Tinnitus

Metalredneck · Post by **Metalredneck** » Wed May 09, 2012 9:10 am

So, how many of you suffer ringing in your ears?

I now am anal about earplugs, but after four decades of motorcycles, firearms & explosives, impact tools, heavy metal, bar bands, deep-diving accidents, nagging wife, etc....

I have persistent C# in right ear, and E in left. (At least they harmonize.) Just curious if any of y'all have experience with this, and if you find anything works.

It's starting to interfere with my sleep, and that ain't cool. I find it makes me drink more coffee, which seems to make the noise worse.

HELP!

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:35 am

piccini9 · Post by **piccini9** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:37 am

Mine comes and goes, seems to be related to blood pressure.
Sometimes it's just awful, mostly it's just a little annoying. Wish I could offer some helpful advice.

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:38 am

Yep, same here. I don't know what pitch it is, but it's always slightly there. Relatively recent hearing test (couple years ago) said that I'll likely need hearing aids if I make it past 65.

Side note: When I blew up (the reason for my funky paw), the thing that scared the shit out of me the most that night was that I couldn't hear anything. Damn near totally deaf. Doctors had to shout for me to hear them. While the hand and the shrapnel I caught were not insignificant at the time, my first question to the doc was "what the hell is with my hearing and will it come back?!"

Oops.

--Jaeger

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:51 am

Jaeger wrote: When I blew up ... the hand and the shrapnel I caught were not insignificant at the time--Jaeger

Okay, story time.

Post by **DerGolgo** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:18 am

Had mine for about a decade. Worse on the right side than on the left. Started out simultaneously with an ear infection, or maybe the pain was just what made me notice it. The ears nose and throat guy said that tinnitus doesn't go with ear infections, so I must be a damn simulant. That was that, uni didn't leave me much time to go doctor shopping so I just learned to live with it. It's always there, just sometimes I notice it more than other times, sometimes it's a little louder than other times, sometimes the whishing sound turns into a pure tone, pretty much like what comes out of a sine wave generator, and drowns out everything else. Hasn't happened since I had my accident and rarely before that.

It has interfered with my sleep on some occasions, but the last time must have been a few years ago I think. I live right over a fairly busy street, so there's a little intermittent traffic noise even at night, my work schedule means I'm sometimes sleeping during rush hour. I guess I got used to sleeping with background noise.

I hear there are therapies available where you train to overhear it, basically condition yourself to NOT pay attention to it, I thought about looking into that, maybe it'll help.

Maybe if you add another source of noise to your room that your brain can fixate on but which won't keep you awake that'll help. I'm thinking old-school mechanical-dial clock with the ticking. Lot of people manage to sleep with that. On the other hand, despite my tinnitus and the traffic and everything, nothing keeps me awake like a ticking clock, so that may not work at all. I can't figure out how people can sleep with that, and two weeks ago I slept right through a car-crash that happened right, and I mean literally less than 20 feet away, under my window, and I only found out about it when I got outside and saw the spay-painted lines indicating the tire tracks the the cops put down for the evidence photos.

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:27 am

Sisyphus wrote:
Jaeger wrote: When I blew up ... the hand and the shrapnel I caught were not insignificant at the time--Jaeger
Okay, story time.

In short: how do you teach mortality to a dumb-ass 16-year-old boy? Let him play with pipe bombs. I lost my left pinky finger (fucked up the adjacent ring finger too) and caught a few ounces of shrapnel in my stomach. I got off cheap.

I was dicking around with a CO2 bomb (CO2 cartridge full of blackpowder) and it went off in my hand due to my own stupidity. Safety tip: the green cannon fuses cannot be snuffed, drowned, or otherwise altered. Once they're lit, they're going all the way to the end -- and the friction from cutting one can itself set light the fuse.

And remember, kids:

<img src=http://www.utmc-forum.org/pub/album_pic.php?pic_id=506>

(FWIW, Rock's story isn't nearly as stupid and embarassing as mine, but I'm still pretty sure I found the "best" way to do it. Blowing up does not hurt... the morning after can be a white-hot motherfucker, but the actual *boom* doesn't hurt at all.)

--Jaeger

Post by **DerGolgo** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:41 am

And now they have you working for one of the world's largest government contractors...well, kinda makes sense. After all, if you want to protect your IT systems you hire ex-hackers, so if you want to do a good job protecting the country you'd hire ex-pipe-bombers.

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:45 am

Yeah, yeah I gots the tin ear. Years of hunting and riding never bothered me, plus I fucked around with fireworks and even CO2 bombs much like our esteemed colleague from Virginny although I managed to keep all of my digits. What did it was hunting with a buddy of mine and his 14 year old nephew. All nice and quiet-like sitting in a deer blind, kid decides he is bored and pops off a .38 revolver through the slot right next to my head. Holy shit I was pissed, I was told I was screaming at him but I couldn't hear a thing. Now it comes and goes, funny thing is it has been a nuisance in the past couple of weeks a lot more so than in the past couple of years. I think it is blood pressure related as I have been under a tremendous amount of stress the past few months, not sleeping and drinking pots of coffee.
No idea how to fix it other than to just suffer.

Metalredneck · Post by **Metalredneck** » Wed May 09, 2012 2:43 pm

Mine probably stems from a rupture/stretch when in deep diving college. I was in the MK V heavyweight suit http://divinghelmets.net/wwii-mk-5-divi ... condition/ (yes, the copper helmet) and got down fine, but had a sinus block on the way up. I blacked out, the suit went to full inflation, and I rocketed to the surface. When I came to, I was being dragged to the decompression chamber, bleeding from my left ear, nose & mouth. I thought that was the end, but once we blew down to depth in the chamber, the medic checked me out, & found the ear thing. A couple weeks off, & back down under the ice.

