The King, lol I like that
Well here's to hoping David, I have organised a full audio assessment for the 6th of February and another in May consisting of 0-16000hz audiograms etc to compare my results with along with my own subjective improvements if any which of course I will share here for all to see.
I don't know what to expect if anything but I can't sit back and accept this stupid fate that was thrown upon me, no matter how hard I tried to protect my ears a wildcard always slipped through and stung me when I least expected it, see below for my history.
2011 -T onset resulted from my father hitting a block of ice in his jeep as we returned home from Christmas dinner, the bang was loud and happened directly underneath me, I developed a fullness in my left ear and T set in a week later.Numerous visits to hospital resulted in nothing and because I had no hearing loss it was diagnosed as idiopathic, a diagnosis I always had a problem with.T eventually disappeared on its own 12 months later by simply protecting my ears from loud noises and lots of rest, I recommend this to anyone who suddenly comes down with T from noise, time and patience are the best healer in my experience.
2012-15 months after my initial onset I attend a gig with friends for the first time, good quality
earplugs are worn and caution is my priority.Dancefloor is avoided along with speakers etc.Earplugs had a string on it and were pulled from my ears without me realising it at the end of the night,maybe I was a tad merry but I honestly never realised they were gone.1/5 hours pass by before I realise my error, I leave immediately upon realising my earplugs were gone.Venue was loud and in retrospect I should have never gone, was only there as support for a close friend doing his first set.
Following morning and a new T had arrived, a loud tonal T running through my entire head along with a hissing and thus I was back to square one all over again.Hearing tests confirmed no hearing loss and visits to specialists were pointless, so I began to do what I done last time and that was hearing protected at appropriate times with loud places strictly off limits, lots of rest and keeping busy.12 months later and my T was gone again with the exception of a slight hiss that was barely audible and not a problem, 0.5/10 at best.I continued to put my ears first no matter what, I did live a normal life but with limits that shouldn't be exceeded.
2014-21 months after the gig and my T was a stable 0.5/10 hiss, in December I attended my grandfathers funeral and had to carry his coffin to his final resting place, as I held the coffin a bag pipe player arrived unknownst to me and began playing a salute.I was completely exposed to the bagpipes for 20 minutes, I had no earplugs in and couldn't properly cover my ears as my arms are holding up the coffin!It was insanely uncomfortable, most people were even cringing listening to it, it didn't cause damage but I believe it was the instigator, it weakened my ears for what was to come.The next day was my best mates birthday so I decided to call over to wish him well, it was in a pub but as I sat there chatting to him a DJ began blasting music insanely loud a few feet away from me.I became anxious and of course my mate knowing I had T asked the DJ to turn down the music so I wouldn't leave, he did.I stayed a little longer but eventually I decided to leave, upon returning home my ears felt raw and fatigued.I rested for a few days and then had to attend my work Christmas party in a restaurant.We ate dinner, laughed and halfway during the night a band arrived and began playing music(my luck)and I became more and more anxious the louder they got.I eventually had to excuse myself as fear of making things worse overcame me, I didn't bring earplugs as I wasn't expecting a marching band to arrive in a quiet restaurant and begin blasting our eardrums!
When I got home I experienced ear pain for the first time along with a fullness in both my ears.I took it easy for the next few days but my ears still felt blocked and stuffy, a visit to my GP confirmed my ears were blocked with wax(most likely from all the earplug usage when using tools and when in noisier environments)
I booked an appointment with my ENT, he suctioned my ears(don't ever do this)which didn't appear loud at the time and sent me on my way.On the drive home I noticed that my hearing was clearer and the blocked feeling was completely gone but my hearing was distorted, that my voice sounded robotic?When I got home I noticed my T was much louder in my right ear, the hiss was blaring much more intrusively than before and of course the panic set in.I rushed to my G.P and begged for steroids, I was refused as"no hearing loss"was present and told to go home and wait it out as nothing could be done.
Sickened I returned home and began resting my ears and taking various supplements coupled with good excercise in an attempt to promote healing.Two weeks had passed and my T had began dropping again,slowly but surely it was getting better and better and I felt relieved.
Then one morning before work I watched some YouTube videos on T research etc when the video I was watching ended and began loading another video automatically, suddenly two high pitched noises bursts from my tv and hit me like a tonne of bricks.
This resulted in severe H and loud as hell T and me nearly jumping off a bridge as a result, my luck just couldn't get any worse.So began the whole running around to various specialists for no real apparent reason, they can do literally zero to help apart from hearing tests and pats on the shoulder so why even bother.
And so began me starting all over again, beginning the whole healing process and habituation cycle yet again!Amazing what can happen in as little as two weeks, go from pure heavenly happiness to the darkest hell!
I found an audiologist experienced in H and thus began my sound therapy and desensitisation process.
