Dropped a Metal Shower Head

[Jiri]

You take clonazepam and still can't sleep? How much do you take? Why you're taking Prednisone and Betahistine? Were you prescribed that or smth? Do you actually have hearing loss?

1. It's now the only thing that will make me fall asleep; 2. 0,5 mg 1-1-1-2 + Brintellix 0,5 mg; 3. ENT A&E decision and prescription; 4. Yes, both.; 5. I might have a hidden hearing loss.

Sure, according to the experts, when a metal shower head falls in the bathtub, the level of noise is so extreme that your eardrums can blow out immediately, and all the people in the whole neighbourhood risk an acoustic trauma. This is actually the second most common accident leading to hearing loss, just after walking on a mine.

Yes, that is very funny. Why don't you just take a moment and read what I actually asked?

Can such an event cause a tinnitus spike? Or add some more damage to the microscopic hairs inside cochlea?

I am new to the business, scared and no expert, see? Is why I asked the question."Thanks" for your input.

Do you have hyperacusis (pain or discomfort while being exposed to moderate sounds) or reactive tinnitus ( increase of tinnitus when being exposed to normal sounds like conversation or traffic) ?

I'm in the accute state of t. and this is what I am trying to find out. I think it's the reactive tinnitus. Loud sounds generally scare me now but after the phone rang close to me today - I have a new spike now

I think I'll just sum it up real quick what happened to me in case you didn't read my 'intro yourself' thread: 1. Judo c. spine injury; 2. weeks later acoustic trauma; 3. then a date in a cinema. - a week later, the nightmare began

If a phone rings a couple of inches from your ear, it might be bad.

It rang quite loud about 3 feet away from me. That was about 3 hours ago and I already have an orchestra playing in my ear/head. I hope I won't be now a part of the permanent tinnitus spike group

Somebody just do me a favour and shoot me.

 

[Julien87]

Yes, that is very funny. Why don't you just take a moment and read what I actually asked?

Oh I did read it, and I admit it's one of the most ridiculous questions I have read on this forum in years. I understand the concern when someone is exposed to a loud noise such as a siren or a firecracker. But come on, a shower head in the bathtub, are you serious? There is no way this can damage the ear. You make people lose their time.

 

[Jiri]

You make people lose their time.

I make people lose their time? Isn't this supposed to be 'friendly tinnitus support board'?

Look here, mate. I ended up in a mental house a week ago with some suicidal thoughts because it was that BAD. I honestly don't know how to describe better. If you think I'm waisting your time you are more than welcome to gtfo.

 

[Bill Bauer]

But come on, a shower head in the bathtub, are you serious?

A loud phone gave me a spike that lasted longer than three months. Now what?

 

[Julien87]

I make people lose their time? Isn't this supposed to be 'friendly tinnitus support board'?

Look here, mate. I ended up in a mental house a week ago with some suicidal thoughts because it was that BAD. I honestly don't know how to describe better. If you think I'm waisting your time you are more than welcome to gtfo.

Ok chill that's not what I meant. I meant this kind of unnecessay worry makes everyone lose their time, including you. You shouldn't worry about this, it cannot damage your ear.

 

[Bill Bauer]

It rang quite loud about 3 feet away from me. That was about 3 hours ago and I already have an orchestra playing in my ear/head.

Your body is actually doing what it is supposed to be doing. It is sending you signals about the kinds of things that are hurting your ears. In this case, chances are you will feel better when you wake up tomorrow.

Make sure to learn from all of these experiences and make changes around your home to try to prevent future incidents. Change the volume of the ringer on your phone. Make sure your doors will not slam. I removed the batteries from my fire alarm. You may want to hide your glass plates and use some plastic/paper plates for now.

 

[Bill Bauer]

it cannot damage your ear.

I just gave you an example of something that happened to me (and you can easily find many more examples on this site) that disproves your statement above. Just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it is not happening to him or me, and it doesn't mean that eventually it won't start happening to you too.

 

[Julien87]

Bill, it's not because you have a spike that you have damage.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Bill, it's not because you have a spike that you have damage.

What do you mean? Is it the case that you don't think that spikes are analogous to pain in that they are signals from our bodies about damage being done?

 

[Julien87]

If you are to claim such things Bill you should back it with solid evidence, this is a serious board.

 

[Bill Bauer]

If you are to claim such things you should prove it Bill, this is a serious board.

