Hi all, I’ve been monitoring this forum for a while (last 4 weeks) since I had massive exposure to loud music. And it has helped a great deal. I’ve finally plucked up the courage to post, so bare with me, as I have lots and lots of questions!

1st I want to give a bit of back ground to my general health condition, as it is relevant (AND in the hope that someone somewhere may know of somebody who suffers the same symptoms?). I am in my early 30’s now, and have suffered from tinnitus and increasing head pressure from the age of 15, with sporadic migraines and headaches. This started after a routine Appendix operation, which went fine, but during recovery i was given the drug Stemetil (Prochlorperazine) to which I had an allergic reaction. This caused an oculogyric crisis (rolling of the eyes, spasm etc), I was then given Benztropine, which relieved the oculogyric crisis. I was left with a small pressure sensation at the back of the head, that over the years has now become a massive feeling of pressure over my entire head. I also suffer from sinus problems, with one nostril blocked at all times. Occasional the blocked nostril swaps sides!! Also when I lean forwards or lie on my stomach the pressure hugely intensifies! I also suffer from stiff neck and jaw problems (which I read) can exacerbate hearing problems. (if I turn my neck far left/right, or open my jaws really wide my T worsens). I know that sinusus can effect the ears too. My tinnitus has worsening very very slowy over the years, but never soo bad as to cause huge concern. I also figured it was part of my head pressure problem, seeing as it started soon after the oculogyric crisis. I’ve always had pretty good hearing, I never fully equated having T to protecting my ears. I know that sounds foolish now. Especially being a DJ and a musician!! The proverbial horse and stable door.

Prior to my recent massive noise exposure, I noticed my ears were becoming sensitive to short loud, often high pitched sounds. I.e. door slamming, toilet seat dropping, washing dishes etc I wish to I had researched this because I would have learned about hyperacusis, and taken steps to protect my ears, and never would have done that gig unprotected!!

So 4 weeks ago, I DJ’ed in a bar/club that was different from normal clubs I’ve djed in in that they had huge speakers right begind the DJs. Alarm bells should have rung but with alcohol, & not wanting to let people down, and a somewhat reckless attitude, I persevered with the gig. I did notice the intensity of the sound and took the odd breaks, (luckily I was djing with another guy). On leaving the club and returning home I noticed I was quite deaf, and the ringing in both ears was way louder than it had ever been! I figured it would improve with time. My hearing threshold did return to ‘normal’ but the louder tinnitus remained. A week later my ears felt like they were on fire & felt full, I went to emergency hospital, and was told I had an ear infection, and sore eardrum and ear canal with evidence of infection on them. I was prescribed Ciprofloxacin, which I took for a week. I also saw a private Audiologist.he was pretty unsympathetic, (I was extremely worried and anxious at this stage, even though I’d have T for years, I just knew my ears where really damaged). He performed a hearing test (audiology) and was ‘surprised’ my hearing was ok. He wasn’t much bothered bout anything else. At my request He prescribed Betahistine for the T (after telling me nothing helps anyway!) and Tri-Adcortyl ‘Ointment’ to soothe the ear canal and drum. I saw my regular GP a few days later and stopped the Betahistine (I’ve always been wary of prescription after my stemetil crisis). And asked for an alternative for the Tri-Adcortyl Ointment. Which I felt, being an ‘ointment’ was impractical in the 1st place! He gave me Otosporin Ear Drops and I decided to research some natural/herbal remedies for the T. The Infection cleared up in a few days. Although since then I still get burning sensations in the ear. I went to ENT specialist 2 weeks later where I had another hearing test, which again was normal, and I think I had a test for the pressure in my middle ear? That was ok too.

I have tried a variety of vitamins and remedies to at least reduce the T, speed up recovery, and protect my ears. (Prior to the recent exposure, my diet was poor, I ws extremely stressed due to relocation and renovation and othe factors) and didn’t eat enough. I drunk alchohol, though mainly when DJing/clubbing. But occasionally at home if I had company).

Vitamins and Supplements I am taking:

Ginkgo
Immunace (multi vitamin and antioxidant)
L-Cysteine and Acetyl-L-Carnitine (I read they can reduce the T post Exposure)
Magnesium (especially post exposure as I read they reduce damage to hair cells)
Vitamin E (for the above reason)
And general Vitamins like vitamn C, a little iron.
And an blue green algae supplement called “Spirulina” which contains B12 and other vitamins.


