Posted on 03/25/2011 6:55:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
I got 10% for tinnitus and 30% for hearing loss + some hi quality hearing aids.
Now if you'll excuse me I think I hear the phone ringing. :)
We need more cowbell.
Well, there is that, too, LOL.
no, 10% total...I had a documented 10% hearing loss from the time I came in till I discharged....I am now legally deaf...the military stand is that once you are removed from the noise, the loss stops....in actuality, it continues on....had to jump through hoops just to get the va to determine that..at least I am in the system, and if my income drops below a certain level, I can get medical care for free, and pay for it if my incomes goes up...hell, all I wanted for the va to buy my hearing aids...
I run a table fan in the bedroom at night...you will have to find the one with the right pitch for your ringing, but it will mask the sound when you find the right one
VA tends to not want to buy hearing aids for vets. $$$. And the quality is lacking according to some of my readings.
I do find it interesting that VA combines the tinnitus rating into one. They don’t do that with eyes, arms, legs. Legislation has been submitted (in the past) to correct this, but never got off the ground.
Well, that's a relief -- I guess...
I always thought my tinnitus was left-over damage from my ringing ears after many hours of shooting jackrabbits as a young man.
The government was trying to stop Bubonic Plague in the New Mexican Jackrabbit population by asking folks to kill as many of the ubiquitous varmints as possible. (The theory was, with few jackrabbits, the plague-bearing fleas couldn't spread and propagate.)
So, every evening, four of us would take our .22 pistols / revolvers and spotlights, and drive out into the young alfalfa fields along the Pecos river. After rolling our windows down and sitting quietly for a few minutes, we would switch the lights on, and the fields would be full of jackrabbits -- sticking up like white posts. Then the shooting started.
Think about it: with four people shooting through the open windows of one car, every shooter has someone else's muzzle blasting away only a few feet from his head -- no matter where he is seated...
At the time, we had never heard of (much less knew where to buy) hearing protectors, And, being young and "invincible", we laughed off the fact that we had to shout our conversations on our way back into town.
Well, none of us are laughing now; the constant "ringing" in our ears isn't funny!
I suppose we should be consoled by the idea that our brains are just "mis-wired" and by the silly hope that a magnet near our skulls might undo the physical damage we inflicted on ourselves 'way back when we were young and "bulletproof"... '-(
I have a mild case of tinnitus too. My left ear is worse than my right, and I think much of mine was caused from tractors without mufflers on the farm. We had to watch the back implements over our right shoulder, so the left ear was exposed to much more noise.
I always wear hearing protection when hunting, but late one evening we were cleaning doves on a tank dam. I had already taken my plugs out, and my cousin saw some doves coming right at us. He fired his shotgun with the muzzle about three feet from my left ear.
These days the kids that have stereo systems that rattle their cars and the windows in your house will be in trouble by age 30 or so. The kid across the street and his buddy both have small SUVs, and most of the part behind the rear seat is nothing but speakers.
I’ve had tinnitus for about 2 years now. No known cause. sometimes it’s just age— I’m 44. I joined the American Tinnitus Association so I can keep tabs on research and developments of cures/treatments. I don’t think the ATA recommends acupuncture as a legitimate therapy, but I wouldn’t interfere with someone’s personal quest to find relief.
Anyone with tinnitus that bothers then should SERIOUSLY read this article.
http://www.tinnitus.org/home/frame/THC1.htm
I personally think it may be nerve pinching from the C discs in the neck. I’ve not had your fire arm experiences, etc, but have tinnitus in both ears...My C-4-7 are bone on bone and the ringing started about the same time as the head and neck pain began.
I’ve a nerve block scheduled for the 31st, it will be interesting to see if the tinnitus eases up. I just want it to stop the arm and neck pain. But having it stop the tinnitus would be a plus.
I get ringing in my ears if I take too much aspirin. I think some people are genetically prone to it (and since my Dad has it, that makes sense). I didn’t know about Pepto. I hope yours goes away, hopefully you just have some acute damage. Sheesh, what an idiot, I don’t know what people like that pilot are thinking.
I have another sound in my ear for the past year, they are calling it tinnitus, but it doesn’t sound like it at all, and it comes and goes. I think it’s more like hearing my pulse in my ear. Really sounds more like I hear a humming bird. But, I’ve given up worrying about things. As long as the Dr. knows about things and isn’t worried, there doesn’t seem to be much point in me worrying about it.
My Dad worked on the flightline, I’m sure his hearing loss and tinnitus is related to that, but at his age, I guess it’s not an issue. The bad thing is that with the tinnitus it makes hearing aids not as effective.
Typically, about 17% of people won’t get much of a response from any given therapy, which fits the standard distribution curve to a ‘t’. I knew a woman who went to a top notch acupuncture MD, and he might as well have been inserting needles into a mannequin. Even he was impressed by her complete lack of response.
Traditional Chinese medicine evolved regionally, with acupuncture favored in one region, herbalism in another, and more conventional massage, along with moxibustion (vacuum cups) in a third, because each form of medicine was best for that region. Over a long time, they really figured out some neat tricks, and, once stripped of mysticism, noted some biological processes that still haven’t been figured out in the west.
Well, if first you don’t succeed, in this case you might try Chinese herbalism. One herbal formula that might be available at a Chinese herbal store, used for tinnitus and deafness:
Mingmu Dihuang Wan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingmu_Dihuang_Wan
And patience is a virtue with this one, as it is noted that it takes a while for it to have effect.
High quality Ginko helped mine.
I can recommend an oto-neurologist Dr. Michael Robb who helped me.
For ambient sound I use Petroff DTM-6a.
Thanks for the info.
My dad suffered from it after a munitions explosion near his anti-aircraft gun position on a destroyer outside of Japan during WW-II........
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