Got Tinnitus from Stupidly Not Wearing Earplugs at a Concert Last Week. Not Sure When to Give Up.

[iammax]

6 days and 13 hours ago on 5/31/2019 I went to an extremely loud metal concert in a small confined bar. No earplugs. I'd been to many concerts before with no effects past the next morning, although I hadn't been to a concert in at least... I'm going to guess 8 to 9 months before the one in question.

Here's my stupid ear diary:

Day 0 (day of show): After the show I basically go right to sleep because it's like 3 AM by the time I get home.

Day 1: Left ear hurts a ton (no ringing). Right ear ringing (no pain) at what I'll call 100% volume. Sound extremely muffled all day. At night, I go to sleep, but wake up around midnight (so 12:30-1 AM on day 2 technically) with a ton of ear pain, also feels like pressure in my forehead.

Day 2: Left ear pain mostly stopped. Pressure has gone away. Right ear down to maybe 80%. Everything sounds like it did before except with the ear ringing added. For the first time in probably ten years I sleep without earplugs because with them, the ringing seems too isolated. I run a fan in my room instead which doesn't totally drown it out but it makes it a bit more bearable. I haven't worn earplugs since.

Day 3: Same very minor left ear pain as day 2. Ringing down to maybe 50%. Sleep terribly, partially due to ringing, partially due to anxiety about the ringing. I spent basically all day in my apartment with some video of a waterfall looping because I notice that sort of makes me ignore the ringing. It seems loudest right when I wake up, fades throughout the day, I stop panicking and thinking "well it's getting quieter" but then when I try to go to sleep it gets back to 50% again and I start freaking out again.

Day 4: Same as day 3. Wake up at 50%, fades through the day to where I start to gain false hope, then goes back up to 50% when I try to go to sleep.

Day 5: Same as day 4, until late in the day, when the left ear pain suddenly comes back quite severely. Right ear still at maybe 50% ringing volume.

Day 6: I start to panic that the ringing has stopped decreasing and go to an ENT. He looks in my ears and sees a ton of earwax which he scoops out. He says that can be a contributing effect and that he's encouraged that he sees earwax because that's a fixable problem that may have a good effect on my other problems. He doesn't think he sees any fluid, perforation, or infection in either ear. I also get a test from an audiologist which shows up all normal. For a few hours after the earwax coming out, the left ear pain stops completely and the ringing goes down even more (still there). However by the time I go to bed, the pain has started again and the ringing is back to about 50%.

Day 7: That's today. It's been nearly a whole week. I don't know if I should give up on this ringing going away. I'm more concerned about the ringing than the pain. I can deal with the pain, it's not too bad even at its worst. But the ear ringing has stopped me from getting more than maybe 5 hours of sleep per night since day 0. Partially it's the ringing and partially it's the fear about it not going away. I know everybody is going to say "tinnitus is made worse by psychology" and that seems true but I can't stop the fear... I don't know when it would be prudent to stop hoping it'll fade and accept it's forever (i.e. bridge jump time).

I am seeing another ENT/MD next week (that'll be day 10), one who my mother (who is not an ENT, but works in another health sector) thinks is the best one around (the first one I saw was just the person who could see me fastest). But I'm not expecting good news to be honest.

If I don't blow my brains out by that point, I do have tickets to two more concerts in about 7 weeks and 7.5 weeks respectively but I'm almost 100% sure I'm not going to go to either of them.

 

[GSC]

Tinnitus is unpredictable, no one can say if it will go away, or if it won't. But you should definitely consider giving your ears a much needed rest since you're an avid concert goer and know it's the cause of your tinnitus. Protect your ears, don't exhaust them - the pain in your ears can either come from them being fatigued and burnt out, or just sound induced - but they are definitely telling you they need a much needed break and now. So, listen to them, give them the chance to heal to some extent, consider taking chelated magnesium and nac. Don't overdo it with sound. Avoid loud noises and some moderate ones - like doors slamming, yelling, vacuum, loud beeps, phones pressed to your ear - and any sound that causes pain to your ears.

Hopefully if it'll go away for you. And if it does within 7.5 weeks, I would definitely consider skipping out on concerts for a looooooooong while. You don't want to put yourself back into this shit-hole if you were lucky enough to be spared from it long-term.

