Tinnitus and Hyperacusis in Only One Ear Caused by Dud Nail Gun Charge — Construction Worker/Drummer

On December 8th while at work using a nail gun my coworker told me that if I take a dud charge home (they are basically a small gun powder round) and hit it with a hammer that it would go off like a firecracker. Me being the curious yet obviously not careful enough person I am, did this as soon as I got home yet before I hit it I turned my eyes away from the blast which was stupid for it put my right ear directly towards the blast. I was not wearing hearing protection. I almost never do, for work or for playing drums or even going to live shows which I used to do a whole lot before COVID-19. I’ve felt temporary tinnitus before but it always subsided in at most an hour.

After the blast I noticed ringing in both ears but the left subsided in minutes, the right ear was far different. The ring was far more intense and the ear physically hurt enough for me to get seriously worried. I looked online and it claimed most cases of even extreme tinnitus go away in up to 2 weeks yet sometimes it can be lifelong. After a day I started to have manic tearful episodes in front of my girlfriend and family over the ring. I couldn’t see my life continuing even close to the same way it did before. I saw an audiologist and she performed a hearing test and saw above average hearing in both ears. This gave me a small amount of hope but she also recommended an ENT if it kept bothering me.

Since that first week I noticed smoking marijuana, something I love to do for it seems to help me get through many shittier things in life, only makes the ring far far worse. This added to the depression. The next weekend I stopped smoking for a week to see what would happen. During this time I felt the tinnitus seem to get a little quieter and I saw the ENT but she found nothing after just a quick examination with a microscope.

Recently I also noticed the tinnitus was reactive and did compete with all normal external and internal noises and if I heard loud enough things the tinnitus would be louder after. My right ear popped far easier, and in the shower I noticed that the water crashing sounded horribly distorted in my right ear (hyperacusis). I then noticed any loud sound I heard was distorted in that ear. Even my own voice sounded far different in one ear (this drove me up the wall) I also noticed dull sore type of pain and a sense of pressure after exposing myself to loud enough sounds to hear the distortion.

I yesterday tried to smoke marijuana again since I was hypothesizing that the reduction in tinnitus was only from me being sober. I feel as I was correct. After smoking 2 separate times the ring seemed to get much louder after 30 mins and would stay that way until the effects wore off. It reminded me of how intense it was the first week, the week I was continuing to smoke. I haven’t had much a problem sleeping yet since if I stay in a quiet room with a fan on and no other noise I don’t hear the distortion or much of the ring (unless I’m laying on that ear).

Today marks 2 weeks since the incident And my life seems completely ruined. I’ve been avoiding band practice, work, music, movies, family dinners, friends and anything else with noise. I cry in episodes almost every day. I’ve had 1 good day in all this where I was noticeably drunk although I hate drinking. I don’t know what brings me joy anymore other than my girlfriend. I love her to the heavens and back and at this point have made it my only goal in life to help her and our future children to be the absolute best they can be for I feel that this has truly destroyed me. I have thought about suicide but decided against it for that if I can try to bare this hell for them I should. I only want to live life for them and fight through this for them. I don’t see any other real joy coming out of anything. I’ve tried using hearing protection (over ear noise cancelling headphones) during drumming and work but it simply isolates the tinnitus and drives me crazy. I just want it to be over! I feel like I keep tricking myself into thinking it is or will get better only for it to prove that it’s not. I’m becoming phobic of any loud noise and isolating myself all the time. Earplugs make my ear burn. While my audiologist detected no hearing loss, I do feel I have it especially in super high frequencies or at least my left ear can hear those frequencies far easier. Part of the reason it’s been so agonizing is the fact that I have my left ear to compare it to. I know what the other SHOULD feel like. I feel like the whole right side of my head has a dentist drill in it at full blast. I’ve never dealt with much anxiety/depression but I’m feeling it now.

I’ve been all over this site and I want to hear from any of you about what I can do to help myself. I don’t like taking drugs (other than weed) and would have a bit of a moral issue with a prescription of any kind.

Could this LIKELY still go away on its own? Because at this point I’ve convinced myself it won’t.

I heard that hyperacusis can be incredibly difficult to go away and most never get rid of it. Will it always make my ear hurt or could that just be my ear still healing? Will it get worse? Should I try to live my life as before albeit a lot more careful? Could I still go to music shows if I wear ear protection? My driving force in life was my drums. Now I feel that’s ruined. Should I still try and play? Or will doing these things only risk further damage? Should I try to just ignore the pain and hear normal noises that now cause me agony or should I avoid them? Could I ever smoke weed without regretting it again?

I feel that I had my whole life ahead of me with amazing potential and now all of that is thrown out.

 

Hey man, your situation sounds very similar to how mine was. I never wore hearing protection for anything at work or play, and then one night out essentially blew my ears up at a retardedly loud High on Fire gig. Following that I had the garden variety of battered ear symptoms, (loud tinnitus, ear popping, burning and fullness in the canal, sound sensitivity around abrasive noises, and mangled muffled hearing. I ended up leaving my semi-noisy job and descending into a year of loathsome depression. I gave up on life and and was passively suicidal. I also quit smoking weed cold turkey after literally being high for 4 years straight. I had the absolute worst REM rebound, and a full blown sleep paralysis episode. So I totally feel your pain.

I haven't gotten around to writing a success story yet, but I want you to know that after a year of rest, I have significantly improved. Like 90% back to normal. And I have two hearing tests 6 months apart that demonstrated an audiometric improvement. My tinnitus went back down to its pre-concert levels, and my ears don't pop, burn, or crackle as much, and the muddied hearing has cleared up. I'm also having less issue hearing against background noise. Oh yeah, and I'm back to my old ways of smoking way, way too much cannabis. And it barely spikes me now if at all. I'm also listening to more abrasive metal again, like raw 2nd wave black metal with no issues (Hail Darkthrone).

Hang in there my dude. Ears are still in general a giant fuckin' mystery, even to the so called specialists. One thing is for certain, they can take a long ass time to heal, so bear with it brother. Shoot me a message if you have any questions or if you just need to vent. It's nice to see a fellow metalhead on the forum, I was gettin' kinda lonely, lol

 

Bro... did you actually say hail Darkthrone??? My homie!!! Your message is giving me tons of hope.

Do you play an instrument? Along with drums I do vocals and bass guitar. Yes, I can scream... both guttural lows and black metal as fuck highs. NO CLEAN SINGING!!!

 

My buddy has given me a couple guitar lessons but that's about it for me unfortunately. I mainly just consume metal (and weed, always in tandem) rather than produce it. But it's still like, my life lol.

And ya I basically worship Fenriz so yup you heard me correctly, HAIL FUCKING DARKTHRONE! IN THE SHADOW OF THE HORNS!!! I'd say Darkthrone, Immortal (with Abbath), and Mgła are my top 3 black metal bands. Also quite fond of Marduk, Inquisition, and Gorgoroth!

Lol and no clean vocals, ever!

 

I also worship Abbath. Saw him Oct '19 and he killed it!

 

Hell yeah! Out of the bands you mentioned I like Marduk the best. Their drummer's insane speeds make the music sound like war, I love that.