Tinnitus Is Ruining My College Experience

So. I don’t have much time to write but here’s the gist.

My tinnitus was calming down, but when I got to college, all of these unexpected noises/environments hit me. Now it’s twice as bad.

Examples: fire alarms from people smoking weed in the dorm. Construction near my classes. The teacher in my music class playing the piano extremely loudly. A Capella auditions with people belting out their songs.

I went to an activity fair a week ago. I wore earplugs, but when I woke up, the faint ringing was accompanied by a loud static noise.

The worst part is that I am the president of this improve show that will be happening next month. I cannot bow out—there’s no one else to direct and I’ve been wanting to do this for over a year. But part of the show is screaming and yelling, and the scenes can get really loud. I’m at a loss because quitting would devastate me, and I only have one opportunity to do this. I’ve worked on this show all summer and if I quit it will go under.

I’ve been protecting my ears like crazy, even tho my tinnitus didn’t come from noise exposure. But I’ve been getting poor sleep and I’m extremely stressed. My jaw is also making weird popping noises when I chew—this started a few days ago and I don’t know if that’s part of tinnitus or not.

In short, I don’t want to put my life on hold because of this. But now that it’s gotten worse, all I want to do is stay in a padded room and not come out.

My main question is this: how can I direct this show without making this worse? It’s only for a month, and it’s been all I’ve wanted to do. Will loud voices damage my hearing if it hasn’t to anyone else, and I’m wearing earplugs?

 

Take earplugs if you want to go through with it. However, if your stressed and your jaws going out of line then health comes first. Go to an osteopath and try and get a mouth guard at the dentist, that should help. The good news is that your symptoms of tinnitus are more likely to eventually fade away once the underlying issue has been sorted out. Tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying problem, and can come from damage to hearing or hearing loss, TMJ, stress, ototoxic medication, concussion etc.

 

i had bad muffled hearing, tinnitus felt in my head and painful hyperacusis and i had to drop out of classes and now my life is ruined, might as well give up and devout your life to shitposting on a tinnitus forum until a treatment comes like my friends and I do.

my hearing recovered to an extent, hyperacusis with pain is 99% gone, tinnitus is still there but recovered a bit after some of my hearing came back but during the 5 months of suffering I threw my life away, lost my job, school, and my family gives no fucks

you probably wont end up ruining your life like I did.

 

You are playing with fire...
If you get severe Tinnitus because of this, it is equivalent to a death sentence...except it's death by torture, that could drag on for years or decades.

You will spend the rest of your "life" (pure survival at that point), suppressing suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety.

Appoint someone in your place and run the show from a safe distance if you can...not worth the risk.

 

You can redeem yourself.

 

Agree

 

Most people I’ve heard say they eventually habituate to tinnitus. And since mine wasn’t noise induced in the first place, are you saying there is seriously no compromise (especially with earplugs) ? It’s not like it’s non-stop yelling—it’s just that scenes often escalate into yelling. That being said, I am worried because but I used to have minor tinnitus but it had escalated. I don’t know if it was due to this because I’ve been wearing earplugs.

 

Only you can be the judge of your situation...I'm just talking in general, it is not a good idea to be doing what you are doing if you feel that Tinnitus is getting worse.

Yes the milder to moderate Tinnitus can be somewhat adapted to, but when it comes to severe Tinnitus,"habituation" really means that you are perhaps not as suicidal anymore, but you are just praying for a quick death from other source instead.