Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 12 of 105}

Ok, stupid question time. How many of you on this message board use an electric toothbrush? If so, how often per day? There has to be a correlation of some kind among all of us. If we eliminate enough possibilities, maybe we'll come up with an 'ah-ha moment'. Any other ideas for things we might have in common?

its peculiar that lustig would not recommend the steriod shots since i had mine close to 3 weeks after onset and i ended up getting back about 25% of my hearing after a second shot
its painful but personally
i think is worth it a try

not to sound like a conspiratist here, but I wouldn;t be surprised if Lustig was getting pressure from the AMA and his ENT peer group (who would prefer to do nothing, as they are all idiots) for doing these injections

Michael

I saw a neurologist this morning. His advice was totally opposite from what I have intuitively been doing (I've been protecting my bad ear with an earplug). He likened our condition to when you have a stroke. If you don't force yourself to use the 'bad' limb your brain will just accept its absence and get along without it, so it won't improve. So he said I should try to use the bad ear as much as possible (i.e. 'exercise it'). He suggested yoga and relaxation techniques to deal with the tinnitis. He also offered a mild antidepressant (no thanks).

For all who have sudden hearing loss and have not seen any improvement with any of the protocolized treatments (steroids, antiviral), do any of you have TMJ (Temporomandibular Jaws)? Or do you simply have misaligned jaws?. There have been misdiagnosed cases of SNHL, when in reality the jaws have impinged on some area of the inner ear: check the scholarly articles on Google for information. I will be seeing a TMJ doctor this week. I'll keep everyone posted.
Norma

-i have used an electric
toothbrush, but not regularily

-i do have really bad
TMJ--caused by stress

-i do have a lot of anxiety
-prior to my hearing loss, i was really stressed out with a recent promotion at work and with my ever-stressful romantic life...ugh

-i'd also be curious to hear about what the TMJ guy says

-I still recommend the hyperbaric treatments

Although I've never had an actual panic attack, my brother got them. I know I'm definitely a Type A (multi-tasking perfectionist) personality. I also had a very stressful change at work just prior to the sudden hearing loss, and not being able to hear well at work has made things there even worse. Romantic life's fine; I think he's up for sainthood by now from having to repeat everything to me. (If I can't even stand myself, how can he stand me?) So - the electric toothbrush is out as a similarity among us; next possibility sounds like it might be TMJ or stress.

To engelchen: I suggest you look into getting a home neck-traction device. It's made by Saunders; called a 'Cervical Hometrac Deluxe'. At least with Blue Cross you have to get a prescription for it from a physical therapist, so you'd have to see a PT a few times and ask her/him for it. The cost for the Hometrac device is about $800, which Blue Cross did pay. Using this device at home - just a few times a week - has made a huge difference in how my neck feels (I use a computer all day also). The Hometrac device is about the size of a shoebox. It's hydraulic and you lie on the floor to use it. Everyone who tries it just loves the thing.

Hi everyone, here's my contribution to finding a common cause: I do not use an electric toothbrush. I have suffered from panic attacks although not in the last few years. I'd say the last one I had was probably a good 5 or 6 years ago. However, I do still suffer from anxiety frequently. I stopped working 2 years ago when I got pregnant but instead of having less stress like I expected, my life has just been crazy. I am busier than I have ever been, I am exhausted, I literally starved off 70 pounds that I gained while pregnant, my husband is in charge of a family business so he and his family cause me alot of stress, and I could go on all night but I have definitly been dealing with tremendous stress. The accupuncture doctor I am seeing has blamed this all on stress and not sleeping well. About the TMJ--I have never been diagnosed with it but I have always suspected that I have it on the right side (the side I can't hear from.) I didn't even know TMJ doctors existed, but I will have to look into that.
The hearing loss started about 4 weeks ago now and I really hadn't been sick since maybe February when I had the flu. Although the week before this all started my daughter had viral tonsilitis and her pediatrician had actually mentioned to me that I should not be surprised if I caught it but somehow I managed not to. I would think there could be a connection but the first thing the ENT did was give me antibiotics so I figure if it had been from a virus they would have taken care of it.
I know this sounds stupid but some other habits of mine that got me wondering if there was a connection was caffeine and the tanning bed. Does anyone go tanning alot? Drink alot of coffee? Talk on the cell phone alot (on that ear I mean).
Today I had my first appointment for accupuncture and it was very painful to say the least. The accupuncturist I am seeing disagrees with almost everything my ENT has told me and he claims I will get my hearing back. I am willing to try almost anything to make this go away but the only thing that makes me nervous is these pills he sent me home with--3 different pills but at the end of the day I am suppossed to have taken 39 pills altogether. He claims they are herbs and not drugs and that they have no side effects. The thing is, they are all written in Chinese and when I asked him what was the name of the herbs he told me that they were a combination to support liver and kidney function??? Has anyone ever heard of taking so many pills for this? I plan on starting tomorrow but like I said I am completely neurotic and especially after I got so sick taking the diuretics the ENT gave me. I just have no idea how to find out if this is safe. Well I am praying for a cure for all of us and hope you all have a good night...

