Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 29 of 105}

to mstctiger - Do you have any hearing left in your bad ear?
How long is it since your onset of SSHL?
I agree with you that some people on this forum have a good chance to regain and indeed have regained their hearing. Yet they still have to battle Tinnitus.
I only slept a few hours again. The TylenolPM did not help. Maybe I will try camomile tea also.
These three different noises in my head are driving me nuts.
And when I do not sleep, I worry that I will get an onset of SSHL in the other ear also. I have already moderate to severe loss in that ear and I wear a hearing aid.
If you would look at me you would think that I am in perfect health. I get a lot of compliments that I look so much younger than my age. They have no clue how I feel or how any of us feel for that matter.
When I tell anybody how I feel, I am getting told, ' Oh you need to go to MEEI', well this is where I go and I get nowhere. I do not know what to do anymore.
But I will try to follow Nitrams2000's perseverence and just continue looking for a resolution
I wish us all peace and happiness

Depending on who posts on this forum, it looks like the board lights up like a Christmas tree. When I post something, it seems that everybody shies away. It happens to me on another forum also....Depressing....
In any case, I just surfed the net and was reading over an hour messages that were posted on a German Tinnitus forum (German is my second language after French and I do not use German a lot these days so it gave me a headache)
But most of the messages seem to indicate that one of the main culprit is STRESS and also NOT ENOUGH RESTFUL SLEEP.
Very few success stories with Kingko.
Now there was one interesting thing and that is of use to the guys on this forum. Many of the male posters said that Viagara does reduce their Tinnitus. Believe me, I was in a very legitimate forum
called Tinnitus.de
Willkommen
Thought I would share that with you.
There was also a discussion about Melatonin as a sleep aid. One guy even said that he bought it for not much money at Walgreens during a trip to the US.
I woul be a little leery about Melatonin. I will stick with camomile tea as was suggested on this board, can't remember by whom.

Hope01

I have heard of melatonin. I mentioned it on his board a few posts ago. it is all natural sleep aid.Melatonin is a natural chemical that your body produces in when you turn off the lights and go to bed. your brain can only produce this drug in the dark so it wont start producing till you turn off the lights or atleast have it a little dark. its probably the most natural sleep aid you can take. herbal and good for you too. try it you will love it. :)

ok seen ear doctor today. he is convinced that im just not giving it enoug time. all my test came back negative and my choelestral went from 400 to 292. He said he sees all the time where people complaign about the the other ear ringing once we got back hearing in the bad ear. he says that the same for me. he did do the second ear shot today but said lets wait before we do the third one. lets so how this plays out he says. So I have offically rules out the following for those interesred.

1. Immunogloblin test. all 3 were fine
2. Diseases
HIV
hepititis A,B,C,
syphillis
gonnoaria
chlimidia
herpes 1,2,3
HvC
all negative

3. AIED- negative
4. western immunogloblin- negative
5. MRI MRA- scan negative
6. Diabetes- negative

im fresh out of ideas. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

so idecided to follow his ruling. no more ear shots. taper down on steroids and see how this thing plays out. my prayers are with us all.

Nitrams2000 - I am so glad to read the positive news in your last post. Hopefully you will be our success story.
All the best to you

After having a 50% recovery in my left SSHL ear last Friday, I went in today and it had reached 80% (after 11 days of 60 mg. oral Prednisone. However, there were issues with the higher frequencies, so I went for the Decadron intra-tympanic injection and will cease taking the orals immediately.

I still have the tinnitus in the SSHL ear, but it is not roaring like it was and is kind of back to where it was a couple of weeks ago. I have had no issues with my right ear...totally a one ear problem.

I will be leaving for Mexico (with a fresh bottle of Prednisone as my security blanket it something goes south on me. On November 13 when I am back in country, I have an appointment to get another hearing test and then we will talk about blood work to try to get at the etiology. The last thing I want to believe is that these attacks will be an annual event and I can just put them on my calendar for the 3rd quarter of each year. Having been through this twice now I feel very lucky that I have had the successes I have had...so far...especially when I read your stories and some of the bad medical advice provided.

