Hi from Australia

[Pumpkinate]

Hello,

I'm Steve from Australia... I did some hugely unwise unprotected shooting on holiday in Asia in January and I'm now stuck with very high pitched tinnitus in both ears and some hyperacusis too. It has actually got worse a couple of weeks ago I think because I took a noisy aeroplane flight and went to a noisy restaurant as well. I was treated with steroids back in Australia but it was too late (around 6 weeks after the trauma). My hearing is off a bit as well although I haven't done an audiogram yet, quite frankly there's no hurry because the result isn't going to change anything.

I got to say it's driving me insane, especially not being able to sleep (which is from the tinnitus and of course being very very angry with myself). I've tried putting a speaker under my pillow which helps a bit and taking a benzo to knock myself silly intermittently.

I've seen the retigabine threads and I'd be keen to give it a go but it's not available in Australia.

I'll trawl the forum for the other treatments. The various sound treatments sound like bullshit to me. Any advice would be appreciated....

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Bobby B]

How much shooting did you do and was is ak47 or handguns ?
There still is a possibility that it will improve , maybe not the T so much but the hyperacusis
You need to protect your ears from loud noises - above 60 Db - for Several months though

Phototherapy works for H and reactive T
Maybe that's an option

 

[Pumpkinate]

It was around an hour with some AK47 as well.... sigh.

I'm now protecting my ears with plugs for driving etc etc, but all probably a bit late.

I'll look into the phototherapy, thanks for your advice.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[DebInAustralia]

Hi Steve

Where in oz are u

 

[glynis]

A warm welcome to Tinnitus Talk Steve,

Your ears have had quite a shock and only time will tell if your tinnitus calms down but it should a little.
Sound therapy at night will help you cope better in the day.
If your tinnitus is hard to cope with you could try White noise generators or hearing aids if have hearing loss.

I would give sound therapy a go at night and can take a few nights to get use to.
Playing natural sounds set below your tinnitus will make your brain work hard to push through your tinnitus sound to pick up the lower sound you have chosen and helps your brain to filter out your tinnitus to learn your brain not focus on your tinnitus and in time helps you adjust through the day.
There are lots of sounds to listen to and find the one that works best for you.

Keep posting for support on the main forums...lots of love glynis

 

[Bobby B]

It was around an hour with some AK47 as well.... sigh.

I'm now protecting my ears with plugs for driving etc etc, but all probably a bit late.

I'll look into the phototherapy, thanks for your advice.

Cheers,

Steve

AK 47 are real fun to shoot. Because the weapon is small and light the recoil is powerful. We had much heavier assault rifles back when I was in the army.

Must have been in Viet Name then.. ?

Didn't they provide any hearing protection ?

 

[Pumpkinate]

Hi Steve

Where in oz are u

Near Lismore, Northern NSW

A warm welcome to Tinnitus Talk Steve,

Your ears have had quite a shock and only time will tell if your tinnitus calms down but it should a little.
Sound therapy at night will help you cope better in the day.
If your tinnitus is hard to cope with you could try White noise generators or hearing aids if have hearing loss.

I would give sound therapy a go at night and can take a few nights to get use to.
Playing natural sounds set below your tinnitus will make your brain work hard to push through your tinnitus sound to pick up the lower sound you have chosen and helps your brain to filter out your tinnitus to learn your brain not focus on your tinnitus and in time helps you adjust through the day.
There are lots of sounds to listen to and find the one that works best for you.

Keep posting for support on the main forums...lots of love glynis

Thanks Glynis, currently my only chance of getting any sleep at all is with some noise at night to mask the tinnitus, even then I'm getting little sleep.

AK 47 are real fun to shoot. Because the weapon is small and light the recoil is powerful. We had much heavier assault rifles back when I was in the army.

Must have been in Viet Name then.. ?

Didn't they provide any hearing protection ?

Hi Bobby, it was Cambodia. I was kind of put on the spot ("your turn to shoot") and would never do something like that back home. They had no hearing protection whatsoever, I asked for some.

 

[Marie79]

Some here disagree with me but I have 2 doctors telling me NOT to protect my ears unless you already know it's damaging to the average person. They say that makes the H worse

 

[Pumpkinate]

The frequency of this tinnitus is very high, it's extremely annoying. But then, I haven't experienced other frequencies so I'm not sure what the worst would be. Last night I was up to at least 4am with it despite my under the pillow speaker and a fan blasting.

 

[Pumpkinate]

Some here disagree with me but I have 2 doctors telling me NOT to protect my ears unless you already know it's damaging to the average person. They say that makes the H worse

Yeah, I did wonder about that because when you plug the ears you hear the tinnitus way more and therefore concentrate on it way more.

 

[Bobby B]

Some here disagree with me but I have 2 doctors telling me NOT to protect my ears unless you already know it's damaging to the average person. They say that makes the H worse

Then please do us all a big favor and ask them to explain exactly why ? Not that "it makes the ear more sensitive" but exaclty what happens inside the ears if you protect them too much - and is it permanent ?

