Very Loud Noise for a Second — Ears Feel Full, Nauseous, Dizzy After Being Diagnosed with Meniere's

Yesterday I was in the front passenger's seat of the car and someone called on the phone and my friend driving answered it and it played through the speakers. The person was talking and shouted the word "basket" as my friend was turning up the volume a lot and it was insanely loud. It must have been well over 100 decibels. My ears instantly hurt, I covered them and screamed. They instantly felt full and have been since then. We were going on a day trip and I felt car sick on the ride in an unusually intense way. When I was walking around that afternoon I felt really dizzy and nauseous. I basically had a little trouble walking. I've been having a certain tone of tinnitus on and off. Just a droning beep that I can mostly only hear with my ears plugged. It was really bad this morning when I woke up but maybe it was just from the beer that I had last night. (Must have been a bad idea.)

I came to this forum recently for issues in my left ear, and it turns out it was Meniere's disease. It felt good to get a diagnosis and I was ready to move past my tinnitus and onto other things. I'm getting testing done for neurological issues that I have and I wonder if they could be connected to my Meniere's. But now this happens, an awful loud sound completely unrelated and now I'm wondering if I really have hearing damage from acoustic trauma. Sounds and voices seem to be muffled, but I'm not really sensitive to loud noises. In fact I wonder if they sound quieter. It doesn't seem right. I guess the ENT is closed tomorrow so I'm planning to go on Tuesday. I'm really wondering if I'm supposed to get some Prednisone. How would I go about getting some if I really wanted to go to the ER today or tomorrow. How bad would it be to wait until Tuesday? I'm kinda worried everything will look fine and he'll send me off.

Is there a chance this is something like Acoustic Shock and it will pass? Maybe by the time Tuesday rolls around I'm hoping my symptoms will have lessened anyway. But I'm worried that the nerves in my inners ears are burning as we speak. I'm taking NGCG, magnesium, turmeric, ginkgo biloba, NAC. Should I try to get Prednisone? What if my ENT says I don't need it?

 

Why were you diagnosed? Do you have episodic vertigo? Or do you have Tulio phenomenon?

 

I came in a month ago and then two days ago. First time I showed no hearing loss and the second time I had 25 decible hearing loss at between 125 hz and 250 hz. He said he would usually think I had SSHL but because of the way my symptoms progessed he thinks I might have meniere's. My usual tinnitus is a low pitched static/hissing sound in my left ear, I had fullness and occasional pain there too. I had mild dizziness but no vertigo.
He said I could just have Chochlear Hydrops. Could be auto immune or neurologically related.
No he never diagnosed me with Tullio phenomenon and I've never heard of it until now. Could this have happened to me just now? I've never had episodes of dizziness and nausea like this until just yesterday and today after the loud sound.

 

I'm seriously wondering if I'm supposed to be trying to get Prednisone as quickly as possible here. Could I really call the ER and tell them I was exposed to loud noise that I need these steroids ASAP? Do the shots have fewer side effects than the pills? I'm worried about my reaction to the stuff, but if shots in my ears will possibly give me benefit and fewer/no side effects other than pain and healing the eardrum, then I'd seriously do it.
Is it possible though that I have TTTS from Acoustic Shock? Ears feel full, hearing muffled, dizziness, nausea? I "hope" it's that and will resolve and not actual hearing damage from acoustic trauma.

 

What exactly was the loud sound?

edit: sorry, I re-read the post. I would go for it, but I'm not sure how prednisone interacts with meniere's. Keep in mind it will make your anxiety really bad.

 

We were in the car and my friend answered the phone. The phone played over the car speakers you know? Well the guy on the other end was saying some stuff, and he talks pretty loudly and he ended up sort of shouting the word "basket" right as my friend was turning up the volume. I'm honestly scared it was like 120 decibels or something. It was only for that one word though to give you an idea of how long it was. It was so freaking loud though. It might have been the loudest thing I've ever heard, being so close to it. I left ear was feeling full before with all its issues, but my right ear was NOT, and now it is and that's what really scares me.

 

That being said prednisone isn't the magic pill some people portray it as. I've taken it after an acoustic event and it helped with my tinnitus spike, or maybe it did nothing and the spike went down normally. What you can do is take a bunch of stuff like NAC, vitamin C, B12, NAD+, Magnesium, etc. Anti-inflammatory supplements basically, not as powerful as a steroid but way less harmful.

