Hello Everyone, New in the Forum, Tinnitus Since 3rd August

[Nina99]

Hello everyone,

I'm happy I found this forum where I can share my situation. I hope I can find some advice and support here, because it is quite stressful this situation as you all unfortunately know.

I went to a metal concert the 3rd August, it was pretty loud and I unfortunately was quite close to the left speakers. I started to notice some kind of unease inside my left ear after a while but I still didn't move from the spot I was (pretty stupid I know). The unease then lowered.

After the evening I had the typical ringing from after a concert / disco evening, so I was not really scared about it but the left ear felt still somehow sore.

From that day on I experienced this ringing in the beginning only from my left part. I did not have huge problems with it, it was almost inaudible during the day and I was not heavily affected during the night so I could sleep. I went to visit a doctor, my ears were normal, he prescribed me some medecines (Vinpocetinum, vitamins B1 and E, naphazolini nitras). After 2 days the unease in the ear stopped totally and felt like the ringing was getting better.

And now, the stupidity takes part.

On Sunday (13 August, after 4 days I started to take medications) I took some puff of weed, it helps me (generally) relax and ease my migraines. (Never got bad side effects before, also because I very rarely smoke weed and I do not smoke normal cigarettes at all.) Well, that was a bad idea apparently because since that day I felt like my inner ears were overheating and the tinnitus got louder, like it was "transforming" or "moving" from the left part to the middle, and the noise is constantly a background noise that sound like white noise.

On Tuesday evening I could not sleep at all (for sure the anxiety of knowing that the ringing sound was there did not help). The day after I was a wreck at work.

On Thursday I went again to the hospital to check it up, they found nothing, no inflamation, nothing at all (in the meanwhile the feeling of heat from both ears was almost gone). They also did an audiometry test and my hearing is perfectly normal, same to right and left ear.

They changed my medications to Betahistini dihydrochloridum and Clarinase repetabs.
I used for help me sleeping rain sounds and such stuff. It looked like it helped me the first 2 nights, but this night again I did not fall asleep. The background noise, while is manageable during the day (it is not very intrusive, lots of times I forget its there), it's hard to bear during night (I have always been very sensitive to sounds and often, for being able to sleep well, I needed to use earplugs. Now I do not use them anymore of course).

So here I am, with barely 3 hours of sleep, far away from my home country (I will be back there in the beginnig of September but still, now I'm alone here facing this problem), afraid that I will not be able to sleep properly again and stressed that I still have 8 working days to face before I move back and can be treated at home.

Thank you for the time you took for reading, any comment/suggestions are very welcome. It is so sad and disheartening knowing that I might have compromise my lifestyle for a stupid mistake.....

 

[maltese]

felt like my inner ears were overheating

Im pretty paranoid myself, but that's some next level stuff It's normal for tinnitus to worsen after smoking weed and it usually returns to 'baseline' (normal level) after few hours, sometimes a day or two.

Some people prefer to avoid weed though because, well, now you know why.

Nothing stupid really, it would be stupid if you went to a concert that day.

 

[maltese]

I might have compromise my lifestyle for a stupid mistake.....

Buy decent musician earplugs. I'd avoid metal concert from now on

 

[Nina99]

Im pretty paranoid myself, but that's some next level stuff It's normal for tinnitus to worsen after smoking weed and it usually returns to 'baseline' (normal level) after few hours, sometimes a day or two.

Some people prefer to avoid weed though because, well, now you know why.

Nothing stupid really, it would be stupid if you went to a concert that day.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I am a bit paranoid and being alone here does not make it better.
Funny thing is that I almost NEVER go to clubs or concerts... it was really the mistake on one time....
And what are these musician earplugs that you mention? Do they help in relieving stress for T?
And no way I am going near a club or a concert that loud EVER AGAIN!!!