 

[Bobby B]

Because I never read any scientific explanations of making it permanently worse for H.

And think about that :

Walking around town or driving with ear protection means that the ambient noise is between 60 to 85 Db avg 70 maybe.
With good ear muffs or foam plugs deep you get about 30 reduction.

So you spend a few hours in town or driving your car getting 30 to 55 Db into your ear

Now what about spending 8 hours per day in a totally quiet bedroom - 10 to 20 Db ?

That should be a lot worse than the above ear protection situation both in time and noise levels for H if it was really the case .
@Marie79
Please Ask the doctors about that and let us know what they have to say

 

[lymebite]

@Pumpkinate

A friend in Australia uses this place in Adelaide for inner ear phototherapy and speaks highly of them. Looks like may be too far for you however. There are options to purchase lasers for home use phototherapy if you decide to go that route (plenty of advice on the TTalk boards regarding which choices have better odds of success).

http://www.coldlaserpainrelief.com/

 

[Pumpkinate]

Thanks Lymebite for the advice, I'll give them a call

 

[Marie79]

Then please do us all a big favor and ask them to explain exactly why ? Not that "it makes the ear more sensitive" but exaclty what happens inside the ears if you protect them too much - and is it permanent ?

Because you are further desensitizing yourself to noise. One of them said I should be listening to music even a tiny bit louder than my comfort level to condition my H back to normal. Not anything of course dangerous for the average person. I mean I guess they are saying it's because it makes your ears more sensitive. They said H is hardly ever permanent and the treatment for it is re introduction to regular sound.

 

[Bobby B]

I think they mean you are temporary retraining your brain to accept louder noises.

Which is fine if you have brain H and no inner ear damage.

This isn't anything to do with how the inner ears may change at a physiological level.


It's not a scientific explanation like I was hoping for though . If you have a chance to meet them again ask them for a scientific explanation that goes more into details not just covers "you" as a person

Its like saying wearing sunglasses will make you more sensitive to light ...yes sure for a short while only.

But it does not change the structure of your eyes.

 

[Dave AUS]

@Pumpkinate

A friend in Australia uses this place in Adelaide for inner ear phototherapy and speaks highly of them. Looks like may be too far for you however. There are options to purchase lasers for home use phototherapy if you decide to go that route (plenty of advice on the TTalk boards regarding which choices have better odds of success).

http://www.coldlaserpainrelief.com/

Thanks @lymebite with your response to @Pumpkinate

I am from Adelaide, Australia. I have not come across this place in searches I have done. After looking at their website would the use of LLLT assist where acoustic assault is involved like pumplinate's gun firing or my single rock concert? Seems to hint at where 'non identifiable causes' are being treated by LLLT.

How did your friend get T? How long has she/he been going to this place? Improvements so far?

@Pumpkinate I feel for you. One stupid decision we both made has changed our lives for the worse. Just hang in there and hope for improvement each month. You were lucky to be offered steroids. No such luck for me with the doctors in Adelaide suggesting that and it was something I learnt through TT but too late......

Your ears should calm down somewhat in 6 months and then improvement plateaus. At least that is my experience summary.

 

[lymebite]

I am from Adelaide, Australia. I have not come across this place in searches I have done. After looking at their website would the use of LLLT assist where acoustic assault is involved like pumplinate's gun firing or my single rock concert? Seems to hint at where 'non identifiable causes' are being treated by LLLT.

How did your friend get T? How long has she/he been going to this place? Improvements so far?

@Dave AUS

I am not sure how my friend got T. He has H also. I believe the T was first, and H set in later. I believe he went to this place about 5 years ago and he improved a lot. But then he worsened again and has been going again in the last few months, and I think it has been helping him. I just messaged him and he said he would be glad to answer any questions, I will send you his contact info in a private message.

As far as the effectiveness of LLLT for acoustic assault or a single rock concert, I don't know. In general the consensus on TTalk seems to be that LLLT is most likely to be helpful for hearing loss (see especially the Dr. Wilden study) and hyperacusis (see especially the Zazzio and Otoclinica studies). For tinnitus, the consensus seems to be it can possibly help but it takes a longer term effort - say on the order of a year or more. Or course your mileage may vary better or worse.

 

[valeri]

@Pumpkinate
@Dave AUS

Laser treatment is in thousands of dollars but some of it is covered by Medicare.
I just don't have guts to try it.

 

[Pumpkinate]

Thanks everyone for your help.

Dave.... likewise, I feel for you too. It's frustrating that on some bad decisions there's no second chance.

Sadly the general population don't understand the problem tinnitus can be, most people seem to think it's a bit trivial. If I stepped on a land mine in Cambodia and blew a foot off I'd get a lot of sympathy, but the impact on my life is possibly worse with the loud tinnitus stopping my sleep.

I've decided to trial some retigabine first and see how that goes.....