Acoustic Trauma from a Shooting Range with Hearing Protection

[Pintsun Huang]

Hi everyone, I am trying to be as calm as I can to describe my situation and I hope you can share your opinion and experience and support!

3/6 - I went to a shooting range and even with hearing protection, my right ear suffered mild hearing loss, tinnitus and felt full.

3/14 - I went to an ENT and the hearing test showed some hearing loss at 4000 Hz frequency. The doctor began Prednisone on at 40 mg.

3/18 - I went to another ENT on 3/18 and this doctor upped the Prednisone to 60 mg and then gradually tapering down and end on 4/4.

Prednisone so far has done nothing so the second ENT doctor recommend to do the Intratympanic Steroid Injection.

3/29 - I went to the specialist and did the first ear injection and will do the second and third injections each week. The first injection has done nothing so far and I feel no difference.

I am also trying acupuncture twice a week and so far no difference.

I also did my first Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment on 4/1; my insurance will cover 20 treatments. Any suggestions or idea if this would help?

I am taking below supplements:
B12 / B6 / Lipo-Flavonoid Plus
NAC 1200 mg daily beginning 4/1, is this the right dose for now?

How does everyone go through the initial stage? I am suffering from the tinnitus and I can tell my mental health went down very quick to the point that I need to look for mental health resources for depression and anxiety. Have anyone had this experience and can recommend any good Psychologist / Therapist in NYC area?

Thank you for the long read and really appreciate your support!

 

[Rockman]

The only thing that helps me is a good night sleep. I take Mirtazapine 15 mg.

 

[nogg]

My trauma occurred many decades ago and there was no support, no help from ENTs or anyone. I have both tinnitus and hyperacusis. The hyperacusis was so bad that the tinnitus wasn't my main issue, and I had no option but to press on with daily life as best as I could. I soon figured out that I just had to use earplugs in many situations, but I didn't understand how often I really needed to use them. It is important to protect your hearing when doing anything with elevated noise or impact sounds. You must be very diligent with this. I had to learn to live without listening to background music or other types of continuous noises. During this initial phase, you need to make sure that you don't inadvertently make things worse. I believe that my outcome would have been much better if I could have gone into isolation for a full month to let me ears heal as much as possible. I suppose it helps if there is someone you can talk to that can support you. My girlfriend at the time was completely unsupportive and saw it as just an inconvenience and annoyance to her. We eventually split up.

It seems that you are taking a very proactive approach which is good. I would suggest that you do everything you can to protect your ears for a bit longer, then ease yourself back into your normal routines (no more shooting guns) after that. At some point you might explore hearing aids as a potential benefit, and certainly find a good audiologist who specializes in tinnitus patients. You should probably look for one now since they can be booked ahead for months.

This is a really tough time. Just remember that for most people things do get better and life can return to being pretty much normal.

 

[Pintsun Huang]

My trauma occurred many decades ago and there was no support, no help from ENTs or anyone. I have both tinnitus and hyperacusis. The hyperacusis was so bad that the tinnitus wasn't my main issue, and I had no option but to press on with daily life as best as I could. I soon figured out that I just had to use earplugs in many situations, but I didn't understand how often I really needed to use them. It is important to protect your hearing when doing anything with elevated noise or impact sounds. You must be very diligent with this. I had to learn to live without listening to background music or other types of continuous noises. During this initial phase, you need to make sure that you don't inadvertently make things worse. I believe that my outcome would have been much better if I could have gone into isolation for a full month to let me ears heal as much as possible. I suppose it helps if there is someone you can talk to that can support you. My girlfriend at the time was completely unsupportive and saw it as just an inconvenience and annoyance to her. We eventually split up.

It seems that you are taking a very proactive approach which is good. I would suggest that you do everything you can to protect your ears for a bit longer, then ease yourself back into your normal routines (no more shooting guns) after that. At some point you might explore hearing aids as a potential benefit, and certainly find a good audiologist who specializes in tinnitus patients. You should probably look for one now since they can be booked ahead for months.

