Got Tinnitus from a Noisy Bar — I Was Blissfully Unaware Noise Exposure Can Have Consequences

[Rudedog205]

Was the ear protection advice for tinnitus or hyperacusis?

The hyperacusis.

 

[Rudedog205]

Update for those of you that are still following my story:

I have been getting treated by my chiropractor for my TMJ issues as well and upper cervical issues for the past few weeks which has been quite excruciating to say the least but has made a world of difference with my hyperacusis. Although its very much still present. I can comfortably drive a car on the freeway now without being made even uncomfortable by the sound which can get up to upper 70s dB. I am still quite bothered by harsher frequencies even at 50 dB though. I am also struggling to hear people through my ear muffs now if they are on which is nice. I still have quite the long road ahead of me and I am still a ways out from a success story if I am lucky enough to have one but from not being able to tolerate quiet conversation 2 months ago, it's a welcome change.

I should also probably mention that my chiropractor is a sports chiropractor and specializes in soft tissue injuries. He is definitely more knowledgeable than any other chiropractors I have seen in my life.

On top of that I got a little bit of a lesson in anatomy from him as far as it relates to my hyperacusis that I would like to share in case it helps anyone. Apparently one component of why people can get worse with overprotection is that the muscles in your ear can actually atrophy without use and if they are injured, like is likely the case for some people with hyperacusis, then this happens more easily causing some problems. Maybe this plays into why some people get better by gradually being exposed to more and more sounds (at a safe level of course).

I still get ear pain too, but that has definitely lessened although something new I have been experiencing is that I sometimes get fullness only in my left ear that I can usually get to go away with some self intraoral massage. This especially appears after driving my car which is about as noisy as any other car I am in, the only difference being it is stick shift. The pain I get is usually very achy and a kind of a raw feeling although occasionally I get a bit of a burning sensation and none of the pain is constant and goes away with a good night's rest or a chiropractor's treatment which makes me think some of it is related to TMJ issues.

As far as my tinnitus, it's remained pretty much the same with a temporary spike here and there if I get some surprise loud noise I didn't ask for. It is something I can still hear over things so it's not just something I can hear in quiet rooms but I am getting a lot better at ignoring it. It seems to be a bit less reactive though.

My supplement stack right now includes: Ginkgo biloba, Magnesium, multivitamin with B complex, mega doses of vitamin C, and NAC for after experiencing what could potentially be a setback. I am planning on adding Niacin (Vitamin B3) and Lion's mane to this too.

 

[kingsfan]

What kind of treatment does your chiropractor give? Is it manipulation or physical therapy?

Glad to hear you are improving.

 

[Rudedog205]

What kind of treatment does your chiropractor give? Is it manipulation or physical therapy?

Both. He has done all of these things at least once:

• C1 adjustments
• jaw adjustment (this was pretty painful but it helped me)
• cervical decompression adjustment (this effect was pretty immediate for me personally)
• ear adjustments (they basically open the Eustachian tubes and also puts the ossicles back into place which helps stopping the ear drum from vibrating as much if I am understanding it correctly which he said can help with sensitivity and that lines up a lot with what the idea behind the Silverstein surgery so it made sense to me)
• active release therapy on my jaw, neck, and occipital muscles
• pretty rigorous massages on jaw joint (also really painful)

I felt pretty stagnant in my improvement before I started treating my TMJ but it definitely helped me along a little bit although I likely still have a ways to go.

 

[kingsfan]

Both. He has done all of these things at least once:

• C1 adjustments
• jaw adjustment (this was pretty painful but it helped me)
• cervical decompression adjustment (this effect was pretty immediate for me personally)
• ear adjustments (they basically open the Eustachian tubes and also puts the ossicles back into place which helps stopping the ear drum from vibrating as much if I am understanding it correctly which he said can help with sensitivity and that lines up a lot with what the idea behind the Silverstein surgery so it made sense to me)
• active release therapy on my jaw, neck, and occipital muscles
• pretty rigorous massages on jaw joint (also really painful)

I felt pretty stagnant in my improvement before I started treating my TMJ but it definitely helped me along a little bit although I likely still have a ways to go.

