Screwed Up at a Concert — Recommendations for My Early Stage of Tinnitus?

[Sevv]

Hello everyone, my name is Sevv.

I never really had any many problems with tinnitus before (though experienced it before). Last Friday I went to a concert in a bar (around 20 to 20 meters wide) with Cuban music. I basically never go to concerts so I wasn't really thinking that Cuban music could become a problem to my ears (would have thought more so of a rock concert). The concert was absolutely fantastic, incredibly great. Unfortunately, that made me not pay any attention to the excessive volume they were playing now and then when the trumpet kicked in (wouldn't wonder if the trumpeter had listening problems himself...).

The concert lasted for about 2 and a half hours. I was standing about in the middle and went to the back of the bar after an hour. And I didn't wear ear plugs... just didn't come to my mind. Didn't seem either as if anybody else was wearing ear plugs.

When I left, I had muffled hearing and a washing sound in my ears, which I have experienced once or twice previously (though went away with no problems). Starting from Sunday, I slowly started to hear a static tv noise in my ears that has gotten slightly louder by now (noise level 2-4/10). I'm also much more sensitive to small sounds (like the fan of the computer, the buzzing of a fridge, etc.) and I probably have lost a bit of my hearing. I seem to hear still all daily sounds, but it seems altered.
I went to an ENT who prescribed me cortisone, which I've started taking from today (most effective in the morning, he said). My hearing is relatively normal according to the hearing test (some drops at certain frequencies, though I can still barely hear 15 kHz, which is about average for age 29). I also started taking magnesium supplements on Tuesday.

Well yeah, I feel as I've fucked up big time. Just a week ago everything was fine and now it's like this *sigh*. In a way, I don't know what I should have changed, I just didn't think about the loudness and its consequences. Still it is quite disheartening how fast you can acquire long lasting problems in your life...

Anything anybody would recommend me in this early stage of tinnitus? I've heard prednisone is good, but since that is a cortisone medicine, I should already be fine with pure cortisone (taken orally). I didn't sleep well from Friday night to Monday night, Tuesday night though was ok (tinnitus being relatively silent).

My tinnitus is not so loud at the moment, it still gets masked by many daily noises, but it's there when I work at my desk job or being alone in a room...
How are my chances of recovering?... I can leave with the hearing loss, but the tinnitus is much worse. It doesn't help that I've had panic attacks before. ^_^

Still I see my tinnitus as positive experience in some ways, as it showed me how fragile we are and how strong other people are that live with much more disabling conditions.

 

[Bill Bauer]

How are my chances of recovering?

There is a good chance that your T will fade.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[another sean]

this post should be pinned for a week with all the "should I go to a concert?" being posted recently.

 

[Sevv]

Thanks a lot for your responses. I'm still quite nervous currently whether it will fade or not, though I must say that yesterday before sleeping it went down to a 1/10, went up though again in the bed to the usual 3/10. Today morning it's a bit less static tv and more rushing (like a river), similar to when you wake up in deep sleep and hearing is foggy. I noticed that when I'm at my computer, the T is more or less pronounced depending on my head position, which is quite interesting. It might be sort of a cancellation effect from the sound reflection of my computers fan (can't come up with anything else). Feels weird that now I hear even the reflection of the fan's sound off the wall.^^

I remember that Easter in the last years always was a time for medical problems. Last year I was bitten around this time by a tick which lead to the suspicion of Lyme-disease and a couple years ago I had ear hematoma in the auricle, luckily it still could be drained after 5 days.

Is it a good idea to wear construction-site head cuffs (bought those two years ago for learning) the whole day or atleast now and then? The washing sound when covering my ears almost covers my T and prevents those annoying frequencies of my computer fan and light bulbs...

Ah yeah, I'm actually optimistic that I live in a very good time. Probably in 10-15 years we're going to have stem cell therapy for tinnitus if you can make that prediction based on current research. I mean tinnitus is common so pharma can make a lot of money by finding a cure.

 

[Sevv]

My T has gotten more defined as in its now there a bit more constantly. Still the static tv noise. Loudness still 3/10.

Is it usual to have some difficulty following normal conversations? Speech seems quite more difficult to understand since it happened, especially on tv. The test at the ENT though didn't show any noticeable hearing loss (left ear had some drops at low and high frequencies by up to 20 decibel, right ear 10 decibel, so it can not even be classicifed as mild hearing loss). So it should be more like an alteration due to the tinnitus frequency.

