When You Are Medicated and Hyperacusis Symptoms Are Relieved, Can Noise Still Make It Worse?

[GoatSheep]

Hi,

New to the forum. Had sudden onset tinnitus/hyperacusis for a little over a month now. Symptoms very severe from onset and unable to sleep. Psychiatrist currently put me on Klonopin.

So since I've been on meds tinnitus/hyperacusis significantly reduced. Hyperacusis practically gone when taking medication.

I've searched the forums previously but not found any info on my particular question. When you are medicated and the symptoms are currently being relieved are you still susceptible to noise making it worse as it normally would?

Up to this point I haven't had any issues, but tonight my 4 year old daughter let out a blood curdling scream after her twin brother changed the video on her iPad. She was sitting in my lap at the time and immediately after I had a minor tinnitus onset and ear pain. The tinnitus has subsided for now, but the pain is still there.

I don't know the cause of the tinnitus. I've had a hearing test but only up to 8 kHz. No hearing loss detected. I was driving from West Virginia to Ohio at the time of the sudden onset and listening to music, but not particularly loud.

What action do I need to take.

I have stopped wearing any ear protection up to this point. When all began I was wearing cheap ear plugs. But in my case they seemed to magnify the tinnitus and hyperacusis rather than help it.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Up to this point I haven't had any issues, but tonight my 4 year old daughter let out a blood curdling scream after her twin brother changed the video on her iPad. She was sitting in my lap at the time and immediately after I had a minor tinnitus onset and ear pain. The tinnitus has subsided for now, but the pain is still there.

You had just answered your own question. Your ears are still vulnerable. I believe that it makes sense to treat tinnitus spikes and ear pain as signals from your body that that noise exposure was not ok. You don't want to ignore those signals.

You might want to wear ear protection when you have your child close to your ears.

in my case they seemed to magnify the tinnitus and hyperacusis rather than help it.

You will want to get a good set of earplugs (e.g., 3M 1100 foam plugs). By reducing the volume of the outside noises, all hearing protection will make tinnitus easier to hear (it doesn't actually make tinnitus louder).

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

I didn't read all the above comments, but did peruse a fair amount of it, and ran across many good points on both sides of the argument. What strikes me is there seems to be an underlying assumption (of course I may be wrong on this) that all brains and neurological systems are created equal. The way I see it, that's simply not the case, so everybody's way of dealing with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is going to have to be highly individualized.

I read a book many years ago called "Adrenal Syndrome". A lot of the book touched on the residual resiliency of people's adrenal glands as they respond to life's stresses. Very low resiliency often resulted in months/years of chronic debilitating exhaustion following a stressful event(s) in their lives. Very high resiliency indicated essentially the opposite. The author broke this down into some rough numbers:

25% of people have low resiliency, meaning normal life stressors will often send them into some degree of a tailspin.
25% of people have high resiliency, meaning that no matter how severe a stressor comes into their lives, they will be able to cope without becoming debilitated to any degree.
50% of people fall somewhere inbetween.

I believe there are some kind of corresponding numbers for a person's brain and neurological resiliency as well, which can greatly affect the ability to cope with tinnitus. (I believe adrenal resiliency also plays a major role in our ability to cope). -- Based on these assumptions, it's pretty easy for me to conclude that what may be overprotection for one person will be underprotection for another, and vice versa.

I think the main point to understand for someone new to tinnitus is that their path forward is going to be a lot of "testing the waters". Generally, IMHO, it's going to take a few weeks or months to get important insights that will help us achieve a healthy balance. In all likelihood, most people are going to learn from experience when their over-protecting or under-protecting.

I've come to believe however, that in those early months, if one is going to err in either direction, it should be toward overprotection. It just seems to me the consequences of underprotection (which could result in permanent injury) in those early times are much more dire than the consequences of overprotection--which as I understand, generally results in temporary setbacks.

Doing a number of things to better support the brain and neurological system and the body's stress response (adrenal glands) is quite high on my list of recommendations I would make to anybody with tinnitus. Doing so might even prevent phonophobia or OCD, etc., as we go through our learning curves -- Just my 2 cents worth.

Relative newbies to tinnitus are likely to find all the information/opinions above quite confusing. So here are a few common-sense rules to follow:

1. The best protection of all is avoidance. Even the best earplugs can't guarantee complete hearing protection so those relatively new to tinnitus are best advised to avoid prolonged loud noise exposure - especially amplified sound at for example live concerts and sports events. This may involve lifestyle changes.

2. When in doubt, use hearing protection. In the many tasks we all do through the week, some will inevitably involve exposure to noise - which may be at higher levels than we at first realise - so using hearing protection for many of these is only sensible.

3. Build quiet into your day. It's not a good idea to be wearing hearing protection all the time - so you need to give your ears a break by ensuring that there will be quieter times during your day when hearing protection isn't necessary.This may involve changing your routine. Use soft masking noise and light music (not using headphones) to avoid "silence" where tinnitus is most noticeable.

4. Don't stress about stress. Tinnitus newbies are forever being told that the thing which makes tinnitus worse is stress. But while it's true that how you are feeling at a particular moment can make tinnitus temporarily louder, it won't have a lasting effect. But prolonged loud noise exposure can make tinnitus permanently louder. So don't stress about stress - but do be concerned about noise.

 

[Daniel Lion]

You had just answered your own question. Your ears are still vulnerable. I believe that it makes sense to treat tinnitus spikes and ear pain as signals from your body that that noise exposure was not ok. You don't want to ignore those signals.

