Went to a Loud Wedding and Recently Acquired Tinnitus (Only 17 Years Old, No Support)

[Rani]

Hello friends, I hope your having a great day
It all started around 1 month ago, on the 17/10/2017
I didn't want to be dragged to this wedding but my parents had forced me anyways.
The "wedding music" was seriously louder than I'd ever heard in my life; people were finding it difficult to talk to one and another; the constant banging of drums and screams of the people... By the end of it, I could feel pain physically in my ears and begged my parents to go home. They did not listen.
I took the car keys and ran into the car, and that's when I noticed it:

"Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss"

It sounded like radio static or sands of grains being poured out of a bag or just pure white noise. And it was loud.

It has been just over a month now and it's still here. Initially, I was very scared; fearful in fact. I've had a lot of emotional breakdowns at the thought of having this constant sound, but now things are better.

Basically, I've tried to cope by using masking sounds at home; if there's any advice I could give to people it would be to invest in Google home as she has literally masked my tinnitus for most of the day.

I wanted to visit an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) however we aren't the richest and my dad was reluctant when he'd heard the cost (285$?!)

Instead, we went to the emergency department and I had to wait a good 3 hours before being seen by a nurse triage. The nurse triage was sympathetic but basically said that "she didn't have a quick fix for me"

She then checked my ears and noticed some bubbles, calling an ENT. She came back (smiling) saying that I had Eustasion Tube Dysfunction and needed to take two nasal sprays (a steroid and an allergen relief); she said that it could take "up to 5 days" (note that it has only been 2 days)

The only thing is that I didn't want to mention the fact that I had gone to a loud wedding (Acoustic Trauma) as it wouldn't make my Tinnitus sound like an "emergency" (again this my dad not me) and so i'm worried that she may have misdiagnosed me as she didn't really "test" anything (just looked at my ear drums)

The interesting thing is that my Tinnitus only affects me in relatively* quiet environment (i.e. in a social setting where i'm engaged I don't hear my Tinnitus)

I think I have mild hearing loss, but my hearing doesn't feel like it's been profoundly affected at all. I would like to visit an Audiologist and many claim they're free but for individuals over 26 years of age (i live in Australia) and to visit an audiologist just for a hearing test can cost upwards of 110$

And so now I have this predicament; what do I do to actually treat my Tinnitus? I've heard of the use of hearing aids to amplify background noises and my T can be masked (thankfully) with many sounds most of the time.

Right now I feel like I have very little support in real life and am young (17 years old); I simply don't see what the next step in my life is. It doesn't help that I have exams next week (and i'm stressing out about them as well)

 

[christinefisher]

Dear Rani,

I hope your Tinnitus to gradually fade; it is still early and chances are with your side to completely disappear. Keep strong and be sure you are not alone. This forum has helped me and many others to accept this issue and try to stay positive. You are not alone and unsupported. Yes, people that do not have T cannot understand how irritating it is.
We understand and we know the future looks ugly with T being present.
Focus on the rest aspects of your life and try to ignore it. Buy some earplugs and use them in places with loud music to avoid any further damage.
As I said, as it is at an early phase you will probably recover from it.
Many wishes!!

 

[dingaling]

Hi Rani

Seeing an audiologist and getting some TRT (tinnitus retraining therapy) would be really useful.

I have learnt (and read on here) that incessant worrying and panicking about Ti only makes it worse

I hope you get some peace soon

 

[Jan64]

Dear Rani,
Not being a doctor but your tinnitus can be easily diagnosed as 'acute noise induced tinnitus'... You have to act quick! The window of opportunity is only 3 month, but the faster the better!!

Best thing to do is to ask your GP for cortisone/prednisone (total 400 mg) and 60 * 400 mg pills of pentoxifillin (also known as Trental). Take de prednisone starting with 60 mg during 3 days and then temper it with 10 mg (first day 60, second day: 60, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10). Last days 10 mg. Take 3 pills of 400 mg pentoxifilline (=1,200 mg) daily during 20 days. Treatment protocol according to my ENT Dr. B. Wallesch (see www.dres-wallesch.de), an excellent ENT from Germany (I live in the Netherlands, and have 2 ENT's: one in the Netherlands and one in Germany).

Try to convince your GP with the following papers (print it out and take it with you).

Cortisone/Prednisone:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999710/#R146
You can get the pdf from this site.

Pentoxifillin
https://search.proquest.com/openvie...5974a5e2c926/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=33739
You can get the pdf from this site.

Cortisone/prednisone is more important than pentoxifillin.

Total costs will be lower than $100,-. Benefits will be huge!

Wish you success!

Kind regards,

Jan

 

[jjflyman]

Right now I feel like I have very little support in real life and am young (17 years old); I simply don't see what the next step in my life is. It doesn't help that I have exams next week (and i'm stressing out about them as well)

The odds are good that your T will fade away in time, but it will take many months. My first time with Noise induced T years ago took almost 2 years to fade to zero. I am in a second noise induced T from a concert, and it has faded about 80% in 13 months. It take a long time but I'm sure you will be fine

 

[Rani]

Thank you everyone this makes me feel a whole lot better!