 

I read your other post about Meniere's and anxiety. Would a shot give the exact same side effects as taking it orally? I really wish there was more information about this stuff. Cause yeah I know it doesn't even work all the time but I am pretty open to trying it if it has a good chance to help me. I wish I could just call or talk to someone at the ER and they could test me and really walk me through it all. Maybe that is possible but idk. I might just wait until Tuesday to see my ENT. He gave a good explanation on what he thinks is Meniere's and I think he'd help me out with this however he can.

 

You and me both. Unfortunately the users of this site have a poorly understood condition. I personally don't have experience with the shots, the few mediocre studies I've seen say that there isn't a huge difference between oral and injected prednisone in terms of efficacy. Could be true, could just be a lack of good data. There would probably be less side effects but on the other hand you have to let some tired ER doctor stick a needle in your ear. What I would do is look up some neuro-otologists in your area, ring the office, and see if they have an after hours number to ping the doctor with. Or just call em tomorrow, as long as you get an oral course started within 48-72 hours you'll have as good of a chance as anyone in my unprofessional opinion.

 

This is like saying nothing. That ENT has no clue about what's going on.

 

That is just a reaction to loud sound that could disappear in a few days or weeks. This is typical after being exposed to loud noise, even if it is for a brief moment. Your ears may come back to baseline in time.

I would not have prednisone for that.

Try to eat food that is anti inflammatory, lots of green tea too. Honestly, there are food ítems that could have a better effect than a pill, or prednisone.. in my personal experience. Add ginger or curcumin (buy organic curcumin, that sort of root) to food. See how it goes. Natural remedies.

 

I feel like I'm probably leaving out something important. It's just that I've had problems in my left ear for possibly a couple years now. Just very slight static and fullness feeling. It escalated when I got my visual snow syndrome. And then the past month and week it has gotten worse. It just seems like a progression of the same provlem. I don't know, maybe it is Meniere's and I can help treat by treating whatever is causing my visual snow and other issues. Maybe it is just SSHL, idk.

Thank you, yeah I'm gonna chill out and just eat my turmeric capsules and other supplements because honestly my symptoms aren't super alarming at this point. I have mild pressure in my right ear, noises are possibly muffled, mild tinnitus in my right ear that comes and goes. Nausea, dizziness that comes and goes.
Today is memorial day so tomorrow I'll call my ENT and just do the same hearing test I did on Friday and hopefully it comes out the same. The Otoacoustic emissions test to test the hair cells came out perfectly I hope it does this time too. I guess I wonder what that test for the ear drum would show as well. I suppose that I could have hearing loss above 12k hz that I wouldn't know of, or possible synapse damage?? That's what I'm really scared of and why I have my eye on Prednisone. But for now I'll just get that hearing test tomorrow and I have a feeling my ENT will explain what might be hqppening.

 

That cannot be observed.

The 12kHz frequency can be tested with an audiometric test. Also the can check the pressure of your ears with a tympanogram.

 

Yeah I know there's no test for it. That's why I'm worried that that sound fried my synapses and I wouldn't know. I'm worried that my test will come up find and apparently I don't need Prednisone but I actually could use it does that make sense? I definitely have trouble understanding people when two are talking at a time or maybe there's a noise going over them.
Yeah I said 12k hz because the Otoacoustic test goes up to that. I'm looking forward to the tympanogram too. I'm not sure if I expect any of the tests to show anything different from what I got on May 22nd but we'll see. I asked last night about the speech in noise test but I wonder if I asked to get one anyway if she would let me...

 

That could be a sign of hair cell deterioration, or maybe the synapses. I am losing that ability too (understanding two talking at a time); I have almost lost it, basically I understand and recognise the loudest sound. But I was able to understand very clearly several people talking at the same time, overlapping sounds, all my life.

With hyperacusis and hearing problems it's harder to assess the loss of "quality" of sound than the "quantity" of sound input (this can be measured with an audiometric test). The loss of quality means that you cannot recognise overlapping sounds, or cannot identify the direction sound is coming from.

