Tinnitus After Severe Noise Injury (Woman Screaming at the Top of Her Lungs Close to My Ears)

I'm a nurse who was recently involved with restraining a violent patient. The woman was screaming at the top of her lungs and my ear was close to her mouth for above five minutes during this episode. This happened five days ago and my ears have been ringing loudly ever since. If anything the ringing seems to be getting louder each day. This is terrifying for me. I haven't been able to sleep well and the ringing is constant from the moment I wake up. Tinnitus was not an issue for me previously and I'm scared that this is permanent.

Women's screams can be >120 decibels and I had never encountered a noise this loud before. My ear was in pain during the episode.

I've never felt so anxious/depressed in my life about anything. How likely is it that this is permanent? Is there anything I should do now? I'm terrified that my life has been irreversibly altered for the worse by this.

 

As it's recent I'd see a doctor about getting you onto a course of prednisone ASAP. And get yourself into a quiet environment for a while as any more noise, especially loud noise could make it worse. Be careful what hearing tests they suggest, I'd not even bother with hearing tests at this stage but do get the prednisone. Best of luck, I don't know what else to suggest but you should get some more suggestions on here.

 

First thing you should do is go the the ER and get a course of Prednisone ASAP, like now.

5 days is still early in the game, but don't wait.

 

Your choices, but with considerations: A decision should be made quickly for oral steroids. An emergency room doctor can pad a script for you. I would file an accident report and disability.

"Currently, in addition to therapeutic approaches such as oral steroids and/or intratympanic methylprednisolone and vasodilators for sudden hearing loss, which are most commonly used options due mainly prescription is easily associated with the low cost; there are still therapeutic approaches such as the use hyperbaric oxygen therapy. However, corticosteroids seem to have universal acceptance and are the ones with proven effectiveness. Treatments such as diuretics and antiviral drugs may also be included. Such treatments aim to improve the inner ear oxygenation and include vasodilators, plasma expanders, steroids and anticoagulants."

https://www.elynsgroup.com/journal/...-tinnitus-associated-with-sudden-hearing-loss

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih...nts-equally-effective-against-sudden-deafness

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111479

https://www.drugs.com/answers/can-prednisone-cause-ringing-humming-in-the-180307.html

 

Is it possible to get a prednisone prescription without an audiogram showing hearing loss?
I am having terrible tinnitus and ear pain, but the audiologists said they don't prescribe prednisone unless there is hearing loss.

 

I'm not sure. I think it depends on the doctor. This is one of the biggest challenges we seem to face, getting a doctor to understand the crucial time window we have at the outset of a hearing injury. Sadly many people learn about what prednisone might have done to help them after the effective time window has passed. And those who did get to a doctor in time have the challenge of getting the doctor to prescribe it.