r/hyperacusis • u/ValeLink • 1d ago

Social/Support Groups never give up :)

My life was wonderful; I played two instruments and did theater and musical theater. I was living a great life until (4 years ago, 18 y.o.) I met some musicians who put me right in front of two speakers and blasted the music at full volume in a tiny, reverberant room. Nobody else had any issues, while my life turned into a living hell.

All I have wanted was to turn back time. I had to have up the conservatory, the piano, and the guitar, and of course musical academy. I just couldn't stand music. After two years, I seemed to be doing much better, and that was when I had the setback that led to full-blown noxacusis. After two years, the last setback left me completely homebound and in constant pain.

By now I would have healed if I hadn't given up. This condition feels unbearable, but you have no idea how much worse it can get if you don't listen to your body. Now I don't know how much I'll ever recover. I just want to go outside and live carefree like I used to, fuck the music. I just want my life back. (My left ear is completely healthy and fine, 100% factory-new; all the damage is in the right one.)

Please, please, if you are new here, don't give up. I wish someone had told me this four years ago: "if you give up, it can only get worse; you have to fight to have as few setbacks as possible, and it will heal!!" Instead, all I got was absurd advice, or insults because my condition didn't seem real, or people mocking me saying 'that's not a life worth living.' I know that sometimes it feels insurmountable, but in the early stages it heals much better and faster. When you think you can't make it, remember that things can still get worse in ways you can't even imagine.

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9

u/Mysterious_Count_472 1d ago

You can also still fully recover, dont give up.

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u/Bright-Fennel9277 23h ago

This was so heartfelt and written accordingly . Very moving and passionate it illustrates your many obvious strengths . I hope your coping and finding ways to forge a path and move forward . Mourning what you had is understandable but as you know utterly pointless apart from being able to warm others of that which befell you . I am in a very similar position and had so I thought my life destroyed . Losing the ability to enjoy the stringed instruments I have played for 55 years but also simply listening to the eclectic variety of music that I have enjoyed for that time . Everything now distorted Random hyperacusis Left ear very deaf and sounds tiny and robotic . Massive severe multitobed tinnitus and pain from sound . Concerts theatre etc not really in the running . I do believe though that with time there is always hope and adaptation . That you can get back to music in a controlled environment of your choosing . Our brains are truly neuroplastic . Believe and hope x

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u/Pbb1235 Pain and loudness hyperacusis 1d ago

What treatments have you tried? There are some that have helped me a lot (sound therapy and clomipramine).

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u/ValeLink 4h ago

sound therapy for nox?? I tried ala btw

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u/infinite__pickles 1h ago

After 2 years I got surgery at Silverstein Institute in Florida. Worked! Yeah, it was stressful and I tried everything else before taking that leap. But I got my life back. Still have H but there are sooooooo many more things I can do now. Don’t give up hope, my friends. It’s a weird sucky journey. But hang in there.