Tinnitus Spike: Noise Induced from Loud Documentary or Stress Induced?

[pinklights98]

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate some advice. I'm going through a catastrophic spike right now that is coupled with some noise distortion (I have experienced this in the past as well, but it comes and goes. It's very bad now).

On Thursday, my class played a documentary. It was very loud, I plugged my ears with my fingers over my Tragus for the opening credits and kept my ears plugged. I left after five minutes.

That happened in the evening, I went to bed and I was fine and I woke up the next morning fine as well.

In the evening the next day I began to notice my tinnitus spiking along with the noise distortion. This also came around the time I became extremely stressed over a paper I had due that I was working on all day and had cried over(it was really hard lol).

Anyway, it's three days later now and my spike is just as severe. I turned in my paper, so any stress of that should be gone.

I'm really worried that my exposure to the movie may have caused this spike and damage.

Please advise.

 

[Michael B]

Based on your post, I would guess it could be either one or the other, or of course both. Spikes have a nasty habit of lingering so the fact that it's only been three days since the two occurrences doesn't surprise me. Hopefully you're find relief soon.

 

[pinklights98]

@Bill Bauer

Is there anything you recommend I can do to prevent this spike from becoming permanent?

 

[Bill Bauer]

@Bill Bauer

Is there anything you recommend I can do to prevent this spike from becoming permanent?

The only thing that comes to mind is taking Prednisone. The sooner one begins taking it, the more likely it will help. But keep in mind that there is a high chance that it won't do anything and there is a chance that it will have significant side effects.

Because of taking prednisone for my tinnitus, I then got more serious problems, I was examined for 2 months because I felt terrible. It turned out that I had developed adrenal insufficiency from taking prednisone. And 3 months later, it persists. What's the reason for this, nobody knows.

I know doctors in the UK don't give their patients Prednisone. The dose should be 60 mg per day for something like 10 days + tapering.

I think there is still a good chance that eventually you will feel better. If it doesn't begin fading after 4-6 weeks, then it is a bad sign. For now you can assume that it will be temporary.

 

[DebInAustralia]

Is there anything you recommend I can do to prevent this spike from becoming permanent?

How did you get on?

 

[PeteJ]

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate some advice. I'm going through a catastrophic spike right now that is coupled with some noise distortion (I have experienced this in the past as well, but it comes and goes. It's very bad now).

On Thursday, my class played a documentary. It was very loud, I plugged my ears with my fingers over my Tragus for the opening credits and kept my ears plugged. I left after five minutes.

That happened in the evening, I went to bed and I was fine and I woke up the next morning fine as well.

In the evening the next day I began to notice my tinnitus spiking along with the noise distortion. This also came around the time I became extremely stressed over a paper I had due that I was working on all day and had cried over(it was really hard lol).

Anyway, it's three days later now and my spike is just as severe. I turned in my paper, so any stress of that should be gone.

I'm really worried that my exposure to the movie may have caused this spike and damage.

Please advise.

Imho, for what it's worth, it was the loud noise of the tv or it could be something else. Did you get exposed to anything else that was loud? Spikes can happen after a loud noise with a delay in between.

I don't know how it can be prevented of becoming permanent and I doubt anyone here can tell you. I think my tinnitus worsened from a particular loud noise but I am in a loud area. I can only speculate which noise it was.

You could try the prednisone.

I doubt that stress caused it and you said that the stress was just temporary.

I think so many loud noises or sounds happen that it is difficult to avoid or prevent. You can only try. I think tinnitus or severe tinnitus (from my perspective) is the worst thing to happen to someone.

 

[pinklights98]

How did you get on?

It's been a really rough time. The spike hasn't subsided, but it is better than it was the weekend after my noise exposure. It's been fluctuating, which I hope is a good sign that maybe it'll settle back down.

The worst part of this is that is caused awful noise distortion. I have always had dysacusis, but it got drastically worse so that almost everything has a high pitch whistle undertone. So debilitating.

I still wonder if it is stress related, because I am experiencing TMJ pain for the first time in my life, which came on about two weeks ago. I truly don't believe this is related to noise trauma, but maybe the stress of the spike. Maybe the TMJ is causing noise distortion? Who knows. All in all, I have been absolutely debilitated for the past three weeks. Praying for better times.