Hello everyone,
I've just joined the forum, and like many of you, feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to turn.
In October of last year, I was in my cousin's backyard after the Chicago Cubs had just won the playoffs to make the world series, on a nice warm October evening. However, in celebration, his neighbor lit off a firecracker, then fired his shotgun three times into the air. He's a real winner. It all happened fast, didn't have time to really react or plug my ears. I was fine for the next couple days after, but have since developed tinnitus and hyperacusis. There were others in the yard at the time though, and as far as I know, I'm the only one suffering from this.
The tinnitus came first, though with a fullness feeling in the ears I now understand to be hyperacusis. Took me a while to fully understand H, though. I started with my general doctor who didn't seem concerned about the loud noise and wrote off the T and fullness as being related to sinus pressure, because lucky me, I also suffer from that and was experiencing sinus pain at the time of this incident as well. As such, I wasn't as immediately protective of my ears as I should/could have been. Restaurants seemed louder to me, but not "too loud". Even went to a concert, though I always wear earplugs and have for many years now (though not in my earlier years, so maybe that is now catching up to me).
Two visits to an ENT, including a CAT scan of my sinuses, and I now know and understand more about T and H, though even the ENT did not mention H on my first visit.
Since October, the T did get better, even to a point where I didn't need blue or violet noise to fall asleep to for a week or so, but I feel like general everyday ambient noise has kept it going, and contributed to worsening H. Right now, it's the worst it's been the entire time. The ringing is so loud it hurts, I can feel the pressure in my ears from a mouse click, and normal conversation level is loud. I'm still trying to live my life, but all I want to do is stay home with my ears covered. I'm going to work, and it's a typical office environment, so no too loud, but this week it is painful - I just want to stay home, but I don't know how to approach that. Mainly, right now I'm worried I've made things worse since the initial incident by not immediately taking every precaution possible.
Even coming to this forum and other sites for help, I feel like there's so much conflicting information, especially around hyperacusis, that I feel completely lost. My next step is an Audiologist appointment, but could not get one for a few weeks yet.
If you've read this far, thank you, I welcome any advice you may have from personal experience, words of encouragement, etc. I have just joined this forum, so just starting to explore others stories and try and learn more.
I've just joined the forum, and like many of you, feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to turn.
In October of last year, I was in my cousin's backyard after the Chicago Cubs had just won the playoffs to make the world series, on a nice warm October evening. However, in celebration, his neighbor lit off a firecracker, then fired his shotgun three times into the air. He's a real winner. It all happened fast, didn't have time to really react or plug my ears. I was fine for the next couple days after, but have since developed tinnitus and hyperacusis. There were others in the yard at the time though, and as far as I know, I'm the only one suffering from this.
The tinnitus came first, though with a fullness feeling in the ears I now understand to be hyperacusis. Took me a while to fully understand H, though. I started with my general doctor who didn't seem concerned about the loud noise and wrote off the T and fullness as being related to sinus pressure, because lucky me, I also suffer from that and was experiencing sinus pain at the time of this incident as well. As such, I wasn't as immediately protective of my ears as I should/could have been. Restaurants seemed louder to me, but not "too loud". Even went to a concert, though I always wear earplugs and have for many years now (though not in my earlier years, so maybe that is now catching up to me).
Two visits to an ENT, including a CAT scan of my sinuses, and I now know and understand more about T and H, though even the ENT did not mention H on my first visit.
Since October, the T did get better, even to a point where I didn't need blue or violet noise to fall asleep to for a week or so, but I feel like general everyday ambient noise has kept it going, and contributed to worsening H. Right now, it's the worst it's been the entire time. The ringing is so loud it hurts, I can feel the pressure in my ears from a mouse click, and normal conversation level is loud. I'm still trying to live my life, but all I want to do is stay home with my ears covered. I'm going to work, and it's a typical office environment, so no too loud, but this week it is painful - I just want to stay home, but I don't know how to approach that. Mainly, right now I'm worried I've made things worse since the initial incident by not immediately taking every precaution possible.
Even coming to this forum and other sites for help, I feel like there's so much conflicting information, especially around hyperacusis, that I feel completely lost. My next step is an Audiologist appointment, but could not get one for a few weeks yet.
If you've read this far, thank you, I welcome any advice you may have from personal experience, words of encouragement, etc. I have just joined this forum, so just starting to explore others stories and try and learn more.
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