After my loud noise mistake, I spent the first month with my primary concern being that my hearing was distorted. As well my left ear felt very full all the time. Both ears were sore all the time and I had pretty bad loudness hyperacusis. After the left ear (which is the ear I get the pain in still) started to "open up" it was VERY tender, I felt constant pain deep in the ear.
My hearing pretty much returned to normal in the second month, but I began experiencing middle ear muscle twitching, especially when yawning or swallowing. This is also when the pain in my ear became more reactive to noise. Loud noises, or continuous noises such as fan and motors, would create sharp pain deep in the ear and hotness. The pain began to radiate from my ear at this time. At its worst, I felt it in my face, back of head, and down my neck (left side only). I started to take Advil every morning and night to cope with the pain, iced my ear/cheekbone when it was hot, and wore plugs around any machines/fans or when I was interacting with a large group of people. It was still super painful but it rarely progressed to that 10/10 full head burning sensation that I had constantly edged on.
Over the 3 months since then I have ebbed and flowed (construction outside my work, listening to music too loud, or socializing could make things more sensitive for a time, hours or days) but I'm doing better than before. I listen to my music very quietly and am careful that my recreational noise is always fully within my comfort zone, never pushing it. I have a handful of plugs in my pocket to wear when a loud fan, large crowd, or subway sounds threaten to set me back. I'm not perfect but I have largely avoided big irritations this way. I find looking back I only noticed improvement as I hit milestones (cutlery no longer hurting, voices no longer hurting, music not being painful, etc). The improvement is in trends vs a day today always better than the last progression.
Now I no longer need to use pain killers. And I don't get the hot burning pain, just a dull ache in the ear and a feeling of pressure on my face. My ear twitching has also improved, it is much more predictable. I still have to be very careful, and hope to keep improving.
I hope this is helpful to you two! I'm think of making a big post on the hyperacusis support board with all the info I have learned from dealing with and researching these symptoms. Is that something you'd be interested in?
There are cases of painful hearing taking 2-3 years to resolve so remain hopeful even as time passes. If you let your ears rest you'll have the best chance. I could almost cry typing this all out thinking of what I, and you, have been through (hence my username lol) so please know you aren't alone dealing with this and other people understand your pain!
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