Worsening High-Frequency Hearing After Acoustic Trauma

My audiologist prescribed it. I just gave it a try, but no effect. Actually last year my neurologist gave me Lyrica, which is also for epilepsy and severe pain. I know clonazepam is prescribed for anxiety/ depression, not only epilepsy.

 

I tried Lyrica last year too, but it did nothing, I take gabapentin now before bed. Maybe it helps me sleep. It doesn't take the tinnitus away

 

Gabapentin is I think the same as Lyrica, I am not sure...
Nothing takes it away

 

Yes, they're very similar.

 

How do I stop this beast? My hearing seems so fragile and is deteriorating with every remotely loud sound (toddler squealing for instance)...i have constant fullness in my ears that I believe is due to ongoing damage. All this has been triggered by the loud microsuction over a year ago. My tinnitus is so loud and multitonal I can hear it above EVERYTHING. I've tried not over protecting, which hasn't helped as my HF hearing has decreased somewhat in less than 12 months. I'm terrified that this will continue to get worse, so am using plugs more often. Also, I don't know how to get my tinnitus down in volume, all of this is too much to deal with It's taking over my life.

 

Same here...

 

It's the low-frequency sounds. They more easily penetrate materials, including earmuffs and earplugs.

 

It may be the plugs forcing silence into your ears which it makes it worse. I do wear hearing aids and make it keep playing some noise always at low levels like rock music and pink noise. After a year, the loud clanging bells went down to a gentle hiss when low freqs are played.

 

How are you doing now @Blue28 ? Has an MRI ever been suggested for your condition, or would you do one if it was?

 

Hi @SilverSpiral

I'm still here, still with the T, H (albeit slightly better on this front), HL and chronic ear fullness too.

I did an MRI for something else last summer, but not on my brain. I used foam plugs (my idea) and muffs (supplied by hospital so naff ones hence why I used plugs too). It was still really loud. I wouldn't want to repeat the experience.

I did do a CT scan on my brain/ears but it didn't reveal much. Unless you have an acoustic neuroma I don't think scans are much use.

How are you? Did you do you MRI?

 

They can be used to find much more than AN: Otosclerosis, Superior Canal Dehiscence, other bone/tissue/vascular abnormalities, etc.

These imaging technologies are extremely useful. Thankfully most of the time they are used to rule out a bunch of problems, but it's important to use them because if you're in the set of people who actually have one of these rare problems, then you generally want to know as early as possible to improve your prognosis.
Rare problems don't just happen to other people.

 

No, I've rescheduled my MRI because I did not feel safe about the noise level, I have a new one but am still working out figuring the protection for it. I can assume you used 33db foam plugs? Underneath the headset they provided and it was still loud? Did they tell you what the reduction rating for the headset was, or did they say what the peak decibel output of the MRI machine was?

 

Yes the foam plugs I used were 33dB, but their headset was useless. It didn't even fit correctly. They didn't tell me anything about the MRI decibel level but I'd say it was easy 110-120dB. It seemed very loud in the final 10 mins or so of my scan. If you can find a decent headset to compliment the foam plugs I'd recommend it.

 

Do you find 33db foamies fit you well? I have narrow ear canals, I'm considering ordering some "womens" pink foam 33db ones that are slimmer than the regular foamies. I saw them on amazon. I'm not sure if I can get a proper fit with normal 33db foamies, without knowing which ones the hospital supplies especially. I do know all the regular 33db foam earplugs i've tried hurt my ear canal after a while.

 

I also have narrow ear canals, and the yellow foam plugs don't fit correctly. I used these kind which tend to fit better

 

@SilverSpiral MOLDEX SPARKS 7800 foam plugs (find them on Amazon).

 

Thanks so much, how coincidental that we both have narrow ear canals.

 

Do you have ETD, it could contribute to the feeling of fullness.

 

I wonder if that may be part of it...I have had a tympanogram which was normal but I wonder...

 

I am concerned that my hearing is degrading with every remotely loud noise. For instance I had a hearing test and tympanogram in May and my hearing has gotten worse since then. The tinnitus is louder than ever and I can't hear many quiet sounds I used to hear. I'm terrified that my hearing is going to continue to degrade at an accelerated rate now. I take lots of vitamins including NAC, magnesium and vit b12 but nothing is helping.
At my wits end now

 

Are you sure it is the loud noises that are causing your hearing loss? This seems unlikely. Could it be caused by anything else?

 

I think it's the loud noises as it happened after the tympanogram/hearing test, and then again after my daughter (she's 3) squealed with joy whilst in the same room as me. After these things happened my hearing has gotten worse (it was already bad after the microsuction caused a big drop in the very high frequencies). I'm feeling it may be nerve related too, like the hair cells are not immediately damaged but the nerves die off slowly (not sure if that's possible). I have been having strange sensations in my ears/face like a menthol/cold feeling and then sometimes burning. I had the burning last year after the microsuction and then I got hyperacusis

 

And where I'm from I'm hearing the other option, namely that damaged ears are more susceptible to further damage.

Does anyone have any sources on this?

 

It makes sense to me that they would be, but it's hard to do a good study proving this without potentially damaging test subject's hearing.

 

Why do you think that makes sense? Wouldn't it make just as much sense to say that something is either damaging or not? The hair cells or synapses are not dependent on one-another, so I can't see it working like a castle that is more likely to collapse once it has been hit by a catapult a couple of times.

It's true that this is impossible to test without actually doing damage. It's certainly not being done on humans, but researchers seem to be much less restrained when it comes to rodents.

 

Does it make sense? How so? I've been searching for scientific evidence in support of this idea.

 

Well all I know is since the noise trauma and subsequent tinnitus, noises that have never bothered me or caused tinnitus before (normal, everyday albeit loud noises) are becoming my worst nightmare. Do they not say that noise damage is cumulative ?

 

Have you tried hearing aids my
audiologist told me when your hearing gets worse so will your tinnitus they set your hearing aids to the frequencies that you have lost or gotten worse and you can get tinnitus therapy with them so they help when having a bad time also my audiologist told me to take and hour a day and relax and listen to the tinnitus therapy

 

Thanks for your input. I havent tried hearing aids, I was told in May that my hearing loss wasn't severe enough to merit hearing aids. The ENT didn't seem all that interested though so I'm seeing another doctor soon, I will mention the hearing aids.

 

Please tell me this will get better, it's been over 15 months now and I am trying to cope but it's taking over my life. I have VERY VERY LOUD hissing/whistling in both ears and a low pitched hum in my left ear. This is 24/7... it NEVER decreases! I also have extreme pressure in my ears, like I need to pop my ears to be able to hear better and release the pressure. If I managed to pop my ears by yawning, it doesn't help my hearing or the pressure. I need a lifeline...I will NEVER habituate at this rate. I have suspicions about hydrops (the pressure has been constant since the microsuction incident), but my hearing loss is mainly high frequency/V high frequency. I have noticacle hearing loss (I expect my hearing was exceptionally good before). I am noticing that I hear less and less quiet sounds, my house for instance sounds as though I'm in a completely house, like it echos almost. I'm presuming this is a sign of worsening hearing. The tinnitus is so loud it's driving to to distraction. Does anyone have any advice please? Encouragement? Positive stories? PLEASE...