My Hyperacusis Recovery Story

[windwalker]

Good advice, thank you. I have had tinnitus and hyperacusis with pain for about 11 weeks. It is very loud, and I get stabbing sensations throughout the day from ordinary sounds. It feels like there's an elephant using my eardrum as a trampoline. My memory and attention span are so compromised by these symptoms, but ever since you mentioned the bandwidth thing, I've felt a little better. It was unhealthy of me to beat myself up for not getting things done.

I look forward to more updates from you as you journey even further into wholeness.

@ECP, my apologies for the late reply! I am so glad you found it helpful friend! Best of luck with your recover and I'm truly sorry that you are struggling with noxacusis. Wishing you only the best.

 

[windwalker]

was wondering exactly what you mean regarding minor hearing loss. Do you remember which frequencies are down and by how many dB compared to the rest of your audiogram?

@Benjaminbb, to tell the truth, I cannot remember exactly where my hearing loss was on the frequency spectrum. I certainly should. If I remember correctly, it was somewhere on the higher end of the threshold between 11-15 kHz. It is only slight and occurs in both ears. So sorry to hear you have restarted your journey with hyperacusis. This certainly serves as a cold reminder that the condition (for nearly all cases) cannot be healed 100%.

 

[CRGC]

What was your trauma?

How long was your resonance prominent?

Mine isn't there all day and is better if I don't "trigger" it with medium sound.

The event that really screwed me up was a short stint at a club with bad sound while on my second dose of Pristiq, an SNRI antidepressant, last June. Pristiq has hearing loss caused as a side effect, and also gave me ridiculously intense anxiety while on it. The most knowledgeable ENT I've seen thinks that the medication probably played a role in my ear damage.

I had had warning signs of what was to come since March of this year, when I inadvertently blasted my ears with a compressed drum loop on high volume in headphones. That gave me occasional tinnitus over the course of a few weeks as well as what I later realized was initial mild hyperacusis / sound sensitivity. What I still have a hard time understanding is why I am only affected in my right ear. I've had a few head traumas over the years... that could be a possible explanation for my unilateral damage.

The resonance lasted for 2-3 months after the June onset of my current symptoms, so until September or so. Like I said, I sometimes still notice a bit of it around certain sounds, but it's nowhere near as prominent or distressing as it was then.

Good luck with your album!

 

[tniuf]

@windwalker, thanks for your story. Could you give more details regarding your tinnitus progression in these two years since 2020? How intrusive was it and how long did it take before you noticed improvement? Did some tones go away completely, and at what point in time? Did your worsening start with a worsening of tinnitus and then onset of hyperacusis or vice versa?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Shizune]

@windwalker, do you have contact information for the people you worked with? I know CBT licensing is only by state but I want to see if I can get some advice or a second opinion.

 

[Heal82]

@windwalker, can you please describe what exactly constitutes a major setback and what is a minor setback? Can you give a few examples? How can one know if it is a minor or a major setback?

 

[chinup]

This is one of the most valuable threads on Tinnitus Talk for those with pain hyperacusis and noxacusis. I am at the same degree of recovery as @windwalker, roughly 90%. I can even do music at low volumes and I play electric guitar pretty regularly. I've been able to attend loud sporting events without setbacks. I still follow basically the exact approach that windwalker laid out.

It's important to note that I had much more severe hyperacusis than @windwalker, and that my recovery from my lowest point has taken closer to 4.5 years, with 2-3 major setbacks and probably 15 minor setbacks. It's also important to note that I didn't make huge strides in my recovery until I started following the advice in his post. It is my belief that controlled desensitization exercises with rest days in between gave me better results than simply protecting all the time. YMMV, we are all different.

 

[Utdmad89]

@windwalker, I'm glad you're feeling better. But how am I supposed to do this with a 2-year-old? Am I supposed to wear earplugs 24/7?

 

[gameover]

It is my belief that controlled desensitization exercises with rest days in between gave me better results than simply protecting all the time. YMMV, we are all different.

There is a lot of evidence this is what works for many - but not all - noxacusis sufferers. I am not sure the same applies to loudness hyperacusis.

 

[chinup]

There is a lot of evidence this is what works for many - but not all - noxacusis sufferers. I am not sure the same applies to loudness hyperacusis.

I agree. Loudness hyperacusis seems to respond to more aggressive re-exposure and less protection. There seems to be way more of a support network available for loudness hyperacusis sufferers, I think most clinics that successfully treat hyperacusis are only treating loudness hyperacusis and many don't know that other types even exist. The woman working out of the University of Iowa comes to mind, can't remember her name at the moment. That's why most of the advice you encounter online is always not to overprotect. Which is very dangerous advice for noxacusis sufferers and caused me months of torture when I tried to follow it.

There also seems to be a point of noxacusis and pain hyperacusis severity that is very difficult to recover from. Where the initial recovery and protection period one needs after a setback or loudness injury can never happen because every single sound sets you back daily. I think that's where someone like @Brian Newman is. I never got to that degree of catastrophic hyperacusis, mine was just very severe.

 

[gameover]

I agree. Loudness hyperacusis seems to respond to more aggressive re-exposure and less protection. There seems to be way more of a support network available for loudness hyperacusis sufferers, I think most clinics that successfully treat hyperacusis are only treating loudness hyperacusis and many don't know that other types even exist.

All they have for treating loudness hyperacusis are noise generators. I don't know, maybe they help some people, but they aggravate me horribly with my reactive tinnitus. Cricket sounds that I sometimes play on my phone, when played via hearing aids in my ears (quietly), set me hugely back after just 1 hour.

I really do not know how to handle loudness hyperacusis further. There was a time it was really bad due to overprotecting. I stopped that, started exposing more, improved, but I reached a plateau and not really feel comfortable pushing more. I just did today, drove 20 minutes without my molded 25 dB ear plugs. I will see how it goes.