 

[Michael Leigh]

On Sunday (13 August, after 4 days I started to take medications) I took some puff of weed, it helps me (generally) relax and ease my migraines. (Never got bad side effects before, also because I very rarely smoke weed and I do not smoke

Hi @Nina99

Welcome to the forum

Your tinnitus has been coming on for some time and you have been unaware of it until recently. The fact that you experienced tinnitus/ringing before after going to a concert is evidence of this. I advise you not to take anymore weed. This type of drug can affect one's moods and emotions significantly. The tinnitus noise lives in the part of the brain called the limbic system. It controls our moods and emotions: love, hate fear etc. The weed/cannabis increased your perception of the tinnitus and made your mind focus more on it and is now more noticeable. So I strongly advise you stay clear of any recreational drugs.

I advise you not to use any type of headphones even at low volume. Please click on the links below and read my articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View, and Hyperacusis, As I See it. I advise you to use a sound machine at night. More about this is explained in the articles.

All the best
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-mental-health.21978/

 

[Nina99]

Hi @Nina99

Your tinnitus has been coming on for some time and you have been unaware of it until recently. The fact that you experienced tinnitus/ringing before after going to a concert is evidence of this. I advise you not to take anymore weed. This type of drug can affect one's moods and emotions significantly. The tinnitus noise lives in the part of the brain called the limbic system. It controls our moods and emotions: love, hate fear etc. The weed/cannabis increased your perception of the tinnitus and made your mind focus more on it and is now more noticeable. So I strongly advise you stay clear of any recreational drugs.

Thank you Michael. Yes now that I think of it I always felt some kind of "background noise" sometimes lower sometimes higher but I never though it was something like T. It was just my ears, that's it.
Sure enough I will NOT smoke any weed anymore, or take any other drug/alcohol (never been an abuser, just every now and then... I picked the wrong moment to smoke). I was just hoping that after some time the increasing of the perception of T due to weed would diminish, Apparently not.

Is it possible that T is more audible when one lays down? It feels to me that when I lie in bed and rest the head on my pillow the perception of the sound increases. Is it due to blood pressure or is it only a mind trick?

 

[Michael Leigh]

Is it possible that T is more audible when one lays down? It feels to me that when I lie in bed and rest the head on my pillow the perception of the sound increases. Is it due to blood pressure or is it only a mind trick?

@Nina99

Tinnitus affects each person differently. Try not to worry too much about it being more noticeable when lying down. With time the tinnitus will become less noticeable. Providing you use a sound machine at night and not use headphones even at low volume. Keep away from clubs and concerts for a while. There is nothing wrong in drinking alcohol in moderation and you might even find that it helps relax you. I sometimes have a glass of wine or brandy during the evening, for medicinal purposes when my tinnitus decides not to behave.

If you would like my articles in PDF format, something I recommend. This will allow you to print them and take time and absorb the information slowly, PM me with your email address.

Things will get better
Michael

 

[fishbone]

Hello everyone,

I'm happy I found this forum where I can share my situation. I hope I can find some advice and support here, because it is quite stressful this situation as you all unfortunately know.

I went to a metal concert the 3rd August, it was pretty loud and I unfortunately was quite close to the left speakers. I started to notice some kind of unease inside my left ear after a while but I still didn't move from the spot I was (pretty stupid I know). The unease then lowered.

After the evening I had the typical ringing from after a concert / disco evening, so I was not really scared about it but the left ear felt still somehow sore.

From that day on I experienced this ringing in the beginning only from my left part. I did not have huge problems with it, it was almost inaudible during the day and I was not heavily affected during the night so I could sleep. I went to visit a doctor, my ears were normal, he prescribed me some medecines (Vinpocetinum, vitamins B1 and E, naphazolini nitras). After 2 days the unease in the ear stopped totally and felt like the ringing was getting better.

And now, the stupidity takes part.