I believe that the Web helped me 14 months ago to recognize that I needed to get inside that 2-3 week window and it certainly is a blessing in having these threaded discussions. Thanks for all the sharing, as painful and as frustrating as much of it is.

seattlestan

I wouldn t be so quick to stop the oral prednisone. its probably helping but remember if you do that you still must taper off of it. thats imporant. just offering friendly addvice. Good luck with trip in mexico and god bless.

Hope01, your posting always lights up like a christmas light for me! For sleeping, camomile tea really works. Cannot drink too much because then you wake up in the middle of the night. I found the below posting a while ago... It lists a lot of things that help you to sleep. It is very long. You might end up getting sleepy after reading this...
Take care all.

http://p080.ezboard.com/ftinnitussupport92262frm1.showMessage?topicID=13603.topic

Hope01 - I always look forward to reading ur posts, I sometimes feel like you do, especially when I posted my MRI & MRA results but I guess I was looking for answers and reassurance and it wasnt any thing anyone was familiar with, could also have been a bit scarey to read, I still enjoy reading every ones posts and the one that inspired me most was one at the very beginning page 9 & 10 from Zenimij who I could identify as he hadn't used the shots to the ear but had good recovery and as I dont have access to shots here in Australia I followed alot of the treatments he did and added my own alternatives.

I am now into my 6th week and on another burst of Prednisone as I had responded well in the beginning. I have between 40-50% back with a little trouble in the higher frequencies so I still fell optimistic.

I too have the tinnitus problem with a roaring hissing sound and haven't found any answers still taking Gingko not to sure about it though but don't have any problem sleeping with it touch wood. I will keep looking for answers though as it is really annoying at the end of the day.

Great to read your success Nitrams, miracles do happen we just need to be proactive and keep the faith.

My thoughts to everyone on here, its trying times.

Hello All,
SeattleStan - enjoy your trip to Mexico. I hope '18withSSHL' will read your posts, since you are saying that you had another onset last year. So it came back a year later? This is another thing that these doctors need to know.
Glad to hear you are getting your hearing back once more.
Mertie - thanks for your kind words, so you also have NO access to the shots, just like me here in New England (The Boston area). Here they gave me only one course of oral Prednisone. On Monday again the ENY guy (not the famous doctor)working for the famous MEEI told me again that nothing is yet proven to really work, that is why I did not get the shots.
On December 12th I will have an appointment again with the famous Dr from MEEI, he is the head of the study on SSHL here in the North East of the USA. I will have a lot of questions for him and a copy of some of your posts.
Mstctiger - Thanks so much for your kind words and the tip on camomile tea,
I actually slept from about 10:45 to 7:10 this morning. And I feel very relaxed and the Tinnitus while of course still there is less loud. Was very loud yesterday afternoon because I had a stressfull situation at hand.
Yes, it is great that Nitrams2000 seems to be OK. Still some Tinnitus though.
I hope and pray that the Oprah show will invite those of you that wrote to her, because you have so much info that needs to reach the public at large so that if it happens to any of them, they know the course of action they can INSIST on and therefore become less panicky.
Joyce martino - If you still read these threads, I hope that your daughter is getting better. You and her are in my prayers.
Actually, I think that the famous MEEI doctor should have one of his assistants read our posts as they would get some valuable information from our posts.
He needs this since he is the lead investigator for SSHL at MEEI in Boston.
P.S. all of you if you go the site of MEEI in the internet, you will see and you can hear several speeches by this famous Dr Steven Rauch.
It boggles my mind that there is no uniform treatment plan for SSHL around the USA and the rest of the world.

I'm still trying various types of hearing aids (luckily they have excellent trial periods & return policies!) But the hearing aid isn't helping me hear people better. It's only making other noises, such as engines and machine squeaks, louder. So the hearing aid experiment has been a bust so far. Also, I'm beginning to feel that wearing a hearing aid has actually made the tinnitis worse (of course, the salesperson says that's not possible - what does she know?) It's interesting that so many actual SHL sufferers are determined to find causes and effective treatments for the condition when the docs just aren't. If the Internet had been around earlier maybe we'd have cures for a lot more diseases.

