"Don't Panic" AHhahahahaha

[ms nic]

Hi out there... I'm on day 10 of brand new T & feeling pretty isolated.
I am a single mom to very loudddd 3 and 6 year old boys which I have 100% of the time.
We have acquaintances at best where we live now.
Haven't yet connected with any in-person support groups in my area (Chicago burbs).

CLINICAL BIT.......
Day 1 - I had a sinus infection which I guess suddenly goes to my ears at 4am & I wake up to ringing/pain. While on my way to urgent care by 9am, there's horrible screeching etc. Felt like it was rupturing but it didn't quite. The practitioner says it's the worst she's ever seen on a kid or adult.
10 days of Augmentin, Ciprodex drops, steroid nasal spray.
Day 4 - I read about steroids so go to another urgent care to get prednisone. She only gives me 3 days worth till I could get to an ENT.
Day 6 - ENT says discontinue pred, discontinue drops. (This guy's in-network, saw my ears prior in '16.)
There is severe bruising on my eardrum so they ask if I stuck a q-tip in or something, which I obviously did not. Follow up appt is next Mon the 5th when they'll test hearing etc.

Backstory: ear dramas/surgeries/tubes as a kid but nothing for past 20 years. I had whatever surgery to reconnect those bones in my left ear and adnoids removed. My hearing was amazing for about a week.
(I'd tell friends my left ear is just for show, don't sit on left in a bar etc. I can't talk on phone with that ear, etc.)
My right ear was then my lifeline & is now the ear with T.
It's super high pitch, hasn't lessened or varied in 10 days, anything that can get high enough to maybe mask it, makes my other ear hurt.
The right/T ear..... was kind of a warzone anyhow, broken eardrum a lot as kid, had a tympanoplasty over 20 years ago. Consequently the ENT is basically "hey I'm surprised T hasn't happened sooner"
I went to a lotttt of concerts took care of my ears for the most part, had custom musician plugs, barely even go to them anymore.

EMOTIONAL BIT.......
Still very dark...but today is the first day I haven't been a raging crying mess & horrible parent.
Music had been my thing & career until kids; now I feel like another chunk of my identity broke off.
I'm crying seeing concert announcements in my inbox.
Crying when I read bedtime stories because my voice sounds underwater.
How am I supposed to DATE like this when frankly it was hard enough before...
What if I never hear a whisper or the rain.
It's taken 10 days but trying to be grateful I can hear my kids at all. They're killing me with their noise though.
People who are texting to check in are just pissing me off. The just want to hear it's improving.
Or they say "oh yeah that, I have T too"
Dr told me not to fly next week.
.....I already feel my world shrinking.

The people on here with great attitudes....I wonder if the majority already had a solid support network in place, people that knew you before T. Suppose it is pointless to compare.

Can't seem to find a therapist specializing in T but I'll find someone and start CBT. Maybe antidepressants short term but ughh.
Now I spend every minute obsessively searching #tinnitus.

Forcing myself every other day to go even to the grocery store & am fascinated by how overwhelming it is.
Nice to meet you.

 

[GregCA]

@ms nic - The "good" news is you are currently sick, and there is a good chance that T will go away once everything clears up.

You're still on the Augmentin I assume, which is the oral antibiotic, so you're at least fighting bacteria that could be causing issues in your ear.

The "bruised ear drum" look could simply be from the side effects of the middle ear's mayhem. Did your ear drum burst this time?

You'll know more after your hearing test of course. T can take quite a while to subside after an ear infection, so don't panic if it doesn't go away the next day.

Good luck.

 

[ms nic]

Hi Greg, eardrum didn't break, no. Finished all 10 days of antibiotics and T hasn't lessened in intensity for a moment so got disheartened.... but true I do need to give it time. This is a great site for support in the meantime. Thanks for your message.

 

[Bill Bauer]

You may want to wear ear protection when you are around your kids (and when you are at a supermarket). If you do that, make sure you listen to TV at the maximum volume that you can easily tolerate. This will help you not to get hyperacusis as a result of wearing hearing protection for too much of the day.

Check out the thread below where I summarize everything (24 tips spread over three posts) I learned about managing tinnitus after reading the posts on this forum for the past 11 months
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...itus-recently-this-info-will-be-useful.25741/

 

[ms nic]

Hi Bill,
Wow, thanks -- that's super helpful. I didn't realize about the false sense of security from earmuffs... I've been wearing NRR25 muffs when I use the blender or go grocery shopping etc.
(I also bought a db reader but so far it's just making me anxious with the constant auditory chaos of my home.)