On Sunday (13 August, after 4 days I started to take medications) I took some puff of weed, it helps me (generally) relax and ease my migraines. (Never got bad side effects before, also because I very rarely smoke weed and I do not smoke normal cigarettes at all.) Well, that was a bad idea apparently because since that day I felt like my inner ears were overheating and the tinnitus got louder, like it was "transforming" or "moving" from the left part to the middle, and the noise is constantly a background noise that sound like white noise.

On Tuesday evening I could not sleep at all (for sure the anxiety of knowing that the ringing sound was there did not help). The day after I was a wreck at work.

On Thursday I went again to the hospital to check it up, they found nothing, no inflamation, nothing at all (in the meanwhile the feeling of heat from both ears was almost gone). They also did an audiometry test and my hearing is perfectly normal, same to right and left ear.

They changed my medications to Betahistini dihydrochloridum and Clarinase repetabs.
I used for help me sleeping rain sounds and such stuff. It looked like it helped me the first 2 nights, but this night again I did not fall asleep. The background noise, while is manageable during the day (it is not very intrusive, lots of times I forget its there), it's hard to bear during night (I have always been very sensitive to sounds and often, for being able to sleep well, I needed to use earplugs. Now I do not use them anymore of course).

So here I am, with barely 3 hours of sleep, far away from my home country (I will be back there in the beginnig of September but still, now I'm alone here facing this problem), afraid that I will not be able to sleep properly again and stressed that I still have 8 working days to face before I move back and can be treated at home.

Thank you for the time you took for reading, any comment/suggestions are very welcome. It is so sad and disheartening knowing that I might have compromise my lifestyle for a stupid mistake.....

Hi Nina

I can relate to your story quite a bit. I went to a heavy metal concert at a young age and it started my tinnitus. I have danced by speakers before and it muffled my ears and I could not hear for 2-3 days. Yes, I too made mistakes, all of us have made mistakes and we live with them each day.

What is done, is done. No need to be hard on yourself, it will do you no good. From now on, steer clear of loud environments and for sure protect your ears. You are still very blessed to have a somewhat low/tone ringing. It can get much worst if you don't protect your ears.

Stress is can trigger and increase tinnitus volumes. Try to remain calm and reduce your stress levels as much as you can.

Take care

 

[CrazyT]

I'm in the same boat. Weed does make it so much worse, to the point where you are wondering if it will hurt your chances of a temporary T, although it does go back to baseline. I've been reading weed causes more neurons to fire, making you hear the tinnitus louder. Not exactly what you need, when your brain is trying to differentiate noise from signal. For me I will wait a long time before I even grab myself a coffee or cigar. Although I have been drinking tea with chopped ginger, which doesn't really affect my T.

 

[Nina99]

Hi Nina

I can relate to your story quite a bit. I went to a heavy metal concert at a young age and it started my tinnitus. I have danced by speakers before and it muffled my ears and I could not hear for 2-3 days. Yes, I too made mistakes, all of us have made mistakes and we live with them each day.

What is done, is done. No need to be hard on yourself, it will do you no good. From now on, steer clear of loud environments and for sure protect your ears. You are still very blessed to have a somewhat low/tone ringing. It can get much worst if you don't protect your ears.

Stress is can trigger and increase tinnitus volumes. Try to remain calm and reduce your stress levels as much as you can.

Take care

Hello Fishbone,
Thank you for your message. It really helps getting words of encouragement.
Yes I notice several metal heads here... No surprise

For the stress topic, that is something I have hard time to co-op with. Especially now that I am about to quit my job and move back to Italy, I have to think about all the bureaucracy and moving from a country to another is not the easiest thing.... So I'm prepared for the worse.

@Michael Leigh
Regarding sound machine, is it enough to listen to mp3 with crickets/rain/waves or should I get a proper machine?

 

[Nina99]

Weed does make it so much worse, to the point where you are wondering if it will hurt your chances of a temporary T, although it does go back to baseline.

I feel you. I've been super scared I made it worse irreparably... To me it feels anyway louder than before and it's already a week...

