Tinnitus Screaming Today — Was It the Lawn Mower, the Party or the White Noise?

My worst sleepless night since my spike 6 weeks ago. High-pitched tinnitus seemingly spiraling louder and louder. Calming down now thanks to "musical neuromodulation" at this link:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

Trying to figure out the cause:

• I used the lawn mower on Saturday for half an hour, then the trimmer for 10 minutes. Used 32dB foam earplugs plus n/c headphones, but I wondered afterwords if the ringing was slightly elevated. Slept OK.
• Sunday, I went to lunch with about 12 friends. Not too noisy, no shouting to speak of, but again felt a slight effect. I grew tired of talking and being talked to, but was unable to leave early as I had my family with me.
• Went to sleep with white noise as the ringing was a bit louder, however I woke up after a couple of hours and it was much louder. This is unusual as it normally settles down overnight. I normally use earplugs rather than white noise so maybe I need to go back to doing that.

Seen two doctors now and neither of them prescribed anything. The one last week didn't seem to know that you could take steroids after a tinnitus spike, which I got last Tuesday after a feedback blast.

I'm wondering about phoning the doctor/the ENT department who are not due to see me for another month, and arguing with either/both about doing more to help. The very process of talking to people at the moment seems to make my tinnitus worse though.

Feeling quite upset and scared. At least I'm able to work at home and my boss is quite understanding - so far. I'm scared that my tinnitus will continue to get worse, despite my best efforts to protect myself. Started taking multi-vitamins and ginkgo. I see people talking about "chelated magnesium" but I couldn't find this at the two pharmacies I've tried. Where do people find this?

 

Is your tinnitus noise induced?

The truth is, it's rare anyone knows exactly why their tinnitus spikes. And the truth is it doesn't really matter. My tinnitus was louder last week for seemingly no reason. My advice would be to carry on wearing ear protection for the lawn mower or anything louder, buy the chelated magnesium, don't use any form of headphones, generally look after your ears. And don't beat yourself up over why your tinnitus spikes. Mine seems to vary from hour to hour. I don't think many if any people's tinnitus is constant in volume.

 

Thanks for replying. Yes my T was caused by loud concerts, and spiked last week at a band practice. I've now quit the band, better late than never.

It does seem to be settling down listening to the resources at the audioplayer here and also this link:

10 Hour Best Tinnitus Sound Therapy Ever

But now that I'm talking about it again, it does seem to be getting louder again... I guess at least that proves there is a psychological element and we can distract ourselves from it.

Will keep searching for that chelated magnesium. I remember being told in medical tests that I'm a bit low on calcium, and I think that applied to magnesium as well.

 

OP, It sounds like you have a vicious cycle of stress going on. That by itself is possibly what is driving your T to high levels. We all know stress is bad for T. If you can find a way to calm down then maybe your T will go down.

 

Also rather than your tinnitus increasing in volume it's more likely you're paying more attention to it when you talk about it, giving the impression it's increased in volume. My tinnitus is always louder when I'm on this site etc!

 

Indeed! At the same time it's good to get encouragement from long-term sufferers that there is life after tinnitus strikes, and that spikes usually subside. For me though it's been nothing but spikes so far - three in a row since April - so I think it's natural for me to worry how much worse things will get, and whether I am doing the right things to protect myself from further damage. For example some people will say they still use their lawn mower no problem, others say no they get someone else to do it. At the end of the day we have to each get to know our own condition and how to manage it.

I'm feeling a lot calmer tonight than I was this morning. My T was quite loud earlier on trying to watch TV with my other half, but I've got soft lights, babbling brook noises and some of my favourite chilled music playing. Life can still be good.

Hope everyone gets some peace tonight.

 

Those two things gave you a spike. If you continue abusing your ears (while telling yourself that the spike is due to stress, or due to you hearing it louder when you think about it), it will keep getting worse.

If you have been abusing your ears because you "don't want tinnitus to win", then you will appreciate the following quote from Dave Barry:

 

Why are they so reluctant about prescribing corticoids?

Here I can just get them at any pharmacy, without any prescription. They just dispatch them like candy.

 

Side effects. For example:

 

No big mystery here, and don't need prednisone, just to protect your ears better.

To use the lawn mower and weed trimmer need both earplugs and ear muffs at this point. You are spiking after that exposure. Also, the NC headphones are not as strong as the ear muffs.

The borderline noisy restaurant needed some level of protection, like musician earplugs. Your ears are fragile and need to be protected.

White noise at night can result in what you describe. Go back to the earplugs when sleeping to avoid this.

At this point, your ears are reacting to any and all noise exposures. You need to cut the noise out, and give a chance for your ears to recover.

