Hi everyone,
I just found out about this place. Sure glad I did.
To introduce myself: I'm a recently divorced, 35-year old father of 3 beautiful girls from the Netherlands. The divorce was an amicable one, but a divorce nonetheless. And so amidst all the stress of moving and figuring out a new life, I made a seemingly inconsequential mistake that led me to this place and point.
The walls of my new apartment are tough, and so drilling some holes into them was tricky. I nevertheless attacked them with fervor with a drill, until after a short while I noticed my right ear hurting a bit - exactly the way like when you've been too close to a big fat speaker in a club.
So I immediately stopped drilling, kicked myself for forgetting to put some earplugs in (to be fair, no one I know ever uses earplugs for any thing powertool related, but that doesn't make it not stupid). The room was small, about 8 m2, but I'd already carpeted it - the acoustics were reduced, but it was still an empty concrete room I suppose). In any case, the ear wasn't right - interestingly enough my left ear was and is fine (even though I did drill holding the drill on both sides of my head at some point - I guess a little more on the right).
The next day I noticed I still had the "post speaker" syndrome - my ear felt, well, "full" and the ringing persisted. It was (and still is) kind of a strange ringing. There's a base level buzzing, with the addition of a higher pitched tone.
Anyway, stressed as I was and with a history of anxiety, I was quickly getting really worred. I've never had a ringing in my ear the next day. I'm not much of a concert frequenter (though I've been in a lot of pretty loud modern church services) and I rarely go out to clubs or anything. Of course I went to check online and, oh sh*t, what if it is permanent tinnitus from acoustic trauma?
This was the proverbial drop for me and I lost my sh*t completely that day, breaking down in tears. I've thought many times since then that life was simply not worth living anymore, if it was going to be with a permanent ringing in my ears.
My ex, always more level-headed (and fortunately we are on very good terms) suggested I go see the doctor, so I did the next day. The doc's conclusion was that my earcanal was irritated and red and so she prescribed me eardrops and told me to wait it out two weeks, insisting that this stuff happens and it'll get better soon.
Fast forward a week later, I've gone through the drops thing and nothing has changed. Went in again, doc says the outer ear has healed - but my symptoms persist. She referred to me to an ear/nose/throat specialist, because from her end nothing could be seen. One of my friends swears my right ear is more red than my left ear, and it sure does still feel sensitive. There hasn't been any real pain (some pressure more I suppose).
And so that's where I'm at. I'm at two weeks since the incident tomorrow. From what I can gather from this website, that's early when it comes to expecting tinnitus to improve. This forum has given me at least some perspective: I'm reading a lot of stories where improvement happens, so I'm holding on to that.
One of my friends is a doctor and was an ear/nose/throat guy in the army. He told me they had a lot of farm guys who experienced ringing in one ear from looking over the side of the tractor all the time, the powerful engine blasting their ears continuously. He also said that, while untreatable, tinnitus symptoms do usually get better, because our brains start tuning out the noise. But that in a stressed state, as I am in now, it's much harder for the brain to do so.
One of my other friends is a contractor, who works with a lot of power tools (too often, he said, without protection). He tells me he's had a ringing in his ear several times in his life - usually it subsided over the course of a few weeks, and one time months. Told me not to worry about it.
Some observations about my tinnitus so far:
Meanwhile I'm prepping golden milk tumeric drink to see if that does anything at all. I've also got a history with intermittent fasting, so I think I'll back to that, too.
I'm otherwise completely healthy, work out a lot and, fortunately, am able to sleep well. As for the depression, I still have times where I am extremely angry at myself for messing up my ear in such an important time. My therapist tells me to chill the F out at myself, and he's convinced this won't be permanent (but that it's mostly stress induced). I'm now usually OK, though I am frequently annoyed by the sound and absolutely want it to go away.
So that's me. If you have any tips or suggestions, I'd be very grateful - especially if anyone is also here in the Netherlands and has figured out places to get treatment (even if it's CBT).
I just found out about this place. Sure glad I did.
To introduce myself: I'm a recently divorced, 35-year old father of 3 beautiful girls from the Netherlands. The divorce was an amicable one, but a divorce nonetheless. And so amidst all the stress of moving and figuring out a new life, I made a seemingly inconsequential mistake that led me to this place and point.
The walls of my new apartment are tough, and so drilling some holes into them was tricky. I nevertheless attacked them with fervor with a drill, until after a short while I noticed my right ear hurting a bit - exactly the way like when you've been too close to a big fat speaker in a club.
So I immediately stopped drilling, kicked myself for forgetting to put some earplugs in (to be fair, no one I know ever uses earplugs for any thing powertool related, but that doesn't make it not stupid). The room was small, about 8 m2, but I'd already carpeted it - the acoustics were reduced, but it was still an empty concrete room I suppose). In any case, the ear wasn't right - interestingly enough my left ear was and is fine (even though I did drill holding the drill on both sides of my head at some point - I guess a little more on the right).
The next day I noticed I still had the "post speaker" syndrome - my ear felt, well, "full" and the ringing persisted. It was (and still is) kind of a strange ringing. There's a base level buzzing, with the addition of a higher pitched tone.
Anyway, stressed as I was and with a history of anxiety, I was quickly getting really worred. I've never had a ringing in my ear the next day. I'm not much of a concert frequenter (though I've been in a lot of pretty loud modern church services) and I rarely go out to clubs or anything. Of course I went to check online and, oh sh*t, what if it is permanent tinnitus from acoustic trauma?
