My experience - sudden deafness

[shootingstar99]

Hi all - I have been enjoying reading this forum for a couple of weeks and thought I might share my experience with sudden deafness.

In about Sept 09 things were going pretty badly with me. I woke up one morning feeling terrible and was considering not going to work when my Dad called to let me know that my grandmother had passed away the night prior. I jumped in the car and headed off to be with my family which is about a 5 hour drive from my home. In hindsight I think I was pretty sick with something but I guess some adrenaline meant I just pushed through it.

I can't exactly recall when but shortly after I remember noticing my ears felt plugged up and I couldn't hear well and the ringing in my ears seemed extremely loud when I went to bed at night. I didn't pay too much attention - things weren't going well for me at the time and work was particularly stressful so I carried on. It wasn't until I missed the discussion around a fairly serious health and safety incident in the department I manage that I finally went to a local hearing clinic that I had used to have ear wax removed via suction in the past.

They checked my ears and the wax wasn't terribly bad. The nurse tested my hearing and it wasn't good. I had lost about 30db bilaterally (based on a audiogram I had done their previously). I was referred to the hospital ENT that day. After various scans tests etc they put me on steriods for about a month. Potentially the worst month of my life. I couldn't sit still my brain seemed to be racing and I couldn't sleep (not to mention the weight gain). It would have been worth it if my hearing came back but sadly it didn't and they weren't able to determine a cause. I was advised to see an audiologist.

I was very pleased to find out that in NZ there is some funding to help people get hearing aids if it is to enable them to stay employed. Unfortunately the waiting list for the funding was about 2 years! After a concerted effort to plead my case via a stream of letter writing I was able to get some urgent funding.

About two weeks ago I was fitted with Siemens Pure 700 RIC. Wow have to say I am loving being back in the land of the hearing. Without my hearing aids life was pretty hard - I hadn't developed any lip reading skills and I found that the effort and concentration required to hear people in a whole day of meetings often left me asleep on the couch by 6pm. It was also kind of like working every day with a hangover - I wasn't quite all there.

Because I haven't got a ski slope audiogram I haven't had the feedback issues others have noted with the Pure. I am also picking up my Tek at the end of next week - really looking forward to that!

Anyway please excuse my rambling - I really just wanted to say that I never expected to need hearing aids at 26, but this forum has made it far easier to understand a whole lot of things!

[stream2525]

Maybe my story is similar to this . The only differnce is that I am still unadided ( hope very soon), and still struggling with my sever hearing loss.

[burra]

thanks for sharing your story shooting star - sounds like you've had a bugger of an experience! good luck with your Pure 700's and TEK! - Glad to hear that NZ helps out with funding for working people - it'd be good if we had it this side of the ditch as well

[kdula]

37, male Greece.

a hot summer night I was eating with good friends admiring a panoramic view of my city.(thessaloniki)

had a couple of wine glasses. went to sleep with some ringing in my ear .
next morning i woke about completely deaf in left hear. went to ENT at once, took 20 pills per day (didnt want to enter hospital) .

audiogramm in my left was a big zero (not even 120 db) ! i couldnt walk, drive and i couldnt sleep because of tinnitus!. i also received injections of pure cortizon inside the ear drum.

after 40 days my hearing partially recovered up to 40% .

now 8 months later the situation is stable and my brain very much adopted to new circumstances. i think i hear everything although machines say i have average 65 db loss in my left hear. tinnitus is here 24/7 but it doesnt bother so much anymore..

i was very curious and i tried yesterday widex and siemens . Siemens is much better but not for me! but again i cannot use the phone even with it !!

i think that in my case it doesnt worth paying 3.000 E . i

[emiroo]

Hi Kdula, isn't it amazing how the brain can adapt to hearing loss!

I had a sudden hearing loss in my good ear (whilst at work, just noticed the 'blocked' sensation and tinnitus) having had moderate pre-existing hearing loss. I felt completely unable to cope for around 4 weeks but it's amazing how we can adapt! I only notice the tinnitus occasionally and it doesn't really bother me.

Unlike you my hearing didn't improve with the steroids (though they made me feel pretty weird!) but it feels like it improved - I think just cos I've got used to it!

It's stressful when it first happens though.. isn't it!

[toyuko]

Can we really adapt? My brain feels like its frozen and my body feels like its going faster than normal. Nice shorty thought, right now it feels like a disconnect between my ear and my head/voice and this more than a week after my accident with a loudspeaker. I hope i can adapt because i don't feel to good.

[taxm196]

I need to speak with someone who is dealing with the same thing. I am on high doses of steroids and it doesnt seem to be helping. Getting 2nd opinion tomorrow from another ENT. Already had MRI and it came back normal. Anyone out there have something to help me?