 

[PortalNaut]

Concerts and events with 100db or 100+db are terrible on the ears. I'm sorry you have experienced trouble from it.

I looked into Cortisone at one point (topical) and wondered about am oral prescription. I hope it helps. When I had been prescribed prednisone and took the first pill, T went almost away within an hour. I'm hoping you have had a good response with the Cortisone. As to hearing conversations, I'm going to speculate it is possible due to your brain re-organizing how it is dealing with the changed input it is getting.

As a poster above said, try to keep anxiety down.

Good luck!

 

[Sevv]

I actually contacted the owners of the bar so that they may implement measures to prevent T in other people. They do already a lot to prevent overly high noise exposure, as mandated by law. They have free ear plugs (though you have to ask for them) and measure loudness. The owner now told me that the average noise exposure (not sure measured from where, probably at the source) was 94db with max. peaks of 115db (occasional trumpet). So sure it was loud, but I guess there are many places that are a lot louder and people don't get permanent tinnitus by going there. I really must have sensitive ears.

I started to work at my anxiety. I actually read that susceptibility to depression is one of the predictors to have worse/longer tinnitus (so not just for habituation, but actually for fading). My friend who has T since 15 years told me that he can hear silence even though he has a fully habituated T, and my T is no louder than his, so I should definitely be able to get there. So what do I do against anxiety? I think I just have to accept the T, see the positive aspects of it. I'm sure I will get used to it as I listen(ed) to death metal which was also a bit difficult to get into because of the harshness of the sound, but T is like another form of death metal in this sense... so it should definitely be possible. I'm also versed a bit with mindfulness training, so that should help to with the acceptance. Still it's gonna take a lot of time to get adjusted.

I actually think that part of my T is not actually T but oversensitive hearing picking up faint high frequencies and then amplifying it to much. Or interference of such noises with my actual T, which gives rise to a louder result. Seems a bit what this poster here on quora described about the brain dropping a filter when encountered with the loss of some of its input:

https://www.quora.com/How-is-tinnitus-treated

So overall it should be manageable. I still hope though that my brain is able to find a way to mimick the way I perceived sound before the concert. =)

 

[Sevv]

Ah yeah, another important thing my friend said that I thought to be really valuable.

"Only when you lose something important people will develop true strength."

This feels very true to me because my T has already made many questions I had before about my direction in life utterly trivial. I feel a lot more courageous, because I understand now that loss is a part of life and loss is just the general direction of life. So better making the best out of it now.

And sorry, this sort of stats to become a blog...

 

[Bill Bauer]

Is it a good idea to wear construction-site head cuffs (bought those two years ago for learning) the whole day or atleast now and then?

You want to minimize the time when you spend wearing hearing protection. If you can't avoid being around loud noises, then leave as soon as you can, and also wear hearing protection. If you notice that you get a T spike after a moderately loud noise, then you may consider avoiding that noise, and if you can't do that, then wear earplugs or ear muffs when you are likely to encounter such a noise.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[Sevv]

I see, thank you a lot. I went for a 4 hour walk today with a friend and had to use ear muffs in the train and ear plugs when near the road or walking on gravel to reduce the noise to an agreeable level (not that I considered it unsafe without, but wanted to make sure). I probably have slight hyperacusis, if you can call it that during the first couple weeks. The world is just louder now in general. Also used ear plugs for driving. My T fluctuates a bit and is anywhere from 3-5/10, but it depends mainly on stress.
Mood has improved a lot though today. I can definitely make it if I don't have any serious worsening now...

 

[Contrast]

Have you heard about hidden hearing loss, and why the test the audiologist give to test for hearing loss misses so much?

Here's some info about why everyone with noise induced tinnitus has hearing loss.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/430734/

 

[Contrast]

The test at the ENT though didn't show any noticeable hearing loss (left ear had some drops at low and high frequencies by up to 20 decibel, right ear 10 decibel, so it can not even be classicifed as mild hearing loss). So it should be more like an alteration due to the tinnitus frequency

The test is a extremely outdated and contrary to what research is uncovering about hearing loss, grandfathered in from the early 20th century, it's not scientifically reliable at all to test for hearing loss. It assumes all forms of hearing defecits have to due with noises sounding softer, when other forms of hearing loss causes noise to sound the same volume but muffled.