This year, after getting back in a band, I find it quite fatiguing after a while.

I hate getting old.

Rock · Post by **Rock** » Wed May 09, 2012 3:58 pm

HA HA suckers!!!!

Tinnitius is for chumps! I'm deaf!!

Seriously i'm up to 30% in both ears, years of engines, guns and other such goodness.

My lip reading is getting better and whats odd is its certain freq's. Like that cute girl with the high pitched voice....... I actually have to watch her face to carry on the conversation. And the artsy girl who mumbles.....yeah its a lost cause.

I know when most of it began:

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Wed May 09, 2012 3:58 pm

You actually dove in one of those outfits? You must be the coolest guy EVAR!!! I didn't realize they still use them. What is "diving college?" Is that for oil rig stuff? Salvage?

When I was a kid I had the 12" GI Joe guy with that set. I fucking loved that. Now my 3 y.o. is into divers, so I tried to find my GI Joe diver set and it's long gone. He instead uses my welding helmet/goggle, a "tank" made of an old aerosol can of carb cleaner, mittens, boots, and a wool hat. His latest addition is a piece of tygon tubing that I suppose is his air line.

I'm going to show him the link to the suit/helmet you posted, he'll go crazy.

12ci · Post by **12ci** » Wed May 09, 2012 7:22 pm

back on topic: right ear only, so far.
i dunno if its from shooting or riding, or both, but i dare not ride without earplugs anymore, and i often wear them when in restaurants/bars/clubs because modern architecture apparently requires no acoustical damping and/or those damn kids have the damn music too loud.

smalltownsarah · Post by **smalltownsarah** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:11 pm

I suffered chronic otitis media as a child. My eardrums ruptured over, and over, and over. I had tubes implanted in my ears. I have massive scar tissue on both eardrums. I like rock concerts. I am 36. WHAT???

My husband likes heavy metal and industrial, has been to more rock concerts than anyone I've met before, has been a semi truck driver for ~20 years and a motorcyclist for ~24 years. He is 44. WHAT???

No tinnitus. But, we wear our earplugs on the bikes. And... quiet pipes are growing on me.

Also... Jaeger... do women sometimes make, uhhh... special requests of you with that pinkyless hand?

WeAintFoundShit · Post by **WeAintFoundShit** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:22 am

SPEAK UP. I CAN'T HEAR YOU. TOO MANY YEARS AS A DJ AND MOTORCYCLIST.

Comes and goes. Caffeine makes it worse. I try not to sleep on the side that's ringing, coz it sounds louder when it's all covered up with a pillow.

I hate it.

SSCAM · Post by **SSCAM** » Thu May 10, 2012 1:55 am

Metalredneck wrote:Mine probably stems from a rupture/stretch when in deep diving college. I was in the MK V heavyweight suit http://divinghelmets.net/wwii-mk-5-divi ... condition/ (yes, the copper helmet) and got down fine, but had a sinus block on the way up. I blacked out, the suit went to full inflation, and I rocketed to the surface. When I came to, I was being dragged to the decompression chamber, bleeding from my left ear, nose & mouth. I thought that was the end, but once we blew down to depth in the chamber, the medic checked me out, & found the ear thing. A couple weeks off, & back down under the ice.

This year, after getting back in a band, I find it quite fatiguing after a while.

I hate getting old.

With a blackout and a blow up, you're lucky you didn't get an A.G.E.

My ears are fucked as well, but I still dive. I have never had trouble clearing in a Superlite or Desco. I had to have a tympanoplasty in my left ear a few years ago to repair a perforation. Lost about 60 percent hearing. The only thing I really hear on the left side is the ringing...

Vitiare · Post by **Vitiare** » Thu May 10, 2012 3:49 am

I have a high frequency ring that sounds more like it originates in the center of my head. Spent many years running sound for bands. Stepped across a stage once and the side monitors fed back just as I was passing the speakers. Instant pain, headache, etc.

But the ringing is also probably related to blood pressure which Im still trying to stabilize.

I still have perfect hearing, but the ringing is always there.

Metalredneck · Post by **Metalredneck** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:16 am

Yeah, we dove in them suits. 225lbs of gear, resting on your collar bones, cinched with a strap around the crotch, tightened (right from the US Navy diver's manual) until you taste shit. I went to Seneca College for Underwater skills...welding, salvage, explosives, NDT. Cool stuff, but I don't use it much now. I help out a friend once in a while, but tend his umbilical for the most part.

Linky: http://www.senecac.on.ca/uws/

I was lucky I didn't embolise on ascent, I cleared the surface like a porpoise, they told me. I don't recall anything but a screech in my ear, a cold sensation, then waking up in the midst of a dozen frantic people.

I actually slept last night, and today is a good day. I find after concerts & gigs it's getting tough. I still love metal, and I guess I have to practice **sigh** moderation. Fuck.

I appreciate the commiseration, and was curious who all deals with this, as we are a vulnerable group.

CarolinaBoy · Post by **CarolinaBoy** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:34 am

Mine is sporadic. Mostly in the left ear. I guess years of cranking tube amps and playing/attending shows are paying off.

I had a buddy who had to quit touring/playing because of it. His was so bad it was literally driving him crazy. No sleep. Nothing but ringing all the time.

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:53 pm

smalltownsarah wrote: Also... Jaeger... do women sometimes make, uhhh... special requests of you with that pinkyless hand?

(As a side note, I can also now get the last potato chip out of a can of Pringles without having to dump it out.

)

--Jaeger

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Tinnitus

Tinnitus