Hyperacusis After Tinnitus for Almost a Month

[Will_brew]

So, a bit of a long story;

At the start of this month, I returned from a ski trip to Colorado. I live in DC, so there was a significant change in altitude from about 0 to 12,000ft at times. We stayed at 10,000 feet for 3 nights, and I had severe anxiety while I was there that mimicked symptoms of altitude sickness, which of course made it worse.

I returned home hoping that my anxiety would diminish when I returned. The flight home was really bad, the landing worse than any I've ever experienced. I unfortunately continued to have a lot of anxiety and stress the next few days. I then came across a comment on YouTube mentioning that someone suffers from anxiety and tinnitus... so I listened for it and found what I was dreading; there was a ringing in my ear.

The next week was hell. Hardly any sleep and in a constant state of fear. I decided to take every action I knew that would get me out of an anxious spell (things that have worked for me when I was anxious in the past). I quit alcohol and caffeine. I started yoga and meditation every day. I began a bedtime routine - no screens an hour before bed and preparing sleepytime tea. I started to see a therapist. I also scheduled an appointment with my doctor to see if the tinnitus was barotrauma related.

The doctor said they didn't see anything wrong with my ears and didn't see any point in seeing an ENT.

Since then I've been learning to cope with tinnitus, and I've reduced my anxiety and stress quite a bit. Unfortunately my ears became really sensitive and I'm not sure why. I was listening to some tinnitus sound therapy videos on YouTube that I suspect may be the cause as they fired off really high pitched noise in to my ears. It gave me temporary relief, but nothing permanent.

I then scheduled an appointment with an ENT. Unfortunately, given the state of the world, I had to do a telehealth meeting. The doctor seemed to believe the issue was with my eustachian tube given what I had mentioned about my trip to Colorado. He prescribed Mucinex and Flonase, which I have been taking for a day now and has not seemed to do much for me yet.

I know this is a ton of information, but I don't know what to think about the cause of the tinnitus and whether I am going about treating it correctly. I'm getting really discouraged when things get worse because I'm doing everything I can to help. My biggest question is; has my tinnitus likely been caused by barotrauma and hyperacusis come around because I waited to treat it? Or is this likely anxiety related and I'm making things worse by worrying about it?

I really appreciate anyone who's read this far. Thanks so much for your help and support.

 

[Capstan]

I used YouTube for tinnitus relief and my ears worsened too. I stopped but the damage is done. I now have hyperacusis and praying it'll settle down. There was no treatment I found at the ENT for this stuff because there's really not much anyone can do. I recommend to just accept it, you could aggravate it more.

 

[Zugzug]

Unfortunately, the biggest factors are time, patience, and luck. Avoid loud noises for a while and consider trying some supplements. There are no supplements that are proven to help, but some people have success with certain ones. Don't be surprised if none of them help though.

The ones I've had at least some success with: Curcumin, CBD, Fish oil. But mine was caused by a systemic illness so these may not work for you.

 

[Juan]

I then came across a comment on YouTube mentioning that someone suffers from anxiety and tinnitus... so I listened for it and found what I was dreading; there was a ringing in my ear.

That's a really strange way to notice tinnitus or hearing problems, since they are pretty obvious by themselves.

 

[Orions Pain]

Hello. My tinnitus and hyperacusis began in a slightly similar way. I had extreme pain, like knives sticking in my ears when flying with a terrible cold upon landing, some issues with muffled hearing for about an hour after my flight landed but it went away.

A few weeks later both tinnitus and hyperacusis set in. I immediately saw an ENT, and like you, he didn't see anything wrong other than some minor irritation in my left nostril (I was probably 1 week out from recovering from that cold). He also told me to use Flonase.

It seems like a common thing for ENT's to advise using Flonase, literally every other person I've seen post their ENT encounter stories has the same experience.

Do you have a history of noise exposure? Concerts, using headphones often for gaming/music, loud bars/clubs? For the longest time I attributed my issues to barotrauma but when taking a good look at my past I think noise was what actually caused it.

Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done for tinnitus other than being careful, waiting it out and hoping it goes away. Flonase seemed to give me even more weird tones when I used it.

What kind of hyperacusis symptoms do you have? There are different types of hyperacusis. If your ears just feel overly sensitive to sound (no pain) but everything just sounds louder, then it could just be anxiety linked, I would suggest reading about "central gain" and how it's related to tinnitus and hyperacusis. This type of hyperacusis seems to go down with time.

I hope things improve for you and let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Will_brew]

I appreciate everyone's response. Sorry for not responding earlier, I was seen by a general doc and prescribed prednisone and hoped it would fix my issues for fluid he saw in my ears. But here I am posting anyway!

My hyperacusis seems to be diminishing luckily. I've been doing some pink noise therapy and reducing stress in general which seems to be helping. The ringing is still there but subsides sometimes. I'm sure over time I will adapt; I seem to forget about it in the day for hours at a time but at night it's always fairly loud.

I still haven't actually seen an ENT which sucks. My ears feel full and hurt sometimes.. I feel it would be really good to at least check in with someone.

The weird thing is sometimes it goes away. Like completely, even if for just a few seconds. Even plugging my ears, I can't hear anything. Hopefully this is a sign that I'm healing and will see more progress in the future.

 

[Will_brew]

That's a really strange way to notice tinnitus or hearing problems, since they are pretty obvious by themselves.

I know, but it's definitely the way I first noticed it..