I have yet to try any chiropractic or even be looked at for TMJ which I already know I have. Can't open my jaw more than a quarter without it popping.

 

[Rudedog205]

I have yet to try any chiropractic or even be looked at for TMJ which I already know I have. Can't open my jaw more than a quarter without it popping.

You should definitely try getting that treated then, it may not be the cause of the problem but it has a high likely hood of at least reducing some of your symptoms if you get it taken care of since the jaw joint is very connected to the ears and has a tendency to exasperate existing problems.

 

[kingsfan]

You should definitely try getting that treated then, it may not be the cause of the problem but it has a high likely hood of at least reducing some of your symptoms if you get it taken care of since the jaw joint is very connected to the ears and has a tendency to exasperate existing problems.

Yea I was scheduled to get a lot of oral problems fixed right before tinnitus struck - Invisalign, gum graft (or maybe something less invasive), TMJ treatment. I'm too afraid to go to the dentist now. I can feel all the tartar on my teeth too.

 

[Rudedog205]

Yea I was scheduled to get a lot of oral problems fixed right before tinnitus struck - Invisalign, gum graft (or maybe something less invasive), TMJ treatment. I'm too afraid to go to the dentist now. I can feel all the tartar on my teeth too.

Oh man, maybe that contributed, I had TMJ before mine struck too. I didn't know what it was at the time but I was grinding my teeth and having jaw pain and occasional muscle spasms in that general area months before because school stress which I would assume might have made me more vulnerable to these sorts of symptoms and the noisy bar is what set it all off.

If you can try and ask for a manual cleaning, those are a lot quieter although its mainly the cavities that are really noisy.

 

[AGP]

Found this thread because my tinnitus story seems similar to Rudedog's.

It's been there since playing hockey goalie growing up (ears rang for a minute after getting hit in the helmet with a puck), but got a lot worse after a possible concussion & the COVID-19 vaccine in April.

I also grind my teeth and have TMJ issues.

Agreed with the manual scaling versus the machine at the dentist. I recently went through a lot of dental work, needed to get a root canal done, a few cavities filled. I told them I have tinnitus issues and my dentist went easy with the drilling and gave me time to rest.

She suggested that the nerve inflammation from the tooth that needed a root canal could be worsening the tinnitus, in addition she gave me a "deprogrammer" to adjust my bite which can help some people with their TMJ.

I've had mine for a few months and I clench my jaw less but still grind at night so I have a night guard on the way. Sometimes I wake myself up from biting down hard in my sleep, frequently get "lie bumps" on my tongue from biting it at night too.

 

[Rudedog205]

Found this thread because my tinnitus story seems similar to Rudedog's.

It's been there since playing hockey goalie growing up (ears rang for a minute after getting hit in the helmet with a puck), but got a lot worse after a possible concussion & the COVID-19 vaccine in April.

I also grind my teeth and have TMJ issues.

Agreed with the manual scaling versus the machine at the dentist. I recently went through a lot of dental work, needed to get a root canal done, a few cavities filled. I told them I have tinnitus issues and my dentist went easy with the drilling and gave me time to rest.

She suggested that the nerve inflammation from the tooth that needed a root canal could be worsening the tinnitus, in addition she gave me a "deprogrammer" to adjust my bite which can help some people with their TMJ.

I've had mine for a few months and I clench my jaw less but still grind at night so I have a night guard on the way. Sometimes I wake myself up from biting down hard in my sleep, frequently get "lie bumps" on my tongue from biting it at night too.

Did you by any chance reduce your ear symptoms by treating your TMJ as well?

