Tinnitus After Childbirth → It Went Away, I Could Hear Silence → Now It's Back After Noise Exposure

Hi, I got tinnitus in 2013 after the birth of my second child. I had a a low hairdryer sound in one, and a mid-level electric buzz in my left ear - the weaker ear which always felt sensitive to loud sound. It was like it felt open and raw. The onset of my tinnitus 8 years ago was so distressing. But over the years I learnt to cope. It seemed that I wasn’t hearing it in the daytime at all. Or at night. Only in complete silence at bed. I started to reduce my masking noise machine down.

One day I turned my sound machine off and realised it wasn’t not bad and could live adjusted to the sounds as I couldn’t really hear them. I lived for I’d say 5 years like this. It was bliss. Silence. I wore earplugs to loud events or fireworks. I was careful.

But one month ago, I was doing some work in making a new headboard and I hammered nails in, around 50 of them, without protection on. So silly. Then I broke up with my boyfriend about two weeks later. And then I woke one night last month and a loud scream started to pour out of my bad ear along with morse code. It has not stopped. I’m drinking and smoking to get through. I’ve ben taking Citalopram for a few weeks but it’s not helping. I’m at breaking point.

 

Hi @B123.

I am sorry to hear of the distress that you are going through and advise that you make an appointment to see your family doctor, and then to be examined at ENT for tests. You may also need to see an audiologist that specialises in tinnitus management for treatment.

I understand your reasons for wanting to sleep in silence and not use a sound machine but this wasn't a good idea. Once a person develops tinnitus it is always there even though a person may not be fully aware of it most of the time, it's lying dormant in the background ready to strike given the right circumstances.

Hammering nails into the headboard without wearing hearing protection can certainly aggravate tinnitus. The breakup with your boyfriend could have induced stress and caused the tinnitus to increase. Stress is closely linked to making tinnitus worse but will usually subside once the stress is reduced.

If you have been listening to audio through any type of headphones, including earbuds, AirPods, headsets, bone conduction or noise cancelling headphones even at low volume, then any of these could have made the tinnitus increase.

You have said the onset of your tinnitus started after the second birth of your child and therefore, the tinnitus may not be noise induced. However, If you have been using any type of headphones even at low volume, or regularly doing DIY work of the type described in your post, even when wearing hearing protection, any of these can increase tinnitus.

Eight years of habituation is a long time. Ruling out an underlying medical condition that is responsible for the increase in the tinnitus, the usual reason is exposure to noise. Either headphone use or being subjected to further loud noise that you may not perceive as being loud. Wearing hearing protection is no guarantee that the tinnitus will be unaffected, the reason being, if external sound is loud enough it will pass through the head and transfer to the inner ear by bone conduction and cause irritation.

As I have already mentioned, stress can also be a factor but once this is reduced the tinnitus usually subsides with time.

Talk to your family doctor and take things from there. Return to using sound enrichment at night, more about this is explained in the links below. Please click on them and read my posts: New to Tinnitus, What to Do, Tinnitus, A Personal View.

I wish you well,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum
Tinnitus, A Personal View | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, I’m having a hearing test again tomorrow. I am very stressed and have constant anxiety.

Maybe time...