u/Expensive_Stay_1235

Unfortunately, I suffered a recent setback that sent the nox in my right ear to severe levels. I can barely tolerate every day noise even with double hearing protection in this ear. I can stand maybe an hour before the burning and throbbing sets in indicating that I have used up my "battery" for this ear and another setback will occur. I started one day of clomipramine 25mg before bed and was greeted in the middle of the night with the most catastrophic tinnitus I have ever experienced. At this point if I take this drug I will need horse tranquilizers to sleep. I stopped the drug immediately and my tinnitus went to baseline in about a day. I am frustrated because left ear has no noxacusis and mild tinnitus due to the acoustic trauma from over a month ago mostly occurring on the right ear. Is this normal for this drug? I see a lot of people online describing tinnitus spikes but I am not sure if the pathology of what is going on in my ear is similar. Any advice on how to navigate this drug would be appreciated. I really need to get my life back.

Never in my life did I think that I would write this. I went to my first rock concert a little over a month ago. Since I was ignorant of how dangerous these concerts are, I did not wear hearing protection and stood closer to the front of the pit. I wake up the next day with tinnitus in a low tone of tinnitus in my right ear and muffled hearing loss. The next day, the tone is still there, but my muffled hearing loss is gone. I am reassured by the internet and other people that it should go away in a few days to a week. During this time, I keep exposing myself to loud noises, such as my HVAC and going to class, where group discussions can get loud as well. 10 days after the concert, my HVAC turns off. I am left with a high pitched hiss in both ears. At the same time, the tinnitus in my left ear seems to get louder when exposed to sound. As such, I am left with reactive multitonal tinnitus that changes constantly. The tones in my right ear are worse than my left. I turn off the HVAC and never use it again.

2 weeks later, the audiologist does a regular hearing test and finds no errors. She says to rest my ears and avoid loud sounds, and I might feel better in a few months. At the same time after 2 hours of class, I notice that my left ear is faintly throbbing. Like a 1-2/10 in pain. All of the pain so far has been delayed. Something that I can completely ignore the whole day. I freak out and start wearing earplugs to class. This goes on until about a week ago. I put on some music through a speaker at low volume. After 15 minutes the reactive tinnitus in my left ear starts, and I stop the music immediately. I notice that same throbbing from class in this ear. From here, I stop listening to music. Finally, a few days ago, I go to the library to study. Above me is a soft AC unit. This triggers my reactive tinnitus, and I feel that same very faint throb a little after. At this point, I go home to my apartment and don't leave. My refrigerator starts buzzing, like a refrigerator would normally would. I am in the same room about 20 feet away with earplugs in and hear the buzzing for a good 10 minutes. I go into my other room and take the earplugs out. Now I feel a 3/10 throbbing in my right ear. At this point, I can officially declare the feeling as pain. It is very slight, very ignorable, but it is there.

At this point, I don't know what to do. I have spent the last few days in my room with earplugs in. I can still expose myself to most sounds that are not consistent for long periods of time. Like talking and most household activities. For the most part, as long as the sound isn't constantly going, I am ok. I have to go to class tomorrow so I will see what happens. Also, for some reason the nox in my left ear has gone away. However, I have decided that if at any point I experience pain that I will leave immediately. I genuinely don't know what to do with my life now. Maybe I'm worried about nothing and have fear mongered myself from the countless hours I have spent reading about it. I'm seeing an ear specialist this week but based on all the research I have done on this condition I know that they can't do anything. I am debating whether to take a leave of absence from my school. If I did do that, I would need to wait a full year to come back based on how my program works. Maybe if I spent the time in silence and then slowly worked my way into sound things might improve. What do I do about work if I lose my current career path? I need to know what types of jobs I can do so at the bare minimum I can support myself. I have read horror stories about what this condition can turn into. At this point, I don't know if I should cut my losses now or trek forward and see what happens. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: I might be getting nox and I am not sure if I should cut my losses now or wait and see what happens.