I Could Kick Myself for Not Stopping My Loud Dental Procedure

So I've been taking Prednisone for about two weeks. Half of a tablet today and tomorrow and I'll be done. But now my ears are starting to burn again. o_O I wonder if the Prednisone maybe just slowed down some natural process that is now resuming because the steroid level is going down? And if so, what is that process? What is happening in my ears??? :dunno:
 
I heard a slow police siren in the distance. One similar to this on YouTube. When the siren went into the highest pitch the sound just disappeared. Couldn't hear it. Then as it descended I could hear it again. I've never experienced that before.
 
Part of what's strange and frustrating about this experience is that I know something catastrophic happened to my hearing. I'm not imagining or exaggerating it. I know with certainty, without any doubt whatsoever, I've experienced catastrophic damage to my hearing. I know it because I know what I experienced as it was happening and because of the changes in my hearing. But it's invisible. I can't show it. I can't prove it. And because the damage is invisible and because no one's heard of anyone's hearing ever being damaged the way mine was, I think most people, including the two doctors I've seen, either don't believe me or think I'm exaggerating. It's really frustrating. If I'd been in a car accident and been obviously banged up believability wouldn't be an issue. I just needed to vent.
 
But now my ears are starting to burn again.

About 6 months tinnitus onset, my ears slowly began to burn. Wouldn't notice it in the mornings, but would start slowly and progress throughout the day. It got worse as the months went by. Then had a single acupuncture session, and the burning immediately improved by 90%+. -- I rarely notice any burning sensation these days.
 
I am starting to feel an overwhelming depression. My hearing is so different now. I tried watching a TV news program this morning while sitting at the kitchen table. Just the hum of a nearby stand-alone freezer in an adjacent utility room was enough to interfere with my being able to clearly understand what they were saying on TV.
 
About 6 months tinnitus onset, my ears slowly began to burn. Wouldn't notice it in the mornings, but would start slowly and progress throughout the day. It got worse as the months went by. Then had a single acupuncture session, and the burning immediately improved by 90%+. -- I rarely notice any burning sensation these days.
Hi Lane,

What points specifically did you receive acupuncture in, if you can remember, please describe generally. Thanks.
 
I'm scheduled for a follow-up with the ENT. As for no one on this forum being able to help me other and advising to let my ears heal as much as possible, that's not entirely true. Just having understanding people to talk to and respond helps, mentally.

I discovered yet something new this evening. I'm having difficulty understanding what some people on TV are saying. I turned on the TV in the middle of a British murder mystery series show. I couldn't understand half of what they were saying because the speech sounded so muffled. I've watched that show before and never had that problem.
that's muffled hearing caused by damage to cochlear nerves and sensory hair cells.

You have noticable hearing loss. This is mostly irreversible. The best thing to do is get a hearing aid and donate to hearing loss regeneration research so one day scientist can treat this condition.
 
that's muffled hearing caused by damage to cochlear nerves and sensory hair cells.

You have noticable hearing loss. This is mostly irreversible.

I know. :( All this damage in the space of ten minutes or so in a dentist chair. I still can't believe it happened. I could hear clearly before that.
 
Part of what's strange and frustrating about this experience is that I know something catastrophic happened to my hearing. I'm not imagining or exaggerating it. I know with certainty, without any doubt whatsoever, I've experienced catastrophic damage to my hearing. I know it because I know what I experienced as it was happening and because of the changes in my hearing. But it's invisible. I can't show it. I can't prove it. And because the damage is invisible and because no one's heard of anyone's hearing ever being damaged the way mine was, I think most people, including the two doctors I've seen, either don't believe me or think I'm exaggerating. It's really frustrating. If I'd been in a car accident and been obviously banged up believability wouldn't be an issue. I just needed to vent.
This is shocking. I am so sorry that you are struggling so much...
 
Bill, thank you for your words encouragement. Based in my understanding of tinnitus from acoustic trauma, it's just hard for me to believe that this isn't permanent. I hope you are right.
 
A big thank you to Luman with whom I had the good fortune to meet in chat. He told me about CBT for tinnitus distress and this video about it. I highly recommend it. The tinnitus distress Dr. Hubbard describes is exactly what I've been experiencing. Every symptom. I need to find a mental health professional to talk with because this is all driving me insane.
 
@CHIM I would also consider some magnesium to help you sleep, your hearing and your neck.
I mention neck because your ears are burning. Consider off and on warm compress therapy on the sides of your neck and this might lower your increased sound over the next week.
 
@CHIM I would also consider some magnesium to help you sleep, your hearing and your neck.
I mention neck because your ears are burning. Consider off and on warm compress therapy on the sides of your neck and this might lower your increased sound over the next week.
Thank you. I'll look into it.
 
