Did Your Pain Hyperacusis Set in Gradually or Was It Fairly Instant?

[Orions Pain]

Did it set in gradually, or was it fairly instant? I read that loudness hyperacusis and pain hyperacusis may have different etiologies, but also read instances where people's loudness hyperacusis progressed to pain hyperacusis.

There also seem to be a few on here with just pain hyperacusis - not loudness, which makes me believe they do have different etiologies after all.

I understand that loudness hyperacusis may improve as the ears become desensitized. But I've also read that several members on here have recovered from pain hyperacusis, so I am wondering how that is possible.

Does anyone have any sort of ideas or hypotheses on what happens in our bodies when pain hyperacusis improves?

 

[Christopher805]

Gradually.

 

[Horrorpopz]

To me pain hyperacusis is like more an injury, where sounds make that injury worse, that's why TRT isn't effective treating it and time in silence makes it better.

 

[Orions Pain]

To me pain hyperacusis is like more an injury, where sounds make that injury worse, that's why TRT isn't effective treating it and time in silence makes it better.

Are you feeling any better these days?

 

[Orions Pain]

Gradually.

What were the phases?

 

[Christopher805]

What were the phases?

When I initially acquired tinnitus; it was just tinnitus but the nasty loud painful kind. The louder it got the more ear pain. Oddly, nothing sounded loud and I did not hear the ring outside. However, a month later, hyperacusis hit me, it did not cause pain but was loud and annoying. Everything in the house sounded louder except the TV. Some days I could step on leaves no problem next day it annoyed me. A month from that, it seem to get worse at night. Now, it's bad from sun up to sun down. At night my own voice starts to flutter my ears then they get sore and feel pressure deep in ear. For me, the hyperacusis is worse than the ring. It used to make me anxious.

 

[Orions Pain]

When I initially acquired tinnitus; it was just tinnitus but the nasty loud painful kind. The louder it got the more ear pain. Oddly, nothing sounded loud and I did not hear the ring outside. However, a month later, hyperacusis hit me, it did not cause pain but was loud and annoying. Everything in the house sounded louder except the TV. Some days I could step on leaves no problem next day it annoyed me. A month from that, it seem to get worse at night. Now, it's bad from sun up to sun down. At night my own voice starts to flutter my ears then they get sore and feel pressure deep in ear. For me, the hyperacusis is worse than the ring. It used to make me anxious.

Interesting. I've never experienced tinnitus and when I got it it came immediately with hyperacusis.

 

[Orions Pain]

Can anyone hear something in their ear when they chew? It's like a sticky clicking (I wouldn't even say clicking) but like the sound of you stepping into a thick thick mud puddle wearing a big rubber boot (have no idea how else to describe it)

I only hear in my bad ear, and only when I open/close my mouth. Like I open my mouth, and this sound follows, close and it follows.

How can this play into having hyperacusis? Could this be my ET opening and closer but the sound is amplified because of hyperacusis?

 

[TheDanishGirl]

Instantly. I was in an open psyciatric ward about a month into tinnitus, when I suddently felt pain in my ears from the clanking cutlery/glasses at the dinner table one night.

 

[Christopher805]

I stand corrected. I still have moments of anxiousness with hyperacusis. It use to come and go. Now, it is here but hopefully not to stay.

 

[Christopher805]

Instantly. I was in an open psyciatric ward about a month into tinnitus, when I suddently felt pain in my ears from the clanking cutlery/glasses at the dinner table one night.

Mine was not instant but when it did reveal its hideous self the same objects you enumerated annoyed me. Now, I get soreness after dealing with it all day. Physically exhausting. At the onset of tinnitus I was one signature away from being taken to the behavioral unit (psych ward). The doc said you are smart enough to figure this out. I looked at them but did not say what I wanted to say. Which was "apparently I am going to have to because you all cannot." They gave me Xanax and sent me home. Needless to say it's been 9 months and I am still tying to figure it out. Rich James said cocaine is a hell of drug. Well Xanax is a hell of a hell of a drug. After 8 weeks got off them.

 

[East]

Mine was not instant but when it did reveal its hideous self the same objects you enumerated annoyed me. Now, I get soreness after dealing with it all day. Physically exhausting. At the onset of tinnitus I was one signature away from being taken to the behavioral unit (psych ward). The doc said you are smart enough to figure this out. I looked at them but did not say what I wanted to say. Which was "apparently I am going to have to because you all cannot." They gave me Xanax and sent me home. Needless to say it's been 9 months and I am still tying to figure it out. Rich James said cocaine is a hell of drug. Well Xanax is a hell of a hell of a drug. After 8 weeks got off them.