I have given up alcohol and am pursuing a healthy diet. I try to avoid stress as much as possible, (although since I’ve lost the ability to work as a DJ, money can be a worry). I try to keep active by riding my bike, (although I do wear foam ear plugs as living in the centre of a large city means sirens, heavy traffic etc that all literally hurt my ears!)

I want to ask a few questions:

How best should I try to “recover”? I know it seems silly but I’ve always been pretty active, and used to living with stress! I’ve been told to “take months off”. Does that mean staying indoors away from all sounds including the tv (which also hurts my ears).

I notice that even talking on the mobile phone hurts and I noticed T worsened on the ear that I had the phone to, even though I had the volume as low as possible?!

Will listening to white or pink noise help my recovery and increase my tolerant to sound? (I have actually been booked for TRT which starts next week, I’m not sure how effective it will be but am hoping for the best).

With “rest’ will my ears recover tolerances? I know T isn’t curable (yet), but will it decrease given time and rest and medication/supplements, also will the hyperacusis improve?

I also notice distortion in my hearing at higher frequencies, will this also improve over time?

How is it even possible that my hearing is ok, ie no dips in frequencies? Will my ears be more fragile now? Ie ANY noise risks damage or am I still the same as everybody else, (ie sound levels above 85dB etc). And is my ear drum/mechanics still tender 4 weeks after exposure?

When I hear sounds now, its as though my T changes or dips as my ear receives the sound, I didn’t notice that before the massive exposure? Is that normal as a consequence that my T is louder?

Is sleeping with the TV on (at low volume) damaging to my recovery?

If neck movements and jaw movements affect the T is that significant?

I researched about musician earplugs that attenuate sound by up to 25dB. With these on, (and after a long recovery time) can I still work as a DJ? If not can I at least work as a recording musician? For instance will the sound of my own singing voice do damage? Or must I give up music for good?! If I have to I will. The thought of going deaf and still having T is enough to get me to change direction!

Sorry for the long post! I really wanted to ask these questions but always felt like the ‘professionals’ see what appears to be a healthy young man in front of them and therefore do not take time to answer questions. Like many men I have always been reluctantly to go to the doctors and as a consequence my ailments have got worse. And though in the past I could ignore them by working and partying, now I can’t. Which I guess is a good thing really. Don’t get me wrong, having T has always been a pain, but was nothing compared to the head pressure. So I learnt to ignore it, and consequently ignore what my ears were trying to tell me all these years. And became a little fatalistic regarding my health. Well now I intend to get to the bottom of them if possible.

I am not down (well not all the time), I have always felt life is beautiful regardless of the burdens I bear. Some of my greatest musical heroes like Beethoven or Ray Charles didn’t let their ailments stop them from achieving greatness! There are always many people worse off, that simply get on with it. I have always tried to have a positive out look on life, especially when things get tough, and it helps having support from friends and family, and forums like these.

Any answers will be greatly appreciated. (I will post this on Hyperacusis forum too).

Thanks in advance.

You obviosuly need to be much more carefull with your ears. DJing without protection isnt gonna cut it.

for what its worth, one of my nostrils is blocked nearly 24/7 aswell, because the septum is wonky. It was never significant before with my tinnitus.

Your right to be wary or prescriptions, see my thread on ototoxic . There are hundreds of of medicines out there that will try and kill your inner ear mechanisms of you take them, and T suferes are more suseptable again. Thats how ive got disturbing tinnitus. Doctors are eaither completley ignorant or the fact or they dont care. Im curretly looking into legal action againt my local nhs trust due to this.

Its disturbing when T changes as much as when you first get it. Ive woke up today with ungodly tinnitus for no apparant reason, other than taking a sleeping pill to get some good sleep, which ive taken before without problems. mabye its that, i just dont know anymore. So another mini breakdown today, thanks tinnitus.

hihat,
I think you could still have a bit of the infection you had in your middle ear if you are feeling pressure, it can cause your nose to block as well, I have had this and because of it I have found what helps most to keep the fluid moving and what to avoid. The best way is standing up and even better is standing up when you are eating, talking, singing or walking, the worst is sitting sraight up watching tv, I can feel my ears getting fuller, I now rest my head on a couple of cushions on the arm of the sofa and am fine like that, when I am sat using the computer I found the only way to be comfortable is to have my mouth slightly open and my bottom jaw forward a bit. Also when in bed I think you need to turn over sometime so both sides get chance to drain.
As for the vitamins, from what I have read on here doctors recomend B-complex, zinc and magnesium.