Surprised too about doctors prescribing antidepressants as they contain oxotoxins that can lead to hearing loss. I've been on antidepressants at various times in my life and thought it might have had something to do with my hearing loss, but my ENT doesn't think so (not sure how much he really DOES know!). I sometimes use a electric toothbrush, but not regularly. I do tend to suffer from anxiety attacks but they haven't been too bad since I left work to have my kids 3 years ago.

I've been seeing an accupuncturist too, and I didn't think it was doing anything really but I have noticed a bit of change. I was visiting a preschool for my son the other day and a little boy came up to me in a noisy room and put a talking action figure up to my bad ear for me to hear what he says. And since it was loud in the room my good ear was picking up all the other noise, but I could hear the toys 'voice' but couldn't make out what it was saying. Have noticed that I can hear louder noises in my bad ear - or at least the vibration of sound. That's how it was improving for me before I got pregnant again so maybe it is a start to getting something back. Not holding my breath though.

Hi engelchen,
Thanks so much for your reply--I feel much better about taking the herbs now and I am just hoping they will work. Yes, the chinese doctor I am seeing also told me that I have poor circulation and my hands and feet have always been cold for as long as I can remember. Also, I remember reading that sudden hearing loss can be caused by bad circulation but then when I mentioned that to the ENT I was seeing he just said 'You don't have that'. Whatever...
As for all the bad luck, you know what they say, when it rains it pours and that is so true but everything also happens for a reason so I am hoping to see the good in all this soon :)

To engelchen - The hives you suffered from were probably due to nerves/stress; that's a pretty common reaction. (But just knowing the cause doesn't do a thing to help the symptoms!)
- I have a friend who describes her life in terms of 'good years' and 'bad years' (instead of good days and bad days). By that criteria, we must all be having a very bad year!
To TaraJoy - I rarely use a cell phone and seldom a tanning bed. Not much caffeine, either (can 'take it or leave it'). I've always suspected I had TMJ on the right side, though (same side as my hearing loss). Whoever gets more info. on TMJ, please post it. Thanks.
Good things to get from this bad experience: (1) we can't hear our partner snore; (2)we're having to spend more time on ourselves instead of taking care of everyone else all the time; (3)we're learning so much about the medical field (whoopee).

Hi, everyone. Just to add... For a few years, I was drinking a lot of coffee. My eyes started twiching, so I slowed down a bit. I get panic attacks in the crowded cummute train, especially when it stopps in the tunnel. I become a raged mad woman. Several months before this, I was stressed out at work with new project and my hubby just starting his own business. I hardly use electric tooth brush. I have not taken care of teeth because of the panic attacks I get at the dentist. My SSHL happened at the dental office when my anxiety level was the highest. I noticed the dentist sounded so loud all the sudden. I went home to sleep off, and next day, the hearing was gone. I had vertigoes and vomiting for 3 days. I feel most of us had stress build up before the incident. Like someone mentioned, the immune system is down when we are in stress. Let's try find a way to release stress so we will not experience this ever again. Wising all the best.

