Posted 11/17/2016 11:17 AM (GMT -8)
I went through this below data years ago for a site that included people who had sensitive ears to noise.
I'm sorry that you're going through this, and I know what you're going through. People who don't have that problem, don't really understand, but it wipes you out. And it can last for days, for week, and longer.
It is devastating. Let's see where you are in this thing.
On your first post, 11-14,
"Had to get a lower back mri, never figured I'd have to go all the way in that darned mri machine! , but she said yeah, got the ear plugs in and the noise from this mri startled me bad, this was the loudest one I've ever had done. Then I moved and it was hurting me. She said she had to put my legs up, but when they do that it increases my pain by 50%... So I was crying , hurting and so very dizzy when I got done I think I scared them...usually I get Valium but I had no driver to take me there and back and I was crying in the car driving home and it was the longest 5 minute trip home and I literally went to bed after grabbing the kleenex tissue box and just stared into space until I finally fell asleep...I'm still so startled and headachey now.
When husband got home from work I told him never again and he knows I mean it and all...told him I'd rather die than get another mri...he knows I mean that too...in so much pain...mad at my world today, and very sad... cry"
Looking up the decibels for these MRI machines, which is hard to find for they don't want to publicize it, the average MRI is about 115 decibels.
The next question is, how sensitive are your ears? We can take a quiet sound test by just reading the levels of different sounds. It says:
• Normal conversation - 60 dB
• Dishwasher - 75 dB
• Heavy city traffic or school cafeteria 85 dB
• A lawnmower - 90 dB
What is your sound tolerance level, based on the above?
If you can stand a dishwasher (75 bB), but not heavy city traffic (85 dB), then your sound tolerance level is 75 dB. If its one notch up, then your tolerance level if 85 dB.
Let's say your sound tolerance level is 85. The average MRI is 115. You're 30 dB away from being able to tolerate the MRI.
Decibels go up in multiples, not strictly by numbers. So if you can tolerate 85, then 95 dB would be way out of reach for you, not just 10 points more than you can tolerate.
But you weren't in 95 DB, you weren't in 105, you were in 115 dB.
Now you did have ear plugs. Mine protect 22 dB. Ket's say even number, yours protect 20. Twenty from 115 equals 95 decibles.
But you only tolerate 85. And the difference between 85 and 95 dB is substantial. That's where you pain is coming in.
I can even go to an ear doctor, and tell them I have sensitive ears to noise, and they can very well prescribe an MRI. Do they ask what my sound tolerance level is? No. Do they tell me how loud the MRI is? No.
And I've just told them, I have sensitive ears to noise. Oh, wow.
So it is very frustrating when the doctors themselves are contributing to this.
As for any treatment, I put a moist (wet the insert that comes with the pad, or just get a small kitchen towel or handcloth) heating pad on my ears.
I put the pad on the pillow, put my right ear on that, wrap the 22-inch long pad around the back or top of my head, and put the 2nd half of the pad on my top or left ear.
I cut the pad on "high," maybe put part of a phone book on my top hear, have a clock where I can see it, even if I lay there for 5 or 10 minutes, it helps. I try for 15, maybe go to sleep and it ends up being an hour or more.
What I think it does is, it expands the blood vessels, which puts more nutrients and oxygen into the injured area, just as a heating pad helps a sore back or leg. The moist heating pad helps me molre than a dry one.
I also use ice on my ears. I have a gel pack in the freezer, sold at drug stores, probably. Standing, I put the frozen gel pack on one ear for about a minute, with a towel keeping the cold off of my hand. Then the other ear.
What it does is, cold reduces the inflammation of a bad back, so why not an ear that's irratated? It seems to help, and it's quicker than 30 minutes with a heating pad. I use the heating pad when I lad down to go to sleep. I'm laying down anyway, and it even helps me sleep, cause I don't have to get up as much when I put the pad on my ears.
Warm water. I put some very warm water from the tap in a cup. I drink the water, which expands the blood vessels to my ears. I do that 3 or 4 times, and I can tell it helps.
On 11-15, the next day from your first post, you said, "Still shaken up today but will try to visualize how much better tomorrow will be."
So, I know, these things don't always just disappear real quickly.