- Dec 17, 2022
- 3
- Tinnitus Since
- TTTS since 05/2020
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Earwax removal with syringe
Hello,
Long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to share my story with what I assume is acoustic shock disorder/tonic tensor tympani syndrome from the beginning to now. Hoping someone can weigh in with a long term success story.
2.5 years ago my symptoms developed after flushing my ears out to clear impacted wax. I have had this procedure done numerous times, but this was my first time doing it myself at home. Big mistake, obviously, but this was during the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns in the US and I wanted to avoid the doctor's office.
My symptoms started slowly over the course of a week after accidentally blasting my ear drum with water:
Has anyone had success with something similar? I understand that my tinnitus is likely never going away, and I can live with that. I mostly want an explanation and relief from the neurological symptoms. I have spoken with a neurotologist who has mentioned severing the tensor tympani muscle as a possible solution, but he advised against it. I feel like an unusual case where the water physically damaged my ear more than the noise. My hearing tests are normal.
This paper is the best description of the condition that I've seen, but even it is sparse on treatments:
An Integrative Model Accounting for the Symptom Cluster Triggered After an Acoustic Shock
Long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to share my story with what I assume is acoustic shock disorder/tonic tensor tympani syndrome from the beginning to now. Hoping someone can weigh in with a long term success story.
2.5 years ago my symptoms developed after flushing my ears out to clear impacted wax. I have had this procedure done numerous times, but this was my first time doing it myself at home. Big mistake, obviously, but this was during the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns in the US and I wanted to avoid the doctor's office.
My symptoms started slowly over the course of a week after accidentally blasting my ear drum with water:
- Mild to moderate fluctuating tinnitus in my left ear.
- Constant ear spasms from any level of sound.
- Constant ear fullness - sometimes from the Eustachian tube, but usually from tensed middle ear muscles.
- Facial nerve pain that almost brought me to the hospital. 10/10 at its worst.
- Hyperacusis? I honestly don't know if I had this. I became sensitive to sound, but nothing seemed overly loud. It was mostly fear of my symptoms worsening when hearing anything 70-80 dB+. Loud noise worsens all of my symptoms.
- Clicking off the tensor valenti muscles after speaking. Not palatal myoclonus.
- Tinnitus was gone entirely for about a year. Now it is back to a 1-3/10 intermittent hiss.
- 3 months ago I developed what I think is dysacusis - Morse code distortion over white and ambient noise. It is low volume but probably my most annoying symptom. It appeared the morning after experiencing the worst middle ear fullness and spasming of my life out of nowhere.
- Sudden noises over 80 or so dB bring all of my symptoms back. Fullness, slightly louder tinnitus and distortions, fullness, thumping with pain, and tingling along my facial nerve where I once had pain. These will usually calm down after a day or two. Nothing is constant anymore.
- Palate clicking after talking is gone, but I can make it click voluntarily, which I was never able to do before this.
Has anyone had success with something similar? I understand that my tinnitus is likely never going away, and I can live with that. I mostly want an explanation and relief from the neurological symptoms. I have spoken with a neurotologist who has mentioned severing the tensor tympani muscle as a possible solution, but he advised against it. I feel like an unusual case where the water physically damaged my ear more than the noise. My hearing tests are normal.
This paper is the best description of the condition that I've seen, but even it is sparse on treatments:
An Integrative Model Accounting for the Symptom Cluster Triggered After an Acoustic Shock