Can Pain Hyperacusis Get Better After Setbacks?

[LindaS]

My first setback happened two months after I got tinnitus & hyperacusis. Exposed myself to some everyday sounds doing errands in town. Ended up with ear fullness, burning ears and head, and muffled hearing. This lasted about five days. Slowly it eased up. Lost more sound tolerance.

Three days ago, a bowl accidentally dropped on the granite counter in my kitchen and has caused the same symptoms but somehow it feels worse this time.... Now, I've lost more sound tolerance. I can't tolerate the tv on low, listen to someone speak...
I have to have complete silence (low level noise causes more ear/head burning) but even in silence my ears and head burn.

If you count the first noise trauma that caused the tinnitus & hyperacusis, this means there have been 3 noise traumas in 3 months. The last two were sounds that normal people would not react to.
I don't overprotect in the house and I try to be extremely careful of creating any loud noises but, as I have found out the hard way, accidents can happen. Now my natural reaction is to want to protect at all times from everything!!!

Has anyone else had these kind of setbacks? How long do they usually last?
What should I be doing?

Can sound tolerance still be achievable after all of this?

(Note: was listening to low level sound under tinnitus volume and sound at night but cannot tolerate either right now).

Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sevv]

I'll just leave this here:

https://hyperacusisfocus.org/hope/

It's possible, but will take longer. Fuck this shit considering how long the setbacks are.

 

[LindaS]

@Sevv

OMG! Thank you so much for the link. You have given me hope! What a great start to the day!

Thank you Sevv

 

[jordan chis]

@Sevv

OMG! Thank you so much for the link. You have given me hope! What a great start to the day!

Thank you Sevv

Hey Linda, how are you holding up? Hope you are making small improvements since the setback.

 

[LindaS]

Thanks for stopping by and asking! Hanging in there right now.

I read your story. You are young, and you are new to this. You should be fine.
Take good care of yourself and try to avoid setbacks if possible.

 

[Lola808]

@Sevv have you had set backs you came back from?

 

[PeteJ]

It's impossible to avoid all noise especially normal everyday sounds. If you can move to a quieter place, do so.

Quite a few people here take magnesium and NAC after loud noise exposure. I ran out of NAC and am getting low on magnesium. I suggest to take magnesium at least.

I have frequent ear pain but I think many people here have posted about hyperacusis improvements and recovering from setbacks. My advice: just avoid obvious loud places and events. You can't do much about small things like dropping something or others which you can't control.

 

[Juan]

Has anyone else had these kind of setbacks? How long do they usually last?

Yes, all the time. I have had hyperacusis for many years. Sometimes your ears will over react and trigger similar symptoms to the ones genuine harming noise creates. If you ears just over-react you will likely have symptoms for 2-3 days.

If the noise exposure is enough to make damage you can have symptoms for a period of 1 to 3 weeks. For me the usual time to come back to baseline or get balanced ears again (with or without hearing loss deriving from sound exposure) is 10 days if things are not too bad. If the sound was really bad and close by, it's like 3 weeks, sometimes 4.

I don't overprotect in the house

If I wear you, I would protect my ears around the kitchen.

Three days ago, a bowl accidentally dropped on the granite counter in my kitchen and has caused the same symptoms but somehow it feels worse this time

Because the bowl produces more vibration, adds a certain bell-effect to the sound.

Can sound tolerance still be achievable after all of this?

You need to rest your ears and try to be the most time you can without a setback. That's the way to build tolerance. Setbacks take you back to square one. Spending a long time without setbacks builds tolerance and this can be notice in recovery times after exposure to medium - loud sounds that used to trigger symptoms... either they dont produce symptoms any more or the recovery time it takes for symptoms to fade shortens. Those are indicators of being on the good track.

 

[LindaS]

@PeteJ
@Juan

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. Very much appreciated.

PeteJ... Do you sometimes get ear pain for no apparent reason? How do you deal with it?

Juan... I will definitely wear protection in the kitchen from now on.
Has the issue with your jaw improved?

 

[uae96]

Yes countless times. I've been to exposed to all sorts of loud sounds, fire crackers, broken glasses, loud venues, malls, loud motors.

