Tinnitus After Friend Struck My Face Near My Ear with Her Elbow

I recently sustained a blow to my left cheekbone while on a train in NYC. I was with a friend, and as the train lurched erratically, we both reached for our cases to prevent them from flying. In the process, she accidentally struck me with her elbow. The impact was so hard that I felt woozy and sensed the blow in my eardrum. This shock reaction was quite disturbing. I noticed my tinnitus, which is usually nonexistent, has mildly returned. I'm concerned about whether this trauma will heal and if any lasting damage was done. It felt as if someone had hit me with a baseball bat. The tinnitus spiked at the time but has calmed down since. I have had tinnitus since 2021 out of the blue. It sometimes comes and goes. The ENT diagnosed it as intermittent mild tinnitus, but that was in 2021.

What are your thoughts?

Also, I have been taking a course of penicillin for seven days, 2,000 mg daily, for a bacterial infection on my finger. The leaflet didn't mention anything about tinnitus, and I wondered if anyone has had similar experiences and whether it caused any side effects with the tinnitus?

 

Hi @Colleen Rawlings.

Although it reads on your profile that the cause of tinnitus is unknown, usually something causes it. One of the most common causes is exposure to loud noise; often, listening to audio through headphones at too high a volume is responsible. If you frequently used earbuds, headphones, or headsets before the onset of your tinnitus in 2021, this could be the original cause. It is good that you have been able to habituate. If you regularly listen to audio through any headphones, my advice is to keep the volume low and not use them too often. Better still, I advise that you don't use them at all, even when they are low in volume.

If you attend clubs or concerts where loud music is played, I advise you to be careful, not stay at such a venue for too long, and not trust noise-reducing earplugs. If the external sound is too loud, it can still spike the tinnitus.

A blow to the head can cause the onset of tinnitus or spike tinnitus in someone who already has it. Since your tinnitus calms down, hopefully, it will eventually return to what you are used to. The more you focus on the tinnitus, the louder it can appear. I advise that you start using low-level sound enrichment. Avoid quiet rooms and surroundings during the day by playing some low-level relaxing music in the background to help distract you from focusing on the tinnitus. At night, I advise using a sound machine by your bedside and setting the volume to low.

Please click the link below and read my thread: New to Tinnitus, What to Do? More information is available about using sound enrichment.

Some medications can affect tinnitus in some people. However, since you noticed the increase in your tinnitus after you sustained the blow to your head, I doubt the penicillin is making your tinnitus more intrusive. The fact that your tinnitus calms down leads me to believe this medicine isn't worsening your tinnitus.

Give it time, and I think you'll be alright.

All the best,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum