Tinnitus from a Bike Tire Explosion

Hello,

8 days ago (the 17th of November) my wife was pumping air into my bicycle tire while I was holding the hose when suddenly the tire exploded. This was in a small bicycle garage so the extremely high sound got even worse than it would outside. My ears were just about 15-20 cm (5-8 inches) away from the tire when it exploded and since that day I have had tinnitus in both my ears... It was the loudest sound I ever heard and my ears so close to the BANG... The first week have been a roller coaster of emotions, the first days I guess I was in a bit of denial and I continued using headphones listening to podcasts and music, I wish I hadn't since I have now learned doing that can even worsen the tinnitus. Later that week I got really sad when it didn't disappear. I now try to accept that this is how I will live for the rest of my life, but it is so hard.

I've always had such a big respect for my ears and always used earplugs at concerts or at nightclubs or other loud places. Tinnitus is a condition I've always been extremely frightened of getting. I feel so sad that a stupid and relatively rare thing like an exploded bicycle tire is the cause for my tinnitus. I think these stupid thoughts - "Why me? I have never been careless with my ears so why did this have to happen to me? Why did I go into that bike garage that evening with my wife to get my bicycle battery and saw that the wheel had no air in it?" Also my 3 month old baby was in a stroller in the bike garage with us when it happened and I am also afraid that the explosion have hurt his ears... I realize I can't change what has happened but I have all these thoughts running through my head all day.

The tinnitus has not gotten any better since it happened, I would say it has even gotten a little worse. I hear the high pitch ringing in both my ears all day long, when I'm in a quiet room the ringing is really loud. I have also become a bit sound sensitive and my hearing is a little worse on my right ear.

Since I've had the tinnitus for over a week now with no progress I really don't think it is going to disappear. I only hope I am going to accept to live with it. If it wasn't for my newborn baby I think I would be in total depression right now, but I am a father now so I feel I have to take responsibility and not give up on life because of this happening, but it's so hard. I think about the ringing in my ears almost 24/7.

 

Give it time, your tinnitus might fade over time, and maybe go away completely. But it can take a long time.

 

Welcome to the forum, Winter. My deep empathy for what you are going through. But please don't despair. You have suffered from a sudden acoustic trauma of the tire blowing up and tinnitus is caused by it. You will probably get some degree of sound sensitivity called hyperacusis. Everything will sound louder or that the tinnitus sounds like it is reactive to noises. How I know this? I have similar experiences dealing with high pitched loud tinnitus and hyperacusis after an acoustic trauma (fixing a faulty smoke alarm). But tinnitus can be caused by many other factors too. However for patients with a new tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma, it is often advised by members here to take a prednisone or steriod treatment asap. It will help reduce the inflammation in the inner ears and for some it will help reduce the tinnitus.

Saying that, it is not a guarantee that tinnitus will go away completely. Even if it stays, life is not lost. People will find ways to habituate to tinnitus and live a normal, even happy life. So don't lose heart. Try to read as many success stories as you can. They can help lift your spirit and reduce your anxiety. They also contain insights and wisdom from those who have gotten better. I was in a mess a few years back afflicted with ultra high pitched dog whistle T and severe hyperacusis which turned all normal sounds unbearably loud and piercingly hurtful. I also had relentless anxiety and panic attacks. I never thought I could recover and have a good life again. But here I am living a normal and absolutely enjoyable life. I list some pointers in my success story which have helped me greatly. If you wish to read it, here is the link:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

You may want also to read the most read success story ‘Back to Silence’ with a simple effective strategy by IWLM:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

There are a lot of things you can learn from TT forum to help you get better. Don't panic and don't despair. There is a high probability that you will be just fine and enjoy good life with your baby and your family again. Just believe it. Take good care & God bless.

 

While it is certainly possible that the above is true, there is still a reasonable chance that after 2-4 months your tinnitus will begin to fade. If that happens, you will likely eventually (12-24 months) get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage, or even get to hear silence again. I think that for now it is safe to assume that the sound that you will end up being stuck with will be different from what you have been hearing.

The first 3-6 months are the worst, but it gets better. In the worst case scenario, there is a chance that you will habituate. Some people habituate in less than a year. Others take 2 years or more, but it does happen.