 

[fishbone]

Hello Fishbone,
Thank you for your message. It really helps getting words of encouragement.
Yes I notice several metal heads here... No surprise

For the stress topic, that is something I have hard time to co-op with. Especially now that I am about to quit my job and move back to Italy, I have to think about all the bureaucracy and moving from a country to another is not the easiest thing.... So I'm prepared for the worse.

@Michael Leigh
Regarding sound machine, is it enough to listen to mp3 with crickets/rain/waves or should I get a proper machine?

I'm kinda nervous myself. I do martial arts and I am going to look at a new boxing gym and add that activity to my already jam packed fitness routine ***This is what I do, i don't recommend for people to do what I do ***

The people in that gym will be almost half my age, but i always train with younger people and i seem to handle them quite well.....I wish you the best of luck with your move. It is a bit scary, so please take it step by step

 

[Michael Leigh]

@Michael Leigh
Regarding sound machine, is it enough to listen to mp3 with crickets/rain/waves or should I get a proper machine?

As long as you don't attach headphones to the Mp3 player and use it as a standalone unit that should be fine. However, for good quality sound buying an Oasis sound machine might be better. These are made for people with tinnitus. model: S-650 is popular and can be attached to a pillow speaker if you wish.

Michael

 

[CrazyT]

I feel you. I've been super scared I made it worse irreparably... To me it feels anyway louder than before and it's already a week...

Like Fishbone said earlier, we don't have a time machine. Freaking wish we did. Don't beat yourself up now, won't help. Alot of people recover on their own, and that's why the doctors/pharmaceutical companies leave us in the dust. Truth is they don't know much about tinnitus.

 

[maltese]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I am a bit paranoid and being alone here does not make it better.

If you can, go be around people a bit, it helps.

Funny thing is that I almost NEVER go to clubs or concerts... it was really the mistake on one time....

That's very common, actually. Are a scientist or an engineer too? Plenty of us here

And what are these musician earplugs that you mention? Do they help in relieving stress for T?

They reduce the noise you might encounter should you decide to visit a pub, bar, concert, nightclub or a different loud venue. They don't give you 100% certainty you won't make your T worse but they give extra protection.

It's very important that you protect your ears from now on. Even if your tinnitus goes away. There is a very high chance (70%+) that you will make significant improvements (as in: your symptoms will reduce) in the next 12-24 months. You will also get better at handling your health condition and life will return to (more or less ) normal.

4 years ago I got tinnitus from a loud birthday party (hosted in a club). It went away completely so I returned to occasional clubbing - with absolutely zero problems. Last October I ran out of luck. Don't make that mistake

 

[Freeatlast]

If you can, go be around people a bit, it helps.



That's very common, actually. Are a scientist or an engineer too? Plenty of us here



They reduce the noise you might encounter should you decide to visit a pub, bar, concert, nightclub or a different loud venue. They don't give you 100% certainty you won't make your T worse but they give extra protection.

It's very important that you protect your ears from now on. Even if your tinnitus goes away. There is a very high chance (70%+) that you will make significant improvements (as in: your symptoms will reduce) in the next 12-24 months. You will also get better at handling your health condition and life will return to (more or less ) normal.

4 years ago I got tinnitus from a loud birthday party (hosted in a club). It went away completely so I returned to occasional clubbing - with absolutely zero problems. Last October I ran out of luck. Don't make that mistake

How long did your first T last?

 

[Nina99]

That's very common, actually. Are a scientist or an engineer too? Plenty of us here


It's very important that you protect your ears from now on. Even if your tinnitus goes away. There is a very high chance (70%+) that you will make significant improvements (as in: your symptoms will reduce) in the next 12-24 months. You will also get better at handling your health condition and life will return to (more or less ) normal.

4 years ago I got tinnitus from a loud birthday party (hosted in a club). It went away completely so I returned to occasional clubbing - with absolutely zero problems. Last October I ran out of luck. Don't make that mistake

I am working at IBM as administrator so... not really an engineer but dealing with programmers AND engineers all day long lol but I'm moving back home in September for family issues (and now with the situation I'm in I am actually more than happy to go back!)

