I'm 35 years old and have been in construction most of my life. Loud sound comes with the territory, and my ears were the one faculty I regret neglecting the most. On March 27th 2017 a few shots from a 22 gauge Ramset fastener in tight quarters caused Tinnitus in my left ear. Ironically, I was listening to music through an earbud in my right ear which is probably what saved it, but also why I didn't notice how loud the shots fired were until it was too late. I didn't hear ringing right away, just a fullness in my ear the rest of the day. I used to wear earplugs to sleep because I'm a light sleeper and my wife snores from sleep apnea. When I woke up the next morning I jump out of bed and when I pulled out my earplugs too fast and felt a pressure pop in my already damaged ear, that's when the high pitched ringing immediately began in my left ear.
2 months later after changing my eating habits, plenty of excersise, and a bunch of different vitamins the T seems to be getting better but is definitely still there. It has lowered significantly in volume and constantly changes in tone. There's actually more than one sound now, the original ringing which fluctuates in tone and volume. A soft buzzing sound in both ears that comes and goes. And a soft whistling sound in my left ear. There's also lots of popping sounds too when I yawn or bend down and sometimes I hear weirder sounds when I have my earplugs in at work. Like water trickling or chiming. I don't know if any of this is a good sign? Maybe it's healing very slowly? I have occasional ear aches too. And massaging my jaw and neck muscles seems to help lower it temporarily.
Clenching my jaw and turning my neck all the way to the right causes another high pitched ring but it goes away as soon as I release the tension.
I hope that it's still early enough to heal on its own. I wear earplugs all the time now at work, even when driving cause my truck is pretty noisy on the highway. I keep the volume very low on everything. Sleep is till broken but at least I can sleep now, I didn't sleep for 3 days straight when the doc put me on steroids after the first week. And some mornings I wake up with no ringing, just a soft buzzing sound. Untill I'm around noise for a while then the ringing starts up again. Laying down seems to change or increase the sounds as well for some reason. Sleeping directly on my left side seems to ease the ringing with my ear in the pillow, but laying on my back or my right seems to do the opposite.
I saw my GP and he said there's nothing they can do and only time would tell if it clears up on its own or not. He also has had Tinnitus for years from a benign tumor in his cochlea.
My wife is trying to get me in with an ENT, but I'm not sure if they can even do anything for me at this point?
It's been an emotional rollercoaster but I'm slowly adjusting and my wife, kids, family, and co-workers are very supportive. I'm take it one day at a time and I get better adjusted every day.
Does anyone have any positive advice or input based on their experience?
I pray for everyone with this condition and I hope we can all be healed one day...
2 months later after changing my eating habits, plenty of excersise, and a bunch of different vitamins the T seems to be getting better but is definitely still there. It has lowered significantly in volume and constantly changes in tone. There's actually more than one sound now, the original ringing which fluctuates in tone and volume. A soft buzzing sound in both ears that comes and goes. And a soft whistling sound in my left ear. There's also lots of popping sounds too when I yawn or bend down and sometimes I hear weirder sounds when I have my earplugs in at work. Like water trickling or chiming. I don't know if any of this is a good sign? Maybe it's healing very slowly? I have occasional ear aches too. And massaging my jaw and neck muscles seems to help lower it temporarily.
Clenching my jaw and turning my neck all the way to the right causes another high pitched ring but it goes away as soon as I release the tension.
I hope that it's still early enough to heal on its own. I wear earplugs all the time now at work, even when driving cause my truck is pretty noisy on the highway. I keep the volume very low on everything. Sleep is till broken but at least I can sleep now, I didn't sleep for 3 days straight when the doc put me on steroids after the first week. And some mornings I wake up with no ringing, just a soft buzzing sound. Untill I'm around noise for a while then the ringing starts up again. Laying down seems to change or increase the sounds as well for some reason. Sleeping directly on my left side seems to ease the ringing with my ear in the pillow, but laying on my back or my right seems to do the opposite.
I saw my GP and he said there's nothing they can do and only time would tell if it clears up on its own or not. He also has had Tinnitus for years from a benign tumor in his cochlea.
My wife is trying to get me in with an ENT, but I'm not sure if they can even do anything for me at this point?
It's been an emotional rollercoaster but I'm slowly adjusting and my wife, kids, family, and co-workers are very supportive. I'm take it one day at a time and I get better adjusted every day.
Does anyone have any positive advice or input based on their experience?
I pray for everyone with this condition and I hope we can all be healed one day...
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