Please Help... I've Made My Tinnitus Worse

[VickiD]

I've had tinnitus for 6 months and I've stayed away from clubs and loud bars.

I went out Saturday but wore concert ear plugs but they only protected my ears 12dec which I think wasn't enough. My t has gotten worse. It's taken me 6 months to get to a place where I can function as I was suicidal and looking to end it all. It sounds dramatic but my mum died of cancer and I had so much stress and sadness. T started march this year. It was hideous for months then I started to deal better. I hate it though and I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.


If I've damaged my ears will it likely get better again? The weird thing is, the day after the Saturday my ears were silent. They were silent Sunday night and I thought my t had gone. The usual whistles and high pitched noise wasn't there. That was day after night out. It was odd because by Monday it's back and it's louder and aggressive. It's like it's playing sounds so angry through my ear drum. It's making me so anxious. Please advise. Xx

 

[coffee_girl]

Sometimes this happens because you might have just aggravated it and it is temporary, also maybe because you are stressing out it is causing your mind to "hear" it more frequently and for it to appear louder. When I was stressing and crying over T it appeared louder and more shrill simply because my brain was so focused on picking it up...it only fueled my depression even more. Please don't panic, everything will be alright, it is most likely temporary, I had a pile of dishes drop last week because I was distressed and the dishes shattered and made my ears shriek in protest.

I thought the end was near, but after a few days it went back to normal. The more you stress the more you will hear it. *hug* all will be ok.

 

[VickiD]

I hope so. I just didn't know if a noisy bar would damage permanently. I've avoided it and I wore ear plugs but they were clearly not decent enough as they only protected to 12db. That's not great....

I was only in the loud bar hour half but it has affected me badly and making me feel so depressed xx

 

[Robert44]

I think it will settle back down. Relax and don't stress it . take deep breathes. use masking

 

[Mahr]

Stress is a killer, so try to relax. Even when it does not go away..

 

[Jkph75]

I did the same thing yesterday, but mine had already gotten louder before that. Seems a little better than it was last night.

 

[Mahr]

Try not to focus on it to much. I know it's hard not to..

 

[Hopeful1]

I guess spike is expected when you are exposed to loud music, it should settle down as per the audiologist provided you have not damaged your hearing....how loud was the music 85..90db?

 

[VickiD]

I don't know how loud. Not mega like concert loud.

It was a band in a bar

 

[eldudebro]

First of all, you should try and remain as calm as possible. anxiety doesn't help.

I did something very similar to yourself, I was totally used to my tinnitus after 18 months and was living life as normal, pretty much forgetting I had it.

Then in April I went to a very loud concert, with no ear protection. Not my brightest move. My ears were screaming at me for weeks afterwards at a level i'd never experienced. All the struggles and dark thoughts that came the first time I encountered tinnitus were back tenfold.

Six months on i'm happy to report my tinnitus has returned to it's "normal" level. Time can heal, or at least it can help to improve. Just avoid all overly loud places for a few months as I did. I also have invested in a professional pair of earplugs incase I find myself an enviroment that is too noisy, so I wont be making that mistake again.

Good luck.

 

[Michael Leigh]

@VickiD
Hi Vicki. Try and get a referral to a Hearing Therapist for some tinnitus counselling because it can be very helpful. Please click on the link below. It is an article I wrote titled: An Introduction to tinnitus which you might find helpful. Please read the positivity and tinnitus page.
Try and get that referral to a Hearing Therapist
All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/an-introduction-to-tinnitus.12100/

 

[Gosia]

If it was last Saturday, you can still help your heraing cells recover, if they were brutalised. Take magnesium, NAC, a lot of vitaminc C and stay in quiet places. I know staying calm is easier to say than do..I'd rather avoid any loud place till the end of my days rather than going through this . I'd be extra careful for next three months.. and stay home for a few days ..

 

[Mahr]

If that will help? Do.. I do think that won't help. Being focussed on avoiding things that might increase the T does not help me a bit. I try to do the normal things and rest a little bit more. don't let the T reign your live..

 

[JC Denton]

I get the exact same thing when i listen to loud music or play my guitars too loud... A period of silence, followed by a shrill, aggressive upturn in the tinnitus that lasts for a few days. It always seems to go back to the baseline level though, and i hope yours has too.

Best of luck to you.

 

[VickiD]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your responses.

The noises do my head in. I wish I knew what brought this on. It's one ear that seems to squeak whistle and hiss and the other has a chain saw noise which is faint but there in silent rooms. It's driving me potty x

 

[NancyL]

I'm hoping it's better already, but if not - can you try to get some movement? Fast walking, a run, a swim - whatever you can do where you are focusing on your whole body moving and can get your heart rate up, oxygen uptake increased, and blood flow to everywhere increased.

If mine trends loud again, I try to work it out with sweat. Sometimes that helps right away - sometimes it takes a few days. Mine's loud at the moment from an event last week, and it has fluctuated since then. I'm going to go sweat for a few hours tonight myself.