So I've had one of the toughest two weeks in a while. I live in an area of town where people do fireworks (illegal/commercial type) from the month of May up until the second week of July. I'm talking about maybe 50 to 75 fireworks daily during the week days and about 300 to 400 on the weekends leading up to 4th of July.
I live in a second floor apartment unit that has no other units surrounding it so it sticks out like a sore thumb. I keep all windows closed for 2 months and do not venture outside unless I have to go to my car and even then I wear ear muffs.
Luckily about 95% of the firework blast/sound does not make it into my apartment. I can hear them but my dB meter does not pick it up.
However about a 2 weeks into this madness, the neighbors decided to detonate an M80 explosive about a block away (300 to 500ft away). Although the sound was louder than most other fireworks, what worried me the most was the blast/vibration it caused. My whole apartment rumbled.
The following day, at around the same time (9 p.m.), another M80 explosion. It was there and then that I decided to leave my apartment every day from 6 p.m. to 12 am.
I spent the next week and half inside my car (6 p.m. to 12 am) driving to random places where they do not do fireworks. I left my dB meter recording inside my apartment (55 dB) and had my neighbor contact me when the m80 went off again. It goes off daily at 9ish p.m. every day. When I came back to my apartment, the decibel meter read at 77 dB. So as I suspected the explosion isn't loud per say inside my apartment but the blast is a different beast.
So I spent about a week practically living off my car and this took a very big toll on me. My stress levels were through the roof. I am in Law school and had to do Law class on my laptop inside my car. I was eating fast food everywhere and I literally got no sun for almost two weeks. At this point the ringing in my ears became noticeably louder. I don't know if it was the stress or the M80 blasts.
I've since decided to get a hotel room for the next two weeks until the 5th of July.
To make the story short, I also had these loud sound occurrences in the same week span:
*Very loud bike drove by me (50ft away) as I was washing my car at a dollar wash (I was wearing ear muffs).
*Another very loud motorcycle drove by me in an underpass tunnel for a few seconds (I was inside my car with windows up)
*A firecracker (smaller one 120dB type) caught me as I was getting off my car at my place (700 feet away verified)
*A friend decided to lock his car which caused it to do one of those half honks about 15 feet away from me behind me at an underground parking garage.
*A hotel door closed loudly behind me and I was not wearing ear muffs as I didn't think the locking mechanism was so loud.
Needless to say, these occurrences have caused a lot more stress on top of the stress I already had. I tend to clench my jaw when stressed which seems to cause elevated tinnitus. Before the fireworks started, my tinnitus was on the quieter side. I don't know if any of the M80 blasts or other occurrences in the past week have caused additional damage, or perhaps temporary spikes. Perhaps it's the stress?
Regardless, I am contemplating taking prednisone but I've taken it 6 times in the past year. My tinnitus/hyperacusis was caused by Neomycin (ototoxic drug).
Suggestions? Pointers? Greatly welcomed.
P.S if you want more details feel free to ask.
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