[taxm196]

I went to an ENT for a routine ear wax removal office visit like I had in the past. My hearing was muffled in one ear and I had a "fullness" feeling. The ENT looked and said there was nothing in my ear and proceeded to give me a hearing test in the booth. He found that I had lost quite a bit of higher frequency in my right ear and the left ear tested out normal. They sent me to get an MRI. The MRI came back normal. The ENT gave me Prednisone 20 mg 3 times a day for a total of 60 mg per day and some dose of Valtrex.

After 2 days on meds I was feeling very anxious and scared. I called my family doctor to get him on the same page and I wanted to cover all basis. He prescribed Omnaris-an anti inflammatory for the sinus and also prescribed Cefuroxime as an antibiotic.

Day 5 on meds with no change I called the ENT back and wanted another hearing test. I am not sure what I was expecting but I am in a frenzy. No change in hearing!

Yesterday was 7 days on steroids and 5 days on antibiotic. I went for a third hearing exam and no change from the first one. My left ear tested normal and my right ear has higher frequency substantial hearing loss. Not to mention the feeling of "fullness" in my ear is running my life now!

I have an appointment with another ENT tomorrow 7.28.2010 to get a 2nd opinion. I hope he has something else to say rather than the first ENT -"The damage thats done is done". "You have permanent loss".

Next week I have also made an appointment with a neurotologist to get a view from that angle. I feel I am doing everything I can and from what I have read on the internet about sudden hearing loss this is a time restraint thing. I hope my window hasn't past. (I am a 38 yr. old healthy male) Anybody with any input please help. Thank you.

[taxm196]

I went to an ENT for a routine ear wax removal office visit like I had in the past. My hearing was muffled in one ear and I had a "fullness" feeling. The ENT looked and said there was nothing in my ear and proceeded to give me a hearing test in the booth. He found that I had lost quite a bit of higher frequency in my right ear and the left ear tested out normal. They sent me to get an MRI. The MRI came back normal. The ENT gave me Prednisone 20 mg 3 times a day for a total of 60 mg per day and some dose of Valtrex.

After 2 days on meds I was feeling very anxious and scared. I called my family doctor to get him on the same page and I wanted to cover all basis. He prescribed Omnaris-an anti inflammatory for the sinus and also prescribed Cefuroxime as an antibiotic.

Day 5 on meds with no change I called the ENT back and wanted another hearing test. I am not sure what I was expecting but I am in a frenzy. No change in hearing!

Yesterday was 7 days on steroids and 5 days on antibiotic. I went for a third hearing exam and no change from the first one. My left ear tested normal and my right ear has higher frequency substantial hearing loss. Not to mention the feeling of "fullness" in my ear is running my life now!

I have an appointment with another ENT tomorrow 7.28.2010 to get a 2nd opinion. I hope he has something else to say rather than the first ENT -"The damage thats done is done". "You have permanent loss".

Next week I have also made an appointment with a neurotologist to get a view from that angle. I feel I am doing everything I can and from what I have read on the internet about sudden hearing loss this is a time restraint thing. I hope my window hasn't past. (I am a 38 yr. old healthy male) Anybody with any input please help. Thank you.

[Dr.K]

The hardest part of my job is to tell a pt, "I don't know." I explain it to them like this..."Why do some people get cavities and others don't? Why do some people have poor vision and wear glasses and some don't? Why do some people develop arthritis and some don't? You see...there IS no answer as to "Why you?"

I examine about 4 patients annually who acquire SSNHL (sudden sensory neural hearing loss). Sometimes we try steroid profusions...research has demonstrated that there is a 72 hr window of effectiveness in reversing or stabilizing the loss....but sometimes we try anyway even after 2-3 months post onset

Based solely on reading your story, I would say that you are grasping at straws and that the 2nd neuro ENT will find nothing. You've had imaging scans...negative...steroid infusion of the middle ear space...no improvement...I'm afraid the 1st doc is correct...I hope I am wrong...

The "fullness" that you are experiencing is from a lack of auditory stimulation. Every pt that I have ever examined complained of the same symptoms. If we were in person I would bet a nickle that amplification would immediately relieve that sensation.

I saw a 38 YO healthy adult female this morning who acquired unilateral SSNHL about 4 months ago...40 dB flat SNHL. Her primary complaints were aural fullness and tinnitus... The brand and model is irrelevant to this story, but I fit her with a Starkey S-Series IQ7. She experienced immediate relief from the tinnitus and said that it "opened my ear back up." Today she was again complaining of fullness. Her thresholds had deteriorated 15 dB across the board. I increaded the gain and she once again said that her ear felt "open". Even though her loss was flat, patients with HFSNHL experience the same results