Look at my past posts. At the end of May I reported that I pressed a loud phone to my bad ear and that as a result, my T changed from a hiss to a high pitch tone that is difficult to ignore. This had lasted for a solid three months, and my T Still spends more time as a high pitch tone compared to how it was before my acoustic trauma at the end of May.

If you read this board, you will also find numerous others reporting spikes following innocent sounding events.

 

[Julien87]

I do not doubt you are having a spike.. But why do you link this to hair cell damage? And why would it bound to be permanent?

 

[Bill Bauer]

I do not doubt you are having a spike.. But why do you link this to hair cell damage? And why would it bound to be permanent?

I have no idea what it is that is damaged, or if anything actually got damaged. If something is damaged and it causes no symptoms, then I wouldn't mind.

The word "damage" is just shorthand for "some change in the body that results in distress". In my case it was intense for 3 months. I believe that I am still being impacted by it now=over 6 months later (and that my T might have even been gone if not for that incident).

 

[Jiri]

A loud phone gave me a spike that lasted longer than three months.

Three months?? That's insane. Genuinely sorry about it. Would you say your tinnitus has improved over the time or not?

Make sure to learn from all of these experiences and make changes around your home to try to prevent future incidents.

Roger that. I feel like I'm going to live in a bubble now for the next 3 months minimum. More so 6 months, than I'll start slowly working from there. Tbh, this whole next year I'll try to be super careful.

The question is, how do you avoid all these sudden 'innocent' noise blasts? You can't. In the street a superbike revving it up, at home something falling to the ground, someone else smashing the doors, ppl yelling and the list goes on..

What I'm gonna do now I'll buy a digital sound level meter and the EarDial invisible smart earplugs.

I want to give a hyperbaric chamber with some extra oxygen a go too. BUT. Elinor in this thread has a cause of tinnitus due to a barotrauma and I heard it's a bit too loud inside there too, soo. Yeah.

 

[Bill Bauer]

In the street a superbike revving it up

Wear earplugs or even earplugs under Peltor muffs.

someone else smashing the doors

Talk to your family, friends, and co-workers. Ask them to be more careful when you are around.

The question is, how do you avoid all these sudden 'innocent' noise blasts? You can't.

You can't avoid it, but you can minimize it, and that will hopefully be enough to produce a good outcome in the long run.

EarDial invisible smart earplugs.

What is their noise reduction rating?

I wouldn't worry about barotrauma. It is loud, but it is less loud if you ask them to set the rate of air flow to a minimum. It didn't cause any problem that lasted longer than a couple of days, in my case. But of course you never know.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Sure, according to the experts, when a metal shower head falls in the bathtub, the level of noise is so extreme that your eardrums can blow out immediately, and all the people in the whole neighbourhood risk an acoustic trauma. This is actually the second most common accident leading to hearing loss, just after walking on a mine.

I will admit that I laughed aloud at the visual of a sound wave traveling through an entire neighborhood all from a dropped shower head. Seems almost like a tinnitus comic: no one knew my pain, so I dropped my shower head and now everyone knows my pain.

Honestly, sometimes I also have to laugh at myself and both the crazy and realistic worries that bounce through my head. It's either laugh or cry some days.

 

[Jiri]

Wear earplugs or even earplugs under Peltor muffs.

I'm just gonna have to look for some where I'm not gonna look like an idiot wearing them. Ppl can be mean, you know.

This past year I was quite a frequent flight passenger too. So that's another thing. If I do happen to graduate I'm gonna have to get to the airport and hop on a plane for London again. That'd be quite a challenge.

Talk to your family, friends, and co-workers. Ask them to be more careful when you are around.

Done that already.

What is their noise reduction rating?

That's the one thing I was unable to find. Apparently they have good ratings and pride themselves as "full fidelity" + invisibility. See for yourself: https://eardial.com/

 

[Jiri]

I will admit that I laughed aloud

Glad you had a good laugh over it. To me it was a "tiny" bit of a more serious issue. Viz Bill and his phone exp. e.g.

 

[CricketEars]

I've had unexpected things happen and even sometimes cause a spike, but it's only temporary. Try not to freak out, you will be ok. We all do our best to protect our ears and not aggravate our T, but life happens. We shouldn't live in fear and not enjoy life because something COULD happen. It's not like you knew any of these things were going to happen, so please don't be down on yourself. From my experience, I would say try not to panic about what COULD happen with your T, just take things one day at a time, good or bad, and hope it's better the next day.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm just gonna have to look for some where I'm not gonna look like an idiot wearing them. Ppl can be mean, you know.