It depends on the damage, there was a time where I went to a loud restaurant without ear plugs, it took 1-2 months to recover.

All the best.

 

[Sevv]

@Sevv have you had set backs you came back from?

Sorry for not replying earlier. It is hard to say. Since February I've had three setbacks now (screw my luck). Before February, I was able to tolerate women laughing loud (with very few exceptions) which wasnt possible for a long time in 2019. Now it causes me discomfort again. The problematic frequencies for me at the moment seem very narrow which makes it harder to judge whether I am overdoing it or not. It will take time. It might also be that I might not get back to the same level of tolerance, although I can't imagine that it will be much worse.

 

[NewLionel]

I am 4 months in from last setback (huge setback) very slowly making progress. Voices have been slowly been getting more tolerable, not in a linear pattern.. some bad days in the mix... but overall progress.... and of course some extreme depression

 

[raymundo2245]

My first setback happened two months after I got tinnitus & hyperacusis. Exposed myself to some everyday sounds doing errands in town. Ended up with ear fullness, burning ears and head, and muffled hearing. This lasted about five days. Slowly it eased up. Lost more sound tolerance.

Three days ago, a bowl accidentally dropped on the granite counter in my kitchen and has caused the same symptoms but somehow it feels worse this time.... Now, I've lost more sound tolerance. I can't tolerate the tv on low, listen to someone speak...
I have to have complete silence (low level noise causes more ear/head burning) but even in silence my ears and head burn.

If you count the first noise trauma that caused the tinnitus & hyperacusis, this means there have been 3 noise traumas in 3 months. The last two were sounds that normal people would not react to.
I don't overprotect in the house and I try to be extremely careful of creating any loud noises but, as I have found out the hard way, accidents can happen. Now my natural reaction is to want to protect at all times from everything!!!

Has anyone else had these kind of setbacks? How long do they usually last?
What should I be doing?

Can sound tolerance still be achievable after all of this?

(Note: was listening to low level sound under tinnitus volume and sound at night but cannot tolerate either right now).

Please, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, my name is Ray and i just had my gun fired accidentally and there are noises i cant tolerate, i had this 7 or 8 yrs ago and was just find and habituaded, now i am back to square one and with a bit of depression.
I just started with the episodes od sensitivity or hypercusis. How is your now at this moment?

 

[LindaS]

@raymundo2245

Thanks for stopping by and asking. Unfortunately, this setback is a lot worse than the first one. I am still having burning ears/head at times and aural fullness and louder tinnitus volume. I spent some time outside today. It was pretty quiet... a little bit of wind in the leaves, birds, etc. But, after some time, it felt like my ears had enough and fullness and pain ensued. I can't drive, can't shop, can't visit friends and even with double hearing protection when I go for medical appointments... voices and noises are too loud... I keep praying this will get better.

On the positive side...I can now tolerate a few sounds as long as not too loud that I couldn't a couple of weeks ago.
This little bit of improvement is what is keeping me going right now.

I'm sorry to hear about your setback. On a positive note, if you were able to get through it 7 or 8 years ago and were fine you will get through it again!

P.S. @Michael Leigh would be a good person for you to talk to. He's been through this too.

 

[Juan]

Juan... I will definitely wear protection in the kitchen from now on.
Has the issue with your jaw improved?

Hi Linda, it hasn't improved, it is more or less the same...

 

[LindaS]

@Juan

I'm sorry you haven't experienced improvement with your jaw. I don't know enough about it. Can it still improve or is there something that will give you relief?

 

[LindaS]

I suffered a setback almost two months ago (bowl accidentally dropped on granite counter).

I'm still getting burning ear and burning head pain daily... even in silence and still get aural fullness at times.

I try not to protect from normal every day quieter sounds in the house (I do protect from tea kettle, microwave, washing machine etc).

I can't go outside due to too many loud noises (dirt bikes, ATVs , etc)

Why is this still happening almost two months later?

Has anyone else experienced this? Did it get better?

Could really use some hope right now.

 

[NewLionel]

My setback is fluctuating wildly... some days feels like solid progress... then I go visit friends or push my body a little and it feels like I'm back to the starting point. I heard hyperacusis recovery is non linear but since my setback progress has not been good.