They don't care if your hearing is muffled or distorted with loud tinnitus, and noise induced pain and as long as you can still make out words in a quiet room, you could legally be told your hearing is normal when it's severely impaired.

 

[MarkLud]

Hang in there. The cortisone/prednisone is one of the best/only things you can do at the moment (aside from taking it easy with more noise.) It sucks, and for a lot of us it's life-changing. But the worst part is now and in a few weeks or months or whatever you will get used to it mentally and thing will improve. Just know that now is the worst part and it will indeed get better (not the noise necessarily, but your reaction/feelings about it.) I cringe thinking about just how bad a place I was in when mine happened. It's not *great* now, but it's a million times better than that week.

 

[Sevv]

Thanks again a lot for your support.
I went to bed yesterday without masking, slept in quite fast (though I was really quite tired). Yesterday was a really good day and I have previous experience with mindfulness training, so I dare say I can habituate a bit easier than others. Keep in mind that my T is not overly loud though. When I woke up after about 4 hours of sleep, which is normal because I always have to go to the bathroom during night, I realized that the volume of my T had dropped about to half of its original volume and had changed tone (believe its even higher than before, so high that its more difficult to hear). It's definitely a change and not habituation because the relative silence was sort of unsettling so I tried focusing on my T. Also the T is now more in my right ear than in my head and my H has dropped quite a bit. It's like im not pretty much in the middle of my previous T and my normal hearing. That was my first change in a whole week and should be a very good sign, since now it is clear that I don't have an unchanging hiss. The mixture of happiness and tension for it to return kept me from falling asleep for an hour, then I managed to get atleast 1,5 hours more. A good sign. Sitting now in front of the computer it's slightly louder again (more focus because I'm not half asleep anymore) but it still is about only 60% of its original volume. The change in tone didn't revert either.
Going for another walk today with a friend. I will be super careful now because I don't want to screp up my big chance here...

 

[Bill Bauer]

use ear muffs in the train and ear plugs when near the road or walking on gravel to reduce the noise to an agreeable level (not that I considered it unsafe without, but wanted to make sure). I probably have slight hyperacusis, if you can call it that during the first couple weeks. The world is just louder now in general. Also used ear plugs for driving.

Those choices seem reasonable to me.

Your hyperacusis ought to resolve within a year or two. Eventually you will be able to get back to normal.

 

[JohnAdams]

I feel as I've fucked up big time.

No dude, they did it, not you. There needs to be accountability with all of these damn bands cranking up their highs too loud. A high hat is a high pitch sound and that's like what, about 6khz? Why would a band need to be blasting out HF noises at 15khz enough to cause damage?

 

[Sevv]

My mood today was a bit difficult to handle. Since in the morning my T seemed a lot better, I was thrown a bit into the insecurity whether it will completely fade or if I'm just imagining it and it's "just" habituation. The walk today was fine, T seemed quieter even though I was focusing on it again (does it go away? is it staying?). The last 30 minutes in a café close to a street with a bit of traffic wasn't optimal though, wanted to leave after 20 minutes even with my peltor muffs equipped (fricking motorbikes are so loud!). T is still just a 3-4/10 even though my anxiety is slightly up again, but it should still be fine. It still seems quiter than yesterday. Tone hasn't reverted as I can still hear my computer fan, which previously used to somewhat coalesce with my T sound. All a good sign I guess?
I estimate it's normal that in the beginning of your T-journey it is difficult to estimate how far you can go, even if you're very cautious. So I just use my peltor muffs even if it looks dumb! Atleast my hearing is now gonna be damaged further!

It is interesting that what throws me more out of my way is the fact that now I realise how fucking fragile we are. I mean it's not just human hearing. Sight, heart, brain damage, always just a snippet away. Fucking bonkers...

 

[Sevv]

Another morning, "just" the ninth day now. Slept not so good 'cause my anxiety was quite high (very tense body). Listening this morning is somewhat muffled probably because of bad sleep. T dropped a bit again while sleeping just as yesterday and is now again the typical 4-5/10. Well, here goes another day. Trying to tackle anxiety a bit today which means just going forward, doing one thing after another.

I probably should get a head massage in the near future, maybe it helps a bit.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Another morning, "just" the ninth day now.

T is still just a 3-4/10

If you get 3/10 T only nine days after the onset of your T, you will most likely get to (eventually) hear silence again (or at least experience "can hear it only in quiet rooms" T).