At first I felt bad wearing them. But now I am not in as much distress when wearing them. The worst part happens when you meet people walking in the opposite direction to where you were going. Well, just look past them, and try to avoid eye contact. People don't seem to care (except small children - when they see me wearing those muffs, they look as if their mind had been blown).

If you have you, look into buying Peltor X4A (as opposed to X5A). X4A are slimmer (their NRR is a little lower), and might be mistaken for headphones.

 

[Bill Bauer]

That'd be quite a challenge.

Will you have to fly on turboprop planes (that have a propeller)? There are multiple threads about this on this forum. The consensus is that if you wear Peltor muffs, you ought to be ok.

 

[DebInAustralia]

A new tinnitus tone is probably the last thing I need. I noticed it did increase a little in volume now, but yeah.. I hope it's only temporary. Thanks for your opinion.

it will be temporary.

 

[Jiri]

@CricketEars Thank you. I did suffer from some panic attacks even before I got tinnitus. Let's just say it was a lil too much for me to handle everything at one point. Then tinnitus, you do what every 'sensible' human being would do and google it. Read all the petrifying stories on the internet and there you have it. You just don't know what to believe anymore. Had it not been for those torturous spikes in the first couple of weeks I'd not have been freakin'n out by now.

 

[Jiri]

If you have you, look into buying Peltor X4A (as opposed to X5A). X4A are slimmer (their NRR is a little lower), and might be mistaken for headphones.

They look ok. That's the goal. Find some that'll look like your standard headphones. Don't wanna draw attention.

Will you have to fly on turboprop planes (that have a propeller)? There are multiple threads about this on this forum. The consensus is that if you wear Peltor muffs, you ought to be ok.

No I always fly with low-cost airlines like SmartWings lol. Especially during the take offs the Boeing 737 -800 makes the impression like it's going to fall apart any second. It's all very shaky and loud. Then there's landings..

Thanks for the tip for the Peltor muffs. Might be getting them.

 

[CricketEars]

@CricketEars Thank you. I did suffer from some panic attacks even before I got tinnitus. Let's just say it was a lil too much for me to handle everything at one point. Then tinnitus, you do what every 'sensible' human being would do and google it. Read all the petrifying stories on the internet and there you have it. You just don't know what to believe anymore. Had it not been for those torturous spikes in the first couple of weeks I'd not have been freakin'n out by now.

Totally understand. I was having a really hard time in life when my unbearable T came on. I felt like my life was over and this was one more failure for me. But I can promise you that it does get better, so hang in there! I've Googled too many things too. I've never seen a topic that so many people know so much about, and yet know nothing . But you've come to a great place in these forums. There are plenty of knowledgeable people here that can provide information, encouragement, and keep you from spending a lot of money on things that don't work.

 

[Jiri]

I'm happy you understand. It's great when you find a place where people share the same problem and can support each other. I haven't the knowledge nor experience to do it yet. The goal is to get rif ot this t. and then post to the 'Success Stories' on here how I managed to beat that condition. Also, that's so true! There's so much info on tinnitus out there yet nobody seems to know a whole lot about it loll If what you say is true and it does get better than that's honestly the best news ever! As long as it is actually the tinnitus fading away and not just getting habituated to it

 

[Julien87]

They look ok. That's the goal. Find some that'll look like your standard headphones. Don't wanna draw attention.

Why don't you consider buying earplugs? They are more discreet

 

[JurgenG]

Why don't you consider buying earplugs? They are more discreet

They are double protecting.
To be honest, this behaviour is not healty, I know because I am also on the path of overprotecting, but this is really next level. Running around with -40 dB in a city is just not needed, and will make your hearing too sensitive and make your T spike easier to my knowledge.
It's also not needed to have your peltor next to you.

 

[Julien87]

Yeah I know it's not healthy and I don't encourage such behaviors, but if he looks for protection and wants something discreet, why doesn't he choose earplugs over peltor earmuffs?

 

[Bill Bauer]

It's also not needed to have your peltor next to you.

Are you sure? What if there is a fire alarm?

Running around with -40 dB in a city is just not needed

Unfortunately, you can never get -40dB.

Recall, to calculate the true noise reduction, one is to subtract 7 and divide by 2. When double protecting, one is to add 5.
https://www.coopersafety.com/earplugs-noise-reduction

So when combining Peltor muffs and earplugs one would get
5+(31-7)/2 = 17 dB noise reduction. Which is certainly helpful when it comes to being out on a busy street where motorcycles and trucks might be accelerating close by.