Story of My Tinnitus (10 Years Now)

[Elliott.S]

Hi all,

First of all, please forgive my poor English as I haven't practised in a while and I'm from Paris.

So basically, I started getting Ts in 2006. At that time, I used to play A LOT of music (classical, rock, hard rock) and I would rehearse with no ear protection whatsoever. I would also play lots of concerts and attend some too.

It all started with moderate Ts, bilateral ones, high hiss, mostly hearable with no noise around. The bearable thing, I guess.

Time passed and I kind of got used to it. It didn't disappear at all, but I imagine my brain started masking it, considering it was irrelevant information. I then developed hyperacusis at some point, although I had already started using ear protection at that point when performing music. I guess those great Pianissimo - 30db weren't enough for hours of practice.

Hyperacusis went better. It took time though.
Everything takes time...

In 10 years, I have always been wearing ear protection for any potentially loud activity such as : metro transportation / cinema / theater / music practice, etc.

Except that last december 30th 2016 when I forgot them home while I was going to a musical.

Noise level wasn't that loud though : 75 db average - peaked 85 db at times.

Since then, my Ts have become hell on earth. It has litterally tripled in volume and I can hear it now 24/24.
I've gotten back to hyperacusis too (although I'm pretty confident this will fade out at some point).
Went to the ENT a couple of days ago : Prednisone + Gaba + Piracetam. Honestly, makes me feel like a zombie and I'm not sure it has any effect on my Ts, although it does calm me down a bit.

Anyway : 1 mistake in 10 years = horrible increase in Ts. It's been 10 days now and it's not getting better.

I'm a pretty optimistic person overall, but this time, I feel really down. And I don't even know the worse: those horrible 3000 hz tinnitus that have appeared in my left ear, or the awful guilt I feel for not bringing my ear protection.

Thank you all for reading,

Elliott

 

[Ludvik]

Hey Elliot.

I'm terribly sorry to hear about this spike, I really relate to the extreme feeling of guilt over not protecting your ears. It's been about a month for me since my incident and I can say the guilt does pass, though it comes back temporarily once in a while when I'm feeling particularly anxious and depressed. Both the anxiety and depression has eased as well, you're dealing with trauma and it'll take time for your mood to stabilize.

Be patient, and make effort to do activities which nurtures your health. For me it's talking to friends and family. Cleaning the house, or doing exercise and other things that nurture my health makes me feel better and helps increase positivity. I'm usually a pretty optimistic person as well so this feeling of being down, it's kind of a bigger fall if that makes sense? Like going from one extreme to the other. But take care of your ears and your mind, and in time that positivity and joy should start to trickle back into your life.

 

[Elliott.S]

Thanks Ludvik,

I'm trying to keep up with my everyday life activites Only problem is I work from home, so I kind of hear it all the time as it gets really silent here ^^

Good thing though is that I'm not exposing my ears to other loud noises...

I'm trying tu use the Tinnitus Talk Audio Player from this website, but I'm not sure how long I should listen to it and how loud (I guess just below my Ts). Plus I only have closed ear headphones, the ones you use for mixing/mastering music.

Should I play it on my hi-fi system ?

Damn, I feel lost...

 

[Bobby B]

One more proof that once you have damaged ears the OSHA scale does not apply anymore

At least you started prednisone asap so the damage is limited

I keep an ample stock of prednisone at home just in case I am exposed again I can start right away

 

[SilverSpiral]

How long between the event that increased your T, and you started prednisone? Hope you get better.

 

[Elliott.S]

I took Predisone the day after, but then I got an appointment with a doctor, telling me I didn't take enough. I took 20mg in the morning and 20mg in the evening.

I started using the right dosage 6 to 7 days after the event.

 

[Elliott.S]

What is the OSHA scale ? I'm interested. Is this in relation with sound levels ?

 

[billie48]

What is the OSHA scale ? I'm interested. Is this in relation with sound levels ?

Here is a link to a site listing various noises and their respective dBs, and the 2nd table is OHSA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) which is a government agency in the States.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

 

[Elinor]

I took Predisone the day after, but then I got an appointment with a doctor, telling me I didn't take enough. I took 20mg in the morning and 20mg in the evening.

I started using the right dosage 6 to 7 days after the event.

Hello. I'm sorry to hear about your indcident.

Has the prednisone not helped you at all? I'm also confused because I thought 40 mg prednisone was the recommended dosage for acute acoustic trauma. Maybe one has to take all 40 mg at once. Did your doctor mention how much you should have taken?

Hopefully it will fade in time.

 

[Elliott.S]

Thanks for the link Billie, this is really instructive

Hi Elinor, I learnt that for acoustic traumas, dosage should be approximately 1mg/1kg during 4 days. Thank you for the kind words