It's funny how little we take for granted our hearing until it stuffs up :/

Anywho I'd love to hear from other people's experiences about how they'd felt and dealt with Tinnitus

 

[Angel_Daniel]

I'm also young and have had it since I was a kid, it can have its spikes where it's worse and higher pitched but eventually it does lower or for some people go away completely. Keep in mind it does take time and worrying about it can only make it worse try to cancel out the sound by sleeping with a fan on or perhaps playing some relaxation music to help cope! Hope this's helps.

 

[Karl28]

How do u know you have Eustasion Tube Dysfunction?

Did the ENT do that camera down the nose thing to have a look at the tubes?

 

[Rani]

Nope. It was literally through a Nurse calling the ENT. And she put a camera in my ear's to observe my ear-drums, seeing bubbles?

 

[fishbone]

Hello friends, I hope your having a great day
It all started around 1 month ago, on the 17/10/2017
I didn't want to be dragged to this wedding but my parents had forced me anyways.
The "wedding music" was seriously louder than I'd ever heard in my life; people were finding it difficult to talk to one and another; the constant banging of drums and screams of the people... By the end of it, I could feel pain physically in my ears and begged my parents to go home. They did not listen.
I took the car keys and ran into the car, and that's when I noticed it:

"Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss"

It sounded like radio static or sands of grains being poured out of a bag or just pure white noise. And it was loud.

It has been just over a month now and it's still here. Initially, I was very scared; fearful in fact. I've had a lot of emotional breakdowns at the thought of having this constant sound, but now things are better.

Basically, I've tried to cope by using masking sounds at home; if there's any advice I could give to people it would be to invest in Google home as she has literally masked my tinnitus for most of the day.

I wanted to visit an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) however we aren't the richest and my dad was reluctant when he'd heard the cost (285$?!)

Instead, we went to the emergency department and I had to wait a good 3 hours before being seen by a nurse triage. The nurse triage was sympathetic but basically said that "she didn't have a quick fix for me"

She then checked my ears and noticed some bubbles, calling an ENT. She came back (smiling) saying that I had Eustasion Tube Dysfunction and needed to take two nasal sprays (a steroid and an allergen relief); she said that it could take "up to 5 days" (note that it has only been 2 days)

The only thing is that I didn't want to mention the fact that I had gone to a loud wedding (Acoustic Trauma) as it wouldn't make my Tinnitus sound like an "emergency" (again this my dad not me) and so i'm worried that she may have misdiagnosed me as she didn't really "test" anything (just looked at my ear drums)

The interesting thing is that my Tinnitus only affects me in relatively* quiet environment (i.e. in a social setting where i'm engaged I don't hear my Tinnitus)

I think I have mild hearing loss, but my hearing doesn't feel like it's been profoundly affected at all. I would like to visit an Audiologist and many claim they're free but for individuals over 26 years of age (i live in Australia) and to visit an audiologist just for a hearing test can cost upwards of 110$

And so now I have this predicament; what do I do to actually treat my Tinnitus? I've heard of the use of hearing aids to amplify background noises and my T can be masked (thankfully) with many sounds most of the time.

Right now I feel like I have very little support in real life and am young (17 years old); I simply don't see what the next step in my life is. It doesn't help that I have exams next week (and i'm stressing out about them as well)

Awwwwww this sucks. Sorry that you got tinnitus, it is a weird thing to go from silence to a noise that lives in our heads. I will say this much, you can cope and eventually get a grip on this matter. I got mine in my teens and I was scared, confused and lost for quite a while.

Talking it out with , people that you trust and love is helpful. I'd do this back in the days and it helped me a lot. Possibly talking to a professional and finding ways to cope can also be helpful. The thing that has worked for me, is that I am too distracted to give a hoot, that these ears scream loud at me like a damn screaming tea kettle and lawn mower.

It takes some time to get use to it, but you can do this.

What has worked for me is this -

Time: it will take some time ot adjust

Support: get it from those that love you

Relaxation/distraction: This is HUGE. It has helped me for close to 30 years and i still live by this today.

I'm a vet of 30 years, with this garbage and it's been a tough road, but coping and living with it can be achieved.

PS- avoid loud sounds/places. Try to keep stress/anxiety down and just take care of yourself. You are 17 and the world is your oyster

 

[Rani]

Naww Fishbone that's the sweetest thing anyone has said this whole month

I hope your life with Tinnitus hasn't been too hard; I'm lucky that my Tinnitus is just a buzzing sound that can be easily masked but I understand your pain. I'm glad that you've ajusted/habituated into your Tinnitus and hope that you didn't struggle too much :/

The truth is that this does suck. It sucks a whole lot. But like you said, you can either adapt to it or let it ruin your life.

Quick question though; do you have hearing loss or have you tried wearing hearing aids to amplify/mask the sound?

Anywho thanks for the support