Hit in the Face While Wearing Wireless Earphones, Tinnitus Ever Since — Looking for Answers

[ColoredCat]

Hello Tinnitus Talk! I'm a 21-year-old French male that just recently got hit by some pretty severe (at least to my own standards) tinnitus. I will be adding a TL;DR at the bottom to skip out though some parts.

5-6 days ago (February 24th, 2021), I got hit in the face while wearing wireless earphones and ended up getting a constant tinnitus ever since (although I only seem to have noticed on the next day when waking up). It sounds like constant TV noise (when you are close to a CRT)/very high pitched that just plays constantly, 24/7 in only the left ear.

Since I'm not very good at writing and that I feel like it would be more readable this way, I have made a list of my symptoms and things I have noticed about my tinnitus and what happened:

• Constant tinnitus in the left ear
• Pain in the jaw joint (I think, no diagnostic done yet about that, forgot to mention it to the doctors/didn't really notice back then, makes me think it might be TMJ?)
• Some pain on the back of the head leaning towards the left side (fairly light, only seem to cause pain when
• Some pain on the left side of the head
• Some slight neck pain/stiffness, though that seems to be mostly gone
• Jaw joint feeling a bit hot/the region feels inflamed if that makes sense
• Ear feels full at times (or all the time? but it seems to change a bit here and there)
• Opening my mouth/stretching my jaw makes the sound more intense/raises it's volume and pitch too it seems
• Some change when grinding my teeth together is also heard, though very light
• Physical pain inside the ear occasionally, fairly deep? Might be linked to that feeling of ear fullness
• Earlier, when I was done showering, I noticed my left eye having some kind of blackouts happening with my heartbeats (happened once so far from what I noticed)
• Tinnitus seems to change a very very little bit with my heartbeat, however I don't know if it actually changes or if it's my brain imagining it

This is about all I can think of right now but I seem to be discovering a few new things everyday at this point and I'm becoming a bit unsure of what really happens in some cases even...

I've been to a couple of doctors and locations to get diagnosed so far:

1. On the next day of the tinnitus, around 20 hours after the hit happened, I went to the emergency services where they told me that I should be getting an EMT to look at the problem and get an audiogram (couldn't be done on location). The doctor also wanted to prescribe me corticosteroids which I refused then because I thought it interfered with my medicine. (more on that below) I had to go back home, where I have unsuccessfully tried to sleep for around 4 hours.
2. A few hours later after hearing from my mother that my medicine (Imurel, immunosuppressants) isn't incompatible, I went back at that place to get the prescription but unfortunately the service in question was closed so we had to leave
3. I went to another emergency where I've waited around 2 hours and got taken in charge by a general doctor (I was supposed to see an EMT at that moment but for some reason they changed their mind without even looking at me beforehand), it's now about 32-34 hours after the hit. They have looked at me and diagnosed that my eardrums weren't perforated at all, that there was no (apparent) damage to my external auditory canal (CAE, in french) and that there was just some damage on the outside of the external auditory canal apparently (not sure if I got that right, but I have a picture of my ear:
   
   
   
   
4. I asked them if it would be permanent and they replied that it was probably unlikely.
   They told me to go and see an ENT, which I haven't seen so far, and if I couldn't get one shortly, to come back to the emergency services the next day to get an audiogram done here.
   They also were very nice though and gave me a prescription for the corticosteroids/cortisone (60mg/day for a 7 day period) as well as enough dose to take today so I wouldn't have to go to a pharmacy! I was told to take it in the morning and it was 6am so I thought I could take it before going to bed, which I did.
5. I woke up but feeling no changes from the medicine or the rest, I went to the same emergency service as on the 3rd point above, and explained that I couldn't find any ENT that was available before a month or so... So they told me to wait, and after a WHOLE 6 hours and 30 minutes later (it now is 46 hours after the hit or so) of being told I was the next one, they finally call my name to tell me that I would have to call to set an appointment at the same place instead of going though the emergency service, while I was told to do that the day before... I began looking for an EMT that would be available very soon and apparently one just got a free slot appearing so I took it for the next morning.
6. Rushed to yet another hospital to get an emergency ENT if possible and while I ended up getting one, they couldn't do the audiogram scan that late. The woman that took me in charge examined me and said that my eardrums were apparently perfectly fine and even said "maybe too clean/fine" (which might make sense since I used to wash my ears every day) and did a test with a diapason. She also changed my dose from 60mg/day to 70. Unable to do the audiogram though, I've decided to put my hopes on the next appointment that I managed to grab.
7. Managed to go to that ENT (it's now been over 3 days since the hit) and it turns out he cannot do the audiogram because that appointment is only supposed to last 15 minutes and that wouldn't be enough. He did the Diapason test too but also tried something (I don't know the name of the operation) where he would put earphones in my ears one at a time and it would build graphs. He said that my hearing was apparently good/very good and he didn't really mention any problem on that, however I noticed that the graph was a little odd (and, of course, I didn't think of asking since I was mind-blowingly tired at that point) and it kind of looked like this:
   
   
   
   I wonder what the weird downfall on one of the graphs could mean (though I didn't really get a good look). Anyway, I asked if it might be permanent and he said something like: "No, I don't think there should be any reason to, so I think it's unlikely"

So far it kind of sounded like the various doctors/ENTs were thinking that it was likely not gonna be permanent. It would be good news but unfortunately, so far it doesn't seem to have improved at all despite the medicine.