Im a 30 year old female. About three weeks a gao i noticed while speaking on the phone that i was not hearing clearly, i initially blamed it on the cordless phone i was speaking on. I then developed tinnitus and had a feww episodes of mild dizzyness. After two weeks i went to an ENT, he sent me for a audio and i have hearing loss in my right ear.
Hes now sending me for an MRI (next week) to check for acoustic neuroma...Im terrified and extremely anxious about the whole thing. Since my meating with him my dizzyness has increased and ive been getting headaches which is helping to convince me that the MRI will be positive.
Anyone with the same symptoms who had a negative MRI ?? Looking for some positive reassurance.
Tks

you have the exact same symptoms as i do, even the pressure...i have pressure all around my head, it feels almost like scalp pain...
Has your hearing improved ? Did you get a diagnosis ?
Thank you so much for taking time to respond.

To Tatianna,
Most/many patients who have a hearing loss have to have an MRI...it's part of the protocol. Hearing loss and dizzyness can mean many things: you may have some obstruction in the middle ear (debris, or hardened wax)... or you may have Sensorineural hearing loss. Don't fret over the MRI... this is part of the protocol.

To the rest who are interested in the TMJ-SNSH connection.
I visited a TMJ doctor yesterday. Told him i had the following symptoms/conditions: 70 decibel hearing loss, fullness in ears, therefore, the need to pop Eustachian tubes, misaligned jaws, stiffness and clicking in jaw area, and malocclusion (overbite). He is the 7th doctor I see and he gave me what is probably the most comprehensive explanation for my heairng loss. Some doctors feel this type of sudden hearing loss is due to an autoimmune reaction, but other doctors, including this one, believe that it was due to a virus. More importantly, and I have read that many of you (including myself) were under tremendous stress when our hearing loss occurred, he stated that my body may have had a neurological reaction to stress; in cases such as these, the auditory nerve becomes sensitized when we live highly stressful situations; this sensitization makes it susceptible to a virus attack. For those out there who stress for long periods of time, or who have panic attacks, and have had sudden loss... this is a wake- up call (to reevaluate our lives and how we choose to live) I asked him if my hearing loss can worsen, or if my 'good ear' can be affected. He said that 'lightening' is not likely to hit twice. He also said the best way to ensure good hearing is to not put myself in the stressful situation I was in for so many months. 'Many patients do not change their lives,' he told me. I know I have already.... I've resigned from my current job, and have never felt better.

HE also thinks that fluctuating tinnitus (tinnitus that changes throughout the day) can be... with a LOT of meditation, activities that lower our stress level, etc. (and this can take years)reversible. He doesn't think that tinnitus that is constant and does not change can be reversed.

As for the popping of the Eustachian tubes, he showed me a few exercises I can do throughout the day for the jaw/neck area that will flex some muscles near the Eustachian tube. He told me not to pop my tubes (2-3 times a day, OK, but more than that, no)and that with time, and with the excercises I should start to feel some improvement. What I liked about this doctor is the following: he did not prescribe a single pill. Everything I can do is behavorial in nature... in other words, I, the patient, have the power to solve my health problems. Of course, this will take a considerable amount of discipline and consistency on my behalf... and this is the difficult part. It is much easier to follow the path of old habits, than a new path that may just give us more fulfillment.
As for the TMJ conditions, it's highly unlikely that the jaw can be impinging upon the nerve; he said most of the population has misaligned jaws, and that SNHL is a problem of the auditory nerve, not a craniomandibular one.
I hope this helps some/many of you out there.

Ive been reading a lot of the post. I hvae been going through an extremely stressful time, a divorce and i have three children mixed with many many complications. I have anxiety and mild depression and i get migraine headaches....
Maybe this is a warning to change my life.