Before I leave the house for most of the day, I want to say several more things
- cmaccart I am so sorry to hear that you do not have had a good experience with hearing aids.
After the onset of my SSHL, and the short treatment with oral Prednisone, I first regained some distorted sounds in that ear. Then several weeks later lost all of it.
In the meantime, I lost some hearing in the left ear because the first ENT guy put me on BIAXIN-XL and when that treatment was over I had lost hearing in the left ear. Now I have moderate to severe hearing loss in that ear. Then I was adviced that I needed a hearing aid, which I ordered through the clinic MEEI (check it out on the Internet)where I go. I chose the Savia BTE 211 from Phonak, just because I read that Buz Aldrin (the atronaut) wears the Savia... What a dumb decision......I do not have his kind of money.....
I have only one HA because there is no reason to amplify the right ear (deaf)
I paid over 3.000.00 dollars for that one hearing aid.
The fitting fees are included in that price. Had a few not so good fittings until I asked to see everytime the same Audi. On my last fitting, I asked him to do an REM (real ear measurement test). And guess what, I hear very well with this HA now.
But I found out later by stumpling on a forum for HOH people that one can get hearing aids much cheaper from AH (America Hears).
Go on the web and then on the forum called HARD OF HEARING CONCERNS
There is so much valuable information on that site.
That site speaks mostly about hearing aids.
Thought I let you know about this.
Hope you will find the hearing aid that will work for you.
Take care and be able to hear the world around you
P.S. on that site my user ID is MarieD, if you look at all the posts I did, you will see that initially I was quite unhappy with the hearing aid experience.
Now I am fine, I just hope that my residual hearing will not decrease more, if it does, then I will need a cochlear implant. I ask God everyday not to let it come to that. But if it comes to that, I will be happy to live in this day ond age and not loose all hearing for the rest of my living days.

To All on this site: I had gone to my regular MD on 9/7 and been given an antiboiotic when I first called to say that I was not hearing out of my right ear. Ten days go by and then was sent to an ENT. I was diagnosed with 100% sudden hearing loss on 9/15 with a casual nod and a prescription for 5 days of Prednesone and crossed fingers by the ENT. I went home and my husband and I spent the next two days reading everything we could on this phenomenon. There I read a lot of information from all of you. I took all that I learned from multiple sites and called the ENT on Monday and said that I wanted a prescription for 12 days of Prednesone with taper down, a prescription for Acyclovire (an anti-viral), and I wanted to get the shot started to the inner ear. If he didn't do the shots, I wanted him to send me to someone who did. In the meantime, I made an appointment at Cleveland Clinic with Gordor Hughes, MD., found an acupuncturist, found a cranial massage therapist, and found a place that would take me with hyberbaric oxygen treatments. I did have an MRI to rule out a tumor. I am sorry to say that none of this had any effect on my hearing loss. I did have one shot into the inner ear, but on the subsequent hearing test, it had no effect. I went to see the doctor at the Cleveland Clinic and he was amazed that I had done all that I had but said that even though he was supposed to be the expert, they actually didn't know enough about this problem. He also confirmed that at five weeks and all that I had done, any likelyhood for me to regain any hearing was very, very low. I believe that my situation differs from many of you. (I have to write this in two posts).

I believe that the degree of loss had a lot to do with not regaining any of the hearing. I believe that my nerves or 'hairs' were totally obliterated by a virus or lack of blood supply and, therefore, will not rejuvinate. I believe that many of you have more hope that I did. Anyway, thank you all for the information that enabled me to at least work on trying to regain some of my hearing. Also, there is a new product besides the BAHA and Cross hearing aids. It is called a Transear. Look up: Transear I had to call them to see who had them. A doctor at the Cleveland Clinic can fit them. I understand that he has all three and somehow allows you to try the diffent kinds to see which one works best for you. I am adjusting and working at reducing the slight ringing. Thanks again to everyone for their input.
I wasn't allowed to post the URL on Transear.