Did you find that Xanax helped you?? I have some for anxiety and it seems to help my ear burning/neck tension pretty well. I only use it when I really need to though.

 

[Orions Pain]

Mine came on fairly instantly, or at least I remember everything sounding way too loud.

I got my tinnitus/hyperacusis on a random Wednesday, and can recall taking a bus to an ENT the following week and the beep from my bus pass sounding extra loud and annoying.

The voices of my coworkers.
The coffee shop next door.
It scared me when I was visiting my parents and we were sitting at breakfast and my dad's voice was just unbearable to me.

Looking back, I've always felt like my hearing was sensitive in the mornings but I thought that was fairly normal.

The TTTS and burning symptoms didn't set in until month 3 though however they come and go.

My jaw has been causing me some issues too. Not with "pain" but I've had nights where I wake up in discomfort from clenching which has never been an issue for me. It also crackles and pops really really loud and feels uncomfortable to open my mouth when I first wake up. I wonder if this is all what's causing all these burning symptoms for me. Or it could just be that my hyperacusis is just starting to ramp up. Who knows.

 

[Christopher805]

Did you find that Xanax helped you?? I have some for anxiety and it seems to help my ear burning/neck tension pretty well. I only use it when I really need to though.

I took as a sleep aid. However, the sleep quality was terrible. I still did not fall asleep until almost daybreak. Terrible nightmares. I've never had a nightmare in my life. In terms of anxiety did not notice any difference other than I had anxiety every night before taking them.

 

[Juan]

Mine came on fairly instantly, or at least I remember everything sounding way too loud.

I got my tinnitus/hyperacusis on a random Wednesday, and can recall taking a bus to an ENT the following week and the beep from my bus pass sounding extra loud and annoying.

The voices of my coworkers.
The coffee shop next door.
It scared me when I was visiting my parents and we were sitting at breakfast and my dad's voice was just unbearable to me.

Looking back, I've always felt like my hearing was sensitive in the mornings but I thought that was fairly normal.

The TTTS and burning symptoms didn't set in until month 3 though however they come and go.

My jaw has been causing me some issues too. Not with "pain" but I've had nights where I wake up in discomfort from clenching which has never been an issue for me. It also crackles and pops really really loud and feels uncomfortable to open my mouth when I first wake up. I wonder if this is all what's causing all these burning symptoms for me. Or it could just be that my hyperacusis is just starting to ramp up. Who knows.

Usually people can identify the exact cause of their hyperacusis in terms of noise exposure, so in that sense it sets in instantly, but then evolves gradually.

Identifying the cause... saying "this was due to this particular sound exposure" does not mean identifying exactly what part of your hearing is damaged and to which degree. Usually this remains unknown, although a doctor can talk to you and help you have an idea of what part of your hearing could be affected.

 

[Orions Pain]

Usually people can identify the exact cause of their hyperacusis in terms of noise exposure, so in that sense it sets in instantly, but then evolves gradually.

Identifying the cause... saying "this was due to this particular sound exposure" does not mean identifying exactly what part of your hearing is damaged and to which degree. Usually this remains unknown, although a doctor can talk to you and help you have an idea of what part of your hearing could be affected.

I went to a concert 5 days before anything happened. I didn't feel anything weird after the concert nor in the days following it until I was at work and it all came on at once. So I know the "cause" per say, but it definitely wasn't sudden like a lot of people on here who immediately felt the effects, but I do realize a delayed response can occur.

I've had my hearing tested but they don't test for hidden loss so essentially it was pointless.

 

[grate_biff]

@Orions Pain

I developed tinnitus in my right ear 5 days after an acoustic shock using HF.
It suddenly came on as I was playing golf. A fat piece of earwax saved my left ear.

Then I gradually developed hyperacusis in my right ear as well.

After 1.5-2 years the horrible pain to sounds entered, first in my right ear, then it centralized to both ears. First a kind of dull pain, now it is like electrical needles piercing my brain to even low level sounds and voices.

I do not experience burning sensation nor facial pain.

Cutting my tensor tympani muscle did nothing. Spiral ganglion nerve blockade did nothing. All that helped was benzo for a while.

There must be some kind of accumulative degenerative processes after an acoustic trauma (Glutamate/ATP?) or there is an ototoxic reaction in my case. I'm on two ADs, BP med and I'm in benzo withdrawal.

The perfect storm perhaps!

 

[Orions Pain]

@Orions Pain

I developed tinnitus in my right ear 5 days after an acoustic shock using HF.
It suddenly came on as I was playing golf. A fat piece of earwax saved my left ear.

