- Nov 29, 2014
- 211
- Tinnitus Since
- 10/2007
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Acoustic trauma - Repeated gun blasts
Well I'm back again!
As some of you know I suffered an acoustic trauma in 2007 from a 12-gauge shotgun with no ear protection. I was 21 at the time. I was left with permanent tinnitus, dysacusis (distorted hearing in right ear), and some strange pulsation high frequency tinnitus that can be stopped if I protrude my lower jaw. Anyway, went through the rigamaroo, depression, acceptance etc. Over the years I had struggles and successes, completed school and jobs, relationships etc. While the tinnitus has stayed for life and the distortion also, the dysacusis has good days and bad days often correlating to stress and weather. High pressure systems make the symptoms worse.
So, I work in an environment that requires weapons use as a part of the job. We had a range weekend and had to go shooting last weekend. I wore the ear plugs they gave us (3M). While shooting I noticed that although I had no temporary hearing threshold shift; my ears rang slightly after each shot. But extremely faintly, so I assumed this was from the physical kickback of the weapon. I never thought anything of it as my ear pro was correctly inserted and I felt safe. There was no pain, only faint rings after shots but I've had that happen before with other gun usage with ear pro. It was a stressful weekend also. Following the end of the weekend, I noticed that my tinnitus was roaring and the dysacusis (muffled/distorted hearing) is extremely bad. Basically feel like I did when this all first happened to me in 2007.
I'm not sure what to do now but I am bothered by it. The symptoms are bad, and I have more training coming in the future. My wife's voice is distorted to me as are toilets flushing, dishes, etc. Tinnitus is roaring. I could potentially double up on ear pro but I still have symptoms from last weekend and I don't know if those are stress related or noise induced.
Wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences. I'm just hoping that it all settles down again; I was doing so well in my life and things were going very well and I was habituated. There were many days that I forgot I even had tinnitus or dysacusis. Now it's like I'm back to square one.
I hope everyone else is doing well.
As some of you know I suffered an acoustic trauma in 2007 from a 12-gauge shotgun with no ear protection. I was 21 at the time. I was left with permanent tinnitus, dysacusis (distorted hearing in right ear), and some strange pulsation high frequency tinnitus that can be stopped if I protrude my lower jaw. Anyway, went through the rigamaroo, depression, acceptance etc. Over the years I had struggles and successes, completed school and jobs, relationships etc. While the tinnitus has stayed for life and the distortion also, the dysacusis has good days and bad days often correlating to stress and weather. High pressure systems make the symptoms worse.
So, I work in an environment that requires weapons use as a part of the job. We had a range weekend and had to go shooting last weekend. I wore the ear plugs they gave us (3M). While shooting I noticed that although I had no temporary hearing threshold shift; my ears rang slightly after each shot. But extremely faintly, so I assumed this was from the physical kickback of the weapon. I never thought anything of it as my ear pro was correctly inserted and I felt safe. There was no pain, only faint rings after shots but I've had that happen before with other gun usage with ear pro. It was a stressful weekend also. Following the end of the weekend, I noticed that my tinnitus was roaring and the dysacusis (muffled/distorted hearing) is extremely bad. Basically feel like I did when this all first happened to me in 2007.
I'm not sure what to do now but I am bothered by it. The symptoms are bad, and I have more training coming in the future. My wife's voice is distorted to me as are toilets flushing, dishes, etc. Tinnitus is roaring. I could potentially double up on ear pro but I still have symptoms from last weekend and I don't know if those are stress related or noise induced.
Wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences. I'm just hoping that it all settles down again; I was doing so well in my life and things were going very well and I was habituated. There were many days that I forgot I even had tinnitus or dysacusis. Now it's like I'm back to square one.
I hope everyone else is doing well.