Increase in tinnitus after helicopter tour

When I was 22 a kid fired an assault rifle next to my left ear without hearing protection. Next day my Tinnitus started in my left ear. I had mild hearing loss in my left ear according to the hearing test at the 4000 hz. After a few months I was able to overcome the anxiety and for the most part the T wasn’t an issue, however for years I had sensitive ears to loud noise. Then in 2013 I took ibpurofen 800mg three times a day. After a few days my ears were very sore, I had Hyperacusis and started having T in my right ear. This time I struggled with anxiety, sleep deprivation, and suicidal thoughts. After months the T wasn’t too much of an issue. I still was sensitive to loud and now moderate loudness. But I continued to get better and this past year 2017 until March 2018 for the most part my ears werent an issue. I could go days if not weeks without noticing my T and if I did it didn’t really bother me. My T was mainly in my left ear, I didn’t really notice anymore in my right ear.

Well I just went to Hawaii and did a helicopter tour. I covered my ears boarding the flight and put their noise cancelling headphones on. When the pilot took off I noticed this loud squealing sound that fluctuated with the speed of the blades. It was very loud but I couldn’t hear the blades very much so I figured the noise cancelling was doing it’s job. However 15 mins in my ears hurt and I got nauseas. Figuring it was just the flight that made me sick I finished the tour. Getting off I plugged my ears, took a quick pic in front of the idling helicopter without covering my ears then went to the car.

Symptoms, I had muffled hearing getting to the car. No increase in my T.

After taking a nap we went to the beach, the radio hurt my ears so I turned it down, muffled hearing was gone after my nap.

Throughout the week in Hawaii my T seemed to fluctuate as well as my ear sensitivity. Sometimes it felt like my head was buzzing.

Well the tour was Tuesday morning and come Sunday afternoon I noticed pressure and a fluid feeling in both ears laying on the beach. Next morning on Monday I woke up to very loud T in both ears. My ears were very sensitive. We walked along the beach that day and the wind was whistling in my left ear. That night we flew home and my ears hurt very bad, like an achy nerve all the way down my neck into my chest.

It’s now Saturday so a week and a half since my helicopter tour, looks like the headset was malfunctioning and caused me to have more hearing loss. I struggle to hear conversations now  with background noise. Both ears are ringing with a high hard to mask ring and my left also has a lower frequency as well. 

Now that I’ve done my research I realize I have further hearing loss, my left ear ismoderate at 4000hz and my right mild to 4000hz. My ears are in constant pain and often my left neck hurts as well. The anxiety is starting to kick in and I’m not sleeping well. 

My T was all but gone in my life and my Hyperacusis. Now it’s all back and worse in both ears. 

How well did you guys habituated to your T and H after your second, third, forth etc incident? I’m convinced that life is just noisy and no matter how well you try to protect your hearing there will always be things out of your control. Did most of your T return to previous baseline or was it louder each time and you just get use to it?

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