 

[iammax]

Yeah, I've been trying. Previous to my concert, I probably spent... honestly? Between 7-13 hours per day with headphones on, although the vast majority of the time, it was just speech (podcasts, audiobooks, etc) at what I think is definitely a safe volume. Also these are over ear noise cancelling headphones so the volume can be a bit lower since I don't need to drown out the outside. Although there was definitely a fair amount of aggressive heavy metal in that mix... but I was usually not blasting it, I think.

Since the concert I have worn those headphones for maybe two or three hours (total, not per day), mostly on day 1 since I hadn't realized anything was wrong yet. But the over ear noise cancelling part just isolates the ear ringing.

I have still been listening to podcasts and audiobooks most of the day, but instead, through speakers. And at low volume. I have also been listening to those with a sort of "flowing water white noise" youtube video in the background, which I've been playing almost 24/7 for a few days, at a very low volume. I wonder if that is a bad idea...

 

[Mister Muso]

Hi Max, and welcome.

My story is quite similar to yours I think. I've just been on the forum for a week or so, having gone to a concert six weeks ago and left my earplugs out for most of the show because I didn't think it was that loud. It wasn't even a metal show (though I do enjoy those too - or at least I used to)

It helps having people to talk to and understand on this forum. I'm still struggling with trying to adapt - I feel like I'm in denial about a lot of things at the moment, like not being able to use my lovely new headphones any more. But protecting your ears is the priority now. That's just how it is. And educating ourselves and adapting to survive. Hope we all make it through.

Graham.

 

[GSC]

Yeah, I've been trying. Previous to my concert, I probably spent... honestly? Between 7-13 hours per day with headphones on, although the vast majority of the time, it was just speech (podcasts, audiobooks, etc) at what I think is definitely a safe volume. Also these are over ear noise cancelling headphones so the volume can be a bit lower since I don't need to drown out the outside. Although there was definitely a fair amount of aggressive heavy metal in that mix... but I was usually not blasting it, I think.

Since the concert I have worn those headphones for maybe two or three hours (total, not per day), mostly on day 1 since I hadn't realized anything was wrong yet. But the over ear noise cancelling part just isolates the ear ringing.

I have still been listening to podcasts and audiobooks most of the day, but instead, through speakers. And at low volume. I have also been listening to those with a sort of "flowing water white noise" youtube video in the background, which I've been playing almost 24/7 for a few days, at a very low volume. I wonder if that is a bad idea...

Yeah, for now, lay off the headphones. You wore them a lot... I advise to swear off of them since you have noise induced tinnitus, but other people would say otherwise, and it's up to you to decide in the long run. It's fine to play sound enrichment, I don't think it's bad, it's recommended here - but maybe the voices are tiring your ears out? Maybe certain frequencies, who knows, but it's best to rest your ears. Do not to sit IN SILENCE though to rest them, because it's said to fuel Hyperacusis - pain from sound and turn up the central gain - but the sound enrichment should be fine, and if it's that one that bothers your ears, maybe fine another one?; I just think your ears just got slaughtered from the concert and are at the point of: enough is enough. So, try not to listen to music for now, at least until the ear pain is fully gone... know that's hard. But music will tire your ears out faster because all of the different frequencies.

 

[iammax]

Honestly I'm not really worried about the ear pain in my left ear, I'm much more worried about the ear ringing in my right ear. But regardless yeah I haven't been listening to music or headphones... just speech at med volume on speakers. I guess I"ll stop that too, for a while at least. I'll just leave on some mild white noise

 

[GSC]

Honestly I'm not really worried about the ear pain in my left ear, I'm much more worried about the ear ringing in my right ear. But regardless yeah I haven't been listening to music or headphones... just speech at med volume on speakers. I guess I"ll stop that too, for a while at least. I'll just leave on some mild white noise

The best thing to aid with POSSIBLE fading is time, avoidance of loud/uncomfortable/bothersome noises to your ears and taking on ear protection from now on when you feel you're caught in a too-loud situation.

 

[Contrast]

As much as i criticize alternative medicine for being quackery, medical doctors aren't even trying.

The pain, muffled hearing and the tinnitus all happened because you damaged your inner ear from a concert.
Hearing loss outside of vital human speech ranges is not tested, meaning one can have muffled hearing and still be told that they have perfect hearing.

