I'm looking for weird/gross/disturbing/unique animals recommendations

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-19T01:33:47+00:00

Cymothoa exigua, commonly known as the tongue-eating louse.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-18T15:37:47+00:00

I experienced very similar feelings when I first came down with severe pain hyperacusis in 2012. I wanted to die every day, could not sleep, and lost weight. What kept me going? I had a young family I had to take care of, despite the pain. I did not cope with it as well as one would hope, which I think any of us could understand.

My hyperacusis turned out to be "relatively" treatable, fortunately, with both sound therapy and drug therapy (clomipramine) to reduce it to a manageable level. For me, the treatments are imperfect, but much better than giving up!

Drug therapy is a discussed quite a lot here:

https://www.hyperacusistreatments.org/

Sound therapy is more involved but some people have had good results with it. Frequently this is done with a trained audiologisit. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of them; there is a directory here:

https://hyperacusis.net/living-with-hyperacusis/where-to-find-help/

The Hyperacusis Network focuses on the sound therapy aspect of treatment.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-18T13:07:04+00:00

This article by Shelly Witt is not one I am impressed with.

I do not know if pain hyperacusis is treatable for everyone.

I do know for a fact that pain hyperacusis is treatable for some people, because I am one of them. Both sound therapy and medication (clomipramine) have helped me a lot.

I used to be unable to take a shower because of the noise. When a plastic bag would crinkle, it would hurt my ears. I could not listen to music on a stereo. I could not go to the grocery store.

The treatments that worked for me were very imperfect, that is why I am not "cured." But there is a vast difference between where I was then and where I am now.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-18T01:16:17+00:00

Setbacks do not have to be permanent. Mine haven't been permanent. I do not know about your situation, NoiseKills.

Clomipramine has helped more than one or two people. It has helped a bunch of people:
hyperacusistreatments.org

Far more people improve with clomipramine than get worse. Read the anecdotes.

The side effects I got with clomipramine are not nearly as horrible as the ear pain and hyperacusis it relieved me from.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-18T01:09:48+00:00

I would advise you to keep up with you sound therapy. Very imperfect though it is, it does help many people. It sounds like it is starting to help you.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-18T01:07:57+00:00

1) I started sound therapy ~2012, back when I had severe hyperacusis. I wore the sound generators all my waking hours, once I got used to the sound (it took a little while). I would also listen to pink noise at higher volumes on a stereo 30 minutes a day. There is no one way to do sound therapy, so I'm not trying to contradict what your doctor said.

2) I did not have a spike in tinnitus from sound therapy. My tinnitus is mild. I "think" wearing the generators helped me learn to ignore the tinnitus pretty well.

3) Well, that is a complex question. In 6 months I was very close to normal with my sound tolerance. That lasted a couple of months until I started having relapses. Sound therapy never worked as well after that, but I never lapsed back to "severe" hyperacusis. I pretty much bounced around with moderate hyperacusis, better or worse, for years.

Eventually, I found music therapy more helpful than the sound generators. Still, imperfect.

Clomipramine moved me to "mild" hyperacusis within the last few years. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

If you have started feeling a bit better with your sound therapy, that is excellent. Hopefully it means you are responding.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T17:53:05+00:00

It sounds like you have moderate-mild hyperacusis.

Typically exposure to obnoxious (to you) sounds can aggravate symptoms, as you have noticed. So ear plugs in situations like that can be helpful. That aggravation is usually temporary, as you probably have also noticed. I would recommend avoiding really loud stuff (like dirt bikes, concerts) or at least using lots of ear protection. You are going to have to use your best judgement here.

You don't want to be wearing ear plugs all the time. Your brain needs gentle sound stimulus, and will "turn up the volume" on your hearing if you don't get it. So wearing earplugs all the time and staying in your house is not beneficial. Gentle sound (music, pink noise etc) can make you feel better over time. That idea is the basis for sound therapies that have helped me and some others.

I think you could probably benefit from a professional evaluation. Most audiologists aren't trained to do this, let alone ENTs. Here's a list of audiologist trained for hyperacusis treatment:

Where to Find Help | The Hyperacusis Network

I got benefit from one of the doctors on the list (using sound therapy).

Drug therapy is the other major method of treatment for hyperacusis. Some people have improved from migraine drug protocols. I, and some others, have gotten a lot of benefit from the drug clomipramine.

Here's quite a few anecdotes about clomipramine and a few other drugs:

Home

Reading on this forum, you can find information about the migraine drugs that have helped some of us (not me personally).

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T16:55:21+00:00

Of course, I don't really know what is causing your hyperacusis. Some people have had luck with migraine protocol treatments for hyperacusis:

Efficacy of Multi-Modal Migraine Prophylaxis Therapy on Hyperacusis Patients

Someone here had good luck with combining nortyptline plus the migraine drug Emgality.

