Tinnitus from Gunshots: Here I'm Joining the Party

Hi everyone, I've been a long time lurker and finally just made an account. I figured maybe I can document my journey here and hope I can help someone, even if it's just lending an ear.

I work in a field where I work with firearms occasionally. Normally we wear inner and outer protection and I never had issue with it and shot thousands of rounds without it affecting my ears. There was one instance a couple months ago when I was at an indoor range that I had my inner ears in but forgot to put my outer ones on, and shot off 2 rounds from a 9mm. I was with other people with 9mm as well so cumulatively it was probably 20 rounds or so. I fumbled to get my outer ears on but it was too late. My ears rang loud for a good 3 minutes before it went away, but ever since then I hear a constant ringing in my right ear only when it's relatively quiet. It fluctuates and some days are louder than others. I believe I have hyperacusis as well since it seems to be reactive to loud sounds.

It's been devastating to say the least, but not debilitating like some others have it. Unfortunately I still have to work with firearms so my anxiety is through the roof for our next session.

Anyway, nice to meet you all and wishing we can all recover from this horrible hellscape.

 

@manapuas, sorry you are here. Hopefully you will heal, and never have to go thru this again. I also got my tinnitus from shooting. That was almost 8 months ago, and I have experienced improvement! The tinnitus seems to be slooooooooowwwwwly and subtly getting quieter. And I turned a corner on the anxiety/sleepless nights after about 4-5 months. I have hope that it will continue to heal and the tinnitus will keep fading.

2023 kinda sucked. But I am determined to get back to full living in 2024... tinnitus or not!

I say all this to encourage you to stay strong. The first few months are rough, no doubt. But you will get better and/or adapt.

Good luck to you!

 

That is great to hear you're slowly improving. I can't say I've noticed any improvement yet but some days seem better than others. I haven't been the best on taking supplements since I hate taking pills. Have you been taking anything or just letting time do its thing?

Likewise, 2023 sucked for me as well lol. For sure we should make the new year better than the last. I think we owe it to ourselves to not let this stop us from living life.

 

I have taken more Vitamin C, in addition to my daily multi-vitamin... but that's it. I eat pretty healthy, haven't smoked in over a decade, and exercise regularly. Mid-50s and married. Just trying to stay in quiet surroundings, and let Mother nature and time heal me as they may.

Sounds like you and I are relatively lucky, as it sounds like we are both in the mild-moderate tinnitus range. So many people here that would chew their arm off to be where we are. Here's to a happier 2024, for all of us dealing with this stuff.

 

You bet.

 

I saw an ENT yesterday who manually removed a little bit of earwax from my ears.

Afterwards I took an extended audiogram and scored perfectly on it. Ever since then though I feel like the ringing in my ear has spiked, as 2 of the frequencies were a little uncomfortable, but definitely not loud by any means.

Could the audiogram have made my ringing worse? Or am I just stressing? My ears definitely feel a little more sensitive since the appointment. I didn't take any other tests besides the audiogram.

 

Yet another example of an ENT making tinnitus worse. Though they will never think they did.

All sound tests carried out by ENT/audiologist can be quite sound intrusive and hence the propensity to worsen tinnitus.

 

Even if it was just an audiogram? It's the only test they did and it seemed like most people tolerate it pretty well.

I honestly can't tell if it's getting better or staying the same. I've been stressing out about it and not sure if it's contributing to making it worse.

 

I honestly don’t think an audiogram would worsen your tinnitus, some of the other tests they can do are extremely noise intensive, but you probably got a higher decibel of noise on the way to the ENT’s office than the audiogram itself.

 

Yet, for me it did. My first ever really bad morning was after the first ENT/audiologist visit. I refused all tests, except the audiogram. I woke up to a head full of tinnitus, and cried for the first time in 30+ years. This was approximately 3.5 weeks after the initial acoustic trauma and I had pretty mild tinnitus until that point. I have a hard time believing it myself, maybe something got fucked up in the brain, but got fucked up nevertheless.

 

With audiograms, they just keep upping the decibels until you hear the frequency.

That can do damage, no doubt!

 

Are you certain they only did an audiogram? There are several other tests that can be performed while wearing the headphones/earphones they provide. Some of them are quite loud.

 

I got a spike after my last audiogram, but I was also very stressed about it.

 

Serious cases won't get a spike, they'll get a permanent worsening.

 

Very positive they only did the audiogram. None of it was loud at all, just two of the frequencies were uncomfortable to sit through but wasn't loud by any means. Once it was done they took me out of the booth and went over my results.

Did the spike subside? I'm on day three now and it seems like it's slowly getting better.

Mine was pretty mild too, and I thought an audiogram would be super safe since everyone on Tinnitus Talk them with no issues. I don't know if it's because I'm freaking out right now but I definitely feel like I hear a new tone after that appointment. But I'm unsure if it's from the test or the earwax removal. Regardless, I'm just regretting even going honestly. I'm just praying that it will go back to how it was before :/

Any reason you can think of for the spike? I'm unsure if it's from the audiogram or the earwax removal (which wasn't a whole lot but surely felt uncomfortable - it was only a manual removal).

 

I guess I am one of the fortunate damned then.

Yes, after about a week.

 

I can't believe I've never really thought about that.

 

I’d put my money on the earwax removal over the audiogram.

 

Thanks, I'm hoping so. It seems like everyday it gets a smidge better.

 

INSANE!

 

Insane, yes. But the honest answer is yes, people do. I personally wouldn't though.

You're asking to make it worse. Perhaps see if you can get a medical note for work explaining you need 6 months to heal from auditory injury and cannot be at a range?

It may go away within 6 months. I still wouldn't advise shooting guns after that.

Imagine having what you have in one ear in both ears, and louder.

I got mine from a concert and it was improving. I went to a NYE party with a DJ and now I have a new tone in one ear...

So weigh the pros and cons carefully...