Holy jeez! My head is ringing!

Lately, whenever I play my bass, no matter what the volume, I develop tremendous headaches and a ringing in my ears shortly afterwards. I think I have heard about bass frequencies effing with your body and it's mechanisms at one time or another -- is this what is happening to me? Would earplugs prevent this, or am I actually getting "sick" from the frequencies as opposed to the sound? Is it a question of where I stand while I am playing? Is playing without earplugs for so long making me more sensitive to sound? Has anyone else ever experienced something similar to this?

 

Well, I didn't think I was playing that loud, but my girlfriend corrected me! I guess my hearing has been damaged to the point where what might be too loud for someone else, is "comfortable" for me. Although, after I'm done playing, I have to suffer with these headaches (how comfortable can it be, right?). I would wear earplugs onstage, but I have yet to find any that work for me. Most of them muffle everything, instead of just cutting the volume. I will do a search for "earplugs" and "ear monitors," but are there any of the above that you guys swear by?

Also, my band doesn't use monitors, so it's hard to hear the other members sometimes, even without earplugs. Except for the drummer -- he has recently started bashing the sh*t out of his cymbals. I can always hear him!

 

Jeez! I hope not!