Help Me with My Ear Mystery: Woke Up to Raging Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Hearing Loss

I'm currently dealing with what I suspect as infrasonic and low frequency noise harassment. This is due to my initial noise complaint towards my neighbor. They have one of the loudest car audio setups I've seen. Whatever sound system they have at home is just as powerful. It literally shakes pictures frames when they want to party with music. You will feel the pressure wave. Ever since I asked to turn the wall rattling bassy music down, it has been replaced with constant all day low frequency and infrasonic noise. No music. Just feelings of vibration everywhere including my on my body, gut/bowel spasms (no pain, gurgling sounds), increased tinnitus, inability to sleep, a constant feeling of stress and lethargy. Sadly, I'm the only one able to perceive these feelings. No one at home can detect what I'm experiencing. They have refereed to it as my noise sensitivity. If any of you have experience with infrasound or have any advice to offer regarding detecting and collecting audio data as potential evidence, please message me privately. Feel free to ask me about this and I'll gladly talk through private messages. I'm treating my adversary as sophisticated so I don't want to leave a lot of infrasound related chats online especially ones that will match in timeline.

 

Back at NIH for the study on people that were impacted by whatever the hell happened to me.

I think I signed an NDA of some sort so I’ll keep stuff a bit vague. I guess more of my brain had been impacted than they had told me at the time. Good news is follow up study shows it has recovered to borderline normal range. They expect more healing/rewiring over the next few years.

I knew it felt like my brain had been blown up, I just thought it was the impact of severe tinnitus. Strange as I go through this testing again and they ask questions geared towards TBI and how similar the symptoms are to debilitating tinnitus. Irritability, difficulty focusing, depression, impact on sleep, cognitive deficits, confusion, lack of patience.

Anyway, I hope this study leads to better treatment for those impacted in the future.

BTW, I have always kind of disregarded people’s complaints about MRIs being too loud, as I’ve now had 4 done on my head and was never bothered, but man the one I had today was loud AF.

 

Not sure if you’ve already answered this or are not allowed to, but have you been able to get into contact with other US Diplomats and intelligence officers who were also afflicted by these mysterious injuries? How similar were their symptoms compared to yours? Or you can not disclose this?

Good to hear you’re recovering in certain areas though.

 

No I've never met others impacted though I am aware of people a couple in a 2 degrees of separation sort of way. I'm sure there are medical privacy issues. I am aware through open source information that a variety of neurological symptoms have been presented from headaches, disorientation, tinnitus, hearing loss, vestibular issues, and some other TBI symptoms.

EDIT:

Also, a few have had to quit and go on disability, one suicide from what I’ve read in the papers.

 

That’s unfortunate... I think I remember reading a US diplomat having to wear a hearing aid as a result of the unknown illness that caused the hearing loss.

If I recall, you’re still working? That’s really commendable if so. Diplomats and intelligence officers don’t get enough credit IMO for the amount of pressure they have to deal with on a frequent basis (and having to remain calm too) with tinnitus no less. Big thanks for your service.

I know Congress passed the HAVANA Act of 2021 which made it much more easier for intelligence, diplomatic, and other governmental personnel with tinnitus (and other common medical conditions) to be recognized as victims of (Havana Syndrome). You’re entitled to payments. You probably know this already, but just in case.

 

When I reached out to State, what they came back with was the question of whether I was requesting medical treatment or wanted to go on disability. Neither is what I want. I was considering whether to reach out through my Senator's office but am not unjustifiably concerned of bureaucratic blowback from taking this outside normal lines of command.

 

@AfroSnowman, do you think deep brain stimulation could help those of us with tinnitus that we feel?

 

Well it is funny you ask that. That was the single recommendation of something to try that I got from one of the NIH neurologists. He said it worked for some people.

I don't know, I've got no special insight. If something really really worked you think it would be all over Tinnitus Talk. That being said I'd be willing to give it a try if it had a decent chance of success.

 

@AfroSnowman, it appears at this time you're in limbo? Did they offer any specific treatment(s)?

 

Is deep brain stimulation available anywhere for tinnitus, though? Did your neurologist say?

The procedure I’m talking about is the surgery version where they plant electrodes in the brain. They put them in the areas where high tinnitus activity is either detected or believed to be in. It’s an invasive procedure, but if it truly relieves the tinnitus a good amount or improves mood significantly, as the studies both touch on as the usual outcomes, then I think it’s worth it for the person that’s absolutely miserable in life. When tinnitus becomes very debilitating, it’s not that different than Parkinson’s itself, which is what DBS is often used for. It can reduce the sufferer’s life to rubble, much like Parkinson’s would.

