Tinnitus Due to Loud Noise!

Hi all,

My name is Steve. back in January 2013, I had a loud personal security alarm pulled in my ear from a co-worker. Immediately after, I experienced fullness in my ear and sensitivity to high pitched noise. I also heard cracking when opening my jaw wide. After 3 months elapsed, I experienced no further symptoms. I did go to the ENT during this time and nothing was found. I had reoccuring symptoms on and off that would last 1-2 days up until September. I was at a bar w/ a loud band playing and starting to experience discomfort after. Mostly sensitivity to loud noise, but nothing debilitating. I was at work (loud, heavy metal doors througthout the building) and the harsh noise aggravated my symptoms and everything was magnified by 50 %. I had headaches in my temple, forehead, and the back of my head. I was very sensitive to sound and about 2 weeks I began to hear ringing in my right ear (ear in which the alarm was pulled.) It was very seldom at first and just last night I heard it from the evening up until now ! I still have pain in my temples and still have discomfort in my teeth. The ENT said my jaw looks fine and very minimal cracking when opening my mouth. So he eliminated the idea that TMJ is the problem. He said that tlike the first instance, everything should calm down and pain should subside. But the ringing is still there! I also want to mention that the ngiht before the ringing started i began taking flexerol (muscle relaxat) and have been taking ibuprofen and acetomenophin. I don't know if the medication exacerbated the problem or what! But is it possible this won't go away ?? The pain in my head has been subsiding . I am just worried about the ringing.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thnks

 

Welcome to the forums Steven, usually, tinnitus due to noise exposure is that hardest to treat as there are no treatments as of today.

It can still dissapear but science doesn't know if it's permanent or not. If it doesn't go away, you'll have to train to ignore it as it's usually not a sign of any disease. I don't know about flexerol but some meds can trigger tinnitus

 

For the moment try to stay calm and not focus on the riniging.
It can still go away if it only started in September and has been permanent for only 1 day but unfortunately as James White mentioned, is also possible that it will stay forever because there currently is no proven treatment...for the future you should always protect your ears next time you go to a noisy event/bar/club, that's very important and you should also be careful with ibuprofen, as a common side effect of it is Tinnitus.