-2016 23 months after the incident and I was long back to enjoying my life again, rest, protection and sound therapy had basically cured me of H, I was at least 95% back to my old self but had to make changes to accomodate my experience with H and how devastating it is, I never wanted to experience it again and I was never going to let what happened to me happen ever again, I made it my life to protect my ears.
And then, just as my luck would have it a noise shock would catch me completely off guard, just as I awoke from a deep sleep in fact.
I awoke and began stretching my arms out ready for the busy day at work that layed ahead of me, I rolled over to catch a few sneaky extra minutes in bed when my girlfriend walked in to say farewell as she headed off to work herself.Half asleep I said goodbye when she leant down to give me a kiss on the cheek, it happened directly next to my ear and stabbed it with horrible pain, I jumped up out of the bed in an absolute panic and grabbed my ear, I ran into the kitchen and swallowed all my vitamins and waited to see what would come, I didn't know what to expect.My girlfriend was extremely upset, she knew about my ears and couldn't believe she had done this to me but of course I tried to play it off in order to stop her feeling so quilty, it was an accident and they happen.
I went to work and my left ear just went completely full along with a stinging burning pain over my head, when I got home I realised my hearing was a tad muffled and the rain on my skylight Windows sounded like metal pellets hitting glass.My low T was still the same, it hasn't changed from the incident.I remember that night well, it was the same night Paris was bombed and I remember being in shock seeing it all happen on the news, the day, Friday the 13th.
I went to my GP the following day and he removed a big ball of wax that was pressing against my eardrum, I was then sent for hearing tests that all came back completely normal, it was diagnosed as a muscle contraction from a sudden unexpected noise which was common with H although I had never experienced prior to this.I was told to take it easy and that the ear would return to normal given a few days so that's what I did, and thankfully the fullness subsided a few days later and I began slowly getting on with life, but the stinging pain had remained.
The pain got worse, then better then worse again over the next month and a half and I became more and more concerned that damage had occurred or was occurring as I wasn't resting my ears enough(Christmas time, shopping so extremely busy and in louder environments like busy shopping malls etc)but was assured this wasn't the case, that it was only a setback which is a common H term also something I had never experienced before.In January the pain had become severe and you can actually see when this was because that's when I made a post here asking for advice on what was going on.Only a few days later my left ear went completely full again and my T and H got worse overnight, I was delirious with pain and quickly realised that damage or strain had occurred from that kiss a month prior, that something bad had happened as these environments were never a problem for me before, I had never experienced pain from sound before and now I could hardly tolerate the sound of a sweeping brush!
I fell into a DEEP depression, I couldn't believe that this had happened, that my ear had been damaged yet again!Just as my life has gotten amazing in comes this new trauma to destroy everything!I felt sick, here I was out exposing myself to all sorts of louder environments including a trip to London waiting for this pain to go away and all I was doing was making things a million times worse!I had no idea it was an acoustic trauma, I was under the impression no damage had occurred but in retrospect the damage could have been prevented had I just rested longer which I would have done had I known it was a trauma and not some ear spasm thing like they said it was.
And so here I am, YET again starting from scratch in an attempt to get my life back together following this new trauma.As before, I rested everyday and began taking things extremely slowly and got some great advice from members here that helped me get myself together.A month had passed since my collapse and I was doing much better, I was improving fast but I knew I had a long road ahead of me yet again to see how much improvement I would get.I was still heavily depressed, I couldn't believe I was here doing this all over again, I had been so careful but was caught completely off guard and screwed over, I made it my mission never to get back here and yet somehow here I was, I felt like I just wasn't capable, nobody gets screwed this often with noise traumas.
But, the best was yet to come, I had my last appointment with my audiologist and I was thinking of just skipping it, that he was just going to say"it's perfect"and nothing of real value would come of it, but I decided to go anyway to be up to date on how my hearing was, my left ear was the problem and I wanted to know if any real damage had occurred since my last visit a month prior.Thats when the loud hearing test occurred and worsened me ten times over leaving me in the horrendous mess I'm currently in, a two second speech noise test destroyed me beyond all comprehension, it was far too loud for my ears.The effects of that test weren't immediate, it came on the following day and I haven't done anything about it as I simply can't.
I wrote that so people understand why I'm going for an SC treatment, it's a question I get asked a lot and have answered a few times now but at least it's here for anyone to read.
I got screwed at every corner, everything that could go wrong for me did and I know there's no way back from here, going to any ENT or doctor is just pointless and potentially dangerous for me as I've learnt through painful experience so it's up to me to try and get myself out of this desperate mess I'm currently in that I tried to do everything to prevent from happening in the first place!
The only way is through regenerative approaches and as such that's the route I'm taking, maybe it will do absolutely nothing for me or maybe it will be a wonder, I'll never know unless I try so that's what I must do.
I'll be sure to keep all of those interested up to date when the time comes, until then here's to hoping.
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