Hey everybody. I wanted to make this to warn anybody with mild or moderate noxacusis/ear pain or even just hyperacusis.
Quick background so you get an idea: I had mild hyperacusis and tinnitus in my right ear for many years. Hyperacusis got worse and I developed bilateral distortions from a heavy deadlift with earplugs in. I was not careful with all this ear damage and did not wear my earplugs in my delivery van and got in an accident.
Front airbag deployed, this was the beginning of my nightmare. Number 1, if you have any tinnitus, hyperacusis, or any ear problems, I don't care what anybody tells you, wear hearing protection in your car at all times. I read some people on here said "oh you need to hear, and the odds of an accident are unlikely."
I thought the same thing... But now I know driving a car without earplugs is like holding a loaded gun to your head if you're a tinnitus or hyperacusis sufferer.
I was taken to a hospital in an ambulance to get checked out, and of course all I cared about was my ears. I hopped on Prednisone right away which made my ears feel so much better. Even after the car accident my hearing recovered and I still can hear in both ears perfectly up to 16 kHz and have perfect speech-in-noise word recognition.
After an acoustic trauma it is extremely important that you protect your ears like a maniac for many months after. I was not careful enough. After two weeks I decided to go back to the gym. I was eating with family and I was blocked in the driveway so I had my windows down trying to see to back out. My car has high performance brakes that always squeal. That one squeal was the final nail in the coffin for my left ear.
Ever since that day the ear pain in my left ear has only progressively gotten worse and worse. It started with me only getting pain from high pitch squeals, from cars and doors, then as time went by earplugs stopped working, the sound started to go right through. I decided to give up my career, I made extremely good money but my job was just too loud to continue even with earplugs in all day. I was truly happy before the car accident, I was suffering from ear problems but it was manageable.
I was a sales manager and was soon going to take over my parents shop, and had many other side hustles. I realized that noxacusis can be aggressive for some people so I stopped going to a lot of places to prevent worsening .I stopped going to restaurants, bars, even going to friends' houses, yet I still got worse. The pain started coming from my own voice, because I had bad loudness hyperacusis from my ear injury from the deadlift accident, it would trigger the noxacusis. In June of 2021, I completely gave up everything, but luckily could still play video games and watch TV without pain or discomfort.
As time went on I had to completely stop working out because it was making my loudness hyperacusis even worse along with the distortions. Not being able to workout that was keeping the noxacusis at bay definitely sucked. A few more surprise noises and squeals I was exposed to made me become full on hermit. Around August, TV started triggering my noxacusis, and other noises such as my own voice, others' voices, dishes, squeaking cabinets, anything really. I started seeing a therapist close by for severe depression, and did not leave the house for anything other than dinner at my parents', 10 houses down , and I always kept my earmuffs on and ate in the other room.
The noxacusis started getting so aggressive that squealing brakes from the mail men and work trucks outside my house started triggering it. This is when the real pain started. Before it was stabbing followed by aching that lasted for a few hours. Now it's so bad all it takes to set it off is one little squeal from a closet door or a truck outside and I am in so much pain I am throwing up and can't function for days. This was only in my left ear.
I was always going for walks at night with my mom to help get my mind off things, we would walk on a golf course but the street noise eventually pissed off my good ear. Even with earmuffs on. Before this my tinnitus was moderate and never bothered me, now both ears are screaming and get instantly louder from almost any noise at all, my noxacusis is so bad it reacts to cars driving by my house. Before this severe worsening I was miserable but not suffering for the past few months.
I played video games on mute and go on my phone, take long showers and go to my parents for dinner and have a walk every day. It was better than nothing. I should have been thankful, no outside noise bothered me, if it did, earmuffs would do the trick. Now with earmuffs on any vibrations go through my walls and hurt my ears. I have to wake up at 6 am every day to be ready to have my earmuffs on and run around the house all day to find quiet with all the lawn workers and street noise. I can no longer go for walks because every time I do even at 1 am I get blasted with airplanes flying over or birds chirping in my ears.
I am truly miserable, depressed, I cry every single day, and miss my old life terribly. I am a tough person inside and out but having severe noxacusis, severe hyperacusis, moderate severe tinnitus, and severe distortions, have broken every bone in my body. I wish I was dead every single day. Even if I do improve, which I think is very unlikely, because all it takes to set me off is a bird chirping outside my house, I will have PTSD for the rest of my life. I am only 23. And I lived happily with mild tinnitus and hyperacusis for 4 years until this.
My main point for any mild tinnitus sufferer or mild hyperacusis suffer out there reading this, please for the love of god protect your ears so you don't have the same fate as me. Wear earplugs in loud places, in the car, and when needed in any noisy environments. I don't know how much longer I will be alive but this would advice would have saved my life. I am trying to stay strong hoping these regenerative medicines will give me and others hope in the upcoming years so we can get somewhat of a life back.
This suffering and agony has really opened my eyes. I came from a well off family, had friends, was popular in high school, had a great job and future and did not appreciate it enough. If you are able to go out and have fun and live life, enjoy every second till your last. Love your family, love your friends, don't hold grudges. Be nice to people, and help others, make the world a better place. Prevent this nightmare from happening. If you develop noxacusis, stop it cold in its tracks before it gets worse because it can and it will. Some people are worse in the beginning and take a long time but do recover to a certain point. Some people like me only get worse from every setback.
Thank you for reading this, I hope any newbies take my advice or anybody else who needs it.
Brian
Member