I just don’t know if the medical establishments offer DBS for tinnitus yet. Or if it’s not approved.

 

Aren't we all? In terms of treatments, they don’t really exist, right? Mine has proved rather resistant to any and all treatments, so far antidepressants, benzodiazepines, hearing aids/sound therapy, counseling, Lenire, masking. None made more than a whit of difference really, so there really isn’t much more to recommend. That being said I have improved emotional, cognitive, and vestibular functions significantly over the last couple of years, so I am functioning better under the same perceived burden.

 

I think he was suggesting it in a vague researcher sort of way. He didn’t know where I could go get it done.

 

@AfroSnowman, is this future weaponry? That is my concern.

 

If it is, we will all know soon enough. The official line is that we don’t know. I am not aware of a case where a smoking gun has been found. Just lots of diplomats and intel folks showing up with weird head/ear/balance injuries.

Russia is known to have engaged in microwave harassment attacks during the Cold War, but as for now it is a mystery.

Super sucks though.

 

I tend to be outspoken on one specific issue - and I begin to wonder if they are deliberately targeting individuals who belong to certain groups.

Did you belong to any specific group or diplomatic ties that would have put you at risk of such attack?

 

I mean I was serving as diplomat abroad. Most of the publicly reported cases, the only ones I’m aware of, were diplomats and intelligence officers.

 

I had the exact same scenario happen to me. Went to bed. Woke up at 3 am with raging tinnitus. Right side worse. Freaked me out so bad I didn’t work for year and half. That was 6 years ago. Noone knows why. Noone cares. I still have it. It’s more pulsatile tinnitus really. It has a pattern to its behavior. I often wonder if I didn’t get zapped too. This planet is going through some strange happenings. Anything is possible.

 

Sorry, that sucks. Did you get a check out at the time, did they find anything weird?

 

I’ve been through the whole gamut of doctors, ENTs, CAT scans, etc. No one gives a damn.

Finally, I purchased some very expensive hearing aids with Bluetooth. They “erased” the tinnitus in a way because I listen to music or YouTube or whatever to distract myself from the obnoxious tinnitus. Over time, the tinnitus has become less intrusive. Stress and sitting too long gets it more intense. I am convinced there is something clogged that restricts blood flow. Also, after EVERY shower the tinnitus is louder and more forceful. It has to be blood flow.

But, all in all it’s much better. In the beginning the tinnitus morphed into many different sounds including bagpipes, before it “settled” down. Now it’s mostly a sizzling sound. Also, I did have the sensitivity to sound at first. That went away too.

 

Just saying...

→ Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families

I just read the article. Pretty convincing journalism.

Fucking GRU special unit hitting me with a targeted attack jacking up my vestibular system, hearing, and leaving me with permanent severe tinnitus.

Someone needs to pay dearly for this.

 

Heh. I just wanted to alert you to this article in the Washington Post. Then again, that article apparently is mainly a re-telling of the Insider's scoop.

Speaking of paying -- the Washington Post wrote (in the article linked above):

Congress passed and President Biden signed legislation providing compensation to those affected.

Do you think they'll keep their promise?

 

My claim has been in process for about 8 months now. The process is hidden deep in the mechanisms of bureaucracy and obscured from view. I don’t know how my claim could be denied as everything is fully documented and I was asked to be one of the participants in the NIH study of the unexplained injured, but who knows how long it will take.

 

Will you become a millionaire?

 

Nope, more than the money (it wouldn't be quit your job money), it is the formal recognition of injury in service that is of value to me.

That being said, I'd love to get a new motorcycle

 

Currently have one? What steps do you take for tinnitus while riding? I’m curious.

 

In the big picture, I don't worry about worsening. I kind of figure I am on the extreme end of what people experience, so I don't know what worse would even mean.

Small picture: I want to preserve my hearing (normal to mild hearing loss, touching mild/moderate hearing loss at 6-8 kHz). I started using Alpine MotoSafe Race MotoGP earplugs. $20 on Amazon. They make a huge difference.

 

I finally saw the 60 Minutes episode (joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel) about the events that happened to lots (100+) of diplomats and intel officers. Their investigation points to a Russian intelligence unit as the likely source.

What struck me about this is how similar my symptoms were/are to those of the other people they interviewed.

It's a nasty, nasty weapon.

 

It is infuriating that Putin can use this weapon to maim senior US officials by the busload and with total impunity.

I don't mean to suggest anything, but I honestly struggle to understand how this is not an Article 5 Casus Foederis.