You might want to wear ear protection when you have your child close to your ears.

You will want to get a good set of earplugs (e.g., 3M 1100 foam plugs). By reducing the volume of the outside noises, all hearing protection will make tinnitus easier to hear (it doesn't actually make tinnitus louder).

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

Educate your children about your hearing needs. No screaming.

Have ear muffs and plugs handy if the shit hits the fan and the kids go nuts...

Kids are an unpredictable force for noise traumas... You will need to read situations and take protective measures.

Being a parent with hypercusis and tinnitus is certainly challenging, but doable.

 

[GoatSheep]

Thank you for the responses. The advice is much appreciated.

 

[Juan]

Hi,

New to the forum. Had sudden onset tinnitus/hyperacusis for a little over a month now. Symptoms very severe from onset and unable to sleep. Psychiatrist currently put me on Klonopin.

So since I've been on meds tinnitus/hyperacusis significantly reduced. Hyperacusis practically gone when taking medication.

I've searched the forums previously but not found any info on my particular question. When you are medicated and the symptoms are currently being relieved are you still susceptible to noise making it worse as it normally would?

Up to this point I haven't had any issues, but tonight my 4 year old daughter let out a blood curdling scream after her twin brother changed the video on her iPad. She was sitting in my lap at the time and immediately after I had a minor tinnitus onset and ear pain. The tinnitus has subsided for now, but the pain is still there.

I don't know the cause of the tinnitus. I've had a hearing test but only up to 8 kHz. No hearing loss detected. I was driving from West Virginia to Ohio at the time of the sudden onset and listening to music, but not particularly loud.

What action do I need to take.

I have stopped wearing any ear protection up to this point. When all began I was wearing cheap ear plugs. But in my case they seemed to magnify the tinnitus and hyperacusis rather than help it.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, noise can make you relapse, and can still trigger T or H, or produce hearing loss.

I had very severe hyperacusis and now, down the road, many years on, I have some hearing loss, still hyperacusis and tinnitus. The difference is: when I hear a sound that triggers my hyperacusis and produces hearing loss I dont perceive it as a piercing sound that splits my ears or just goes through my brain like a knife on butter. I know it is a loud sound but it is not perceived so loud any more because of the hearing loss. However, the reaction of my body is the same and I have the whole sets of hyperacusis symtoms triggered, pressure, facial tension, pain etc that subside for several weeks, and then I lose hearing.

I am finding it more difficult to understand speech in noise, and quite worried about what the future holds. However, I cannot really do any more than I am doing so..

 

[GoatSheep]

Juan,

Thanks for the response. I am very sorry to hear about your struggles. I am new to this and can't imagine what people who have lived with these conditions for many years have dealt with. My heart goes out to you.

 

[Juan]

Juan,

Thanks for the response. I am very sorry to hear about your struggles. I am new to this and can't imagine what people who have lived with these conditions for many years have dealt with. My heart goes out to you.

Thank you Selah! I have tried to live as best as possible, and have managed to keep a full time job, but it was very hard, at the beginning due to a very severe hyperacusis and now due to this combination of hearing loss and hyperacusis.

You have to listen to your individual symptoms, the way you feel and the alarm signals of your body. Sometimes I have had to cancel trips, and a lot of events and family plans, including not attending weddings of very close ones. Other times noise offences come up unexpectedly in odd situations, they are imposible to predict in advance.

So one has to live, but also to be cautious. One has to try not to isolate, keep friends and family, keep a job, but at the same time is quite hard to be able to do these things with severe hyperacusis.

Be sensible with noise and you should be ok. I think my case is rare and most people improve. They do not improve due to any particular therapy or drug, because there is nothing that can really fix this, but time in general can help you get used to this or ignore it. Only a relatively small percentage of people worsen over time, and that's sadly my case.

 

[BenzoMom]

Please don't take klonopin for this. Klonopin has destroyed my life, my health and CAUSED me hyperacusis, tinnitus. You can quickly build up a tolerance for it and then it can be hell to get off of. It is not meant for long term use. I'm weaning off it now and my story is very complex and I'm extreme but I don't want to see this happen to someone else. It's inhumane. Please do NOT take this medication.

 

[BenzoMom]

I'm just following up on this post as I'm interested in information from the others regarding hearing protection and TRT therapy. My situation is quite different but I have hyperacusis with pain now (and it's likely in part at least to the benzo w/d that I'm suffering). But with 7 kids, my house is loud - doors slamming, kids shouting, daughter screaming. The severe pain/severe hyperacusis came on just several days ago after "moderate" hyperacusis for a couple of months, and tinnitus for about 6 weeks. Do I need to be protecting my ears a LOT to try and let them heal?

I also read that TRT therapy in general is not really effective for hyperacusis WITH pain but I know everyone is different. I'm not going down this road yet b/c I know what my situation is. I just need to be able to tolerate and get through the w/d and not want to hurt myself because of this additional pain and suffering from my ears. Anyhow, below is the article that I read and interested in input.

https://web.archive.org/web/2015090...rd-in-Understanding-Hyperacusis-with-Pain.htm

 

[Juan]

I've searched the forums previously but not found any info on my particular question. When you are medicated and the symptoms are currently being relieved are you still susceptible to noise making it worse as it normally would?

Yes.

 

[GoatSheep]

Yes.

Lol Juan you already answered me quite some time ago. Benzomom bumped this thread. But thanks again for your help.