Temporary hypersensitivity vs. hyperacusis

@cudabinacontenda, you're asking all the right questions. Allow me to bring in a few members like @lacy2 @wayfarer @mzhp1988 @mikepa @nurseheadakes @lhester10 who have experience with hyperacusis and who may be able to shed some light or share their experiences.

What next steps did the audiologist suggest?

Preservation of your ears is goal number one. Staying away from loud noises in any environment should be your immediate response right now. Allowing your brain time off to heal would help along with high end prebiotics and probiotics. The communications between your gut and brain has been noted to work on each others behalf. If you have pain with any type of loud noise, you more than likely have hyperacusis. Then it behooves you to protect your ears always with ear plugs & hearing aids that take this into consideration and walking away from anything that is too noisy. When I have my MRA's done, I don't wear the headphones, I wear my expensive hearing plugs that tune out the noises. That way I don't make my tinnitus or hearing loss worse. I learned this by experience from years ago. Eloise

Thank you, Colleen and Eloise. I was pretty disappointed with my care, so I’m looking for a new doctor. His response was that MRI hearing loss is uncommon, and he didn’t think it was that. He then went on to diagnose ETD, which may or not be a complicating factor, but clearly not the catalyst. He told me it’s all psychological (given that my audiology test was mostly in normal ranges) and to try to get back to normal life as much as possible. He did give me a referral for hyperacusis counseling, and I’ve already reached out. It’s been really tough protecting my ears without shutting down my life because I live in New York City. I’ve been doing my best to avoid loud sounds and wear ear protection outside. Even in the house it’s difficult. Yesterday, I accidentally knocked the toilet seat down, and it made the loudest clatter. I’ve read not to shut out all sound cuz that’s bad for brain conditioning. I put classical music on low volume to keep my ears active but not in distress. The last complicating factor was that I went through the first ten days of this ordeal with Covid and all the respiratory complications including sinus pressure. I’ve been absolutely miserable. I’ll likely go for another hearing test this week because I’m pretty skeptical of single opinions, especially of my current doc.

Hi cu I have hyperacusis and tinnitus. I also went for an unrelated MRI. They provided me with regulation ear muffs but shortly after I stopped the MRI. It was too loud. I won’t take a chance with anything that could even remotely affect my hearing. Apparently you can reduce hyperacusis by conditioning your ear by beginning slowly to increase your sound tolerance by listening to slightly louder sounds.slowly. Mine is improved partly because I have old age hearing loss which is a two sided blessing.

You were very smart, Willows. I was in such a bad state, I didn’t protect myself.

I worry that some day some doctor is going to tell me I must have an MRI. It could be a matter of life or death. In that case I will buy foam ear plugs, insert and make sure they are fully open then put on regulation ear muffs that the hospital has approved for MRI use, and tell the radiologist or whoever is administering the MRI not to play any music through the ear muffs and realize that with the foam earplugs I won’t be able to hear their voice so to keep quiet.I am sorry you are in a bad place right now but in my experience tinnitus tends to have bad an somewhat better periods. Hyperacusis can also be improved over time.

Thank you for your kind words, Willows, and your plan for yourself sounds good. I have had MRIs before, but never was my head enclosed in the tube. Either my legs were in or for my shoulders it was an open machine. I also didn’t know that they come in two different magnet types: 1.5T and 3T, with the latter being much louder. I was in a 3T unfortunately, likely had never been. So I was caught off guard by the noise and, as I said, immobilized by claustrophobia and exhausted by COVID, so I just lacked the wherewithal to protect myself. It was only an 8-minute screen too, which put me further off-guard as it put in my brain that it would be over quickly.

Would you share where you bought ‘expensive hearing plugs that tune out the noises?”. I’ve been trying to find really good ones to no success. Thank you.

Sure - your can ask your audiologist for suggestions on which hearing plugs to purchase since there are many different types and kinds to buy. If you look online - you can find simple ones that are cheap and only mute a small amount of dBs of sound. Expensive plugs that are custom made for musicians are excellent since they allow the them to hear their music but screen out the loudness of noise that hurts their ear drums. Familiarize yourself with what is available on the internet and what your hearing health provider gives you to read and then you can decide what you need to screen out what is damaging to your ears. Or, avoid the noise altogether if at all possible. There are National guidelines established on what is acceptable for how much noise the brain can take and for how long. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/infographic-noiselevels.html

Jayne, if you’re shopping for foam plugs online, you may have to try different brands due to the particular shape of your ear-canal opening. What works best for me are the 3M E-A-R cordless plugs. I couldn’t get a proper seal with the Mack’s brand. Per @nurseheadakes’ comment, I’m also considering custom ones but waiting to see if my hyperacusis improves on its own before making that investment.