Worried About More Damage — High Pressure Cleaning

Hi guys,

Spent a good day outside, working in the garden and the terrace. Felt good and relaxing for a change and for the first time I looked forward for the summer.

My wife mowed the lawn, with hearing protection as we measured it around 80 dB with Lc peak around 100. I was nowhere near her when she did

But... At the end of the day I spent two hours with high pressure cleaning the terrace wall. I did not measure that although I felt it was less noisy than the lawnmower. I did put earplugs in, to be on the safe side, but I chose to use standard yellow ones. The ones that you mold to fit and that block out / muffle most sound.

I figured they would block out more than my new Alpine set, which I have with me everywhere I go, but still allow me to hear most sound.... but which do have a better fit.

Now, near the end I got the impression that I made a poor choice. Perhaps they did not fit properly, but my tinnitus is seriously louder again.

My wife tells me I’m panicking for nothing and that my T is louder because I was very active today physically. Or because I’m panicking because I think a made a mistake and therefore am more focused on my T, making it louder.

But what if the plugs DID not block out enough??

What do you guys think?

Would I have had better protection with my rubber Alpine Party plugs than those classic yellow ones? I thought the yellow ones blocked out more sound... and wanted to use the Alpine ones fir when I still needed to hear people.

I just had the feeling I was coping and started habituating. Enjoyed my stressless day so much... until that last bit.

Feel pretty stupid now :-/

It’s incredible how many loud things we (have to) do in daily life.

Ps: I used to do this chore without protection and never had issues, so I thought earplugs would already be a sufficient layer of protection. I will be measuring the dB tomorrow... maybe it’s ok. It’s not an industrial machine.

I still have cortisteroids (Medrol), and I know the dose, would it be adviseable to take those so close to my previous dose?

Should I go ask a doctor?

:-(

Should have used my new Alpine plugs!!

 

Did you begin to feel anxiety about it before or after the t became louder?

 

Before... @astaff14

It started when I was almost finished I took my plugs out and put them in again... I noticed they blocked out more this time... this started my anxiety of them not being put in properly for the majority of the time... kicking off another sleepless night.

 

It makes sense to, whenever you can, stay away from moderate noises (e.g., vacuum cleaner, etc.).

Chances are that this will end up being a temporary spike. However, if you do this long enough, eventually the spike might end up being permanent.

If I were you, I would not take any chances and would take Medrol.

 

Talked to a doctor.

He said that since I wore ear protection - even if it was not the best - there is little to fear about additional, permanent damage being done.

The noise, even muffled, stimulated to T to act up. (Probably my anxiety did not help)

He compared it to an ankle that has been heavily sprained, if you walk on it for too long, you will feel it acting up, without you actually making it worse.

Healing / habituation will continue... but after a bit of a setback.

He said heavy medication is not recommended “just in case”.

Still anxious though... I think the plugs had come out by themselves and did not offer the protection the doctor assumes.

Wait and see I suppose (or hear)

 

Very unlikely that it did any lasting damage. Medrol is serious stuff, only use it in case of acute acoustic trauma. It can really mess up your system.

 

Doctor prescribed a new dose of prednisolon (medrol). A bit lighter than with my initial trauma.

Time to go back to work and try to take my mind off it and relax... the second time around.

Let’s hope that ear fullness goes away again... and the spike goes down.

Sleeping still not happening without pills though... that’s what I despise / fear most.

I hope that quickly changes. Insomnia is worse than T during the day.

 

I bet it was just a spike. I caused a spike today driving in my truck for a while without my ear muffs. Weird, my quiet side is now my noisy side. This stuff makes no sense and just when you think you have it figured out you don't.

Is the first half of your screen name spanish?

 

Yes it is... But I’m Belgian

I played Dungeons & Dragons... you know, that role playing game from the seventies / eighties?

Pero was the name of one of my chars. Looking for aliases to use on the internet, that name stuck ;-)

Thanks for your encouraging words on it being a spike

 

The 80's was my time man. I'm happy to talk about The Dukes of Hazard and the A-Team any time you want. I had my Huey Lewis casettes in the car. Sorry, I never understood D & D though. :-(

Most veterans on the site tell me, almost daily, not to freak out over the day to day stuff. Look at how things are going on a month by month basis. I wish I could tell you I took that advice but when I get freaked out I try to remind myself to look at it from one month to the next not one hour to the next or one day to the next.