 

[Sevv]

Appreciate your support a lot. It has been a 3-4/10 for the past week (so no change since the beginning except for fluctuations due to stress). But as most people in here say, you have to go by weeks or months for the improvement. I'd describe my current state as one of uncertainty with heavy ups and downs, but it seems manageable.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Appreciate your support a lot. It has been a 3-4/10 for the past week (so no change since the beginning except for fluctuations due to stress).

You are at a point where many of us got to after a year of healing.

 

[Sevv]

My situation has changed a lot... On Saturday I was able to calm down a bit and it came to me that the hissing in my head now is not due to the concert, but for psychological reasons. I was sort of asking into my head "can't you turn of the T, please?" and I received the answer "I don't want to" (!). So that meant there is a reason that it stays around for longer or might be more intense than the actual damage from the concert actually caused. I remembered that I already had a panic attack one day before the concert and that the hissing started on Sunday. I guess the actual noise induced T was the washing sound I had until Sunday, when it was replaced by the hissing.
When I got calm on Sunday and after realizing this, my T reduced to a 0,5 - 3 / 10 baseline. However, as my T is a symptom of the unresolved conflict about what to do with my life, I developed other symptoms now when the T reduced (got nauseous; it's like I pushed the energy of the T to another part of my body). This night I had a terrible anxiety attack out of sleep, took me a while to figure out that the reason behind it is that I have terrible fear of not being able to find my way in life. I have been unhappy with my job for quite a while actually but always pushed the problem away, thought that it was just lake of working morale. So now I am in the situation of being almost 30 years old and being sure that the last 12 years I've been getting educated on something I just don't care about (studied law, something I consider useless to my own satisfaction). I'd rather do something that helps people, which actually might be studying again for medicine and becoming a researcher. Got to think this through now though. My T now this morning is a 1-1,5/10 now, but I feel quite sick in the stomach due to terrible fear... I am confident however that it will vanish or atleast drop to an unnoticable level once I have been able to break through my fear and change the path in my life. I mean it's alreay quite low now and that's with terrible sleep, anxiety and just 10 days having passed since the concert .

 

[Yuri_ol]

Hi. How do you do now?
I have the same problem
after loud drill.... 73 days ago. My T is much better. But still I have it. Normal sound is too loud for me, do you have same symptoms?

 

[Sevv]

I have been getting more and more convinced that my T is not from the concert, but psychogenic. However I don't want to make a definitive statement yet. If it vanishes once I've made steps toward my actual goals, then the chance is very high that it really wasn't from the concert.

However, I can point out a few hints why I believe it is psychogenic:
- hissing starting on the third day after sound exposure, while the washing faded (inconsistency)
- previous history of psychogenic illness (pain of unknown origin in the ankle that would probably have been deemed fibromyalgia eventually; disappared in a day when I found out the pain was too vague, was inconsistent especially under distraction and that there was no real explanation for it)
- panic attack a day before the concert, indicating high stress
- obvious primary/secondary gain (sabotaging activities and work that I actually don't like that much)
- being able to reduce the intensitiy at the cost of stomachache/nausea (shifting the stress around)

My left ear feels almost normal (some tenderness at times). Right ear rings with a 0,5-3/10 now. However I had times today where I believed to have had silence, or atleast almost. Now I hear it again, although somewhat faint.
I might still have some leftover hyperacusis. The thing with hyperacusis seems a bit odd to me. It might be an actual hypersensitivity to sound, so you have to stay vigilant. It might also be an unconscious fear because of the initial noise trauma that makes everything seem a lot louder, because there is fear that it might make the damage worse. Also tinnitus scews your usual perception so that everything seems a bit more different and weird, which itself makes you a bit more threatened. In general I can't rule out that part of my T is noise induced, so I am still very careful about noise.

 

[Contrast]

I have been getting more and more convinced that my T is not from the concert, but psychogenic. However I don't want to make a definitive statement yet. If it vanishes once I've made steps toward my actual goals, then the chance is very high that it really wasn't from the concert.

However, I can point out a few hints why I believe it is psychogenic:
- hissing starting on the third day after sound exposure, while the washing faded (inconsistency)
- previous history of psychogenic illness (pain of unknown origin in the ankle that would probably have been deemed fibromyalgia eventually; disappared in a day when I found out the pain was too vague, was inconsistent especially under distraction and that there was no real explanation for it)
- panic attack a day before the concert, indicating high stress
- obvious primary/secondary gain (sabotaging activities and work that I actually don't like that much)
- being able to reduce the intensitiy at the cost of stomachache/nausea (shifting the stress around)

My left ear feels almost normal (some tenderness at times). Right ear rings with a 0,5-3/10 now. However I had times today where I believed to have had silence, or atleast almost. Now I hear it again, although somewhat faint.
I might still have some leftover hyperacusis. The thing with hyperacusis seems a bit odd to me. It might be an actual hypersensitivity to sound, so you have to stay vigilant. It might also be an unconscious fear because of the initial noise trauma that makes everything seem a lot louder, because there is fear that it might make the damage worse. Also tinnitus scews your usual perception so that everything seems a bit more different and weird, which itself makes you a bit more threatened. In general I can't rule out that part of my T is noise induced, so I am still very careful about noise.

my tinnitus came immediately after trauma, faded to nothing and came back a few days weeks later.

It's the concert, there's overwhelming evidence noise induced hearing loss causes tinnitus. A journalist I frequently talk to who documents issues on tinnitus and hyperacusis talk to has expressed she is dumbfounded that most tinnitus sufferers are in denial noise exposure caused their tinnitus.

it's literally a meme that my friends and I laugh at new comers are in denial noise caused their tinnitus. You probably are doing a lot of mental gymnastics to deny the obvious.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/430734/

 

[Yuri_ol]

my tinnitus came immediately after trauma, faded to nothing and came back a few days weeks later.

It's the concert, there's overwhelming evidence noise induced hearing loss causes tinnitus. A journalist I frequently talk to who documents issues on tinnitus and hyperacusis talk to has expressed she is dumbfounded that most tinnitus sufferers are in denial noise exposure caused their tinnitus.

it's literally a meme that my friends and I laugh at new comers are in denial noise caused their tinnitus. You probably are doing a lot of mental gymnastics to deny the obvious.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/430734/
View attachment 28969


View attachment 28968

Can they regenerate? Is it nothing help? How can we check it ?

 

[Sevv]

@Contrast, Well, you might not have been wrong. I was able to talk my problems through with my parents and my desire to change my life, so I feel very calm now. My T was close to 0 a bit before, now it's back to almost 3. It feels clearer now though, almost nice to listen to. Might just be normal fluctuations. Still, I don't see it as irrational to formulate psychological reasons as the cause (or co-cause) in a situation like mine. There is still a good chance that it's gonna die down in the next couple weeks.

 

[Sevv]

Man I feel like a wuss. Was still a 3/10 this night (sleep was so-so). That threw me back to the week before where my anxiety was really up. Even with anxiety it still seems "just" a 3/10 for me now though (that seems like an improvement, also my H seems a bit down). I'm amazed how people with anything louder than mine can cope with their T. And that for years. I really hope there will be a cure in a couple years, especially for those of you that have been dealing with this for 5, 10, 20 years. >_>

 

[Sevv]

Just wanted to give an update. I haven't been too much on this site now because it makes it more difficult to habituate. I'm trying not to dwell to much on my T...

Anyway, I started having clear signs of improvements starting from last Thursday. Since then, my T has fluctuated anywhere from barely noticeable in a silent room to a 2/10 (normally its around 0,5-1/10). I'm pretty sure though that there's been a continual improvement each day. My H and reactivity of my T are also basically gone, so it now gets properly overshadowed by other noises. The sound of my T is usually still the static TV hiss, though much more gentle. When it's really low, it is a low-frequency washing (like a very distant river). I hope it will continue this trend, then it's probably gone in a week or two...

 

[Digital Doc]

Just wanted to give an update. I haven't been too much on this site now because it makes it more difficult to habituate. I'm trying not to dwell to much on my T...

Anyway, I started having clear signs of improvements starting from last Thursday. Since then, my T has fluctuated anywhere from barely noticeable in a silent room to a 2/10 (normally its around 0,5-1/10). I'm pretty sure though that there's been a continual improvement each day. My H and reactivity of my T are also basically gone, so it now gets properly overshadowed by other noises. The sound of my T is usually still the static TV hiss, though much more gentle. When it's really low, it is a low-frequency washing (like a very distant river). I hope it will continue this trend, then it's probably gone in a week or two...

Thanks for the update, and glad it is improving. It really does not sound psychogenic, but more noise induced.

Most important thing is to continue to protect from loud noises, and not push the limits as it will screw up the healing process.