Will It Go Away? Mild Tinnitus Since 10 Years of Age, Now Louder After an "Explosion"

Hi!

My name is Fia and I live in Sweden, so I apologise for my bad English. Last weekend on Saturday, I went out with a couple of friends to a night club. But right when we were about to go in, my friend said she needed a cigarette. So we stood outside the club for 10 minutes, we were almost alone there. just a few other people. All of a sudden right across the street maybe 10 meters away from us something "exploded" like a banger, or maybe a firecracker that went off on the concrete. The bang was really loud and as a reflex we all jumped a bit, and I put my hands on my ears, but it was already too late, the bang lasted only for a second.

The thing is that since I was 10 years old I´ve had low tinnitus after a loud school party, the tinnitus never bothered me that much since it was so low , and I could only hear it when it was dead silent. But since then I had tried to be careful with my ears, using plugs (is that right?) when going to nightclubs or concerts. But this event was so sudden that I guess there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I'm so mad at the person who did this!!

Since I came home from the night club I have had bad ringing in my ears and sort of a numb feeling, as if there is a lid over my ears.

It´s been 4 days now and it´s still here. Will this be permanent?! I went to a doctor today he looked in my ears but could not see anything special. He thinks that there is a good chance the ringing will go away in a few days... I truly hope he´s right. I'm panicking and can´t sleep due to the horrible noise.

One other thing I should mention is that for a week now I have been taking a new medicine, amitriptyline, and if I read about the side effects "tinnitus" is on the list. Can it be a coincidence that the ringing is caused by the medicine, or making it worse?

If this is not going to go away, how long will it take to habituate to the noise? Right now I can't imagine how one can sleep with this going on inside the head.

Hope you are having a better week than I do... / Fia

 

Temporary spikes often last longer than a week. They can last months...

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-do-your-tinnitus-spikes-usually-last.23110/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-was-your-longest-spike.22099/

Wait a couple of months. If the spike is still there, as loud as ever, then there is a high chance that it is a permanent spike. Until that time, it makes sense to assume that the spike is temporary.

 

Generally when I've read of people getting tinnitus from a drug, it's usually when they stop cold turkey. If the spike happened after the explosion, the drug isn't to blame. I would have asked for prednisone. I've heard it can help if taken earlier. It would be worth seeing another doctor if it meant things would go back to normal.

 

It may be useful to do a hearing test asap. If you have hearing loss there are urgent treatments that are sometimes used, mainly steroids (but also hyperbaric oxygen therapy).

 

Thank you guys. I stopped taking the medicin last night, I might be imagining this but I think the tone is lower today? I can still hear it loud but not as loud. My ears still feel like they have lids on though...the medication you are talking about..i wonder what it is called here in Sweden..

 

It is a good sign that your T might be getting lower.

As for ears feeling like they have lids, it sounds like you are describing what the doctors call "ear fullness." Some people have permanent ear fullness, but for most people ear fullness gets better over time. It might take a couple of months for it to go away.

 

Get on a course of oral corticosteroids like prednisolone. It can help to limit any damage caused by acoustic trauma. The sooner you try it, the better chance it has to help your ears recover from any potential damage. Good luck!

 

@_FiA_ Hej Fia! Här kommer en hälsning från en annan tjej från Sverige Hoppas att din tinnitus är bättre! Själv har jag en högre ton i nuläget, men hoppas att den ska ge sig... Kämpa på!

Vänliga hälsningar
Emelie

 

Sorry to hear, did you T start suddenly after the fire-cracker? Do your friends have any problems?
I would advise to start sleeping with some white noise as well, things will get better asap.

 

@_FiA_

Another Swedish gal here

I'd go and see an ENT (ÖNH) just to be safe, not sure how much they can do as Swedish medical care is a bit so-so at best for tinnitus in my experience. Where do you live? I can recommend a good place that I found recently in Stockholm with ENT that actually listened and didn't undermine the problems and anxiety I have.

I recently got a trauma too from a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that was on max and accidentally played a video on facebook that just caught me by surprise. Got really bad anxiety for a few days and it feels better now (at least anxiety wise) and I think T is going down from the spike but still goes up and down a lot. The other day I couldn't sleep so where in my bed on my phone for a few hours and I recall I didn't "hear" that much despite the room being quiet. So, once you feel mentally better, I think the T is going to go down too. Strange how that is so connected

Ta hand om dig och vi håller tummarna