Did anyone suggest you damaged your inner ear? Did they tell you that you lost hearing? Did they diagnosis you with nerve damage, noxacusis or pain from sound? Did they care about looking into the problem deeply or did you get rushed in and out of their office?

I can deal with the pain

for the rest of your life? The ringing always seems worse then the pain until you realize it could be permanent.

 

[Contrast]

I am seeing another ENT/MD

read stories of people on this forum, and you will have a very pesmistic outlook on the experiences we have had with audiologist regarding tinnitus and pain from noise.

Most audiologist no have a clue about pain from noise being a real medical problem, and cannot reduce tinnitus caused by hearing damage as they cannot restore lost hearing. A hearing aid could help you though if you didn't have ear pain.

 

[iammax]

for the rest of your life? The ringing always seems worse then the pain until you realize it could be permanent.

Given the relative intensities of the two, and how the pain is only there about 5% of the time and the ringing is there almost all the time except for about 5 minutes after I take a shower, then yes for sure I'm still more worried about the ringing

 

[Contrast]

Given the relative intensities of the two, and how the pain is only there about 5% of the time and the ringing is there almost all the time except for about 5 minutes after I take a shower, then yes for sure I'm still more worried about the ringing

some people have much worse pain.

if it's mild that actually means it might go away.

Don't know about the tinnitus.

 

[Ken219]

noise cancelling headphones

Did you ever consider the 'noise cancelling headphones' contributed to your problem?

 

[iammax]

Did you ever consider the 'noise cancelling headphones' contributed to your problem?

Well, of course I considered it in the last week. I never thought about it before then, but I'm sure most people don't, which is why they end up here, unfortunately. I should mention I don't actually use the noise cancelling function becuase the padding of the headphones is pretty thick and it muffles outside noise pretty well, even without active noise cancelling.

As to the actual headphones, I've read arguments both ways... I've seen

1: "Noise cancelling headphones are bad because you get too used to quietness and therefore in normal conditions you become too sensitive, so it's bad for hypersensitivity"
2: "Noise cancelling headphones are good because they let you listen to things at a far lower decibel rating since you aren't competing with outside noise"

What's right? Probably depends on the person.

 

[iammax]

I"ve also read posts saying that "people are so negative on tinnitus forums because all the people who truly had TEMPORARY tinnitus, where it faded away completely or almost completely, no longer post there". I sure hope that one's true.

 

[Contrast]

I"ve also read posts saying that "people are so negative on tinnitus forums because all the people who truly had TEMPORARY tinnitus, where it faded away completely or almost completely, no longer post there". I sure hope that one's true.

reddit is where the lower IQ sufferers like to hang out.

 

[Contrast]

I"ve also read posts saying that "people are so negative on tinnitus forums because all the people who truly had TEMPORARY tinnitus, where it faded away completely or almost completely, no longer post there". I sure hope that one's true.

We don't know if your tinnitus will go away or not, no one knows. No one can give you reassurance either way.

 

[Ken219]

which is why they end up here, unfortunately.

I've had tinnitus 30 years. It appears more and more people are getting tinnitus and there is also more research. So the more the merrier?

 

[Ken219]

@Contrast curious what is it with you and

SCAMMER
it's not libel if it's true, story of a e-commerce scammer promising tinnitus miracle cures

 

[leledany]

I do not remember where I read it but I remember a study where they state that listening to white music can aggravate tinnitus. I do not want to make you worry more than you are now but it is my suggestion.

 

[Don Tinny]

You are a newbie with this and your tinnitus can improve a lot. But it can takes weeks, few months, many months, few years...We can't know.

Many will consider it a bad/extreme advice, but based on my experience you should not go to more concerts.. Forget about earplugs. You don't know how damaged your ears are now. Don't give your ears and your quality of life to a couple of drunks with guitars singing about Satan.

 

[Contrast]

@Contrast curious what is it with you and

View attachment 30159 SCAMMER
it's not libel if it's true, story of a e-commerce scammer promising tinnitus miracle cures

scammers that prey on the desperate need to be publicly shamed, humilated and exploited.