Hi Tatianna,
Just wanted to let you know that I lost hearing in my right ear also about a month ago. My doctor is also sending me for an MRI and I am also freaking out--not so much for the MRI but because I have convinced myself that I have a tumor or something. I should have gone already actually but I am going to the Bahamas next week and wanted to wait until I get back in case the results are not good. After reading the posts on this site though, I am starting to feel more confident that maybe its just hearing loss and thats it, since it seems we all share the same symptoms. So at least you know you are not alone :)
engelchen, I have the same problems with my mind going nonstop. My accupuncture doctor told me today that I will not get better unless I learn to relax and that is just impossible for me. I can honestly say that I am forever rushing all day long and then when I finally get a chance to relax, its like I just keep finding things that need to be done and my mind continuously finds things to worry about. Its really crazy.
I noticed that almost everyone is suffering from tinnitus in addition to the hearing loss. That is how it started for me: the ringing (well not actual ringing but like a low constant tone)lasted a couple of days but then it stopped and was I just felt like my ear was very full and needed to pop and alot of pressure. Then this morning, a month later, I was on the phone (on my good ear obviously) and as soon as I hung up that sound was back in my bad ear again. My hearing loss was classified as moderate and so I was wondering if this ringing thing was back because I am losing more hearing. Does anyone know if this is possible? I am afraid I will go to sleep and wake up with no hearing left in my right ear at all. Does anyone know if its normal to have the ringing come and go randomly? I thought of calling my doctor but figured he wouldnt know the answer anyway. And I mentioned it to my accupuncture doctor but he just says that since I started with him on Monday that maybe its because he worked on the nerves (?) He claims it sometimes gets worse before it gets better and also that it takes a long time to get better with accupuncture. Has anyone had any similar experience?
And yes thank you so much for TMJ information.
Have a good night everyone.

it seems to me the common
thread among us is stress.
i do have a lot of anxiety
and am a worrier. i have
stomach problems because of my anxiety, and my mind
is constantly going. i've had trouble sleeping for a while --have tmg--and am low on energy.
probably because i dont sleep well my body doenst recooperate from stress.
the ringing in my ear gets worse when i'm in a loud environment, and i'm beginning to hate restaurants---they seem the worst. outside is fine--its inside, the noise must bounce off the wall--it seems to go directly into my ear, making going out to eat a bit of a nightmare, as i cant wait unitl its over.
anyone else experiencing this
?

To What? Yes - I dread going to restaurants, especially those with high ceilings, where the background sounds are the worst. I usually have to fake that I am part of the conversation at all. At least we all have a good ear and a bad ear, so we can choose a halfway good place to sit.
Engelchen - I'm in Minnesota, where it's 104 degrees today - yuck.
TaraJoy - Have a great vacation in the Bahamas! Your body is still 99% healthy after all, and since our treatment program seems to be 'learn to relax' you're way ahead of all of us!

Hey everyone! I haven't written in a while. I hate to report no changes. I have tryed the Ginko for some time. I can't say it's not helping. My doctor says you have to take it for a while faithly. So I figure it can't hurt. I am 28. Lost hearing in left ear last Oct.
A year before that, my doctor put me on Zoloft for anxiety. I was light headed, dizzy and head aches. I have been on zoloft for 2 years now. I feel better but still dizzy. I have been wondering if it was just the on set of the hearing loss and I never had problems with anxiety. I thought about stopping the zoloft but doctor said it would help for now. I have been to 3 doctors and they all don't know!!!Just keep busy and listen to some good music. RELAX!

hi engelchan......
i've put you on my msn list..
i'm tanzyisme at hotmail.com
i'd be happy to chat with you anytime...

Try reading this lot from the start!.

Engelchen: I got a little chuckle from reading your post about the belly class instructor assuming from the look on your face that you didn't understand English. That's so like what my bosses were assuming about me. They said that from the expression on my face they perceived that I was resentful/exhibiting a bad attitude. But it's not easy to change what other people are perceiving! What a mess that was. This affliction of ours sure has broad-reaching repercussions to deal with. Ironic to get a disability that seems to be at least partially caused by stress and, when you have it, it results in more stress!

has anyone thought of going
on disability?? for those of you who left their jobs....what did you do with yourself? i'm single and dont have a partner that could support me....

Tarajoy my mri is thursday afternoon, I wish i had a vacation to the bahamas to go to instead...LOL Have a few drinks on the beach for both of us.

The past days the ringing in my ear actually seems less loud, but the hearing is the same. Im hoping the ringing will stop eventually.

I will let you all know what happens with my MRI, i do not like the idea of being closed in.

Hi, What. I was wondering about disability benefit as well. I heard you have to have less than 100 % hearing with both ears to apply s.s. benefit. My good ear is functional, so I kind of gave up pursuing. I know that you have to have a really good compassionate doctor to back you up. I have not found one. It has been hard being back to work, especially on the phone and on commute. I may have an option of working from home. My boss has been very understanding, so I will stick around a little longer. My coworkers always ask me if I am getting better. I reply I am getting used to it. What kind of work you guys do or have you found one after this incident?