I have written a couple times in the past few years about how noise gets the best of me. I am not sure why but loud sounds drive me and my meniere's disease crazy. The other day I took my son to the local indoor pool so he could swim. For now I have pretty much given up on swimming but I still enjoy watching my son in the water. There was a birthday party going on and the place was filled with children and as expected they were very loud. Usually I can muddle through and put up with the noise but for some reason it was particularly brutal that day. At one point I had to get up and walk into another room to get away from the noise.
The strange part of it is that I have lost a good deal of my hearing so it doesn’t seem to make sense that the noise would have that great effect on me. But then again after all the gent injections that I have had and the many Meniere’s attacks I believe that my ears have become extremely sensitive. I’m not sure but I think so. Another thing about noise is that it contributes to the headaches that I have been having lately.
As usual with Meniere’s disease so many things seem to be a mystery.
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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16 comments:
I also have trouble with loud noises, especially when my hearing is down. (one ear is always down, but one still fluctuates a lot)
High frequencies just kill me. Like lot's of kids talking and screaming like they do at parties, and some music just kills me.
My doctor said that it's not unusual.
FYI- I'm going in for another Lumbar Puncture on Friday and possibly more spinal cord patches. (they think the original blood patches didn't hold, that's why my symptoms have returned. Hopefully, I'll be back on my way to being on the mend soon.)
Loud noices bother me too, not always but in my bad periods. Then I get more dizzy from the loud noices or even from talking in the phone. I think it´s called recruitment and is something about the hearing cells in the innerear. When some cells stop working others will do their job instead, but with not the same result and not pitching the exact frequences you are hearing. This makes distortion and sensibility for sounds. I´ve tried to find more about it on the web - but it´s hard.
I manage by turning off my hearing aid - that is a very positive thing with using them :)
Susanna
Loud noises bother me now, too; they are quite painful to my affected ear. It seems as if the inner ear somehow magnifies the sound and makes it reverberate in my head, and it's awful. It's not "hearing," as such, but the sound is definitely being transmitted to my brain, and not in a good way. I have no explanation for that.
Even worse is being in a room where a lot of people are talking at once. I can't distinguish one voice from another very well now, and it's extremely frustrating. There are a lot of places I simply don't go any more, because I know there will be a lot of jumbled noise. Train stations, airports, etc., even a mall can be a nightmare. As for parties... forget about it. :(
If anyone has a solution for this, I'd love to know. But for now, I really empathize with you, David.
The hearing in my left ear is basically shot now, however I have terrible hearing distortion when in a room where several people are talking, or restaurants where dishware is clattering.
I've also noticed that any machines running causes distorted hearing for me.
Even the dishwasher bugs me.
In crowded areas it feels like I am under sound attack. Makes me feel like I need to duck and cover my head.
My surgery is tomorrow and I can only hope that it might help the distorted hearing...which is disabling all on it's own.
Meniere's shows itself to us in so many different ways..it is frustrating for sure!
I understand what you mean David, about hearing loss..and yet not being able to tolerate some of what you do hear.
It's a daily battle.
Take care everyone...I will check back in after surgery.
Oops...sorry, forgot to add in my last post...
I tried using a well fitting ear plug in my "bad" ear to cut down on the distortion so I could join my large and loud family for Christmas...and It actually did help some.
Worth trying!
Lauri
@Wendy,
Kids at parties and the noise they make is also a problem for me.
Good luck on your lumbar puncture on Friday
Thanks
David
@Susanna
Thanks for the information and comment
David
@Peggy,
It does seem to bother a lot of us. I know what you mean about ‘jumbled noise’
Thanks
David
@Laura,
Good luck on your surgery tomorrow I hope everything works out fine. That is interesting about your experience with an ear plug I might have to give that a try.
Thanks
David
I got hit with this mess out of the blue last August ... hot & dehydrated, stressed (from trying to carry the load of 3 people, and very little sleep. Apparently it was the trifecta. But once I went down I couldn't shake it off, but did have good enough days to keep going after a few weeks.