 

[Contrast]

@Contrast curious what is it with you and

View attachment 30159 SCAMMER
it's not libel if it's true, story of a e-commerce scammer promising tinnitus miracle cures

if you followed the case I literally managed to shutdown an entire e-commerce business, and legally prove the next business lied about being NSF and FDA certified as well as Dr. Shelton was mislabelled about being a M.D when he's not one.

Sparkhealthmedia was a high level predatory marketting scam, and I shut it down via libelizing their reputation online and I care not if they sue me as I'll easily win.

https://www.sandiegocan.org/2018/09/28/scam-alert-why-you-should-avoid-spark-health-media-products/
The e-book company Sparkhealthmedia owned around a dozen websites, each hosting a Youtube video with a paid actors telling stories about how they use to suffer with a medical problem like vision loss, hearing loss, tinnitus, herpes, arthritis, erectile dysfunction, diabetes and even addressing more serious life threatening conditions like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's. The story then goes into the despairing details of a health problem. Then nonsensical absurdities are brought in, such as unmasking corrupt corporate secrets on why there isn't a cure. Or a tribal cultures ancient wisdom leads to a miracle cure that big pharma doesn't want anyone to know about. The actor then claims they wrote an e-book about it to help cure others and to buy the presentation before big pharma shuts down the website. Sparkhealthmedia has done this same repetitive pathetic gimmick many times over.

 

[Ken219]

@Contrast Thank you for explaining that to me. Do you know his whereabouts? Extended family? Why is he above ground?

 

[Contrast]

@Contrast Thank you for explaining that to me. Do you know his whereabouts? Extended family? Why is he above ground?

he's in auckland new zealand.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I don't know if I should give up on this ringing going away.

Fading can last for over two years. Many people don't experience any fading during the first 4-6 weeks. If you have had fading during your first week, your outlook is likely to be great. At the same time you are right, if it is still here a week after the onset, it will probably take its time to fade. You might get to hear silence again within the next 3-6 months (but of course it could take a lot longer).

You will want to be easy on your ears until your ears feel normal again. You don't want to halt your progress by getting a second acoustic trauma.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

I didn't read all the above comments, but did peruse a fair amount of it, and ran across many good points on both sides of the argument. What strikes me is there seems to be an underlying assumption (of course I may be wrong on this) that all brains and neurological systems are created equal. The way I see it, that's simply not the case, so everybody's way of dealing with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is going to have to be highly individualized.

I read a book many years ago called "Adrenal Syndrome". A lot of the book touched on the residual resiliency of people's adrenal glands as they respond to life's stresses. Very low resiliency often resulted in months/years of chronic debilitating exhaustion following a stressful event(s) in their lives. Very high resiliency indicated essentially the opposite. The author broke this down into some rough numbers:

25% of people have low resiliency, meaning normal life stressors will often send them into some degree of a tailspin.
25% of people have high resiliency, meaning that no matter how severe a stressor comes into their lives, they will be able to cope without becoming debilitated to any degree.
50% of people fall somewhere inbetween.

I believe there are some kind of corresponding numbers for a person's brain and neurological resiliency as well, which can greatly affect the ability to cope with tinnitus. (I believe adrenal resiliency also plays a major role in our ability to cope). -- Based on these assumptions, it's pretty easy for me to conclude that what may be overprotection for one person will be underprotection for another, and vice versa.

I think the main point to understand for someone new to tinnitus is that their path forward is going to be a lot of "testing the waters". Generally, IMHO, it's going to take a few weeks or months to get important insights that will help us achieve a healthy balance. In all likelihood, most people are going to learn from experience when their over-protecting or under-protecting.

I've come to believe however, that in those early months, if one is going to err in either direction, it should be toward overprotection. It just seems to me the consequences of underprotection (which could result in permanent injury) in those early times are much more dire than the consequences of overprotection--which as I understand, generally results in temporary setbacks.

Doing a number of things to better support the brain and neurological system and the body's stress response (adrenal glands) is quite high on my list of recommendations I would make to anybody with tinnitus. Doing so might even prevent phonophobia or OCD, etc., as we go through our learning curves -- Just my 2 cents worth.

Relative newbies to tinnitus are likely to find all the information/opinions above quite confusing. So here are a few common-sense rules to follow:

1. The best protection of all is avoidance. Even the best earplugs can't guarantee complete hearing protection so those relatively new to tinnitus are best advised to avoid prolonged loud noise exposure - especially amplified sound at for example live concerts and sports events. This may involve lifestyle changes.

