I recently stumbled upon this site when doing research for this new found "ringing" in my ears that I developed July 27 of this year.
A little background on myself, I grew up hunting, mostly duck, quail and dove but spent most of my time skeet shooting. I always wore hearing protection while shooting skeet, the only times I can truly remember not was when I was far enough from other shooters to feel comfortable. I have gone to a limited amount of concerts in my life, probably less than 10 and have always sat in the back, as far as possible (I personally think the music sounds better and I can actually see everything). I have gone to my share of college/NFL football games through the years though but I have never left any event with pressure, fullness, muffledness or ringing in my ears.
Now for the the story of July 27, I went out into a fairly open field with my wife to shoot my brand new handgun. I forgot my foam plugs but I figured I was only going to shoot about 2 clips and be done, 5 minutes total but little did I know how much could change in that about of time. My wife stood pretty far away and wasn't affected. After the first shot I felt my left ear pop, didn't think anything of it but continued to finish the 2 clips (40 shots) and go about my day. 3 hours later I noticed a muffled feeling in my left, ear sensitivity and then the ringing began.
The first week I wasn't too worried to be honest, my dad, uncle, grandfather and roughly 10 of my friends have had ringing in their ears from anywhere to 2-3 weeks to 6-7 months and eventually went away. Around week 2 I developed a severe sinus infection, went to my GP and the Dr. gave me Amoxicillian and Prednisone to help with inflammation. I then go back for my 2 week followup, left ear still ringing, to which the GP diagnoses me with ETD and refers me to an ENT, 3 week wait...
Finally made it to the ENT visit, many sleepless nights, long days and just outright exhaustion at this point. I have loss over 15 pounds at this point and obviously stress and anxiety are taking their toll. Upon arriving at the ENT office, I discuss what has happened with my Dr and his first response is "PERMANENT!" He then begins to run a few more tests, I take a hearing test up to 12 mhz and pass with flying colors, well above normal on everything. Dr then does a complete 180 and says "that in his 30 years of work that 3 other people had similar cases to mine, took them roughly 6-12 months to fully recover." He prescribed me really high dose of Prednisone for 10 days and something to help calm my nerves. Followup again in 3 weeks.
I know it has only been 7 weeks at this point, my ENT seems extremely optimistic as well but should I be doing something else about the situation or will only time tell at this point. Sleeping has gotten a lot better since the meds, have considered Melatonin as well, I'm just not getting that deep sleep I use to get. Any words of encouragement, thoughts, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Sorry for the ramble.
A little background on myself, I grew up hunting, mostly duck, quail and dove but spent most of my time skeet shooting. I always wore hearing protection while shooting skeet, the only times I can truly remember not was when I was far enough from other shooters to feel comfortable. I have gone to a limited amount of concerts in my life, probably less than 10 and have always sat in the back, as far as possible (I personally think the music sounds better and I can actually see everything). I have gone to my share of college/NFL football games through the years though but I have never left any event with pressure, fullness, muffledness or ringing in my ears.
Now for the the story of July 27, I went out into a fairly open field with my wife to shoot my brand new handgun. I forgot my foam plugs but I figured I was only going to shoot about 2 clips and be done, 5 minutes total but little did I know how much could change in that about of time. My wife stood pretty far away and wasn't affected. After the first shot I felt my left ear pop, didn't think anything of it but continued to finish the 2 clips (40 shots) and go about my day. 3 hours later I noticed a muffled feeling in my left, ear sensitivity and then the ringing began.
The first week I wasn't too worried to be honest, my dad, uncle, grandfather and roughly 10 of my friends have had ringing in their ears from anywhere to 2-3 weeks to 6-7 months and eventually went away. Around week 2 I developed a severe sinus infection, went to my GP and the Dr. gave me Amoxicillian and Prednisone to help with inflammation. I then go back for my 2 week followup, left ear still ringing, to which the GP diagnoses me with ETD and refers me to an ENT, 3 week wait...
Finally made it to the ENT visit, many sleepless nights, long days and just outright exhaustion at this point. I have loss over 15 pounds at this point and obviously stress and anxiety are taking their toll. Upon arriving at the ENT office, I discuss what has happened with my Dr and his first response is "PERMANENT!" He then begins to run a few more tests, I take a hearing test up to 12 mhz and pass with flying colors, well above normal on everything. Dr then does a complete 180 and says "that in his 30 years of work that 3 other people had similar cases to mine, took them roughly 6-12 months to fully recover." He prescribed me really high dose of Prednisone for 10 days and something to help calm my nerves. Followup again in 3 weeks.
I know it has only been 7 weeks at this point, my ENT seems extremely optimistic as well but should I be doing something else about the situation or will only time tell at this point. Sleeping has gotten a lot better since the meds, have considered Melatonin as well, I'm just not getting that deep sleep I use to get. Any words of encouragement, thoughts, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Sorry for the ramble.