This was the proverbial drop for me and I lost my sh*t completely that day, breaking down in tears. I've thought many times since then that life was simply not worth living anymore, if it was going to be with a permanent ringing in my ears.
My ex, always more level-headed (and fortunately we are on very good terms) suggested I go see the doctor, so I did the next day. The doc's conclusion was that my earcanal was irritated and red and so she prescribed me eardrops and told me to wait it out two weeks, insisting that this stuff happens and it'll get better soon.
Fast forward a week later, I've gone through the drops thing and nothing has changed. Went in again, doc says the outer ear has healed - but my symptoms persist. She referred to me to an ear/nose/throat specialist, because from her end nothing could be seen. One of my friends swears my right ear is more red than my left ear, and it sure does still feel sensitive. There hasn't been any real pain (some pressure more I suppose).
And so that's where I'm at. I'm at two weeks since the incident tomorrow. From what I can gather from this website, that's early when it comes to expecting tinnitus to improve. This forum has given me at least some perspective: I'm reading a lot of stories where improvement happens, so I'm holding on to that.
One of my friends is a doctor and was an ear/nose/throat guy in the army. He told me they had a lot of farm guys who experienced ringing in one ear from looking over the side of the tractor all the time, the powerful engine blasting their ears continuously. He also said that, while untreatable, tinnitus symptoms do usually get better, because our brains start tuning out the noise. But that in a stressed state, as I am in now, it's much harder for the brain to do so.
One of my other friends is a contractor, who works with a lot of power tools (too often, he said, without protection). He tells me he's had a ringing in his ear several times in his life - usually it subsided over the course of a few weeks, and one time months. Told me not to worry about it.
Some observations about my tinnitus so far:
- As I mentioned, the sound I hear is a baseline buzz/hiss with a higher pitched tone on top. If I had to describe the tone further, it remains me of those shiny metal tweeters they use in speakers. I'd call the sound "aluminium" sounding, even though that makes no real sense.
- The high tone changes through the day. Sometimes it's a continual eeee, but more often it's more like a "tweet-tweet-tweet" kind of noise. Very inconsistent and irregular. I haven't been able to catch a pattern to it, like it responding to movement or set fluctuations during the day. However, it does *usually* sound like a continual tone in the morning (and I perceive it as louder), whereas it's more "tweet-y" in the evening.
- The high tone does subside from time to time. Interestingly, it's *usually* louder when my head is on a pillow. When I lift my head, the tweeting *usually* almost completely subsides. But then I've also had one instances where it was the complete opposite and lying down made it subside! I've also woken up in the middle of the night not being able to go back to sleep because of the noise (I went out of bed, played a game and went back after an hour - with the sound somehow being way reduced). But I've also woken up to almost no sound at all, except the hiss.
- Some stances make it go away some of the time. When I bend over, when I turn my head to the right. It doesn't always work, sometimes it does.
- Clenching my jaw makes the tweeting change into a continuous tone.
- I feel like alcohol makes it a bit edgier and persistent, the next day. When I have a beer or two I completely forget it's there, as if the alcohol dulls the senses a bit. Along the same lines my coffee in take is limited to one or two a day, so... no idea if that matters at all.
- As I mentioned, no pain, but my right ear is sensitive and feels a little full.
- I don't hear it when I'm with friends or in conversations. I don't seem to have any hearing loss, or at least nothing significant. I can watch TV or be outside and almost not hear it, or at least I forget it's there (until the inevitable "omg is it gone? Crap it's not" moment). I've read some people can even hear it in the shower, that's fortunately not the case for me.
- I do hear it when I'm alone in my apartment. I can also often hear it over music, though faintly, and playing music before sleep doesn't really work for me - I find the music more annoying than the noise.
Meanwhile I'm prepping golden milk tumeric drink to see if that does anything at all. I've also got a history with intermittent fasting, so I think I'll back to that, too.
I'm otherwise completely healthy, work out a lot and, fortunately, am able to sleep well. As for the depression, I still have times where I am extremely angry at myself for messing up my ear in such an important time. My therapist tells me to chill the F out at myself, and he's convinced this won't be permanent (but that it's mostly stress induced). I'm now usually OK, though I am frequently annoyed by the sound and absolutely want it to go away.
So that's me. If you have any tips or suggestions, I'd be very grateful - especially if anyone is also here in the Netherlands and has figured out places to get treatment (even if it's CBT).
Member
That's some story you got there. It seems you already did some digging in keeping your ears save from acoustic trauma or other things that might worsen your tinnitus. Turmeric is good. Some use NAC, vitamin B complex or other stuff like Magnesium. There's a lot that can protect you against additional damage to your hearing. And it is indeed important to be careful in places with lots of noise. As you can see in my profile, I already had a worsening of my tinnitus because I went to busy places that might have contributed to that, like going to football matches/concerts with normal ear plugs on & headphones on low to moderate volume (still not save though!). So having quality ear plugs with you at all times (musician plugs or custom-fit plugs are e-ok) and avoiding headphones/earbuds are also very important in keeping your ears save.
So, you're saying normal earplugs aren't enough for loud places? Any recommendations? And do you think I'm too late with the earphone thing?