 

[Rudedog205]

So an update for those following my story on here:

These days my hyperacusis is pretty mild which is a blessing and I am hoping it stays that way or continues to improve. It always scares me when it fluctuates even though I know improvement isn't linear. I am coping with university life just fine but avoiding loud places like the plague. I am working like 4 campus jobs and taking some hard upper level physics and chemistry courses and its kept my mind off tinnitus and hyperacusis a lot.

I have found its a bit more difficult to socialize outside of a school setting since it feels like my peers all like to listen to music a little to loudly for my comfort levels which it isn't really possible to make them understand since it isn't necessarily dangerously loud my people with normal ears standards. I even tried getting back into Brazilian jiu jitsu which there is a club on my campus for which wasn't bugging my ears at all until people discovered you could connect to the speakers in our facility we were using and play music somewhat loudly so I ended up quitting since people weren't exactly good about keeping it at a good level for me and although I love the sport it isn't really worth the risk of people being like that. Makes me wonder why people my age can't just chill and have a good time without it being loud.

My tinnitus is actually worse than it was in the beginning and I can hear it everywhere along with having multiple tones although it seems a lot more stable at least and doesn't really bug me to much as long as I am staying busy and don't spike it. I do also have a good friend of mine that developed bad tinnitus and some hyperacusis at the beginning of the school year and although I feel bad for her it's really nice having a close friend that I can talk to, relate to, and hangout with that truly understands since I don't feel totally isolated with these issues as much because suffering with a friend is a lot more fun than suffering alone. Although this forum is great it can't really replace having people in real life that understand. I also found out 3 different friends of mine that I don't see too much these days also suffered from hyperacusis at one point which is makes me think although it's still pretty rare it is a lot more common than I initially thought and people just don't really have any awareness of the issue so I would assume most people just never realized they had it and didn't want to talk about it. I guess those who can experience it have a higher chance of experiencing it in this noisy modern world.

I don't need earplugs for most things in my daily life although I still wear them if I am ever working in the chemistry lab and wear earmuffs at the gym which isn't too noisy as long as I am there when it isn't too busy but never hurts to be careful while there is the strong possibility of heavy things dropping or glass breaking at some point in my time in that place and I can say from experience even if it doesn't cause a setback it is going to spike my tinnitus pretty badly if I don't have earplugs in.

 

[Rudedog205]

Well it's been a year since I visited that bar so I figured I give an update on how I am doing these days. The hyperacusis seems to be lingering and I can't really tell if it's improved since last time I posted but I've been managing to at least have it stay mild despite some random loud noises here and there which unfortunately is unavoidable in this noisy modern world. I am certainly glad to have a couple friends who have the issue in my personal life.

My tinnitus is still kinda loud but I can't really distinguish between the tones too well anymore so it's down to one or two which is an improvement along with 2 intermittent tones that randomly come for about a minute and leave every so often. It doesn't really bother me too much unless it gets spiked. I would say it's probably an improvement on that front.

I can't really tell if my hearing is getting worse or if I am just being paranoid but I feel like I can't hear people with background noise as easily anymore and I definitely can't understand people very well anymore while I have filtered earplugs in which luckily I don't really need to wear unless things are noisy or I am anticipating in something loud.

School and all my jobs on campus has kept me extremely busy this year and kept my mind off of it a lot which was good. I don't really go on this forum nearly as much these days and usually just pop on to check out research news every now and then.

 

[kingsfan]

You can download the app Mimi Hearing Test on iOS or Android. It will allow you to do a standard audiogram as well as hearing-in-noise so you can get a sense of where you are at.

I use it on iOS with AirPods (which it is calibrated for). I do not know how well the app works on Android.

 

[Rudedog205]

You can download the app Mimi Hearing Test on iOS or Android. It will allow you to do a standard audiogram as well as hearing-in-noise so you can get a sense of where you are at.

I use it on iOS with AirPods (which it is calibrated for). I do not know how well the app works on Android.

I may have to check that out, thanks for the tip!