Just make sure to not hurt your ears a second time, as now your ears are probably more vulnerable than they were before your accident.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

Thank you Mymlan and billie48 for your replies.
I really do hope it will get better and even disappear, I am trying to stay positive.

billie48- Unfortunately the doctors here in Sweden don't give out prescription on prednisone for tinnitus for some reason. It seems to be standard in the US but not here. I have read some stories here of bad side effects of prednisone though, so perhaps it doesn't matter. Prednisone seems to worsen sleep also and I need to sleep to get through this awful period (I guess the first months are the worse)...

Since yesterday I take curcumin tablets, eat dried blueberries and will also try vitamin B from today. Before the noise shock that caused my tinnitus I was already eating vitamin D and magnesium and I have continued since the tinnitus started, I've read magnesium could help. Not really that hopeful the vitamins and curcumin will help the tinnitus but it can't hurt so I'll try anything. Alcohol seems to have no affect, I have been drinking some nights (a couple of beers) to relax from the tinnitus, helps a little bit but will ensure I'm not going to self medicate with alcohol, definitely no long term solution to problems. Notice no difference in tinnitus sound with coffee either, so I'll continue drinking that. I have started using earplugs while cycle to work because I'm really afraid of it getting worse. I just wish I didn't use the headphones with music the first week when I got the tinnitus, I wish I'd let my ears rest from sound but I guess there's nothing I can do about that now - have to think forward.

 

Hey Winter

The onset is hard for the majority I think. But it does get better. I went straight to the psyciatric hospital and couldnt see any way how I would do anything again, or be able to be something for my kids anymore. I was pretty fragile already before the T started, so it was a hard blow.

I still have a lot of "bad" days, but I also have good ones. Very good ones. Even when the T is at its worse, I can have good days. If there is something I can look forward to, the T isnt the most important anymore. But it took me about ½-1 year to get there. The path to get there isnt an easy one, but its worth the travel.

I hope that it can lift your spirit a bit to hear from others that things does get better. My former father in law also has T and he was about to go crazy when he got it. He's kind of old fashined about things, so he just kept doing what he did, and he said that one day he just stoped caring about the sound in his head. And he said that I would too. And some days I actually dont. There is more important things to do and care about.

Congratulations on becoming a father. You have your motivation right there. One day you will find the same feeling where the T doesnt matter all that much anymore.

I wouldnt worry too much about using headphones early on. We are all different, but it normally takes quite a lot to hurt your ears with headphones. Listening at moderate volume doesnt hurt you. I use earphones daily to put my attention to something else, and its the best thing for me. When I was really down, all I would do was to sit with my Ipad and earphones and watch someone doing something on Twitch. Just to get a bit of ditraction. Turning it up too high is the problem. I would keep it so I could hear people arround me. Thats a pretty good indicator of a moderate level I think.

Things does get better buddy. Youre not alone, and youre not alone with the feeling that you did something stupid. That thought was burning in my head for a long time, but Im past that now. Im at a nother step now, but Ill get through that one too. And so will you. I understand the feeling that you should have been careful arround the tire, but usually nothing happens. It was a feak accident and it happens to so many people. If you would have an accident in a car, you would maybe have gotten T from the airbag next to your head. Accidents happen all the time, and it happened to so many of us. Yeah many maybe could have done something to protect our ears, if we had known what the danger was. But we dont. Its not easy to get rid of the thought, but it will fade away.

Your mind is fragile at the moment, so be careful what you expose yourself to. Frustration is contagious.

You will make it. You can get through all this and get out the other end doing just fine. Believe in it, and let the time heal the wounds.

Feel free to reach out neighbour. Youre not alone. Greeting from Denmark ;-)

/Daniel

 

The beginning is the worst I promise more from a psychological point of view than anything. All the feelings of remorse and what ifs are totally normal too. Don't worry about the headphones, they won't have made any difference to whatever your outcome is, just don't use them again. The hardest part is overcoming it in every sense of the word.

In time if it still is there it won't be as intense as it is now and there is every chance it could disappear still. That is a pro and a con though. You are likely to get very depressed when it's still there each morning and for me it was only after learning how to deal with it each night by masking and coming to terms with it being permanent that I could start to forget it and live my life again. I use my laptop playing YouTube videos and my phone with an app on it under my pillow btw. This helps tremendously at night, the rest of the time I don't really notice it unless in a quiet room/situation. It was so much worse for a good 3 or 4 months than it is now 2 years later. I don't really know what else to say other than masking it like I said really is the only thing which will help to keep you sane. I feel for you. It's devastating and so shortly after becoming a father. Life is like that sometimes unfortunately.