This is a really tough time. Just remember that for most people things do get better and life can return to being pretty much normal.

Thank you.

 

[John C.]

Pintsun,

I'm sorry you are going through this. Please know that you are not alone.

I experienced a nearly identical event 10 months ago. Shooting a pistol using ear protection. Last round of a full magazine from a 9mm. Instant high pitch ringing in my right ear and hyperacusis and fullness in my left ear. Audiogram is similar to yours. The first several days were absolutely terrifying. Panic and anxiety were almost unbearable... but it got better.

Here is what helped me:

1. I found a very good 10 hour YouTube video of white noise-sounds like an airplane cabin-very soothing. It really helped me sleep. I turned it up just loud enough to hear in the background. It didn't drown out the tinnitus noise, but it helped me sleep. A few times I put my iPhone under my pillow when I was really struggling.

2. See your primary care physician, get a physical, talk with them about possibly taking medication. I just take St John's Wort because I didn't want to take antidepressants. Make sure the rest of you is as healthy as possible.

3. Meditate. Just breathe... a few minutes of deep focused breathing a few times a day... it helps. Seriously.

4. Find a therapist. I found just talking about my tinnitus to someone was helpful.

5. Exercise... a little or a lot... don't obsess about it, just exercise regularly. I ride a bike, take a brisk walk, hike, swim, cut the grass, stretch, shoot some hoops.

6. Get out in nature.

7. Do what you like-what makes you happy... just do it... protect your ears... continue to do things you enjoy.

8. Find some comedy-laugh as much as possible.

9. Let some time pass... it does anyway

Good sleep is a huge help. I stopped using YouTube white noise to sleep after a few months and can sleep through the night-most of the time-with just a ceiling fan. That's progress.

I have experienced many 2-3 week periods where the tinnitus volume has been relatively low - I only hear it when it's relatively quiet - AND/OR... it just didn't bother me very much. These are good weeks.

My extremely high anxiety/panic/fear/hopelessness/anger has subsided significantly in 10 months.

I do however experience periods of similar length of 2-3 weeks where my tinnitus "spikes" gets louder/is more bothersome... but it always subsides and gets quiet/less bothersome.

It's like a few good weeks followed by a few tough weeks... that's how it goes for me... but I try to be grateful during the good weeks and have perspective during the tough weeks.

My brain can tune the tinnitus out at times... sometimes it can't... but in general I'm doing much better... that horrible feeling of fear and panic is just gone... it's not that I don't get frustrated or pissed at times, but that visceral/adrenaline/fight or flight/going crazy physical tension and overwhelming helplessness has passed...

Be selective on line... lots of extremely depressing stuff out there... don't get sucked in... misery loves company. I have found this forum to have a lot of good stuff - genuinely helpful people sharing their experiences and advice... but be cautious... take the good stuff, leave the rest.

Hang in there... it will get better.

I hope this is helpful.

Best,
John

 

[martinberryhorse]

I can't recommend any mental health professionals, but I can tell you that the beginning is the hardest part and most difficult to manage mentally. Assuming you don't improve which I actually think you will, but if you don't over time you will find ways to manage it better, and other things in life will be more important to you than the suffering caused.

I do have a couple questions for you.

Firstly did you go to an indoor range?

Second, did you double up on hearing protection or was it just earmuffs or earplugs?

Lastly, what kind of gun were you shooting?

Just a message of hope but I have seen more cases of hearing loss tinnitus resolving or improving than idiopathic tinnitus.

 

[Bobby B]

The outcome will depend on, for example, what cumulative noise damage you had before, your age, if you regularly went shooting before, or were exposed to other noisy events such as loud concerts, clubs, or work, army, etc...

Prednisone works only in the very early stage, meaning up to 48 hours or even less, after that nothing really helps besides techniques to get used to it.