Fireworks Gave Me Tinnitus a Second Time — First Time It Went Away Completely

[jjflyman]

How did you get through this?

Going through the hell of tinnitus was the most difficult time of my life, hands down. Thankfully my wife was very supportive, unlike some of my family how just didn't get it.

My first acoustic trauma caused such piercing tinnitus I felt my life was over, I spent days in bed with a sound machine. This went on months. I could "feel" the pressure change going downstairs.

Pain, pressure sensitivity to noise and loud piercing tinnitus. I've been where you are, and I know how you feel.

But I also know that my tinnitus faded away to zero two times and working on the third. I also read that most acoustic trauma caused tinnitus does fade but takes from 6-18 months, so you have plenty of time as your trauma is quite new. I actually read somewhere that acoustic trauma is the most common cause of tinnitus, and it has the best recovery rate.

There are some members here who tragically have had tinnitus for years with little improvement, and I feel horrible that they have this burden to live with, but there are other causes of tinnitus, some medical, some caused by medication, some even caused by vitamin deficiency (B12?)

Then there are members who get tinnitus from a trauma and are very active for a while, then tend to move on as they improve, some even come back to post a success story! If nobody ever recovered from bad tinnitus, the world would be overrun with sufferers, it's a loud world out there.

Give it time, what you hear now is not what you will hear in 12 months. I know that sounds like a long time, and you will need to change your life for a while, but you can get through it.

I feel like one dumb mistake has flipped my whole life upside down

That's how I felt too.

 

[Jupiterman]

One notable thing is my progress was only noticeable in months, not days or weeks.

Well done on your recoveries - you are certainly a good healer.

When you say the progress was only notable in months; do you mean 'groups of months' or month-by-month?

Also, did you take special care of your ears, avoiding loud exposures, after the lawnmower incident or did you live life as normal?

Finally, what were your noises like after this event? Was it one tone, multi-noise, hiss, rhythms or what?

 

[jjflyman]

Well done on your recoveries - you are certainly a good healer.

When you say the progress was only notable in months; do you mean 'groups of months' or month-by-month?

Also, did you take special care of your ears, avoiding loud exposures, after the lawnmower incident or did you live life as normal?

Finally, what were your noises like after this event? Was it one tone, multi-noise, hiss, rhythms or what?

For me, the fading was so gradual that over the course of a couple week period I did not notice any fading, but over the course of a couple of months, I could start to notice improvement. I started keeping a journal and would write down the sounds and tones I would hear and any pain/pressure I was having so I could keep track of progress. It was surprisingly hard to try to remember what it sounded like a few months ago.

After the traumas I protected my ears for a long time any time there was noise (even driving a car), to give them a rest and let them heal. I still wear ear plugs when going to loud places. So I never really got back to "normal", my new normal is protect my ears from loud noise LOL My wife and I agree that after my traumas I have a form of PTSD, because I'm always looking out for noise.

As far as tones, I had multiple tones, pitches, humming, roaring and hissing. hissing was the last to go, and did not go all the way but I think I had some anyway and everyone has some hissing just from a lifetime of noise.

 

[MadeleineHope]

I just protect my ears form noise. Also, I found low sodium diet helps while I'm recovering (maybe salty foods cause the inner ear swelling?).

Drink plenty of water and give it lots and lots of time. My first tinnitus took over 12 months to fade to zero, my second tinnitus (12 years after the first one) took almost 20 months to fade to zero.

As many other members here have said, wear ear protection in loud places for the rest of your life, because it seems once our ears have been compromised, we have far less tolerance to noise than other people. What is no problem to someone else, may be catastrophic to our ears.

Thanks for the tips & the reminder to be patient @jjflyman!

I wonder whether you could share what type(s) of ear protection you use and in which scenarios? For instance, do you protect when walking along the street, in stores, and at small indoor gatherings (e.g., having people over or visiting others)?

I'm also curious to know the answers to these questions with respect to the recovery from your past two traumas, if you'd be willing to share (though I suspect the answers may be the same/similar!). I'm currently trying to find a good balance between protecting my ears and recovering from my severe hyperacusis, so I'm wondering how you went about managing that

On another note, how are you doing?

Maddy

 

[jjflyman]

Thanks for the tips & the reminder to be patient @jjflyman!

I wonder whether you could share what type(s) of ear protection you use and in which scenarios? For instance, do you protect when walking along the street, in stores, and at small indoor gatherings (e.g., having people over or visiting others)?

I'm also curious to know the answers to these questions with respect to the recovery from your past two traumas, if you'd be willing to share (though I suspect the answers may be the same/similar!). I'm currently trying to find a good balance between protecting my ears and recovering from my severe hyperacusis, so I'm wondering how you went about managing that

On another note, how are you doing?

Maddy

I'm doing much better, maybe 70% better after 7 weeks, so the good news is it looks like it will fade away. The bad news is a 4-second innocent scream at a family game table can set off weeks of tinnitus, that tells me that we must stay vigilant for the rest of our lives!

As far as ear protection, I just used Hearos 32 dB foam earplugs, I used the tan color, as they blended in and were much harder to see in my ears. I would wear them everywhere for the first few months, and gradually less as my tolerance for noise improved. I still wear them now (and will for the rest of my life) vacuuming, mowing the yard, using any power tools and at noisy locations like casino's, Gyms and loud restaurants. I will never go to a concert or sporting event or the movies again. Also, I wear them when driving if I'm doing on a long road trip (my truck is kind of noisy on the highway).

This is all just my opinion and what works for me. Your tinnitus & hyperacusis will take time but it will get much better.

 

[MadeleineHope]

I'm doing much better, maybe 70% better after 7 weeks, so the good news is it looks like it will fade away. The bad news is a 4-second innocent scream at a family game table can set off weeks of tinnitus, that tells me that we must stay vigilant for the rest of our lives!

As far as ear protection, I just used Hearos 32 dB foam earplugs, I used the tan color, as they blended in and were much harder to see in my ears. I would wear them everywhere for the first few months, and gradually less as my tolerance for noise improved. I still wear them now (and will for the rest of my life) vacuuming, mowing the yard, using any power tools and at noisy locations like casino's, Gyms and loud restaurants. I will never go to a concert or sporting event or the movies again. Also, I wear them when driving if I'm doing on a long road trip (my truck is kind of noisy on the highway).

This is all just my opinion and what works for me. Your tinnitus & hyperacusis will take time but it will get much better.

That's wonderful news! 70% fading in 7 weeks sounds amazing - especially for a third time trauma! Can I have some of your magic dust or whatever it is you use?

Yes, I agree about the importance of protection, and it sounds like you've found a good middle-ground for yourself. I wish protecting ourselves from loud sounds was simpler, but unfortunately, as you experienced, they can happen unexpectedly even in safe places. So I think it's important to find that middle ground between constantly protecting yourself and living in high fear and not protecting adequately (not an easy feat to accomplish, I know!).

Can I ask how you approached recovering from your hyperacusis?

Sending lots of positive healing energy!
Maddy

 

[jjflyman]

Can I ask how you approached recovering from your hyperacusis?

There is really nothing you can do except give it lots of time.