2. When in doubt, use hearing protection. In the many tasks we all do through the week, some will inevitably involve exposure to noise - which may be at higher levels than we at first realise - so using hearing protection for many of these is only sensible.

3. Build quiet into your day. It's not a good idea to be wearing hearing protection all the time - so you need to give your ears a break by ensuring that there will be quieter times during your day when hearing protection isn't necessary.This may involve changing your routine. Use soft masking noise and light music (not using headphones) to avoid "silence" where tinnitus is most noticeable.

4. Don't stress about stress. Tinnitus newbies are forever being told that the thing which makes tinnitus worse is stress. But while it's true that how you are feeling at a particular moment can make tinnitus temporarily louder, it won't have a lasting effect. But prolonged loud noise exposure can make tinnitus permanently louder. So don't stress about stress - but do be concerned about noise.

 

[iammax]

Fading can last for over two years. Many people don't experience any fading during the first 4-6 weeks. If you have had fading during your first week, your outlook is likely to be great. At the same time you are right, if it is still here a week after the onset, it will probably take its time to fade. You might get to hear silence again within the next 3-6 months (but of course it could take a lot longer).

You will want to be easy on your ears until your ears feel normal again. You don't want to halt your progress by getting a second acoustic trauma.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

Thanks for the encouragement. I am still mostly in a panic spiral but I still have a smidge of hope left

Oddly I can hear silence if I take a long hot steamy shower. Afterwards there seems to be no T (or it's imperceptible) for about 10-25 minutes. That gives me a lot of calm, which instantly turns back to panic when it starts to come back. I've done this like 15 times over the last week and it works every time. At least I am cleaner than ever on the outside...

 

[iammax]

I wonder if constantly having my laptop be playing this video nearly 24/7 at low/med volume is "easy on the ears"... only way I can distract myself



Sometimes I also have an audiobook going on top of that (I turn down the water vid a bit so I don't have to make the audiobook loud, but it's still there).

 

[Digital Doc]

Sounds like an acoustic trauma from the concert. Toss the headphones out, and sell your upcoming concert tickets. This can take months to work its way through, so that the T gets back down to an acceptable level. Further noise has high potential to only exacerbate this further, and the T can always get louder.

Get some good earplugs, and use them for any and all loud activities you need to do around the house, including the vacuum, lawn mower, hammering, paper shredder, hair dryer. The more rest you can give your ears the better!

My T went into a diurnal variation, with it lowest when I woke up. By trial and error, I figured out to sleep with the earplugs, and the T would be even lower in the morning, so consider giving that a try. Then again, others use white noise at low volume when they sleep, so some trial is needed to hit on what works best for you.

Feel better soon!

 

[Earing]

I wonder if constantly having my laptop be playing this video nearly 24/7 at low/med volume is "easy on the ears"... only way I can distract myself



Sometimes I also have an audiobook going on top of that (I turn down the water vid a bit so I don't have to make the audiobook loud, but it's still there).

I have a sound that matches my tinnitus. I would listen to it for short periods and I think it made it slightly better for a short time. So I had a 2 hour nap with it playing quietly in the background. When I woke up my tinnitus was worse than it was before and has not gone back a few days later... Just be careful.

 

[Digital Doc]

I have a sound that matches my tinnitus. I would listen to it for short periods and I think it made it slightly better for a short time. So I had a 2 hour nap with it playing quietly in the background. When I woke up my tinnitus was worse than it was before and has not gone back a few days later... Just be careful.

I find that this kind of background noise at night makes my ears worse, even though it is comparatively lower volume. There have been times that I wake up with a feeling that my ears have fullness, with an increase in the volume of tinnitus and I know they must have been exposed to some noise- even though I have no clue as to what as there was nothing on. Maybe just traffic?

Anyway, after that, I sleep with my earplugs, and find that it works much better, and never get that sensation of fullness. In fact, some mornings lately my tinnitus is barely audible, even with the earplugs in, although it has taken months to get this much progress, and it does not consistently happen. My own opinion here, but at least for me, the white noise in the background seems to be much safer during the day while awake, than at night when asleep.