I've experienced this first hand... My tinnitus/hyperacusis/hearing loss started the day after a loud microsuction procedure by an ENT. Try going to see another ENT to get help and mention what caused it...
What are they going to do regenerate the hair cells?

You should all sue for mal-practice/noise injury. It's a real thing.
 
You should all sue for mal-practice/noise injury. It's a real thing.

In an ideal world I could do that and win, but I'd have to prove my hearing loss is the result of what the dentist did. I can't prove it. The damage is invisible, and I don't have a "before" hearing test to compare with the hearing test I had afterwards. Also, suing won't bring back my hearing.
 
I am so f'ing angry. That damn dentist f'd up my life. I'm having difficulties at work now because I can't hear clearly on the phone. I had a call today where I had to keep asking the client to repeat what she was saying. "Say again?" "Repeat that please?" I don't even f'ing try to listen to music anymore. I have the number one, top of the chart high pitch squeal blasting 24/7. I hope something horrible happens to the dentist because he deserves it.
 
What are they going to do regenerate the hair cells?

You should all sue for mal-practice/noise injury. It's a real thing.
I'm in the same boat as @CMIH... In fact I could have written the same reply except mine was caused by an ENT and not a dentist. Proving there's medical negligence is difficult and very expensive. Doctors/Dentists have the upper hand. It's not right, it's disgraceful and unfair what negligent medical professionals get away with but they do. They ruin peoples lives and get away with it... Injustice of the highest degree.
 
I'm in the same boat as @CMIH... In fact I could have written the same reply except mine was caused by an ENT and not a dentist. Proving there's medical negligence is difficult and very expensive. Doctors/Dentists have the upper hand. It's not right, it's disgraceful and unfair what negligent medical professionals get away with but they do. They ruin peoples lives and get away with it... Injustice of the highest degree.
I'm more optimistic then you are, if you can prove something objectively it shouldn't matter how much money or lawyers someone has.
 
I'm more optimistic then you are, if you can prove something objectively it shouldn't matter how much money or lawyers someone has.
As @CMIH said the damage is invisible, tinnitus/hyperacusis are subjective and if you don't have a hearing test just prior to the procedure that caused the damage well its going to be very difficult to prove.
 
As @CMIH said the damage is invisible, tinnitus/hyperacusis are subjective and if you don't have a hearing test just prior to the procedure that caused the damage well its going to be very difficult to prove.

It might be worth it however to speak with a lawyer. They would likely have a good idea of whether a case like this would have any merit under our legal system. My best guess is that it would. It would be a circumstantial case, but circumstantial cases can be very compelling if presented by a good attorney.

I'm in a somewhat similar situation, and have been contemplating whether to puruse some kind of settlement myself. One thing that holds me back is that I haven't totally forgiven "them" for what happened, and don't feel I should proceed on any legal front until I've reached some kind of peaceful resolution within myself beforehand.
 
...if you can prove something objectively...

That's the crux of the problem. How would I prove it? I did not have a hearing test immediately before going to the dentist office. I did not have her hearing test immediately after leaving the dentist office. The dentist could say I already had the hearing damage before I came to his office or the damage occurred sometime after I left his office. It's totally unprovable. And to top matters off, the damage is invisible (unless they do an autopsy someday and examine my cochlea under a microscope). It's not like I had two arms when I went to his office and only arm when I left and everyone could see.
 
One thing that holds me back is that I haven't totally forgiven "them" for what happened, and don't feel I should proceed on any legal front until I've reached some kind of peaceful resolution within myself beforehand.
I don't understand why that matters. How you feel about it is irrelevant to the legal aspects. Either you have a case or you don't. Why does it matter whether you have inner peace about it? Please explain. I'm missing something.
 
@CMIH Dental procedures are usually loud, but it sounds like your dentist was particularly careless when it came to choosing the drill to be used for your procedure. If you ever need to have a dental procedure (that involves drilling) what will you be looking for to determine that it is a good idea to stop the procedure? I am thinking about me (and others here) having to have those procedures done. It would be good to know if there is something that should cause people like us to know that it is a good idea to abort the procedure... In other words, it is difficult to know whether something is "loud". Perhaps there is some internal symptom that we should be on the lookout for?
 
@CMIH Dental procedures are usually loud, but it sounds like your dentist was particularly careless when it came to choosing the drill to be used for your procedure. If you ever need to have a dental procedure (that involves drilling) what will you be looking for to determine that it is a good idea to stop the procedure? I am thinking about me (and others here) having to have those procedures done. It would be good to know if there is something that should cause people like us to know that it is a good idea to abort the procedure... In other words, it is difficult to know whether something is "loud". Perhaps there is some internal symptom that we should be on the lookout for?

