Panicking After Airgun Shot

[Bill_]

I think you're right, you're going nuts. I can't blame you, I had a period like this too. But some noises are really not worth worrying.

Yeah I think you're right. I don't know why I went so nuts about that air rifle shot in the first place. Maybe it was just this "guns are very loud and bad for your ears"-anxiety. I actually measured the dB Level again with a friend with the exact same settings and we reached 108dB max (super close to the rifle). At arms length it was no louder than 105dB so technically there can be no damage to the ear. The mind can be a bitch though and I think i'm also reacting to the prednisone a bit, too.
Thanks to all you guys for the support

 

[Bill_]

My tinnitus increased while taking prednisone; it could be contributing to the current increase you're experiencing.

Did it return to baseline after you stopped taking prednisone?

 

[Red]

Hey Bill, I'm kind of where you are after watching a video that featured real guns on my phone. I know it's not as loud as a gun in person but I've been struggling with bad T and H but am not currently on pred.

 

[Bill_]

Hey Bill, I'm kind of where you are after watching a video that featured real guns on my phone. I know it's not as loud as a gun in person but I've been struggling with bad T and H but am not currently on pred.

Anxiety is a b*tch though.
I'm still a little worried, too. I know that technically nothing should have happened. But then again i'm Wondering why I have this feeling of ear fullness then. I started taking prednisone which I decided to discontinue this morning (because i'm starting to get a cold and I don't want to suppress my immune system).
My T also is still louder but not much - is it anxiety? Is it the prednisone? Is it damage from the noise even though technically nothing should have happened?
It just sucks.... I came a long way to get to a point where my T didn't bother me much anymore and now i'm Just afraid i'm losing my ability to ignore it.

 

[Bill_]

And to make things worse my right ear is starting to feel REALLY full now. Like "close to shutdown"-full. And i just can't figure out if it's just anxiety or if something is really happening.
Has anyone experienced "psychosomatic" ear fullness?

 

[kelpiemsp]

And to make things worse my right ear is starting to feel REALLY full now. Like "close to shutdown"-full. And i just can't figure out if it's just anxiety or if something is really happening.
Has anyone experienced "psychosomatic" ear fullness?

Almost all of us do. Aural fullness associated with acoustic trauma is very rare. What happens 99% of the time is stress causes clenching or muscle tightness and the muscles in your ear which are connected to the muscles in your jaw are tight and/spasming. You need to find a way to relax as chronic stress is a much more common reason for hearing loss than short exposure to not incredible loud sounds.

 

[Bill_]

Almost all of us do. Aural fullness associated with acoustic trauma is very rare. What happens 99% of the time is stress causes clenching or muscle tightness and the muscles in your ear which are connected to the muscles in your jaw are tight and/spasming. You need to find a way to relax as chronic stress is a much more common reason for hearing loss than short exposure to not incredible loud sounds.

Thank you so much. You're really keeping me swimming here

 

[Red]

Anxiety is a b*tch though.
I'm still a little worried, too. I know that technically nothing should have happened. But then again i'm Wondering why I have this feeling of ear fullness then. I started taking prednisone which I decided to discontinue this morning (because i'm starting to get a cold and I don't want to suppress my immune system).
My T also is still louder but not much - is it anxiety? Is it the prednisone? Is it damage from the noise even though technically nothing should have happened?
It just sucks.... I came a long way to get to a point where my T didn't bother me much anymore and now i'm Just afraid i'm losing my ability to ignore it.

That's how I'm feeling too. My symptoms have been ongoing a week and no improvement yet. Hyperacusis is worse which makes me think something did occur and this is going to be my new normal. T spike, reactive T, tension headache that worsens around sound. I didn't think I was that anxious leading up to this.

 

[Bill_]

That's how I'm feeling too. My symptoms have been ongoing a week and no improvement yet. Hyperacusis is worse which makes me think something did occur and this is going to be my new normal. T spike, reactive T, tension headache that worsens around sound. I didn't think I was that anxious leading up to this.

That's exactly where i'm at, too.
I woke up today and the T was again noticeably louder. This time not only as in "I think it might be a bit louder" but really louder! And now i'm starting to think all the time: is it because I stopped the prednisone yesterday? Is it because I panicked yesterday? Is it stress? Is this permanent now? The problem is: this is how this whole vicious cycle around T starts - It doesn't matter what's first real spike or anxiety. If it spikes you'll be anxious that this will stay and your fear causes you to focus on it which will make it louder or at least more noticeable. Then you'll be stressed and that stress adds to it. Then you start to ask yourself: "did I do something to worsen my T? Should I see a doc? Should I just calm down? What if there's something wrong and I don't go to the doc? What if going to the doc adds to my anxiety?"
It can drive you nuts and right now I feel really bad because I'm afraid I worsened my T just by being afraid of that exact thing.
But let me say this: I was near suicidal when my T turned from unnoticeable to super loud in 2016. I spent 3 weeks in bed, couldn't care for my kids or my wife, couldn't work and had to listen to pink noise 24/7 to find at least a bit of relief.
But with time i started to think "this is only bad if you let it make you feel bad". I decided to give my T no power over me nd my life whatsoever. It took me over a year in total but in the end I barely thought about it anymore. I could go to bed without any background noise, It didn't bother me in the morning and i definitely didn't think about it during the day. And i'm Sure i will return to that state. I screwed up a bit because I let my anxiety get the better of me. This will take some time. But i will do it!