The first extra curricular was to sell cub scout popcorn in front of a Kroger. That was being renovated. With jack hammers. It nearly killed me. I did go into the store right away and buy ear plugs which was the only thing that saved me. I wore them again at a parade the next week.
And now I make sure I have ear plugs everywhere. I also bought some musician's ear plugs and a pair of Combat Arms shooter's ear plugs which have both passive and filter type protection (can hear speech but not loud sudden sounds). Will choose depending on expected environment, but the foam ones are in my cars, in my gear, etc. so I'm never without.
Regards
Laura
God helps us all , this Meiniers is dreadful and very hard to monitor. I have gone through atleast 10 knockouts in 3 years and has not been plesant. I am the centre of attention at all family and friends functions. They all ahve to prepare the food without salt to accomadate me. I have now refused to go to any function. I have the following to affect my balance , bright floors , moving in from dark areas, severe humidity , caffine, alchohol, and change in the temperature. good luck to all who have this disease.
@Laura
I can imagine that selling popcorn with cub scouts would be noisy enough but to have jackhammers going at the same time, that would really be bad. That is a good idea about the ear plugs especially a pair in the car.
thanks
David
@Michael
You really have it rough with meniere’s, 10 falls in 3 years show terrible and very dangerous. I don’t blame you about not going to functions I also don’t like to get out because I feel that I will have an attack in public (which I have) and that can be embarrassing, not to mention the way it makes you feel.
Hang in there and stay in touch
David
Recruitment/Hyperacusis
http://www.menieresinfo.com/symptoms.html#sensitivity-to-sound
I too have these problems. I have long before I had attacks (when my hearing was already going due to the disease). It is crippling as a parent sometimes. I have three teens and they were in grade school when I was diagnosed.
Hang in there, some days you just have to have ear plugs and a quiet place. I suggest silicone plugs if regular ones hurt your canals.
Sometimes it just helps to isolate for an hour with no sound this way.
you are right sometimes you just need some time and space for yourself
David
I agree... peace and quiet are essential to get your sanity and stability back. The noise fact can make you feel like you're losing your mind.
I never thought about earplugs, but I brought a pair home with me from the airplane on a recent trip, and I think I will try that. Do you use the earplug only in the affected ear, I assume?
Peggy,
that is a good question, I probably would put them in both ears, but I guess its different from person to person
David
My left ear is affected by sounds, which is interesting to me because my doctor diagnosed me with Meniere's based off of hearing loss in my right ear. It's so hard to describe but whenever I talk on my cell phone, the sound of the other person's voice speaking to me through the phone...every single syllable pulses, almost like a morse code, in my left ear. Also high pitched sounds or low vibrations drive me nuts(for ex. Pots & pans banging; high pitched crying/screaming; horns). Also low vibrations. During my testing for the hydrops to diagnose Meneire's, they played sounds/pulses in my ear using earbuds. The pulses they did that were low and fast made me want to rip the earbud out of my ear.
that is strange about your left year being sensitive while it is you right ear is the one with the meniere's. As for the phone I have a real problem with that too.
thanks for the comment
David
I had Menieres so badly that I was basically deaf in one ear with very strong pulsatory tinnitus all the time. I was having debilitating attacks every few days. Menieres was really starting to ruin my life. The drugs and low sodium, no-caffeine diet didn't help at all.
I tried the "John of Ohio" regimen 3 years ago (http://www.menieresfoundation.org/johnsregimen.htm). I was despairing of it too, but decided to stick with it for the full 4 weeks- and after the fourth were I noticed major improvement.
I don't know if it works for everyone, but I would strongly recommend trying it - it's not expensive and there is very little to lose.
I haven't had a vertigo attack for 3 years and my hearing in my affected ear has gone from almost nil to the point I can now understand a voice on a phone (just)!
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