I can't hear TV at all now & I don't miss it.
But I cannot hear the oven beeping or anyone at the door, which is not great.

The ENT told me not to insert any plugs in my ear for now ... so I'm just trying to survive next weekend of a friend visiting. I'd planned to use those Mack's silicone for use in restaurants which claim to be NR22...
I'm tempted to cancel entirely but I'm also trying to not let T entirely run my life. I know it's a personal choice. Is there something else you'd recommend or just the earmuffs?

How do T sufferers manage phone calls? Do people stick with earbuds? I read that iphone speaker on max volume is not great for ears, and I tried the Sonic Cloud app but I'm really nervous about even using an earbud now, so close to the epicenter of T..

 

[GregCA]

@ms nic - careful about overprotection: talk to your doctor about it.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I've been wearing NRR25 muffs when I use the blender or go grocery shopping etc.

I wear my muffs when I am in the parking lot of my grocery store. I wear an earplug when I am inside of the store. My blender still sounds pretty loud when I wear muffs. Either I set the speed of the blender to the lowest speed and leave the kitchen for a couple of minutes, or I ask someone else to help me.

I'd planned to use those Mack's silicone for use in restaurants which claim to be NR22...

You will not get as much protection as you think you will get.
https://www.coopersafety.com/earplugs-noise-reduction

When hearing protection is worn, your level of exposure to noise is based on the NRR rating of the protection device being used. Keep in mind, however, that while the NRR is measured in decibels, the hearing protector being used does not reduce the surrounding decibel level by the exact number of decibels associated with that protector's NRR. For example, if you are at a rock concert where the level of noise exposure is 100 dB and you are wearing earplugs with an NRR 33dB, your level of exposure would not be reduced to 67 dB. Instead, to determine the actual amount of decibel deduction applied (when decibels are measured dBA which is the most common), you take the NRR number (in dB), subtract seven, and then divide by two. Given the previous example, your noise reduction equation would look like the following: (33-7)/2 = 13. This means that if you are at a rock concert with a level of noise exposure at 100 dB and you are wearing a hearing protector with an NRR 33 dB, your new level of noise exposure is 87 dB. If you are wearing a product with an NRR of 27 it would deduct 10 decibels (27-7/2=10).

The above method is also described by other reputable sources
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media...how-to-use-the-noise-reduction-rating-nrr.pdf
http://www.sensear.com/blog/noise-reduction-rating-nrr-a-beginner's-guide
https://www.earsandears.com/noise-reduction-ratings-nrr-safe-noise-levels/

(22-7)/2 = 7.5. So you will be getting only about 8 dB protection...

I'm also trying to not let T entirely run my life

It makes sense to do that in the long run, after your body has a chance to heal. Since ears take forever to heal, you can think of the next year as the short run. In the short run, you may want to do everything you can to protect your ears. You don't have to go to restaurants with your friend. Alternatively, you could try finding a restaurant that is super quiet.

How do T sufferers manage phone calls?

I had a landline phone that had its volume stuck to max. After I accidentally pressed it to my bad ear and the person who called me raised her voice when she greeted me, I got a bad tinnitus spike that lasted for over three months. That particular spike had faded now, but at the time it felt like I was in hell.
Now I use only my good ear when talking on the phone, and I try to press the phone an inch/centimeter away from my ear.

You may want to look into phones for deaf people...

Do people stick with earbuds? I read that iphone speaker on max volume is not great for ears, and I tried the Sonic Cloud app but I'm really nervous about even using an earbud now, so close to the epicenter of T..

A speaker phone is preferable to an earbud or regular phone. At least that is the case for me. I found that whenever the source of the sound is right by my ear, the consequences can be serious. This is the reason why I decided against buying a sound pillow that could provide sound enrichment. In any case, many people on this forum believe that people like us ought to stay away from earbuds and headphones for the rest of our lives. Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/isnt-it-ok-to-use-headphones-even-at-low-volume.25287/

 

[ms nic]

This is a wealth of info. Thank you so much for taking the time to help a newbie. Hugely appreciated. My primary care doctor says he can no longer see any bruising/infection but I was hoping that would mean some T relief. No such luck.

 

[Bill Bauer]

My primary care doctor says he can no longer see any bruising/infection but I was hoping that would mean some T relief. No such luck.

T usually likes to "take its time." I remember reading a number of posts where the posters Eventually experienced relief weeks or months after the cause of their T had been dealt with.