Tinnitus from Loud Concert — Doctor Suspects Costochondritis & Presribed Steroids and Ibuprofen

Hello all,

My name is Shelby. I just recently... and I mean very recently developed tinnitus from a very loud concert. Now I know this was idiotic of me but even when I first walked in I realized I hadn’t brought any ear protection, which I’ve recently started doing. This was the loudest and biggest concert I’ve ever been to (plus I was seated towards front). The friend I went with is fine but I’m not. So it makes sense in some way to me that my t hasn’t gotten better.

I’m still in the beginning stages though it’s been about 3-4 days. It seems like now it’s mostly in my right ear (I can’t tell thought could be in left as well) and I can hear it when I’m in a quiet room or alone. I can slightly hear it with other noises if I focus on it but I’ve been reading to try to ignore it as much. It’s sort of a constant tone. A ringing.

Figured I would join this group for some information, advice, and some support. I’m not sure when or if this will go away.

A separate issue: my doctor thinks I have Costochondritis and prescribed some meds, steroids and ibuprofen, which I read are bad for tinnitus.

 

Those loud concerts are ridiculously loud. Avoid them like the plague! If you are hearing the tinnitus when you are in a quiet room, then this is at the lower end of the scale, and this is a good chance it will reduce in volume over the next few months if you avoid further noise exposure. Make sure to have ear plugs with you at all times, and no more rock concerts for sure. Look around as this has a lot of potential to get tons worse.

 

All I can tell you is when I first got tinnitus ENT prescribed prednisone for 8 days. I do not recall a spike. However, this is my experience. If I’d had read it causes spikes I would not have taken it. Do not do anything that you feel uneasy about. Go with your gut. God Bless. Peace.

 

Thank you! They absolutely are! I normally only go to smaller venues and shows and even then I would wear things. I’m truly hoping this will eventually get better! I can’t tell how loud it is when I’m around other noises as I’m trying to habituate to it in case it doesn’t go away. It’s mostly hard when I’m trying to sleep and when I wake up or in room alone. I’ve been playing rain noises for sleep,

 

Prednisone is often prescribed as a treatment for acute noise injury, it actually helps many people. It may actually give you a better outcome.

Ibuprofen is technically ototoxic but doesn't seem to cause a problem for most people except in high or prolonged doses. I personally wouldn't take it immediately after a noise injury, but that's just me.

Hopefully you will get other opinions, too. It's a good sign that your tinnitus is manageable at this point. In a lot of cases it will probably settle down even further.

 

You are where many people get to after a year or two. So you haven't hurt your ears as badly as many here. It will likely eventually switch to a hiss and fade. But even if it won't, after a year or two you ought to get used to it (given how quiet it is) and it ought to stop bothering you that it's there.

Make sure to not hurt your ears again, especially during the vulnerable time of healing. It probably isn't a good idea to go to concerts anymore, even with protection.

 

@Shelbylynn
Short term use of prednisone may be worth a shot to reduce any inflammation. It is commonly prescribed for noise induced tinnitus.

I personally would not take the ibuprofen. This always caused my tinnitus to spike and I know of many others with tinnitus that had the same problem.

Hopefully your tinnitus will fade away, but protect your ears from loud noise to avoid more damage.

 

Thank you so much! I think I’m going to go to urgent care tomorrow and see what they say. Like I said it’s been a few days but I just developed what feels like an ear ache in my more affected ear? Is that normal with noise injury should I be concerned? I haven’t had any pain thus far until this. I have had random ear pains in the past before the t though. Thanks again !

 

If anyone can answer my question about an earache being part of healing I would be grateful

 

Ear fullness after an acoustic trauma is classic. If you only hear the tinnitus when it is quite, you are actually on the mild end of the scale. This should likely get better over the next few months. Take it as a warning to avoid noise in the future as this can get tons worse.

I found ear plugs at night helped with sleep and would quiet my tinnitus down. Also, melatonin at night for about a week got me over the worst of it.

 

Really? blocking out sounds made your T less loud? wow thats interesting. What kind of earplugs?

 

Kind of paradoxical I know, but definitely repeatable. Regular foam earplugs work for me, whichever ones are most comfortable for the night. I find putting the earplugs in makes the tinnitus lower in volume after a couple of minutes, and helps to sleep. I tried masking at night, and it made it worse on more than one occasion. Of course, YMMV, but simple enough for others to try.

I also found that without the earplugs, it was more difficult to fall asleep as the passing cars would wake me up right away, and now I can sleep through the night. I also find the tinnitus is at a lower volume in the morning, and even more than what would normally happen.

 

Some people have ear fullness and it is quite common and I have seen others describe an "ache" in their ear after noise injury. Hard to say if it's related since you have had it in the past, though.

 

Do you know why that could be? I think I experienced something similar earlier myself. I don’t have any foam ear plugs on me yet, but I have regular wireless ones so I’ve been using those playing nothing. I used when in my mothers room when she was watching tv because she watches way too loud. And when I took it off I felt like it was more silent for a bit? But eventually came back up again.

 

I term it my acoustic rest, bout am not sure of the exact mechanism.

 

Get one of these to deal with the costochondritis. Seriously. Use this daily for about 2-3 months.

How to fix (most) Costochondritis and...

 

@Digital Doc do you still wear ear plugs at night? My tinnitus goes away when I sleep and comes back in morning. Making habituating difficult I think. It peaks when the cars start going.

 

Yes, foam earplugs at night. I believe it has helped me a lot. My tinnitus is pretty low these days. I have habituated pretty well, but I am like 20 months into this.

 

@Digital Doc if your tinnitus were to stay super low until you were around people then it peak super loud, what would you do? I am avoiding people and I know that's not good.

 

I do whatever it takes to avoid spikes.

 

@Shelbylynn how are you doing now?