Air Bag Explosion to the Face

[Kingfish]

Hi, My name is Dave. I sold cars for around 12 years. On 07/11/2011, I was sitting in the front passenger seat
of a new truck. We were going 40-45mph towards a green lit intersection. A lady ran the red light. We t-boned
her. My head felt like it was going to explode along with the rush of ringing.My airbag had deployed in my
face. I am a new member and the blue noise that is played on your audio tape is what I hear all the time. Most
of my past co-workers thought or think that all of my occupational doctors visits that I performed were
a guise to find workmen's compensation. You people obviously know how one has to continually answer the
question, " Yes my ears ring all the time. They are ringing right now." I am resilient, but I do understand why
some people have harmed themselves. I can no longer sell cars. I can not listen worth a damn. I should of
found this group earlier. Thanks for listening. Dave

 

[Bertman]

Hey dave, welcome. This site certainly has lots to offer in terms of support and information. For your case, it's worth looking into if you haven't already to see if you maybe have some neck problems or something along those lines contributing to your tinnitus from possible whiplash during your accident. Btw, it's nice to meet someone that was in the auto industry, although under unfortunate circumstances, as thats what I plan on going into. May I ask the reason you can no longer sell cars?

Best,

 

[Kingfish]

Hey Bertman, Thanks for the concern. With me, The strong hissing noise I hear requires me to take very
strong narcotics to sleep, which in turn leaves me very un-energetic during daytime hours. Being good at
selling cars requires intense focus, listening and understanding what your customer needs, and performing
under pressure. After the accident, my performance dropped sharply. I was actually fired from two jobs after
the accident based on my numbers. I was a top performer. Not now. Do you notice the difference in the way
listening to music was before you had tinnitus and now? I don't know your age, but I am 59. If you are younger,
you might be able to adjust easier. Good luck on your automotive sales career. Dave

 

[Bertman]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the difference in the way I listen to music, but to be honest I pretty much stopped. I got mine from going to a friends gig and so now music just doesn't have the same appeal to me as it used to because it's what caused my T. I'm 20, and hopefully we can all adjust given some time. Sorry to hear about your troubles at work, that is one thing that really worries me, is not being able to focus in my career.
Have you considered Tinnitus retraining therapy? One of the major parts of it is using sound enrichment through hearing aids with a white noise setting. Also, I know for me I needed strong meds at the beginning to sleep, but now I don't use any meds at the moment. I play white noise through my TV all night and that helps me sleep, I'd suggest doing that if you haven't already. And if that works for you maybe you can get off the sleep meds and go back to work. For me, if things get difficult when I start my career I am going to try getting those hearing aids to help take my mind off the T, might be worth a try.