When I fix things in my house I usually wear ear muffs -- and gloves. Not sure I would have, just for tinkering with the toilet tank, but I will now! (It's amazing how many things can go wrong and hurt you.)
And goggles of course!
I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
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Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#32Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
As Cian pointed out: high-dose steroids.
Why do they help?
I don't know if it's conclusively known, other than inflammation in response to the injury tends to exacerbate the damage to the inner ear.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#34> An audiologist friend told me to go to an ENT physician if not better by 48 hours or the damage could be permanent. Much longer than that and it would be too late to try any of the interventions This seems like poor advice. If there is significant, realistic concern about permanent damage, I'd suggest checking immediately, rather than give it extra time...
Yes, I always find it amazing how patients can have a sudden sensorineural hearing loss and wait days before presenting. In my opinion patients and the public should treat it as urgently as a sudden sight loss. High dose steroids are regularly prescribed in this sort of scenario in an attempt to minimize damage, and are likely to be more effective the sooner they are given.
After hurting my neck in the shower,
Me calling primary care: The earliest we can see you is next Tuesday
Me skipping primary care & going to ER instead: After a 2 hour wait, I get condescendingly asked: why didn't you go to your primary care?
That's why patients wait days before presenting.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#35> An audiologist friend told me to go to an ENT physician if not better by 48 hours or the damage could be permanent. Much longer than that and it would be too late to try any of the interventions This seems like poor advice. If there is significant, realistic concern about permanent damage, I'd suggest checking immediately, rather than give it extra time...
Yes, I always find it amazing how patients can have a sudden sensorineural hearing loss and wait days before presenting. In my opinion patients and the public should treat it as urgently as a sudden sight loss. High dose steroids are regularly prescribed in this sort of scenario in an attempt to minimize damage, and are likely to be more effective the sooner they are given.
I experienced an audio trauma when I was 17. Tinnitus followed. Parents told me "let's wait a week or two and if it isn't gone away then we'll make an appointment". Once the verdict of definitive hear loss and permanent noise was confirmed my dad told me: "don't stay too close to hammers next time".
To this day I still wait until I can't move/breath/feel to go to the doctor.
edit: unfordable health care and/or bad money education is how people end up putting health to the bottom of the list.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#36Damn, this is one smart plumber.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#37This is a neat story, but I continue to wonder why people use "tweetstorms" to write long-form stuff like that.
I kind of prefer it. my eyes get lost when going to next line in large blocks of text.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I like features like "paragraphs" that are not possible in this form.
People can and do use line breaks in tweets, but if you think of each tweet as a paragraph it makes sense too.
You could do that, but nobody would think an essay was good if it were written with no transitions and mechanically started a new paragraph every few sentences.
Re: I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet
#39I wonder if another issue is that the hard surfaces of the typical bathroom would make the energy reflect more before dissipating. Even worse if the dimensions of the bathroom lead to resonances with 3.5kHz.
Bathrooms are famously reflective, producing the reverberation that makes shower singing sound palatable.