 

No worries. This things happens.
I don’t think you hurted your ears further. The important thing is that you now stoped using headphones.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Last night when I went to bed was probably the worst feeling yet since I got tinnitus. The ringing was really load and I got this claustrophobic feeling and my heart started beating really fast. I started some rain sleeping sounds on a speaker and eventually calmed down. My wife couldn't sleep in the same room as me for the speaker so she slept in the guest room. So the tinnitus is affecting my marrige now also, feel really sad about it all.

No progress at all with the ringing. Day 10 now since the tinnitus started. The first two days it was milder than the sound of it now, I think. Day 3 - 10 pretty much the same. Maybe gotten a little worse each day even. Perhaps that has to do with me loosing more and more hope of it disappearing, and that makes the tinnitus worse. I don't know...

Yesterday I called the health center and booked a meeting with a general practitioner. I want to do a hearing test just to see if I got any hearing loss from the accident. IF I can convince my GP to write a prescription on prednisone (or other cortisone pills) should I take them? It will be the 11th day since the tinnitus started from the explosion, and from my understanding the cortisone pills works best if you take them within a couple of days after a sound trauma?

I do not use any headphones or in-ears since this week, but I have a question - why would listening to low sounding podcasts or music with low volume with headphones be any worse than going out in the street listening to cars or people yelling etc? I don't understand why the headphones (with low vol) is so damaging compared to other sounds?

 

Met a GP this morning and he actually gave me prednisolon pills, but only 15 mg per day for 5 days. I think that's way to little of a dose but he said the pills can have bad side affects otherwise and that it hasn't been any studies showing results of it working either so I'll take these pills even though I am very hesitant it will do any good. I also had a panic attack at work today, I almost fainted and started crying and had to lay down on the floor with a super high pulse. =( This has never happened to me before, this is the hardest thing I've had to go through.
Yesterday I also started to cry in front of my wife and we talked about how the tinnitus has effected me. I feel in a way my life is over. But I can't give up.

 

In-ears produce much more sound pressure than any other sound source at the same volume. They should be banned. Open back headphones should theoretically be better. I got tinnitus from using headphones at human conversation levels, if I didn't get it from some other unknown reason.

You have gotten a taste for how horrible tinnitus is. Think very hard about if you really need headphones, because using them is a risk even if it's a small risk. Your current tinnitus can get MUCH worse if you don't do the right things from now on. And it can also potentially get MUCH better if you do the right things, like avoiding headphones.

If you go to ENTs and so on, be very wary about what they say and the tests they perform. Avoid tympanometropany. They know almost nothing about tinnitus unfortunately and following their advice can make your T much worse, as was the case for me. They can't help you much except doing hearing tests in the human voice range. Although I loaned in-ear maskers that I don't use. In other countries people pay like 3000 dollars for these so that's good I guess.

I live in Sweden too and just ordered waaay to much NAC. Do some reading on NAC and I can send you some if you trust random people giving you powders, which I usually would not advise... I live in Stockholm if you'd prefer to meet. Otherwise, all this NAC will spoil before I can use it.

 

What you're going through is normal in the early stages. Things will get better, if not entirely good. I had several severe panic attacks on the subway, on the bus etc during the very first months.

 

@Winter your in for the battle of your life but don't give up hope man. I got t from a one time acoustic trauma 4 years ago. if you have any questions pm me. Best of luck

 

Thank you. Did your tinnitus get better?

 

Thanks for the offer but I don't think the NAC will help. Seems nothing really does. What advice did they give you that made your tinnitus worse? What is in-ear maskers?

 

I took 20 mg prednisolon today (thought I would take 20mg then 10 mg the last day instead of 15mg per day), seems people here take more first day instad of same dose every day. Anyway, I got this wierd feelings in my legs, like they are totally week. Is this because of the prednisolon? Should I just stop taking them since it's been 11 days since the noise trauma and I got this low dose instead of "real" dose that seems to be 60mg to start? It seems stupid taking this if it only gives me side affects and no real chance of helping with the tinnitus?

 

Yours is likely to go away, I think. It's too early to tell. Try NAC, that is proven to work for acoustic trauma, if started early. Don't overdo it. It worked for me also. I think I would quit the steroids also. I feel that it's going to do more harm than good.