 

Do you think I don't know that now? I've been having panic attacks every day this week. I don't need panicked any further! Probably going to take a break from this forum soon actually. That's part of the problem, you get such varying advice from people, everything from "just use earplugs you'll be fine", to "don't do anything, don't go anywhere, for the next two years". I'm exaggerating slightly, but OK I get it. I'll skip the school sports day this week (where my daughter is expected to win a gold), the prizegiving (where both my kids are up for prizes), I'll say no to all social invitations for the next month. And for today I'm giving up on doctors so I'll go and see if my pharmacist can be more help once I stop having my panic attacks.

As for work I've got no idea if I will make it through a day in the office tomorrow. I've been working at home all week, so at least it's good that my boss lets me do that. Maybe I should get signed off for a while. Thing is, when I'm at home alone, I just get more broody and depressed about it. I put some light piano music on, but that just made me depressed about the fact that I can't play the piano any more. I'm crying again as I type this.

 

Yeah, but if I lose my hearing due to noise and I need to hear very well for my job, then its a Catch 22 situation. Either I try to do the most I can to preserve hearing and keep on working and earning money or I just sit at home with no medication at all, even in a case of extreme pain, and I lose hearing and cannot work.

Both situations are bad. And even if I am really careful with noise, I am still going to run into very loud noise from time to time, just by chance, as soon as I set foot outside home.

I lose hearing that fast. One car horn that is very loud, with earplugs on, and sometimes with double protection, and chunks of my hearing are just gone forever.

 

That happens to me too.

I can cope with the tinnitus normally, it's the hyperacusis which is the most worrying. One door slamming, or even having a simple conversation with someone, and I hear the squeal in my ear increasing, like someone turning up a volume control. It does usually subside a few seconds or minutes later, or sometimes after a couple of hours, until the next thing spikes it. It's a constant rollercoaster and I can only hope each time it happens that it hasn't damaged my hearing forever. Sometimes reading these success stories makes me depressed because it sounds like their symptoms were never as bad a mine, so maybe I'm one going to be one of those "lifers".

Then again, maybe I won't be, if I'm careful enough. But how careful is "enough"?

 

Some of those success stories are totally fake, it smells fishy blocks away. Like a guy that said he got severe H after visiting NYC for a few days (no particular loud noise episode) and then H vanished (no wonder) in a short time. That is not real hyperacusis.

Loud sound is comfortably delivered home, like if it were Amazon orders, so even if you stay at home you can never be sure some neighbour wont drill the wall right next to you. One has to be sensible, but also we have to live as best as we can, and try to find options to do things we enjoy.

 

Ain't that the truth. I was sitting in back garden, enjoying some rare Scottish sunshine and admiring the flowers that my wife had been lovingly tending, listening to the birds as the sun went down, when all of a sudden there was a huge mechanical roaring sound that felt like it was right inside my ear. It was a neighbour with either a motorcycle, or more likely a petrol lawnmower. I didn't hang around long enough to ponder which.

Luckily I had left the back door open so I could dart inside in such an eventuality, and there was no harm done, but it's easy to become on edge, thinking that danger is everywhere. But life is full of dangers for everyone, there are just slightly more of them for us tinnitus warriors. As you say we must try not to let it make us permanently anxious.

 

I think in time you will recover to a point where you can use the lawnmower (with ear plugs) and dine in a loud restaurant.

But at this time, your ears are hurt and need to recover before they can be normal again. You need to take your time because they heal slowly.

When I first got my initial tinnitus spike (I have had mild T for as long as I can remember), for the first 6 months I felt uncomfortable around many everyday sounds. But eventually, the H got a lot better. I am now a year and 8 months in and I am finally almost back to normal in terms of H and not getting spikes. My T remains as annoying as usual though but I think I am going to soon habituate to that.

 

Yes, recovery is possible. I got my T from a loud weed trimmer last fall with no protection. I can now use all of my power equipment, including the same weed trimmer, with appropriate hearing protection (foam earplugs, and ear muffs), and not spike from it. Sure it takes time, but if you cut out the additional noise exposures, and give things a chance to heal they can.

It honestly took me a while to figure out what to protect from, and when to double protect, and when I was fine with nothing.

 

Ear muffs or plugs are a waste of time with lawnmowers. It’s bone vibration from the mower that spikes your tinnitus. No protection will help. Hire a landscaper.

 

The ear muffs are actually more protective against the vibration, and the bone conduction that occurs. With double protection, I have continued to be able to do my gardening on a weekly basis, and my T has also continued to improve.

 

You are lucky. I mow, I spike. Simple as that.