Having tinnitus the last 2 weeks and 2 days, I decided to share my experience and hopefully find some people that might be in the same state of mind as mine, and could give me some valuable tips... Let me just say that I'm 28 years old and living in Europe.
So, three weeks ago after a 4 hours exposure to very loud music, my ears felt a bit weird (like I'm in the water) and most of sounds seemed louder than they should be... I thought that a good sleep would help getting them back to normal but next day the "fullness" was still there... However, after a couple of days my hearing was back to normal and only a minor sensitivity in some sounds remained and a very very low ringing in the back of my head, which at that point I thought, was nothing to worry about... That's why, a week after that, I decided to go to a hip-hop concert, where the music was again incredible loud and I had again no earplugs.. So I decided to stay as far as possible from the speakers (literally sitting in the entrance of the music hall) and put some tissue paper in my ears (at that point it seemed to help)
But when the concert was finished, I realized that my ears were completely fucked up, since I could hear a clear ringing in my left ear. After two days I visited an ENT, had an hearing test (Up to 8Khz) where no hearing loss was found and she prescribed me prednisolone for 10 days and told me that there are high chances the problem will get away and just not to think about it...
However, that was the point, where the slippery slope started... Having stress disorder and depression for almost two years along with minor hypochondria, and being currently under an extremely stressful situation and mild-severe depressive episode, I could do nothing else but think about my tinnitus... Within the week after the concert, I started experiencing extreme sensitivity in everyday sounds, whereas the tinnitus was becoming louder and louder (especially at nights) and the pills didn't seem to make any difference at all. My mental state was deteriorating rapidly accompanied with panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and generally loosing control of everything... I wasn't anymore sure what part of my tinnitus and hyperacusis due to the noise exposure and what due to my mental breakdown...
So, I decided to visit both an Audiologist/Neurootologist and my Psychiatrist. The former one made several tests, including a hearing test up to 12.5Khz, where it was found that I do have a hear loss (however not that significant) as well a minor balance and vertigo problem, which I can't percieve (since its not serious)... He told me that hair in the cochlea were irritated but this time at a higher extent compared to the past incidents and will take some time (a month or more) but will eventually fade away. He also prescribed me betahistine along with many vitamin pills for 35 days. He also told me not to think about it and relax, since being stressed increases my perception towards the problem (which according to him is not that serious).
On the other hand, the Psychiatrist told me that I am in the so called "fight or flight mode" and prescribed me Prazepam, in order to be able to relax and have some sleep, whereas he suggested to start taking antidepressants as soon as possible. Prazepam did actually help and I can now easily sleep even without the need of trying to mask tinnitus using music, whereas the hyperacusis symptoms seem to fade away day by day (although I still can't tolerate medium noise exposure for long period of time.
I can now say that I'm not experiencing a severe tinnitus problem, nevertheless I realize that I can't get it out of my head no matter what I do. No matter how loud is the music or where I am there is always this constant ringing in the back of my head, that (awkwardly) seems to get louder when I hear noises.
To conclude (since I already wrote more than enough), I would like to know if there is anybody out there, whose tinnitus came along with such a mental state as mine and, if yes, any tips on how to cope with the situation...
So, three weeks ago after a 4 hours exposure to very loud music, my ears felt a bit weird (like I'm in the water) and most of sounds seemed louder than they should be... I thought that a good sleep would help getting them back to normal but next day the "fullness" was still there... However, after a couple of days my hearing was back to normal and only a minor sensitivity in some sounds remained and a very very low ringing in the back of my head, which at that point I thought, was nothing to worry about... That's why, a week after that, I decided to go to a hip-hop concert, where the music was again incredible loud and I had again no earplugs.. So I decided to stay as far as possible from the speakers (literally sitting in the entrance of the music hall) and put some tissue paper in my ears (at that point it seemed to help)
But when the concert was finished, I realized that my ears were completely fucked up, since I could hear a clear ringing in my left ear. After two days I visited an ENT, had an hearing test (Up to 8Khz) where no hearing loss was found and she prescribed me prednisolone for 10 days and told me that there are high chances the problem will get away and just not to think about it...
However, that was the point, where the slippery slope started... Having stress disorder and depression for almost two years along with minor hypochondria, and being currently under an extremely stressful situation and mild-severe depressive episode, I could do nothing else but think about my tinnitus... Within the week after the concert, I started experiencing extreme sensitivity in everyday sounds, whereas the tinnitus was becoming louder and louder (especially at nights) and the pills didn't seem to make any difference at all. My mental state was deteriorating rapidly accompanied with panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and generally loosing control of everything... I wasn't anymore sure what part of my tinnitus and hyperacusis due to the noise exposure and what due to my mental breakdown...
So, I decided to visit both an Audiologist/Neurootologist and my Psychiatrist. The former one made several tests, including a hearing test up to 12.5Khz, where it was found that I do have a hear loss (however not that significant) as well a minor balance and vertigo problem, which I can't percieve (since its not serious)... He told me that hair in the cochlea were irritated but this time at a higher extent compared to the past incidents and will take some time (a month or more) but will eventually fade away. He also prescribed me betahistine along with many vitamin pills for 35 days. He also told me not to think about it and relax, since being stressed increases my perception towards the problem (which according to him is not that serious).
On the other hand, the Psychiatrist told me that I am in the so called "fight or flight mode" and prescribed me Prazepam, in order to be able to relax and have some sleep, whereas he suggested to start taking antidepressants as soon as possible. Prazepam did actually help and I can now easily sleep even without the need of trying to mask tinnitus using music, whereas the hyperacusis symptoms seem to fade away day by day (although I still can't tolerate medium noise exposure for long period of time.
I can now say that I'm not experiencing a severe tinnitus problem, nevertheless I realize that I can't get it out of my head no matter what I do. No matter how loud is the music or where I am there is always this constant ringing in the back of my head, that (awkwardly) seems to get louder when I hear noises.
To conclude (since I already wrote more than enough), I would like to know if there is anybody out there, whose tinnitus came along with such a mental state as mine and, if yes, any tips on how to cope with the situation...
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