What can be done to help with hyperacusis?

oh dear had taken 2 Tylenol this am, and took half xtra strength muscle relaxant and sort of knocked me out,, never happened before so now add anxiety, its ok no need to reply will sort itself out.... have a call into Telehealth Ontario so hopefully a nurse will have some guidance.. always cautious taking new or otc meds with glaucoma ,.. gosh didnt like that feeling of being drugged out... mind you it did help the pain somewhat..is this what we have to do, to stop pain be in a fog, oh no! didnt stop the tinnitus tho, its beyond otc reach!!!!

I have suffered from tinnitus and hyperacusis and hearing loss as a result of exposure to very loud music for 3 hours. That was 30 years ago. I used to wear ear plugs everywhere if there was the slightest noise. It was so painful being exposed to most noises like hair dryers, and other household appliances, not to mention sounds outside the home over which I had no control. It made me nervous and always trying to anticipate where painful sounds were coming from. I was very jumpy. While my tinnitus has worsened over the years with new sounds, louder sounds, and musical sounds, the hyperacusis has improved over time. At first I removed the earplugs if sounds were not too loud for me, then over a period of years I allowed myself to be exposed to sound that was borderline uncomfortable but not quite painful. As time went on I gradually became accustomed to louder sounds and they were acceptable to me. It was all along a gradual process of re acclimating myself to sounds that were really sounding louder than in fact I knew them to be. For example, initially automobiles driving by hurt my ears. Now I feel quite comfortable with cars driving by. I can also now just barely tolerate buses providing they are not accelerating nearby. As far as going to restaurants, it depends a lot on how crowded they are and how boisterous the patrons are. I still carry my earplugs around in case I need them but that happens a lot less frequently now. So some progress has been made with respect to the hyperacusis. I think that tolérance to sounds can be accomplished by a gradual process of exposing oneself to louder noise as long a the decibel level is reasonable, for example les than 90. Just don’t imagine that sounds at a concert are going to be comfortable because music has so many highs and lows it’s best to use musicians ear plugs for attending concerts.

Hope this helps those of you fellow hyperacusis sufferers.

Willows

I am sorry...it doesn't go away. It is a symptom of a damaged brain or auditory system. If you want what you had, it will come with all of these aberrancies or speedbumps. Our brain and auditory system can only take so much of the brass and overwhelming noise assaults that we give it unwittingly. And when it has had enough - it tells us in so many words or sounds what it can not understand or take anymore. That is...it gives us phantom pain, sounds and other side effects of a system that can not quite work right like it use to.
We can use therapies and instruments to help us nurse the auditory system so that it can hobble along to help us hear and understand the spoken word. They can help us learn to stay upright and not fall down. They can help us hear just what we want to hear and not the foreign sounds that annoy us. But as research is now just looking into Pandora's box that was opened to see what else the brain has to discover about how hearing loss works, we wait,& work on our own self care as well as watch and wait for new discovers from those who are finding exciting and yet undiscovered avenues of interest that could help in the near future. Eloise

I also have hyperacusis and it is awful.

Agree

I have had tinnitus for about 32 years and hyperacusis about that long. Have been to several ent doctors and tried other things but to no avail. It is horrible but you just have to go on. Carry foam earplugs in pocket almost all time and use them a lot. They help a little. Until a cure is found ,if ever, you have to be very careful.

Lacy, how are you doing today?

I feel so sad for anyone going through pain, balance, ear problems of all sorts, including sensitivity to noise. What helped me some, along with what I already wrote, was keeping a journal I started with focusing on pinpointing triggers of everything from food reactions, headache, balance issues, noise reaction increases, and tinnitus. I found my biggest triggers to be changing environments (going from house to car, car to office, etc.) and stress. For changing environments, my approach, that worked to at least a half reduction of problem (usually, depending on how I otherwise felt), was to PREPARE myself ahead of time for a change. Sounds simple? Have to set my timing so 15 minutes to a half hour before I leave one location or setting, I am thinking about what I want to "tune in" or "tune out" that are noises and triggers from outside of where I am now. I am "in my mind" saying, OK, expect more (or less) noise, traffic and visual disturbances, hecticness (made a new word!) and lack of being surrounded by my comfort things. Like when getting ready for church, only I am getting ready for change in environment. If you anticipate the change and say, in your mind, OK, be prepared to tune out noise, tune out distractions (unless safety-related), you are in control of your reactions better. Then figure out how better to react! When noise bothers me now, I think of Barry Manilow or Neil Diamond songs, or my favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, which has carried me through so many times of stress. By concentrating on something like that which you already know and enjoy, you are removing the impetus of the bad thing. Maybe it is just how my mind works, but this works for me, after over 10 years of tinnitus and hyperacusis, I had to figure out something!

@colleenyoung Thanks for asking. Up thru night and took plain Tylenol, morning started out same as yesterday but will not be taking muscle relaxant again any time soon. I ended up phoning Telehealth latrer in day, free talk with nurse through government here in Ontario and I explained not urgent but told her what has been happening, she was very nice and listened and did suggest I see a dr. within 3 to 4 hours; but only place to go would be Emerge and its a 4 hour wait and last time when had some horrible "spells" at home, and Dr. said go home take Tylenol, so I decided not to go and wait for my GoodDoctors.ca phone appointment and made it for mid week ... just because I spoke ot someone at government Telehealth didnt mean I would get to see a Dr. at emrge any faster and also Saturday night, .... although I understand Its difficult for an emerge Dr. , you have not been his/her patient, they are stressed re time and can be held liable for what they do... and I felt I just wanted the conversation with a nurse to see if he/she thought it urgent.... but its been a painful life for me for a long time and I think I just needed a listening ear although felt quite ill.
She did give me the phone number of a pre-grief support line in a nearby community called Warm-line and I did phone. I see they have same or similar places run by volunteers r ? in parts of USA but we have none here in town where I live... . and staffed by people who have had first hand experience of illness/to the point of thinking about suicide etc and did phone and tell my mini-story... but I dont think they can give medical advice but he said some especially living alone, of all ages, make calls sometimes every day and a different person answering the phone each evening of the week 7 days a week.
I am discouraged because even mild otc pain killers should not be taken if have narrow angle Glaucoma. I felt nauseas today too my daughter visited and said to take a travel pill..Gravool.. but even these are not recommended with Glaucoma... so I just took half of one pill, but I feel its a constant worry and wonder if am going to wake up with no vision. But that muscle relaxant did its job yesterday, too well for me, scared me as I felt like a non-feeling Zombie. Daughter said, thats the idea, Mum, I said sorry dont want to get "drugged out" to not feel pain, but is this the only way out?

Lacy, I'm glad that you were able to speak with someone at Telehealth who listened compassionately and offered a pre-grief support line. It can really help to speak to someone who has training (even volunteers are trained) to get perspective and help us focus. Stay in touch.