Younger Brother Set an Air Horn Off Near My Head → Tinnitus Worse After Years of Being Manageable

Hey everyone,

It's been a few years since I last posted here but here I am again! My tinnitus became totally manageable after a few weeks to months of worry back when I had too many Ibuprofen while working at Amazon.

Well, I was out visiting my dad and doing some work on his property when my dipshit younger brother (21) used an air horn my dad had lying around to "prank" me, last Tuesday the 9th. In the moment my ears went muffled and I tore his ass for being so fucking stupid.

Now my tinnitus seems a bit louder. I can hear it over white noise when I couldn't before. I'm hoping it's just a temporary spike! I can't afford a doctor because I was also recently fired.

No matter how it turns out, c'est la vie I guess!

Can anyone offer supportive and optimistic words, please?

 

Hi @Booger, sorry you had a noise trauma.

Lots of folks here advocate Prednisone, or Prednisolone, it is a steroid that can reduce inflammation after a noise trauma. If you can't get any, don't worry.

Get Magnesium, pill or powder or both. Get some NAC and eat copious amounts of garlic, ginger and turmeric. The garlic, ginger and turmeric can be eaten raw, made into a hot tea, or used to make your food taste good... cheap and can be done on a low budget.

Teach your brother as soon as possible. What he did was super dangerous, but he deserves a second chance if he was unaware.

Lastly, exercise your ass off and stay strong. Do anything to calm yourself, hot baths, saunas, massage. Distract and try not to gauge it every moment.

I think you're going to rebound nicely. Give it a few weeks for the spike to subside.

Peace out,
Daniel

 

For some reason people think it's funny to startle people with loud noise. I personally know of people blowing a boat air horn (VERY loud) while people were lying on the bow, and popping a balloon next to someone's ears as a joke. They don't understand the harm sound (pressure) waves can do. The good news is most acoustic trauma caused tinnitus tends to fade over time, lots of time it fades to zero. IMO you are experiencing a spike in your tinnitus that will most likely fade back to your baseline. It may take a few weeks, or even a few months, but I think you will be fine.