Tinnitus Lasting 10+ Years After One Day at the Shooting Range

Backstory:

When I was 17, my family and I were at the shooting range for 2-3 hours shooting pistols. I had ear plugs in, which I now know is not sufficient ear protection for shooting, but I guess I didn't have my left ear plug all the way in. Someone was shooting a 50 cal desert eagle on my left side, and I didn't notice any pain or anything at the time, but I could barely hear out of my left ear for 2 days after leaving the range. My hearing returned (albeit maybe 70% of normal), but I was left with high pitched tinnitus that is still present even 12 years later. Unfortunately I didn't see an ear doctor immediately afterwards (and haven't seen once since to be honest) because I figured it was temporary, and would go away eventually and over time I learned to kinda ignore it or tune it out for the most part. However, sometimes when I get a cold it gets worse and it makes me start dwelling on it which ends up causing mild anxiety and it makes me cry sometimes honestly.

From many of the gun related tinnitus posts I've seen on here (and various other places on the internet), it seems like tinnitus from shooting guns is caused by repeated exposure to loud gun shots without proper hearing protection. Any time I have been to the range since then, I make sure to wear both earplugs + shooting earmuffs and it doesn't seem like my tinnitus/hearing loss has gotten worse.

Not having better hearing protection that day is my single biggest regret in my 29 years on this earth, and I would do anything to make it go away, or at least reduce it. I have read some posts stating that steroid shots can help, and some people stating the the earlier you get the steroids after the exposure the better.

My question is, does it seem odd that I have seemingly permanent tinnitus from such a brief exposure (2-3 hours) to loud gun shots with earplugs in? Also, is there any way that steroid shots could help in my scenario even though it has been nearly 12 years since that day?

I just found this community and I have been reading through some of the posts, and my heart goes out to all of you that suffer from tinnitus.

Sorry for the long post.

- Dylan

 

Hi Dylan

Unfortunately there is no cure or anything effective for tinnitus. However, they just released a new device called Lenire and there is a good chance it might be the first of its kind to work for tinnitus.

We'll know within the next few months if it's just a dud or a miracle.

 

You have zero knowledge if hearing loss drugs going through trials will alleviate tinnitus so do not tell people that there is no cure. There very well could be one.

 

@dbcole you said your plug wasn't properly inserted on one side; unfortunately, guns are insanely loud, and 2 hours of exposure with essentially no protection will definitely cause significant, long-term damage.

Stuff like .50BMG and to a lesser extent .50 AE or .223 are so loud that even with plugs and muffs, they will do some amount of damage, which adds up over time. Bone conduction attenuates a good 30-40db, but that means that stuff in the 160-170db range is still pounding you with 110-130db exposure. I shot an M1 once unprotected; I can't even imagine what 2 hours of exposure would have been like. Didn't you have some severe pain and shock at the time?

I don't know if pixie dust will fall from the sky, either, but I do know there's no cure for NIHL available right now, nor has any such thing been demonstrated in a human RCT. It could be 7-10 years away, it could be 50.

 

Why is it so hard for people to qualify their statements like that?

 

Tell that to the millions desperate people spent on placebo and pseudo tinnitus cure drugs. Again there is NO cure at the moment! It doesn't matter if they have drugs going through trials, there have been drug trials for AIDs for decades with no results, and it's perfectly truthful to tell them there is no cure at the moment.

The closest thing that could possibly work right now is Lenire. Which I already mentioned.

 

a combination of laziness and pessimism?

I'm super lazy, but I tend to be cautiously optimistic in nearly all things, so I only have half of this problem Unfortunately, I'm still an asshole.

 

If FX-322, or the other hearing loss drugs being tested cured the participants tinnitus, which you and I don't know yet, then there is a cure that exists. Just because YOU don't know something exists doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That is pure air tight logic.

 

There could be aliens in Area 51 that you don't know about, just because you don't know something exist doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

I disagree with some of this. I think the effect on people can vary as much as anything else. We have veterans like my dad that shot everything from 30 cal M1 carbines to 30-06 Garands, to 50 cal machine guns in the army back in the 50's with no hearing protection and then have no Tinnitus or hearing loss. He said they shot thousands of rounds just to get rid of the ammo before a restock was coming. And with that said, Tinnitus is very prevalent with vets. But it doesn't happen to everyone.

Then I grew up shooting many thousands of rounds of 12 gauge without hearing protection, and no Tinnitus. I wore protection when shooting high caliber handguns and rifles. Hearing loss after all that....I don't really know.

Then along came Tinnitus. I'll say I had several outings that probably led up to it. Once I shot a 357...one shot...without hearing protection and my ears rang for a day or so and then stopped. At that time I had never heard of Tinnitus. Then there was another reckless incident or two without protection. Then there was "that day" when a loud handgun was fired near me before I got my hearing protection on. The ringing has never stopped.

Since I have good insurance I go to an ENT annually that checks my hearing loss. It is barely deteriorating about each year. The ENT also diagnosed me with Hyperacusis, but probably not as bad as some of the posters in the Hyperacusis threads.

 

Your example is ridiculous. Once again, you cannot correctly state with certainty that there is no cure for tinnitus as a definitive fact. You simply cannot.

 

You are falling for logical fallacy called "proving non-existence". We cannot prove universal or absolute non existence. I.E God exist until you prove otherwise. There is magic since there is no evidence to prove that there isnt. A CURE FOR T IS OUT THERE, you just don't know about it

 

I never said that there definitely is a cure moron. I said you can't say there isn't one just because you don't know about it.

 

Did you even read what I wrote? YES YOU CAN SAY THAT because there isn't a known cure. Same way you can say there is no cure for AIDs just because you dont know about it.

Just because you dont know something dosen't mean it exists. I think you need to go back to school and take Logic and Critical Thinking 101

 

known by YOU. frequency tx may very well know if their fx-322 is a cure or not. newsflash, just because you don't know something doesn't mean it is not know.

 

Hey you wanna buy my bottle of T B-GONE? Just because you dont know it, doesn't mean it's not a known cure

 

Tinnitus sufferers with moderate hearing loss sometimes benefit from hearing aids. On the one hand, hearing aids amplify ambient sounds and make the tinnitus appear quieter. On the other hand, there is the theory that tinnitus develops as a phantom sound in the brain because the nerves there receive too little input from the sensory cells of the cochlea.

Tinnitus, which is clearly due to a singular noise event, is not common. May I ask you two questions?
Is your tinnitus rather a high sound (eee) or a high hiss (sss)?
Have you noticed that you can influence tinnitus through somatic maneuvers?

 

John Adams and newbie T, your exchange is of no use to anybody----idiots!

 

It happens. I have catastrophic, drag me to hell tinnitus, from 10 gunshots. Glock 22. I even attempted to use hearing protection and I still am fucked. Lone shooter, outside, wide open setting. My life is ruined. I lost minimal hearing at first and now massive losses. Roaring so loud I contemplate suicide everyday. I actually feel crazy enough right now so I may go attempt it.