TL;DR:

• I got hit on the face while wearing wireless earphones.
• It has been 4 days that I have been taking the medicine/corticosteroids (one day 60mg and 3 days 70mg) and so far there has been no improvement (and see symptoms above).
• Eardrum isn't perforated and seems "perfectly good/clean" and ear canal seems good too, except for that hit as can be seen in the photo linked above and attached below. Could that hit cause tinnitus on its own?
• Jaw hurts and seems like ones of the potential reasons for the tinnitus at this point (though maybe not the only one?) since opening it wide makes the sound/pitch go higher.
• The sound doesn't seem like it lowered the slightest but sometimes it feels louder/lower but I can't even be sure and I keep asking myself: "was it like that before?" and I can't even remember. Still feels pretty constant though...

More (important) details and questions:

1. I'm currently taking Imurel (immunosuppressants, 50mg/day), and some folic acid supplements for the Crohn's disease.
2. I used to have tinnitus sometimes (around once every week or two) where I would hear that high pitched sound and even have my eyes blackout, but that would never last more than a few seconds at worse and was so rare it was very bearable.
3. Can I still/should I still wash my ears everyday? I use to put cold or warm water (not hot, just whatever I was showering with) in my ears every day but I'm not sure if that's good, especially now.
4. Should I avoid some kinds of food or follow a regime to help recover?
5. Should I be worried that the cortisone/medicine still doesn't seem to be doing anything after 4 days? How fast does it usually take effect?
6. Can the sound actually damage my ears permanently just from being there? Would it help to play some background noise or make things worse for a recovery?
7. Can and should I put cold on my ear/face to help the jaw or the ear itself? I was thinking it might hurt the ear but it could also help? What should I do?

And most importantly, does anyone have a somewhat similar experience/stories to share?
I would like to know what you think regarding whether I should recover from that or if I am effectively stuck with it for life?

Thank you for reading and I wish everyone the best for their ears, no one should have to go though this.

I also apologize for the writing, I'm very exhausted and mentally drained by all of this.

 

[ColoredCat]

Here I am with an update post that recaps things better and updates with the new symptoms I was able to notice.

On the 24th of February (it has now been 10 days), I got assaulted and hit multiple times by my brother.

I got a hit on the head while wearing earphones and he also put me on the ground, holding my neck and punching me.

When I woke up the next day, I kept hearing a very high-pitched sound in my left ear (around 16 kHz) that seems very constant. I've been given corticosteroids around 30 hours after it happened and got my ear checked out, there is no damage to the ear canal and my eardrum is fine apparently, and an audiogram test has shown no hearing loss at least up to the 8 kHz frequency.

On top of the tinnitus, I also had great pain in the shoulder and neck/jaw, however I didn't really think much of it since I didn't think it could be linked and that these would just go away with time.

So here I am now with my tinnitus still going, it's there constantly, all the time and over everything. I took Prednisone/Solupred for 7 days as I was instructed to and it didn't seem to help at all. My doctor now gave me Betahistine but that doesn't seem to help either unfortunately (on the 4th day and still got a month left).

I got jaw pain ever since (went to see a dentist which told me I might have a small fracture/fissure on the jaw joint looking at a panoramic radiograph, and I was told it should heal within 3 weeks or so) and my jaw clicks when I open it fully (though it did that before). The dentist said it might be the cause of the tinnitus but it's uncertain. I've also had that shoulder pain though that is almost gone at this point and some neck pain (it feels a bit stiff, especially the sternocleidomastoid, probably because my neck was held and I was put on the ground) which apparently might be another thing that causes tinnitus.

I've tried a few exercises for TMJ pain and relief however it didn't seem to help at all. Opening my jaw completely causes the sound to intensify quite a bit and biting/moving my eyes modulates the sound just a bit. The ear in question also feels a bit full and hurts inside. I also feel like it might be changing a little bit with my heartbeats but it seems very very slight so I think this may be out.

I wasn't able to find any success stories or even similar cases (after an assault/getting hit) so I'm not sure whether to be hopeful or not. A few ENTs told me that it shouldn't be permanent and that it'll go away (I didn't tell them about neck/jaw pain then because I didn't think it was related and just that I got hit) but i'm having issues believing that.

So what do you guys think it could come from?

Any tests/exams I should be doing? I plan on asking for an MRI/CT scan in a few days when I see another ENT, would the MRI allow us to see if something is pressuring the ear?

Could it turn permanent even after curing the jaw/neck problems and if so, what would be the cause and would it be possible to diagnostic where it comes from to begin with?

Since it's probably not the hair cells damaged, I wonder what else could cause the sound and how to figure it out.

 

[Anniz]

I hope someone smarter than me could answer your post, but to me it sounds like you got Post Traumatic Tinnitus (concussion, mild brain damage, TBI), which is caused by a physical injury to the head or neck.

There is a chance it's still temporary as your jaw is healing, but equal chance is that it won't because the nerve endings in the ear area are so delicate.

Either way I do believe, and please don't quote on me, that it will go down in volume at least.

Tinnitus generally can go down even after a few months, and can still be classified as temporary. It's always unique to each person. I would probably just listen to the doctor's advice.

I also got tinnitus 10 days ago, but from music listening.

Don't lose hope, because body and mind work together (in my opinion at least.)

 

[ColoredCat]

I hope someone smarter than me could answer your post, but to me it sounds like you got Post Traumatic Tinnitus (concussion, mild brain damage, TBI), which is caused by a physical injury to the head or neck.

There is a chance it's still temporary as your jaw is healing, but equal chance is that it won't because the nerve endings in the ear area are so delicate.

Thank you. Do you (or anyone else) know what kind of scan could detect potential damage to these nerves?

I'm hoping to do whatever possible to rule out potential damage like this.

I also got tinnitus 10 days ago, but from music listening.

Don't lose hope, because body and mind work together (in my opinion at least.)

I wish you good luck with that as well, I honestly wish no one would have to go through this.