I WILL protect my ears for sure from now on, I learned the lesson the hard way... sorry to hear that you got back in the problem I hope it's getting better for you!

I notice now that any sound is much more sharp and acute, feels like my hearing is heightened... is that normal? Or it is my mind tricking me to perceive things in a new way? Often I find myself trying to speculate if the sound is from T or some other sound from normal environment (this when I'm outside). I do not know anymore if what I hear is T or something from outside...

 

[maltese]

I notice now that any sound is much more sharp and acute, feels like my hearing is heightened... is that normal? Or it is my mind tricking me to perceive things in a new way?

Perceiving 'normal' sounds as loud/painful/causing discomfort is called hyperacusis and it's common too, unfortunately. For some it goes away quite quickly, sometimes it sticks around for longer.

Try to relax as much as possible (I know how hard that is now). Calm down your nervous system a little if you can. Hint: long walks are nice. Ears take forever to heal* so yeah.


* current consensus is that they don't heal at all, but the brain can adapt to damage with time (to certain degree). This takes time. A lot of time.

 

[maltese]

Often I find myself trying to speculate if the sound is from T or some other sound from normal environment (this when I'm outside). I do not know anymore if what I hear is T or something from outside...

Try not to do it. My method is to tell myself 'I hear some sound and I don't care' every time you catch yourself listening for your tinnitus.

The idea is that you don't want to teach your brain to see tinnitus as a threat so it can start doing it's job again (filtering out tinnitus so you don't hear it).

You might want to take a look at Back To Silence https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/ It builds on this idea and works for some. I had partial success with it. It's more about changing your mindset than to actually stop hearing tinnitus. (to put this delicately, I would not expect miracles)

 

[Michael Leigh]

@Nina99
Please read my post: Hyperacusis, As I see It, that I sent you. Some of the suggestions will help your ears and auditory system to desensitise. It is important to start using sound enrichment during the day and at night.

Michael

 

[maltese]

How long did your first T last?

No idea. I had it for some time but ENT said it'll go away so I trusted her and I was completely calm. I heard it every now and then but I literally never, ever thought about it.

I'm 100% sure it was gone after a year though.

 

[Nina99]

@Nina99
Please read my post: Hyperacusis, As I see It, that I sent you. Some of the suggestions will help your ears and auditory system to desensitise. It is important to start using sound enrichment during the day and at night.

Michael

Yes, I am reading it. Thank yuo Michael!

 

[fishbone]

Hyperacusis is a terrible thing. My heart truly does go out to those that have that on top of tinnitus. I had very bad hyperacusis when i first got tinnitus. Even low level noises would disrupt my life and give me terrible pain in my ears. I knew that I wanted to get rid of it and I did.

After martial arts class, we clap and salute our fellow students and say good job. If i had hyperacusis, i'd be jumping in fear, when they clap their hands. Please take it from me, a veteran of this game. You can overcome these things and live a wonderful life again.

It can happen and it takes just a bit of time and baby steps to get there...

 

[Nina99]

I had very bad hyperacusis when i first got tinnitus. Even low level noises would disrupt my life and give me terrible pain in my ears. I knew that I wanted to get rid of it and I did.

How did you get rid of it?

 

[Nina99]

Ok guys, even this night was pretty much sleepless BUT thank to all the information and support I found in this forum I can say that AT LEAST I was not super anxious/scared/hopeless as before. Yeah,lying in bed with this weird noise constantly nagging in your head and watching the hours passing by is not THE BEST but at least I can say I was quite calm and I try not to focus on it. When I hear it I approach it as in the video I saw, "Back to SIlence". It might help a bit at least.

Thank you all and keep strong!

 

[Bill Bauer]

Amitriptyline helped me sleep during the acute stage. It is non-addictive and I didn't feel drowsy the next morning.