 

First, your life is not over... it may be different, or never the same, or your previous life is over.

Can you change what happened? No. Were you unlucky, yes... we all are.

Try to get over the “what if’s, “ or “if I had only done this.” It’s difficult but we have all lived through it.
It’s an adjustment... there are life changing events... good and bad... having kids... parents passing, getting tinnitus.

Just move on, stop holding your ears to test the levels... it will be there and just disappoint you, and who needs that?

I think your Prednisone was too low, but it’s not a miracle drug. I was on 60mg for a week, then stepped down... no bad side affects... but I didn’t feel 100% “right” either.

It’s been 11 days for you, if you can take 4x15mg for 3 days or more... you can try but the benefits will be lower than right after... but again... it’s not a cure all... not at all.
I saw no benefits, and when I came off... my tinnitus got worse... I think it was suppressed by the Prednisone.

If you feel weird with 15-20mg, and 11 days out...it might not be worth it.

The good news...you were outside, you are relatively young....time heals all wounds...somewhat anyway.

Good luck

 

No I wasn’t outside. As I wrote in my first post I was in a small bike garage, that definitely made the extreme sound even louder. =(

Perhaps I’ll just quit the Prednisolon. I just can’t see it helping really. Too small dose and too late I think. If someone thinks otherwise please tell me.

 

What kind of NAC should I buy?

 

No, they said my tinnitus wasn't noise induced and that it wasn't caused by sound exposure from headphones. I was naive to trust a doctor to know these things. My tinnitus became 10x worse from headphone use 6 months after I was told that.

I should have thought for myself, but I was busy living a good life and didn't really obsess over it which I do now with all health related stuff. I didn't think tinnitus would totally destroy my life in the near future. I had never even heard people say headphones were dangerous unless used on very high volume which I never did, I just used them for too long

I have in-ear maskers that I don't use right now. They can possibly help hyperacusis but they don't mask my T at all so it just seems pointless to me. I surround myself with sound all the time anyway. I love my noisy fridge!

 

Yes!! Beg for these pills! Take them in the morning. Start with 3 days of 60 mg, then taper it down with 10 mg daily. (so 60,60,60,50,40,30,20,10,10,10). If it is not working, and you have the money: try hyperbaric oxygen therapy / HBOT...

 

Unfortunately the dose is too small... I also tried low doses (40 mg) with acoustic traumas but my experience is not good... does not work for me...

 

If anyone is interested I stopped with the prednisolon after just one day. Since the GP gave me to week of a dose I feel it is not going to do any good. Reading on this forum I am not convinced of the benifits taking it this long after an acoustic shock anyway.

 

My tinnitus is worse today than ever before. Could it be from one dose of 20mg prednisolon? I’m scared because my tinnitus is getting worse and not better.

 

Umm i dont know about better but i can just tolerate it more. It has its ups and downs

 

My T is crazy loud in my right ear (would say 200% worse than before) The right ear was the least ringning ear before yesterday. Any chance of it going back to the ”normal” tinnitus in that ear? Don’t know what I’ve done wrong.

 

Winter, it is quite common for a new tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma to change or morph into different symptoms, such as different tones, even changing ears. It can also appear louder, which may be the case or may be it is our perception. You see at this new phase, our limbic nerves system is activated to 'protect' us from a seeming threat 'tinnitus' and so all our senses are now focused on this ringing making it sound louder even if the ringing hasn't changed much. The other issues can be due to mounting stress and anxiety by these changing symptoms that can aggravate tinnitus.

Knowing that, it is best to budget a period of time, usually 6 to 18 months, for our tinnitus to get better. Not saying that T will disappear. It is that it may appear less loud and less intrusive after some time, especially if we stay positive and calm for some time. There is no definitely time table but this is a general pattern for new acoustic trauma induced tinnitus. So don't lose heart. Be patient. The body will take some time to heal. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

 

Thanks for the respons. Do you think it was stupid to stop prednisolon after one day (only got really small dose) should I take four more days of small dose (15mg).

 

Tinnitus fluctuates all of the time, and especially during the "early days". You need to give it time to stabilize.

Regarding Prednisone, it probably doesn't matter, as the dose that you have is too small.

Your tinnitus will probably not go away any time soon, but I am still hopeful that you will see a lot of improvement after a year or two.