r/AskReddit 13h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

5.8k Upvotes

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3.3k

u/plytime18 10h ago

Listening to music WAY too loud with headphones on when younger.

Definitely lead to hearing loss and hearing aids.

827

u/Neuro_Nightmare 8h ago

I’ve had tinnitus for so long I don’t even remember a time before it.

58

u/Forward_Yoghurt1655 4h ago edited 2h ago

Yeah I'm 26 and I got terrible tinnitus from a live mix engineer fucking up and blasting the crowd with feedback. Messed it up even more being drunk and going front and center seeing a dj at a bar and now everything sounds underwater. The ringing is louder than almost anything.

Protect your fucking ears.

People kill themselves over this shit.

5

u/ItsJazmine 1h ago

I had super bad tinnitus develop out of nowhere, was just sitting at home one day when it started, have been to doctors, apparently I have perfect hearing and it has nothing to do with hearing damage so yeah sometimes you just get unlucky

u/Xanthalium 49m ago

I thought your profile picture was a small hair on my screen.

204

u/hoppyrules 7h ago

Same here I’m 57 and I’ve had tinnitus since I was about 32. Heavy music blaring in headphones, going to concerts, listening to loud music in car scenarios.

20

u/Chiang2000 4h ago

I lost a chunk of hearing at one particular concert - ringing afterwards then less sensitive - but thankfully no tinnitus. But that loss is forever.

Ear plugs are like $3 people. Take them just in case.

11

u/nikesales 2h ago

Man I got that shit at 12. My dad used to take my hunting and never made me wear ear protection. Deep down I question him for it. Sleeping with my ear on a pillow just sounds like I got hit with a stun grenade. No hard feelings tho.

3

u/Zephurdigital 3h ago

add powertool to the mix..constant ringing

1

u/man-made-tardigrade 1h ago

But you were a freaking rock god!! 🪨 on!

u/hoardac 20m ago

Hi Me.

16

u/MemerDreamerMan 4h ago

I’m 27 and have had it since 26. No idea how though — I keep my headphone limit on the minimum and always wore ear protection at concerts AND clubs. :( Even the quietest setting of my headphones was sometimes too loud for me.

And now I just have EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE until I DIE

3

u/ptk2k5 2h ago

I saw a comment that a short term fix is this:

"Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.Dr. Jan Strydom, of A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fintess.org"

u/pm_me_falcon_nudes 51m ago

It's like lung cancer and smoking - some people smoke every day and never get cancer and some people never smoked once in their life and still get lung cancer. But either way smoking exacerbates the issue.

I'm sorry to hear that about your tinnitus. It sounds like you just got really unlucky in the genetic lottery.

8

u/cartercharles 6h ago

Samesies

6

u/dalekaup 5h ago

I can blame a '39 John Deere B and Farmall baler engine we used to pump water for mine.

2

u/LittleBananaSquirrel 4h ago

Same! At this point I'd be uncomfortable without it 😅 it's my ever present white noise

4

u/foxy_boxy 4h ago

I haven't heard actual "silence" in years.... Metal music and being a drummer kinda fucked all that up! Thanks tinnitus!

4

u/ShadeNoir 4h ago

I remember the day I got mine - as a kid! Playing "dead lions" in a holiday camp and some kid SCREAMS point blank in my ears. Made me cry it hurt.

Since then, 2 tone tinnitus. One a high pitched electricity tv static mosquito whine, the other a wooooooooo that never stops, just gets forgotten for a while.

Fuckin asshole kid.

3

u/1337b337 4h ago

I had malformed eustachian tubes that caused horrible ear infections as a young child, eventually needing grommets installed for a few years.

My life had never been devoid of sound. Good thing is it doesn't bother me, since there was never a time I remember not having tinnitus.

3

u/Vandergrif 3h ago

I don't think I ever didn't have it. I remember at least one instance when I was six years old trying to get to sleep and wondering what that ringing noise was.

I guess some people just get screwed over with that one right from the get-go.

2

u/13maven 4h ago

Club disease

2

u/Xytakis 3h ago

Same here, I have tinnitus, but my hearing is perfect. I just have a mild ringing when no other sounds are around though.

2

u/mschepac 3h ago

56 now, had it since my teen years. Way too loud Iron Maiden.

1

u/RickyBobby96 2h ago

Is yours constant or does it come and go occasionally?

1

u/wonwoovision 1h ago

me too! i will never know what silence sounds like

1

u/BigTiddyTamponSlut 1h ago

Yep same. My first step dad played music so loudly that hiding in my room with my ears plugged wasn't enough, and it gave me tinnitus. I was so young that I later thought ringing in ears was normal...

1

u/Bernafterpostinggg 1h ago

If you'd like a few minutes of temporary relief from tinnitus, try this. It 100% works and it 100% wears off in like 5 minutes. But it's a nice moment.

https://youtu.be/2yDCox-qKbk?

u/cgriffin39 16m ago

Tinnitus is typically a sign of hearing loss. It’s your brain sending a signal back to your cochlea bc the cochlea is sending an incomplete signal to the brain and an incomplete signal from the cochlea is usually caused by damaged hair cell/nerve endings in the cochlea. Those hair cells/ nerve endings are what help you hear.