 

Yeah I'm not sure if I'm just imagining it but if there's ANY damage to my inner ear hair cells or synapses just from the noise two days ago then I NEED to know that. It just seems so hard to get any kind of info about hidden hearing loss from an ENT or audiologist. I'm honestly probably just gonna call around tomorrow and ask if any of them do a Speech in Noise, QuickSIN test. Hopefully it'd be covered under insurance. I have a feeling it would show some deficit, and the other tests likely wouldn't. I understand the drawbacks and efficacy of the Corticosteroids but I'm honestly ready to get a shot right then and there if there's a difference in my hearing from two days ago. I just don't know if I'm gonna be able to find that out, or where I would go really to get the steroids. It's such a hassle and so expensive dealing with all these doctors that all give you the same useless tests and no info or help. I need to find someone who'll actually listen and help me out with this.
Thanks for replying so much to my thread,

 

There is no way of knowing that. Even if they test you for speech in noise, you can underperform on the speech recognition tomorrow and ace the test next week.

Our hearing has some tensors, tiny muscles, and maybe structures of unknown functioning, and these may play a huge role on understanding in complex hearing environments.

For instance, some people feel something "melting" inside their ears and afterwards they hear better. I get sometimes this "mute" instant in which I hear nothing but a very loud tinnitus for a brief moment and then my hearing kind of "resets" and I hear more balanced. Also some people experience "typewriter tinnitus" and afterwards they hear better. These all examples are less common situations.

One of the classical examples of how hearing can "recover" is the eustachian tube opening or "things that go bump at night", you hear the pop of the tube and then hearing is clearer.

So, sadly, tests are not of so much use really.

 

This is abrupt and I know others have already answered this somehwhat. But can anyone give their opinion on if I should try to get Prednisone tomorrow and who I should call to get it? I think my current plan is to see my ENT tomorrow, do the tests and talk to him. I'm just worried that they'll come up normal and he'll tell me it's fine but I'll still have these issues. My hearing is definitely muffled, I often have trouble making out what people are saying, ambient nosies like fans and the shower sound quiet and more flat, not as dynamic. I'm worried this is hidden hearing loss. My left ear felt stuffed before this but now both ears do and it's really nothering me. I'm not even sure about tinnitus. The tone that's been there's occasionally in both ears may have spiked but I'm not as sure as I might expect to be. There's been a new tone in my right ear but only when I wake up I think. The low pitch static hissing tinnitus in my left ear that's from what the doctor calls Meniere's is usually not there or much lower now which is strange.

I don't know how much personal advice I can't expect from this place even with how great this board is. A side note is that I've just started a medication called Lamictal (Lamotrogine) and I think it's made me more apathetic to everthing, including this situation. With my past issues with tinnitus I've been super fixated on it, acutley aware of it's development, how it changes. But now I'm on the meds and I feel really spaced out and it's like I'm not as aware of my symptoms. Like I honestly can't tell if my tinnitus is worse, if sounds are actually muffled, I usually don't notice the pressure in my right ear. Sounds feel "farther away", and I'm honestly not sure if that's my ears or the meds making me able to block out ambient noise.
This time is a lot different in that I honestly really want to just forget about it and anything to do with my ears or tinnitus forever. It's like for once I don't want to be anxious and fixate on something that possibly doesn't matter. This could be good thing but I'm reminding myself that there could be actual physical damage and I really need to get steroid treatment if it'll actually help. That's what I think antway, different people in this thread seem to have sobering opinions on Prednisone which is understandable.

But anyway, if I have ANY inner ear damage (does it seem likely that I do?) Then I absolutely want to get a shot even if there's only a chance it'll help. I just don't know where the hell I'm supposed to go to get one. My ENT is good but I'm still worried that he'll stiff me because hearing loss won't show up. Is it really possible to go to the hospital and ask to get a shot without any "proof" of hearing loss? I feel ridiculous at this point. It's an unreliable treatment and no one knows about it. I just really need someone to consult with and I don't know who.

Where should I go and who should I call tomorrow? It happened May 23rd at noon so it'll be 72 hours tomorrow.

 

Well I have an appointment with the ENT tomorrow. They said they're doing a normal audio test as well as an ABR. Should I be worried about the Noise with the ABR? Could it help detect hidden hearing loss? I hope I get a chance to consult with the audiologist first. I kinda just want steroids immediately...

 

I'm going to tell you what I've heard from other people. Don't do a tympanogram. There are a few users who report it made their t worse. I had one before seeing those posts, but luckily my tinnitus wasn't affected by it. Sadly, it was by other stuff. Good luck.