Hello Healwork,
Your case seems similar to mine. No more hearing at all in the right ear.
And this is why the people at MEEI were so reluctant to give different treatments because they say that none of the treatments have been proven to be a cure and that most of the cured cases are actually spontaneous recoveries.
I say, that might be BS in my eyes.
I wear a the Phonak Savia BTE 211 in my left ear, because they also said that I was not a candidate for the Baha System. But as you probably read there are some great testimonials out there on the Internet regarding the Baha.
I had never heard of the Transear. Shall read about it now.
Thanks for sharing that info with all of us.
I still maintain that not everybody that gets their hearaing back is a spontaneous recovery.
Some of the people on this forum like Nitrams2000 have fought and fought and that is why he for example got his hearing back. If he can get rid of his Tinnitus, he will be a double winner. What an example of perseverence he is for us.
Take care

healwork
hang in there. they are working on hair transplants and in the next 5 years that will be realistic. there is still much progress to made and they will crack this thing. in the meantime the hearing ais will help and last case they will even do implants. I still get ringing in my right ear and that was my good ear. I loast it in my left ear but gained it back and now it is fine.

I beleive most of the problems are with the degree of the loss and the age of the person and the circulation of blood flow to the inner ear. it seems people that the younger you are 'under 40' have a better chance of getting back hte hearing. and if your degree of loss isnt that bad then you have a better chance. also the duration of time that you have had it applys to. if you can catch it quick then your better off. there are all very important things. they dont know what causes it and there a 1000 things that could have. i have been tested until the doctor said to me that he doesnt know of any other test to give me. LOLOL

I pray you will be ok. the hearing loss is scary but whats more scary to me is the tinnitus. lately since i got off ginko , ate properly and got good sleep my ringing is so much better. I still have it but i think i can control it. the important thing is controlling that damned ring...... my prayers are with you. god will show you some light at the end of the tunnel. i know he will.

Well, here I am again. I went to work as an extra yesterday and today. Found it very frustrating trying to explain the problems I am having trying to hear. When 3 or 4 people are talking about 6 to 8 ft away from me I can't make out what anyone is saying. People know that I have no hearing in my left ear but because I can hear OK in my right ear they think I should be OK.Didn't hear an alarm go off. It wasn't serious but!!!
My tinnitus after 3 hrs. at work was pretty bad and now is still raging. Have to put in a few for days and rethink this work thing.... I asked my doc for a referal to a n ENT in a bigger centre in another town. I want more testing done, speach recognition etc. to see where I'm at. It's been 7 wks. now and if this is it I have to make some decisions. Have any of you had no hearing at all for this long and then had hearing come back.
My ENT said a hearing aide would not help me as I have no hearing in left ear and that it would transfer sound to my right ear and mess up the hearing in that ear. Anybody have opinions about that.
Thanks for all the input. It's great having people who understand and are proactive with their care.

Anitime - Your doctor is right, there is no use to put a hearing aid in the deaf or partially deaf ear.
The reason I have a hearing aid in the left ear (right ear is the deaf one) is because my left ear was messed up when I got the BIAXIN XL
- first got Prednisone for 6 days for the right ear where the onset occured. Distorted hearing came back in that ear. But that went away a few weeks later.
- then got the BIAXIN XL to cure fluid in the left ear. That took away some of my hearing in that ear.
- But again I hear well now with that one ear where the loss is moderate to severe. I wear the Savia 211 BTE from Phonak in that ear. But as mentioned in a previous post, I sometimes have a problem with the direction outside, if I hear somebody talk I am at first not sure from what direction the speech is coming.
You have this loss since 7 weeks you said, I am afraid that it might be too late. I am still so stunned that your colleagues at work did not rush you to an ENT doctor at once, an onset of SSHL is a 'medical emergency'.
What seems curious to me is that if you read earlier posts on this forum, there were several gals that were pregnant during their onset of SSHL, then they regained their hearing after giving birth. So if the cochlear hair cells/nerves where really all dead... how did they get their hearing back after quite a few months?
I do not think that anybody really has a good handle on that whole situation.
It was mentioned in a post today that they are working on the regeneration of these hair cells, but this is in the very early stages. When I asked the famous Dr. