Still Alive and Doing Better! Hyperacusis and Pain Have Reduced by About 75%!

@MadeleineHope, hi there. You'll get there! Sometimes it's really best to just "zen" out and do LESS. Meditation has helped me immensely, as has finding joy in my life again.

I got reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis back in January 2022. I still don't really know why. I was using headphones a lot at the gym then, and I did have a two-year-old with loud screams. Who knows? It doesn't really matter, as you've seen people get it from lots of different things: medications, sicknesses, noise exposure. Doesn't matter. I did some TRT for about four or five months. I think it helped but probably because I really believed it would. It made me feel like I had agency. Like @Marin experienced, you can find healing in other, less expensive and less annoying ways, mostly getting your head and heart calm and collected. Your limbic system DESERVES this retraining that you'll do. You'll find your life gets better in many other ways once you've learned the tools. I suggest listening to Nicole Sachs' podcast, as well as Alan Gordon's. Both have been so helpful to me.

I am going to depart from Tinnitus Talk again, but hopefully will reconnect now and again to give people hope. Live more, worry less, you'll be okay.

OH! Neil Bauman was very helpful to me (I'm sure if you've done the google thing, like most of us have, his work has come up). He has written books on ear issues. We video chatted several times. He told me, "You can't worry and trust at the same time," and that has been an enormously helpful mantra for me along the way.

 

Marin,

I don't expect you to see this for some time, but did you have a worse ear? My left ear seems to be able to withstand much more noise than my right ear. I'm having to wear a plug in that ear pretty much everywhere.

When you had a setback, did you retreat into silence or just take it easy for a few days?

Finally, once the burning subsided for you, did you deal with your discomfort like popping, clicking etc? That's usually where I'm at right now unless I try to go somewhere a bit louder. If so, how long did that last?

Thanks.

 

I signed back on to ask @Marin a question, but was so happy to see @OnlyUP signing back on and giving an update! So nice to hear from you, you and I communicated on your wall a few times prior to your last log off. How is the reactivity going, @OnlyUP? This is the ONE thing I really hope to heal from! The tinnitus would be nice too, but lower volume multi-sound tinnitus that doesn't react to noise wouldn't be too bad

My tinnitus plateaued (no improvement but stopped worsening) and reactivity was predictable from like January to March, then I went on a family trip to Cancun early April and used ear protection consistently, but took part in fun activities that had constant louder sounds, and my auditory system/nervous system/limbic system were just not ready for that, so unfortunately I worsened after that and have yet to stabilize and improve from it. However, I know a HUGE part of me not improving yet is the fact that my emotional and mental reaction to it was big and negative, therefore my limbic system just got more impaired with prolong trauma and negative thought processes. So I completed the DNRS training and started it last week. My brain is STUBBORN as it wants to continue to "protect me" with its old ways, but I have to break down those neural pathways and rebuild much better ones.

@Marin, something that has increased for me are sound distortions/dysacusis. Not only will my tinnitus sounds react and become more distorted as they "play off of" sounds in my environment, but I will get like a running electrical sound over my shower water, wind blowing, or traffic off in the distance. I also gained some intermittent Morse code. Did you have these characteristics going into the training? These sounds are distressing on top of multi-sound tinnitus. I just wanted to see if the distortions fully went away for you if you experienced them (a lot of people with hearing loss/never damage do). Thank you again for all your insight, advice, and support for those of us still fighting to get to the other side. I'll just be over here pushing back at my brain and trying to up those DOSE chemicals! Lol.

 

Hey @Marin, I'm sorry if you already answered this, but did you have any middle ear symptoms? Like fluttering, thumping, facial pain, an aching pain in the middle ear, or fullness? And if so, did it clear up from these treatments? Just wondering because I'm interested in trying DNRS, but I mostly have middle ear symptoms, I don't know if it would help.

I was also wondering what recipes you had for your low histamine diet? I'm really struggling to put one together for myself lol. Did you eat fruit at all or take a multivitamin?

 

Hey @Marin, how did you deal with your central sensitization issues?

 

She slowly desensitized her brain to sound with the help of DNRS. Hope that helps!

She ate a strict carnivore diet, so no fruit. If you google carnivore diet, you'll find lots of info. Low-histamine diet would be a lot less restrictive. Not sure about the multivitamin.

Maddy

 

Does anyone know how @Marin is doing now? I have been trying to implement DNRS / neuroplasticity, but I think I pushed too much too soon, as I’ve been in the worst pain since Thursday.

I’d also love more information on how your kids managed during this time - who looked after them? Currently, my husband is signed off work, and my mother-in-law has them most days when not in the nursery, but it’s not a long-term solution. I have to avoid them as much as possible, which kills me.

 

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited Tinnitus Talk, and I’m happy to say that I’m still doing great. I hardly notice or think about my ears anymore, and I’m living a very normal life, with the exception of still limiting my use of cell phone and tablet speakers.

During my early recovery, having the kids around was extremely challenging. They went to elementary school during the day, and they did their best to be quiet when they were home. My husband took on the role of their main caretaker at home for a while. I was also fortunate to have a very supportive family who would take the kids on weekends. I missed every second I was away from them, but it was what we needed to do at the time.

Once I started making some progress, I carefully began increasing the time I spent around the kids, using that time as part of my exposure therapy. I cherished every moment and minute with them. In my DNRS visualizations, I would imagine myself doing fun activities with my kids, and then work toward actually doing those activities in real life.

Accidents and overexposure happened along the way. When they did, I would ease up on exposure until I felt ready to try again. The most important thing for me was not to stress or worry when I overdid it. Instead, I would remind myself of how well I was doing, that this was only temporary, and I would focus on how much I enjoyed whatever it was that caused the overexposure. I know it sounds a little strange, but I really started improving once I did this.

I wish you all the best! Be kind to yourself, and have unwavering faith that things will get better. Sending you big hugs. ❤️

 

Oh my gosh, I've been thinking about you today! I'm so glad to hear you're doing better. Can I please ask if sudden noise exposure causes any issues for you? I'm currently recovering, and my house alarm just went off for about a minute. Now I'm really worried.

I have reactive musical tinnitus and hyperacusis. You mentioned that you had musical tinnitus—how long did it take to get better? Did anything help with it? I'm three months into this, and it's due to noise exposure and COVID-19. Thank you so much!

Sending love x

 

Thank you so much xxx