Member- Apr 17, 2019
- 396
- Tinnitus Since
- 12.04.2019
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Loud concert
Hey guys
I guess it's time for me to write this because I got so used to my situation that I'm getting too lazy to write a success story.
To make things short:
- 10 months ago, I got tinnitus due to a loud concert (trumpet, metal on metal percussion). I didn't really have a history of noise damage, but it was enough to give me chronic tinnitus.
- Loudness was a 4 on a 1-10 scale initially.
- Very high pitched sound (~15 kHz).
- I started with somewhat reactive tinnitus and loudness hyperacusis.
- Tinnitus seemed to get better during the first month, then it changed tone/pattern. Has stayed the same since.
- Loudness has always been about the same. I'd say that it's mostly a bit above quiet room stage (so around a 2 out of 10). Never really loud, but when it's "bad" I can hear it in most situations. When it's good I can't really hear it during the day.
- Reactiveness went away over the first 2-3 months. It affected only specific noises anyway.
- Loudness hyperacusis went away either by itself during the first 2 weeks or due to prednisone (prednisone did nothing for tinnitus). Changed to pain hyperacusis for certain frequencies. Pain hyperacusis has veeery slowly improved over the months.
- Got mild visual snow during months 2-4 (translucent visual snow, mild trailing, slightly washed out colors, slight glare/starbursts, slight negative afterimages, mild contrast problems).
- Was very stressed when I got tinnitus and had very bad sleep when I got visual snow, which made me suicidal (lack of sleep was actually the biggest problem, not tinnitus or visual snow itself).
- Got used to my situation over time. Sleep improved relatively quickly fortunately (took some herbal stuff for sleep, stopped after two weeks because sleep was good again).
- I'm so bored by the symptoms that I am bored of thinking about thinking about it. My mind is blocking me from thinking/caring about it.
- I still have ear plugs and muffs with me all the time. I use muffs regularly for riding the bus (sat over the motor today, was definitely needed because it's 80db there, just 10 min however).
- Life is like 80-90% like before. On one side I miss having silence and seeing things clearly (especially those tiny sparrow's eyes, I love those cute little buggers). On the other side this situation allowed me to clear some long-standing life questions, so I don't see my situation that negatively anymore. Emotionally I'm good, more grateful, in some way happier than before. What I lost emotionally is relaxation since my brain needs constant activation for distraction (if there's nothing around, my mind starts racing instead or playing music earworms that I heard recently). I'm not stressed though.
So umm, yeah. I expected to get habituated eventually because my tinnitus is mild, although it helped a lot that my hyperacusis has improved since then. I was more sceptical about getting used to visual snow, but since user @linearb has it too and his is quite a bit worse and he's habituated, I had confidence that I could get to this point as well. Thanks again man, you really helped me there. I'm surprised that I really don't give much of a f... about it anymore. Still would be great to see sharp edges again >_>.
I guess it's time for me to write this because I got so used to my situation that I'm getting too lazy to write a success story.
To make things short:
- 10 months ago, I got tinnitus due to a loud concert (trumpet, metal on metal percussion). I didn't really have a history of noise damage, but it was enough to give me chronic tinnitus.
- Loudness was a 4 on a 1-10 scale initially.
- Very high pitched sound (~15 kHz).
- I started with somewhat reactive tinnitus and loudness hyperacusis.
- Tinnitus seemed to get better during the first month, then it changed tone/pattern. Has stayed the same since.
- Loudness has always been about the same. I'd say that it's mostly a bit above quiet room stage (so around a 2 out of 10). Never really loud, but when it's "bad" I can hear it in most situations. When it's good I can't really hear it during the day.
- Reactiveness went away over the first 2-3 months. It affected only specific noises anyway.
- Loudness hyperacusis went away either by itself during the first 2 weeks or due to prednisone (prednisone did nothing for tinnitus). Changed to pain hyperacusis for certain frequencies. Pain hyperacusis has veeery slowly improved over the months.
- Got mild visual snow during months 2-4 (translucent visual snow, mild trailing, slightly washed out colors, slight glare/starbursts, slight negative afterimages, mild contrast problems).
- Was very stressed when I got tinnitus and had very bad sleep when I got visual snow, which made me suicidal (lack of sleep was actually the biggest problem, not tinnitus or visual snow itself).
- Got used to my situation over time. Sleep improved relatively quickly fortunately (took some herbal stuff for sleep, stopped after two weeks because sleep was good again).
- I'm so bored by the symptoms that I am bored of thinking about thinking about it. My mind is blocking me from thinking/caring about it.
- I still have ear plugs and muffs with me all the time. I use muffs regularly for riding the bus (sat over the motor today, was definitely needed because it's 80db there, just 10 min however).
- Life is like 80-90% like before. On one side I miss having silence and seeing things clearly (especially those tiny sparrow's eyes, I love those cute little buggers). On the other side this situation allowed me to clear some long-standing life questions, so I don't see my situation that negatively anymore. Emotionally I'm good, more grateful, in some way happier than before. What I lost emotionally is relaxation since my brain needs constant activation for distraction (if there's nothing around, my mind starts racing instead or playing music earworms that I heard recently). I'm not stressed though.
So umm, yeah. I expected to get habituated eventually because my tinnitus is mild, although it helped a lot that my hyperacusis has improved since then. I was more sceptical about getting used to visual snow, but since user @linearb has it too and his is quite a bit worse and he's habituated, I had confidence that I could get to this point as well. Thanks again man, you really helped me there. I'm surprised that I really don't give much of a f... about it anymore. Still would be great to see sharp edges again >_>.