 

Huey Lewis

The day before getting T, I watched a nostalgic documentary on the Back to the future movies... Huey Lewis was in there ;-)

 

I remember him saying Marty was playing the music too loud.

 

Hopefully your spike will settle down soon.

It's absolutely imperative that earplugs be inserted correctly. They must be deep in the canal with no air gap. When you gently pull outward on them there should be a noticeable resistance/pressure. I wet them in my mouth, squish them down tight and slide them in. But that's just me.

Also, keep in mind that it's not just decibel level that is important but also duration of exposure.

I'd recommend using earmuffs instead of earplugs for these types of activities. Personally, I stay for away from any power tool.

 

Yes, I realize now I made a big mistake by not checking the plugs more often. I think I would even have had better results with my Alpine 15db partyplugs than my 30db foam plugs... at least they fit :-(

Duration was two hours... that’s almost the same exposure what caused my T in the first place :-(

I’m going to get me over-ear muffs or whatever you call them for working with powertools for extensive periods. But for now, I’m just praying. I hope it won’t take another 6 weeks to settle down.

Overall, I thought I was handling myself ok... except for the occasional breakdown. went through prednisol, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, kept working, maintained a social life and kept up my photography course, but cut back on other activities, tried to hold myself together for my wife... came here to read success stories whenever needed...

But now, being back at square one... a few miserable hours of sleep... I’m losing my grip and my energy.

Having a crisis now... working from home tomorrow... IT job... not sure how I will cope :-(

Or sleep in this mental state...

 

We're in very similar places. I do IT as well, although it's a remote job, so luckily I get to work from home. But I haven't been able to focus on work at all since this weekend trauma of mine. Do you have fullness going on as well? That's the worst feeling, and has me worried, because it indicates a temporary threshold shift of some sort. Just when I finally got my ears to a halfway decent state...

But I keep reminding myself not to dive into catastrophic thinking, and that when these types of traumas have happened before, my ears did heal up quite nicely. The problem is, when that happens, I become a little bolder, and forget that I can easily relapse if I overlook protection.

I like to watch this vid (and his others) whenever I get a spike and start feeling hopeless about it all. Julian actually had debilitating tinnitus / hyperacusis, and overcame it. His videos are very inspirational:

How to Manage a Tinnitus Spike

 

Disappointed... ENT just refused to put me back in HBOT. Too soon after previous sessions... 1,5 months ago.

“We can’t put you in there every time your T spikes. Your hearing between 1 and 8 khz is fine. If there was a major drop, we would have put you back in.”

Well no, I do plan on being more careful but this new noise exposure happened, was a lot louder than the first one and doubled my T loudness compared to the original one.

And last time HBOT seemed to help... in the five weeks after hyperbaric my T beep was reduced to a faint hiss. Not sure it was my own body recovering or due to help because of HBOT.

It did give me peace of mind knowing I did everything in my power to get better.

I’m feeling like I’m not getting the chance from my ENT to do that now.

Tricky.

Is she right for saying that?
Doesn’t HBOT help your body with restoring / healing more that just your audiogram-visible results?

 

Can't you just pay for it yourself and get it?

 

@Bill Bauer

That’s what I intend to find out today...

It’s in the ER, but I assume they will only let me in after checkup by their own ENT.

I’ll try to go in.

Normally if that ENT allows it, and it’s still safe with just 1,5 months in between, my insurance would cover all expenses.

 

If it is in the ER, they are unlikely to allow you to use it without a doctor's prescription. In Canada (and in the US) there are some private places that provide this service to people without a doctor's prescription.

 

@Bill Bauer

That’s why I wanted to get her prescribing it. She did not oppose first time, but now she seems to think I’m turning it into a game.

She sees no additional damage but nevertheless my T loudness doubled after the incident. So something must have caused additional damage somewhere.

Loudness of pressure cleaner was off the chart (80-90db peaks of 112)... and one earplug offered practically no protection.

I’d feel so much safer going through the routine that helped last time. My dose of prednisolon was already lower than first time...

 

Try to find another ENT. This one doesn't seem to be taking your concerns seriously.