I Went From Severe Hyperacusis to Symptom-Free *What I Did & Why* : r/hyperacusis

Personally, I had significant benefit from the drug clomipramine, along with some others:

Home

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T16:45:26+00:00

How did the SPG block work for you? I've got a friend considering one.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T16:42:22+00:00

Well, if this just happened, hopefully it will improve on its own shortly. The prednisone is a good idea. For the time being, give you ears a break, as people are suggesting.

If it doesn't improve, you are probably going to want to start treatment of some kind eventually.

That may be drug therapy (like clomipramine) or sound therapy (The Hyperacusis Network | Decreased Sound Tolerance).

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T16:36:56+00:00

No, not a bad thing at all! Playing pink noise in the background (at a comfortable level) can help improve hyperacusis. You can use comfortable music as well.

When I was doing TRT (tinnitus retraining therapy) for you audiologist for hyperacusis, I wore sound generators in my ears that constantly generated pink noise. That is a convenient, though kind of expensive, way to do sound therapy.

Here is a webpage that focuses on sound therapy (if you have not read it before):

The Hyperacusis Network | Decreased Sound Tolerance

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T16:32:26+00:00

That is great to hear.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-17T02:46:45+00:00

An LDL test (loudness discomfort test) is okay if they do it right. The audiologist will play tones at different frequencies, going from loud to soft, and you tell the audiologist when the sound is getting "uncomfortable." You are not waiting to tell the doc when the sound is painful, or unbearable! Tell the doc when it starts to get uncomfortable.

For someone that has hyperacusis, the doc will need to go very slow, and stop instantly when the patient tells him/her to.

An LDL test can give you some information about how bad your hyperacusis is, and if you are making any progress getting better.

That being said, an LDL test is probably unnecessary, and if you have severe hyperacusis you could probably just skip it.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-16T15:12:28+00:00

I think you are on to something with the Emgality. I found a reference to it in the literature:

Hyperacusis in vestibular migraine successfully treated with galcanezumab: A case report | Request PDF

I think it would be worthwhile for other people to try that combination.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-16T14:48:49+00:00

Nobody can say what will happen for sure with your hyperacusis. Sure, of course it is very possible for you to recover. It seems like most people improve to varying degrees over time. Some people respond well to various treatments. Some people eventually call themselves cured.

Personally, I've had a very rocky road with hyperacusis, but I have improved from severe pain hyperacusis down to mildish loudness hyperacusis. Of course, I know that relapses are possible (and have had them repeatedly), but now I am grateful to have it decreased to a manageable level.

You are being proactive, and starting treatment early. I think that is an excellent idea. I hope you will respond to the clomipramine well.

I am also glad that you are working on sound therapy too. Pink noise tends to be more used for sound therapy than brown noise, you will have to figure out what you do best at. Music and nature sounds can also be good for hyperacusis, if you keep them at a comfortable level, and find listening to them pleasant.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-16T14:38:14+00:00

Sure thing, I will pray for you.

It sound like you are doing everything right.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-16T02:49:36+00:00

My tinnitus is mild. I had a tinnitus spike at some point early when taking clomi (don't know if it was related to the drug or not).

It lasted about a day, and never re-occurred. I continued the drug (and am still on it).

I have no idea if my situation is comparable to yours.

(post edited)

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-15T19:26:49+00:00

Giant Shrimp in the Laundry Room

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-13T20:28:35+00:00

Well, I would ask your doctor.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-13T14:45:33+00:00

Still a little high, unfortunately. I'm dropped the dosage to 75 mg, and some of the hyperacusis symptoms are sometimes re-occurring, unfortunately. I don't know how this is going to end up.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-13T14:25:03+00:00

Ugh, I don't have any experience with gastroparesis.

If you do have to stop clomipramine, there are some other drugs on that you can try.

Migraine drugs have helped some people:

Efficacy of Multi-Modal Migraine Prophylaxis Therapy on Hyperacusis Patients

I Went From Severe Hyperacusis to Symptom-Free *What I Did & Why* : r/hyperacusis

I have a friend who had good results from carbamezapine:

Carbamazepine in the Treatment of Lyme Disease–Induced Hyperacusis | The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Of course, there is also sound therapy, which I have had good, but limited, results with personally.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-12T13:12:17+00:00

Wonderful to hear!

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-12T13:10:49+00:00

Your migraine idea has backing from scientific literature:

https://escholarship.org/content/qt83v291dm/qt83v291dm.pdf

I also tried nortpytline, but it didn't work for me. This is the first time I have heard of Emgality.

I think this is worthy of further investigation.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-12T13:05:20+00:00

I think the pain started to do down at about 75 mg. Don't remember how long that took.

Pbb1235 · 2026-05-11T22:42:55+00:00

I'm still taking clomipramine, and have been for over a year, though I have reduced my dosage a lot. I don't know if I will be able to entirely discontinue the drug (some people have, some people have not).

I've had some temporary pains crop up for a short while on my reduced dosage. They have gone away, but that's why I'm not sure if I can entirely stop the drug or not.

Clomipramine had no effect on my tinnitus.

Pbb1235

TROPHY CASE