noise.

 

HI @Chrisbb

Please follow the excellent advice that @DaveyJones has given you. It is so nice to see this level of expertise being given in this forum instead of constant negativity towards noise trauma and the belief that one is destined for a future of doom and gloom with tinnitus and hyperacusis, which is not necessarily the case.

I recommend that you do not use any form of headphones or headset to listen to audio even at low volume. Please click on the links below and take your time and read my articles that I think will be of help to you. Try not to skim through them.

Take care and all the best
Michael


https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-negative-counselling.26669/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/

 

It is probably not louder, you can just hear it better when there are no competing sounds.

There is a good chance that within a month or so you will begin experiencing some fading. If that happens, it will likely continue to fade. It can take 1-3 years to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

You will want to be easy on your ears and try to not expose them to loud noises during this vulnerable stage of healing. If the moderate noises give you tinnitus spikes or feel too loud, you might want to stay away from the moderate noises like that of a vacuum cleaner.

You will want to avoid taking ototoxic drugs, avoid microsuction or syringing (performed when you need to clean wax out of your ears; a manual tool should be used), and not let your dental hygienist use an ultrasonic scaling tool on you (a manual tool should be used). For more details, see

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

I have tinnitus in my right ear from ear pro failing to protect me. It was from a glock. 10 rounds. I'm so upset with myself over it. I have OCD so I stress bad but it has really fucked up my life. Lost my job over not being able to concentrate. My whole life is fucked. I hope you recover. I wouldn't wish this shit on anyone