Cheers for the responses guys. i noticed my T seems to be getting worse, almost like its super sensitive to everything. Ie traffic noise (although i wear plugs), even talking on the mobile phone!! is this because of the recent trauma, and the nerve is trying to heal (albeit slowly) and i aggravate it? I had T for ages before and it didn't really didn't seem to get worse no matter what i did!! Should i really take i easy, ie say in bed?!

I think the way to deal with H is to re-introduce sound back into your life very gradually. Ie. listen to gental music or natural sounds, maybe classical, but have it low-ish. Don't avoid sound altogether - and certainly don't constantly wear ear-plugs. But I would definately stay right away from clubs, gigs etc and sources of loud noise. It could take months, perhaps even up to a year so take things slowly.
I've heard that 'pink noise' is very good for H, so try that. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get better.

You've been following these threads for a while, so I am sure you have already heard a lot of advice from other sufferers. You are very lucky not to have lost hearing, so that is good. The hyperacusis will get better in time, although you may always find a certain "pitch" from TV and radio will cause your T to get louder, but you will be able to bear that because it will go away when you turn them off and you will adjust to listening to music over your T in time. As a musician you know that mostly you are behind the main sound, (Main P.A.), and you can control sound levels from amps and monitors to suit yourself, with musician earplugs you will be able to perform live in time, but give your T time to settle a bit more first from the most recent damage. Keep active, relax and keep stress levels down, things will get easier. X

Cheers guys, thanks for all your advice. Its amazing how these forums can help sooo much. especially when you can't afford to see a private ENT 24-7, because you are worried waiting for the next NHS ENT appointment which is months away!! What i wanted to ask was, why is it soo bad to wear ear plugs/muffs, especially, in my case, so soon after a specific noise trauma? Is it because you risk the brain habituating to the sound more so, (in my case i had T for over 15 years so kind of got used to it anyway), or because you don't allow ventilation of the ear and therefore may be prone to infections? I may start a new thread, because from my personal experience, living in the heart of a big noisy city, at least with plugs in i can avoid covering my ears when Sirens or motorbikes go by. and it stops me checking to see if T has got worse, because i am keeping a journal of symptoms, diet, medication/supplements so i can better understand what might help/exhasserbate my T. I read on another forum (i think it was "mytinnitus.de" good site), that ear damage is like damaging a nerve and that nerve is easily irritated, (hence the increase in my case with T after talking on the phone, traffic noise etc), and that nerves, unlike Tissue or muscles take much much longer to "heal".

Hi hihat,

Well I see it like this really: You wouldn't want to spend months wearing dark sunglesses indoors or all day & night would you? The eye is a muscle that needs to be used. Ears are the same I suppose? You also wouldn't want to stare at the sun because you know it'll damage your eye-sight? Can you see where I'm going with this?

Over-protection is probably really bad for the ear-drum through lack of stimulation. I'm no expert but thats how i think it works anyway. TOO much noise is bad aswell, so find something in the middle like a quiet radio or a running stream?

Give your ears the longest time to recover I reckon - don't take chances!

Hi,

Good you're taking steps!

About supplements. Read up on which supplements & other foods counteract which... I know sugar, alcohol & some foods can eg deplete Magnesium or prevent it from absorbing..

Also, Spirulina having B12 - not 100% sure last time I checked... If you're vegetarian/vegan, try to find another supplement..

There's a site called tinnitusformula.com that has a link to studies done about which supplements helped people... (they sell some stuff too, though probably it's the same if you find it locally/elsewhere)

Personally I did find that my hypersensitivity to noise was much better when I ate fish oil (omega 3!) & a supplement with 100% RDA magnesium & zinc, & other stuff like calcium, copper, manganese & vitamin D2 - when I ate less than 'full dosage' it didn't help as much...
No idea which of those helped maybe a few or all together...?
It's not ideal cause my eyes hurt a bit when I took those, so I'm looking for other supplements... but I'll try to keep fish oil, magnesium & zinc at least..
I also increased my protein & meat uptake & it seems to have affected my mood & hearing for the better too..

Overprotecting ears with earplugs worsens my hyperacusis (I practically don't have tinnitus).
I'm still trying to find out if headphones would be a better solution...

A lot of people on the American forum for hyperacusis/tinnitus seem to have been helped by TRT... don't know... a thorough check-up to exclude other health reasons would be in line first, IMO...
They say it helps a lot of people, except a small percentage...
Right now I sort of have 'home-TRT' with my PC humming loud