My 5-Year-Old Screamed in My Tinnitus Ear — Will the Spike Be Permanent?

[Jibran]

Hi members,

Yesterday my son and I were playing, and he accidentally screamed in my left ear which is my tinnitus ear. The scream lasted for a second or two but the intensity was loud. At that very moment I could hear a beep along with the usual hissing and static noise.

So I just panicked and went to urgent care where the doctor gave me a prednisolone shot and prescribed another 5-day course.

The question I have is that I hear a very loud combination of noises and I am scared that it might be a permanent thing. I can hear this on top of every thing else.

Can anybody with a similar experience let me know if it's permanent or will it settle down?

Thank you.

 

[Daniel Lion]

Hi, I have 3 kids and have had lots of unexpected traumas... and I am ok.

I think you will be ok too, but your freaking scared and that will ramp up things.
You did the right thing going to the hospital, and the doctor sounds amazing, giving you a shot and a course of steroids. My doctor did not do that... another story.

So yah, try and calm down, that will help things a lot.

My feeling is you will be fine, but your in shock, understandably...
Take good care, and settle down. If you're having a spike, all you can do is wait, monitor and see...
Think positive, it will help.

I do not think it's permanent and I believe it should settle down.

 

[Bill Bauer]

If I were you, for the first month I wouldn't worry about it. I would begin getting worried if fading doesn't begin after about 4-6 weeks. If there is no fading after three months, then there is a high chance of it being permanent. Right now there is no way of telling how bad it is, but there is a pretty good chance that it will be temporary. Normally it is not easy to get a permanent spike.

All you can do is wait (and make sure to not get a second injury during this vulnerable time).

 

[Redknight]

Sounds like you did the right things. I have young kids and it's hard to avoid, they are just being kids.

I would probably want to avoid any noises places for a few weeks if it was me, but don't over plug unnecessarily.

 

[linearb]

I think you'll be fine; this has happened to me a good number of times with a 2-and-3 year old and it's never caused issues that lasted (nor have I ever done anything about it other than wait; steroids predictably make me insanely anxious for 2 weeks and obliterate my sleep, outweighing any theoretical benefit, afaic).

 

[Jibran]

Thank you all for the support. I really appreciate all the suggestions.
Its the third day and the spike is still there. It is very loud and i can hear it on top of everything else. I would really appreciate if somebody can share the experience with how this should affect someone with SNHL. How are the spikes actually caused. In my case my son screamed inside my ear from no distance at all.. would it damage more nerve endings causing me to hear a louder disturbance?

 

[Bill Bauer]

In my case my son screamed inside my ear from no distance at all..

I have had a spike as a result of pressing an old landline phone to my bad ear, its volume stuck at Max, and the person on the other end raising her voice to greet me. It increased the pitch of my tinnitus (made it harder to ignore) and it made my tinnitus louder. That ended up being my longest spike - it lasted for over 3 months (but, if I remember correctly, it began fading after about a month).

 

[Jibran]

Thank you for the valuable replies. I really appreciate the support.
I wanted to share the "spike" type. It is actually a combination of sounds now, like a shrill squeak and a beep kind of sound.. or rather a mixture of squeal, crickets and birds kind of sound. It is really annoying though. Its been a week and i am still stuck.
Also does anyone know what actually happened to have caused the spike or combination of sounds? Did i damage more nerve endings or is it an imbalance in equilibrium?

 

[foam]

I don't think a kid can be loud enough to give ear damage, although I have a 4 year old daughter and she can certainly squeal loud enough to make my ear close up in protection (my good ear at least.. don't thing my tinnitus ear works in that way so well). Anyway a girl is much more dangerous to the ears than a boy. I have a boy also . Stress from being afraid of the sound might do it though

 

[Hardwell]

@Jibran, I saw you mention in another post that other members don't tend to update how their spikes ended up.

So did this one subside for you and, if so, how long did it take?