Then I gradually developed hyperacusis in my right ear as well.

After 1.5-2 years the horrible pain to sounds entered, first in my right ear, then it centralized to both ears. First a kind of dull pain, now it is like electrical needles piercing my brain to even low level sounds and voices.

I do not experience burning sensation nor facial pain.

Cutting my tensor tympani muscle did nothing. Spiral ganglion nerve blockade did nothing. All that helped was benzo for a while.

There must be some kind of accumulative degenerative processes after an acoustic trauma (Glutamate/ATP?) or there is an ototoxic reaction in my case. I'm on two ADs, BP med and I'm in benzo withdrawal.

The perfect storm perhaps!

Did you have both ears done or just the more symptomatic one? Also did they reinforce your stapes as well?

Did the surgery affect your perception of loudness at all? I'm sorry it didn't help with the pain

 

[grate_biff]

Did you have both ears done or just the more symptomatic one? Also did they reinforce your stapes as well?

Did the surgery affect your perception of loudness at all? I'm sorry it didn't help with the pain

Just the right one. I wanted the stapedious muscle cut as well, but the surgeon was afraid it would make it worse.

No reinforcement of any kind. I don't think the Silverstein procedure would help me much either.

Thinking and reading about this for a long time now, I'm sure my problem lies within the cochlea and the afferent type II fibers being exposed and sensitized because of ATP leakage. It's like I can feel the pain coming from our sensory organ, the cochlea. The pain, for me, is the intense ultra high pitched shrilling/piercing reactiveness to sound. In combination with the distortion.

I don't dismiss the theory of the middle ear muscles affecting the trigeminal nerve being the culprit for noxacusis, but I think that there are many differences in how the pain is perceived in the two different cases.

If MEM and the TN is involved I think it often gives facial pain and is perceived as a stabbing or burning pain.

But as I said, in my case it is the piercing reactiveness to noise that causes the pain.

So in my case, my only hope is some kind of pharmaceuticals to ease the painful sensation.

It's so weird and when I try to explain it to people I say it's not the level of the pain that bothers me. It's the nature of the pain itself that kills me.

The intimacy of it. The soul-breaking fucked up grating/shrilling/piercing intimacy of it.

I can't compare it to any other pain I have ever felt. I fear sound now so much, I don't leave my bed.

 

[Orions Pain]

Just the right one. I wanted the stapedious muscle cut as well, but the surgeon was afraid it would make it worse.

No reinforcement of any kind. I don't think the Silverstein procedure would help me much either.

Thinking and reading about this for a long time now, I'm sure my problem lies within the cochlea and the afferent type II fibers being exposed and sensitized because of ATP leakage. It's like I can feel the pain coming from our sensory organ, the cochlea. The pain, for me, is the intense ultra high pitched shrilling/piercing reactiveness to sound. In combination with the distortion.

I don't dismiss the theory of the middle ear muscles affecting the trigeminal nerve being the culprit for noxacusis, but I think that there are many differences in how the pain is perceived in the two different cases.

If MEM and the TN is involved I think it often gives facial pain and is perceived as a stabbing or burning pain.

But as I said, in my case it is the piercing reactiveness to noise that causes the pain.

So in my case, my only hope is some kind of pharmaceuticals to ease the painful sensation.

It's so weird and when I try to explain it to people I say it's not the level of the pain that bothers me. It's the nature of the pain itself that kills me.

The intimacy of it. The soul-breaking fucked up grating/shrilling/piercing intimacy of it.

I can't compare it to any other pain I have ever felt. I fear sound now so much, I don't leave my bed.

Yeah I totally agree with everything you said.

When I get the stabbing pain, it almost feels like how a Charlie horse feels, very muscular and always comes on a few seconds after a sound.

Very different from the needle into the brain sensation from the direct pain from sound people tend to describe. Maybe that's where it's headed for me as well, who knows.

Hopefully at some point these issues are figured out and we get some relief. I 100% agree with your past few sentences. Pain triggered from sound which is such a major part of all of our lives and also out of our control is a nightmare and no one except other sufferers understand what it's like.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

It's so weird and when I try to explain it to people I say it's not the level of the pain that bothers me. It's the nature of the pain itself that kills me.

The intimacy of it. The soul-breaking fucked up grating/shrilling/piercing intimacy of it.

I can't compare it to any other pain I have ever felt. I fear sound now so much, I don't leave my bed.

I relate to this so much. It's not as much the pain level as it is the pain itself. It's such an unsettling pain that can not be compared to any other pain I've ever experienced. It feels like the brain is getting violated, and that is a very scary sensation, as all we really are, are our brains.