 

[Mila9828]

That's exactly where i'm at, too.
I woke up today and the T was again noticeably louder. This time not only as in "I think it might be a bit louder" but really louder! And now i'm starting to think all the time: is it because I stopped the prednisone yesterday? Is it because I panicked yesterday? Is it stress? Is this permanent now? The problem is: this is how this whole vicious cycle around T starts - It doesn't matter what's first real spike or anxiety. If it spikes you'll be anxious that this will stay and your fear causes you to focus on it which will make it louder or at least more noticeable. Then you'll be stressed and that stress adds to it. Then you start to ask yourself: "did I do something to worsen my T? Should I see a doc? Should I just calm down? What if there's something wrong and I don't go to the doc? What if going to the doc adds to my anxiety?"
It can drive you nuts and right now I feel really bad because I'm afraid I worsened my T just by being afraid of that exact thing.
But let me say this: I was near suicidal when my T turned from unnoticeable to super loud in 2016. I spent 3 weeks in bed, couldn't care for my kids or my wife, couldn't work and had to listen to pink noise 24/7 to find at least a bit of relief.
But with time i started to think "this is only bad if you let it make you feel bad". I decided to give my T no power over me nd my life whatsoever. It took me over a year in total but in the end I barely thought about it anymore. I could go to bed without any background noise, It didn't bother me in the morning and i definitely didn't think about it during the day. And i'm Sure i will return to that state. I screwed up a bit because I let my anxiety get the better of me. This will take some time. But i will do it!

Hi I'm not sure if you've been on the forum at all since then but how are you doing? I get random fullness in my ears really bad if I get nervous and panic or get dizzy. It goes down after a while! I hope you're okay!

 

[Bill_]

Hi I'm not sure if you've been on the forum at all since then but how are you doing? I get random fullness in my ears really bad if I get nervous and panic or get dizzy. It goes down after a while! I hope you're okay!

Hey! I'm actually not really active here anymore. My tinnitus went down eventually (although it's still worse than 2 years ago), but I'm doing pretty fine most of the time now

 

[Mila9828]

Hey! I'm actually not really active here anymore. My tinnitus went down eventually (although it's still worse than 2 years ago), but I'm doing pretty fine most of the time now

That's good to hear did your fullness go away too?

 

[Bill_]

That's good to hear did your fullness go away too?

Yes, it did, although I do experience ear fullness from time to time for no apparent reason...

 

[linearb]

I'm going to be honest, this isn't what I expected.

I've got a Gamo "Big Cat" air rifle that claims it can shoot pellets 1250FPS.

I just dry fired it outside with the muzzle directly over a decibel meter, and pulled readings of 120 and 118db. This puts this weapon on par with my .22 pistol, as far as volume. For something that doesn't use any accelerants or explosives, that's fairly impressive.

I remember when I was siting in the scope on this gun and did not have a strong enough grip on it, the recoil knocked the scope back into my face hard enough to break the skin above my eye. This ain't your daddy's BB gun.

FWIW, the day I did that, I was like 6 years into my worsened tinnitus and I didn't really think about the noise very much, so I probably shot it like 20 times with no earpro, and I do not remember even thinking about that at the time. However, based on those meter readings, I would use earpro.

 

[Mila9828]

Yes, it did, although I do experience ear fullness from time to time for no apparent reason...

Any dizziness?

 

[MattS]

Hey Guys,

I've been reading along for a few years. I've had tinnitus since almost 20 years. For the most part of that time it was barely noticeable but 2 years ago I had a massive spike after going to a club without adequate hearing protection - does that count as a "classic"?

After some weeks of struggle I habituated pretty well although I had to quit motorcycle riding and concerts and clubs completely.

I have been pretty cautious ever since but today I stupidly dry fired an airgun in my living room. At first I just thought "oh, that was a bit louder than I thought" and just went on but after a few minutes I began to physically feel panic-ish (sweaty hands and heart beating really quick).

My mind started going wild then and I ended up setting up some kind of "experiment" to determine how loud that bang from the airgun was (triple hearing protection and db-meter app on m iPhone). I ended up with something close to 100 dB at about arms length distance and 117 dB directly next to the gun. I kinda feel like that just from the numbers nothing should have happened but then again my mind / anxiety doesn't always respond to rational thoughts.....

What do you guys think?

What's "triple protection"?

 

[MattS]

Almost all of us do. Aural fullness associated with acoustic trauma is very rare. What happens 99% of the time is stress causes clenching or muscle tightness and the muscles in your ear which are connected to the muscles in your jaw are tight and/spasming. You need to find a way to relax as chronic stress is a much more common reason for hearing loss than short exposure to not incredible loud sounds.

I must be in the 1% then, because I definitely got aural fullness after my acoustic trauma (in fact, it was my only symptom for several days, so no way it was due to anxiety).

I do agree with Kellie that it's likely muscular spasms that are to blame - but I'm not sure why that means it has to be psychosomatic.

 

[CC_16]

Hey! I'm actually not really active here anymore. My tinnitus went down eventually (although it's still worse than 2 years ago), but I'm doing pretty fine most of the time now

How long did it take for your spike to go down?

 

[Bill_]

How long did it take for your spike to go down?

Hard to say. In hindsight I believe this one was more caused by stress and anxiety than actual hearing damage. I think it was a few weeks though.