Tinnitus for 20 Years, Made Worse by Pneumatic Nail Gun and Motorcycling without Hearing Protection

I've had tinnitus for 20 years and it has been catastrophic for the past four, primarily due to being exposed to a pneumatic nail gun, after years of motorcycling without hearing protection. Plenty of acoustic trauma from my youth didn't help.

I've been observing the forum for the past several years and joined so I can converse with the community. I had to retire as I could no longer keep my focus and job stress only made it worse.

Like most, sucks to be here but glad the Tinnitus Talk forum exists to share.

 

Hi!

Thanks for sharing your situation. My tinnitus got severe after developing hyperacusis and I am struggling to manage everything, but it has been just a year.

I am curious to know how do you manage life with catastrophic tinnitus and how have you managed to stay sane for so many years? How old are you? Do you have hyperacusis?

 

Welcome to the forum @Jammer and @Diego LR. I have deep empathy for what you guys are going through. I have been where you are having to suffer from chronic intrusive tinnitus for years, first with an ultra high pitched tinnitus on the right ear a decade ago, and then a rumbling, roaring loud jet-engine like tinnitus on the left ear when my left ear went deaf suddenly overnight in a SSHL episode. Both times severe hyperacusis also hit me and lasted for about a year each. At first i was overwhelmed and had to survive on benzos, antidepressants and sleeping pills. So I understand your sufferings.

If there is anything I can share, it is that somehow the body will learn to harden to the ringing over time. I used to be overwhelmed by relentless anxiety and panic attacks daily. But I hanged on and after learning to apply some helpful strategies, I can say I still live a normal and enjoyable life. I go fishing and grow a garden, and go traveling often. I just came home from a cruise to the Caribbean. I never thought I could still enjoy a good life during the worst time. But never say never. Times have changed and the body slowly learns to harden to the ringing. I even wrote 2 success stories to share some insights. You can read more details from the Success Stories. So don't lose heart. Try to learn from others how I cope with tinnitus, even long termed. Take care. God bless.

 

I'm really struggling with becoming insane lately. Memory is fading and I can't remember movies I just watched a day ago and I believe dementia is closing in. I'm now 64 and I have had terrible hyperacusis for two years just after the pneumatic nail gun incident. If it weren't for the loving support from my wife and family, I would have killed myself by now. This is my truth.

 

Sorry to hear this @Jammer.

Your suffering sounds awful.

Is your noise(s) multi-tonal? Are they all the same loudness?

 

I have deep empathy and understanding what you are going through, suffering with tinnitus, the mental struggle and losing memory with dementia. I practically don't remember if I have brushed my teeth only minutes after doing it and this happens daily. Lol. Quite a few members of my family have dementia so I know my odds is not very good.

Like you, I am fortunate to have a sweet supportive wife and family. So in the darkest period of sufferings, I told myself that I donated my body for them. Hit me with whatever hell of sufferings, I will still stand on my feet to love and hug my family members. If tinnitus makes me live like hell, I want to make sure my family live like in heaven. I would hug and kiss them whenever I could. I would massage my wife daily to release her pain and ache while an iPod was masking my tinnitus. The affection and warmth we felt for each other gave me a ray of hope, that my life isn't exactly wasted by tinnitus and hyperacusis. I talked a lot more in my success story. I hope you can read it.

Take good care. God bless your recovery.

 

I know that I'm not alone in my suffering and having your testimony warms my heart and gives me hope for tomorrow.

 

Wow, sorry to hear. You know, I never would have guessed that you also suffer from neurological issues. I’ve been amazed in the way you articulate your thoughts into words in some of the other threads that I’ve seen you participate in, with complete precision and accuracy. You come across as someone who’s very sharp. Stay strong for your family. You’re a warrior.

 

Thanks. You would know I have a problem if you tried to carry a conversation with me; losing my train of thought, forgetting common words. Writing is much easier for me; must be a different, unaffected part of my brain.

 

My tinnitus sounds like thousands of high frequency crickets that are all discordant, asynchronous and ever changing. I also have so many different tones that I could start a big band. And it only gets louder.

I went grocery shopping with my wife early last week; I always wear silicone earplugs when out. We parked in front of the store and were loading the groceries into the trunk when a young dude on a Harley Sportster slowly came our way; my wife heard him first, as he was playing music quite loudly. We stopped loading and instinctively put our fingers into our ears.

Upon seeing us plug our ears, the dude turns his music volume to full blast and revs his motor with the clutch engaged from three feet away - blap blap BLAP BLAP! It was the loudest sound that I have heard, felt since my air gun incident; it coursed through our bodies and heads. He turned his head as he passed to watch our reaction and then pulled into a parking spot three shops down.

I cursed at him as he parked, but I doubt that he heard me. I felt instant rage that he would intentionally inflict expose us to such nasty noise trauma. My wife experienced immediate fleeting tinnitus that thankfully resolved 30 minutes later.

I wanted to inflict pain upon this young asshole, but I knew that it would likely result in criminal charges and more acoustic trauma for me. It took me the rest of the day to calm down and it gave me a massive spike that I really can't describe, other than to say it is my current level tinnitus x10.

I'm slowly recovering my sleep hours since it took place. I got 2 hours for a couple of days (felt like a zombie) and have added about an hour each day. Feeling better, less zombie like at 5-6 hours now, but he really fucked me up; my tinnitus has achieved a new high level.

It has taken me until now, writing this post, to forgive this ignorant young man. He will most likely be on this forum one day with his own tinnitus. Just desserts?

 

@Jammer, sorry to hear this happened to you. People can be mindless assholes. I hope your ears have calmed down by now.

 

Thank you for the kind words @Mark F. My hearing and tinnitus continue to be horrific, but I have accepted what is and understand that I only have power over my reaction to it. Life goes on.

 

That's the spirit! Acceptance and true grit. You're a strong person, and an inspiration to me and a lot of others here.

 

I had a similar incident happen to me @Jammer. I couldn’t even cover my ears because I was holding my (then) two-year-old daughter at the time. To me that is a form of aggravated assault and the perpetrators need to be locked away as any other violent offenders would.