Easy answer. If it's painfully, unbearably loud, stop. The thing is that it wasn't the sound I was heard through the air. The noise was inside my head. It was from vibrations from the drill to the tooth and then through my skull to my ears. It wasn't normal sound you hear through the air like listening to music or hearing a passing siren or a jackhammer. This was direct vibration to my ears from the inside.
 
I don't understand why that matters. How you feel about it is irrelevant to the legal aspects. Either you have a case or you don't. Why does it matter whether you have inner peace about it? Please explain. I'm missing something.

Hi @CMIH -- The beginning of my experience with severe tinnitus (and much more), began with taking a single dose of a medication given to me at the ER, causing severe brain and neurological trauma. The extreme physical assault on my system, accompanied by the indifference from those who caused it filled me with a rage I'd never before experienced.

Whenever I began to think about taking legal action against them, and creating a compilation of all the things that I felt they were negligent on, I noticed it felt like pouring jet fuel on my already unprecendented internal rage. I soon realized that I had a huge choice to make: Either learn to let go of this in a major way, or let it literally consume me, perhaps even for the rest of my days.

I felt if I did the latter, it would not only literally destroy my life, but would greatly affect those around me as well in a very negative way. I look at anger (and especially rage) as being almost infectious. And I realized that if those around me became affected by my extreme anger and resentments, those effects would then come back and rebound to me. -- BTW, politicians seem to know about the infectious nature of anger as well, and often use it to rile up their constituents to foster a ridiculous kind of allegiance from them.

Now--a year later--I'm again looking at whether to puruse legal action against those responsible for giving me such an unnecessary and dangerous medication. At this time however, whenever I begin to think about it, it doesn't fill me with the anger and rage I felt a year ago. So it feels far safer for myself (and my wife) to seriously consider it at this time.

However, I've changed my perspective on what I'd hope to accomplish. At first, I thought mostly in terms of getting some kind of financial settlement. But I believe the odds would be against me on that. What is more likely to be gained is forcing them to look at their culpability, and force them to change their policies on how they treat other patients going forward. And if I could do that, then the effort might be worth it.

If you're interested in some indpeth perspectives on my own situation, I made a couple of somewhat lengthy posts about my story at the following links (below). The first link especially will take you to a discussion on forgiveness you might find interesting. -- Let me know if you have any other questions.

Just to mention, you have my greatest sympathies. It appears your experience has also led to significant brain and neurological trauma, and I feel I can understand much of what you're experiencing, including the rage and anger. Which is why I've been following this thread on your ongoing ordeal. It took me at least a year to mostly let go of mine, even after I resolved it was so important for me to do so. -- I feel this process of letting go of my intense emotions has also contributed to my severe tinnitus feeling somewhat less intrusive.

Coming to the realization I had to let go of my all-consuming anger and rage was a turning point for me, and today feel so grateful I chose that path instead of choosing one of immediately trying to tap into our legal system for a recourse. I was in such a fragile (and almost erratic) state at the time, that I truly think it would have done me in had I done so. -- But that's just the course I took based on my own circumstances. Everybody will have to make their own choices based on their own circumstances. But I do think entering into any kind of legal arbitration is best done when we're not being overly affected by our own emotions.

Take care, and all the best to you!


How Do You Find Forgiveness When Your Tinnitus Was Caused by Another Person/Source?

From Active Sufferance to Passive Sufferance

P.S. You also might want to check out @Greg Sacramento's story. He suffered even (much) greater damage from a single dental visit than what either you or I experienced. And he seems to have maintained a sense of equanimity (and grace) in spite of it all.
 
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@Lane

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and for sharing your experience. Also I appreciate the words of sympathy.

Regarding legal action, where I live there are time limits on filing a lawsuit against someone. There are different time limits for different things. If you wait beyond that limit, it's too late. Are there such limits where you live? If so, are you still within the timeframe where you can file a lawsuit?

I wasn't thinking about filing a lawsuit - until today because I'm having serious difficulty hearing people clearly on the phone, and interviewing people on the phone is integral part of my job. I'm even having difficulty hearing people sitting directly across the desk from me! I saw my ENT doctor today and she said I might need a hearing aid now. So this is starting to have very real negative consequences for me. As has been discussed earlier in this thread, it's probably impossible to prove what that dentist did to me, but I'm going to talk to an attorney anyway. But I'm going to wait another month. That's when I'll have another hearing test. To be honest, the objective, logical person in me knows the chances of recovery are very remote, but the doctor said it was possible.

As for forgiveness, I understand your point of view. That was the right choice for you at that time for your well-being. For me, forgiveness is not on the radar yet. Every time I notice my hearing loss like when I'm having a frustrating experience on the phone it is maddening. I just want to destroy something. So I'm glad forgiveness worked for you, but it remains to be seen if that's in my future.
 

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