Tinnitus Spike / Hearing Loss / Ear Pain After Hanging Out with Loud Family Members

Sad news for me. I'm very careful with my hearing these days but I had a spike recently after hanging out with my cousins. It feels like I've developed mild hyperacusis and my ability to discern voices seems worse now.

I usually wear earplugs around them especially if all of them are over, I just foolishly didn't this time. Still, they know my hearing is sensitive, especially since I recently picked up guitar and they've been very excited by my progress as we're all into the same types of music. However, they are party animals, they do drugs, they get drunk, and they couldn't stay quiet. They were constantly talking over each other louder and louder. They are both big dudes and have massive voices when they're at their max. Keep in mind, both of my cousins have hearing loss and one of them has bad tinnitus from his time in the military. This makes them even louder because they are trying to out volume each other while their hearing is not so great. They just don't really care about their hearing too much.

So I foolishly let myself suffer instead of wearing earplugs and I'm feeling the pain right now.

My left ear is throbbing and burning again similar to when I damaged my ears the first time. Strangely, my hearing is the same on both sides, but my left side always has a burning sensation when I've gone through an event like this. That's the worst part, it's a reminder that I took on too much volume.

My tinnitus is a little raised but I'm sure it'll settle again. I'm more upset at the hyperacusis and hearing clarity issue. I have to play my guitar at incredibly low volumes right now. I've been taking NAC and Magnesium which is probably why my tinnitus has stayed about the same. I'm looking forward to my ear pain and hyperacusis resolving soon. I hope some of my hearing clarity comes back too.

How do you all get Prednisone? I've never taken it, but I sort of wish I had some for situations like this.

 

Get some Prednisone ASAP.

 

If you were exposed to loud voices only, that should be ok, it should improve by itself... you do not need prednisone for that. Prednisone is used for noise trauma meaning like being hours close to very loud music (disco or concert loud) or being near very loud machinery or tools for hours and hours without hearing protection.

 

How are you doing now? Did your issues from this incident clear up?

 

Thank you for asking. Right now its very noticeable. Fortunately I've had decent days in the past month. The noxacusis that came back was really stressing me out at first but is getting progressively better. I took an online hearing test and my hearing was great so that's not the issue, as usual. Like last time I just need to keep protecting my ears and give myself more time to let my nerves recalibrate.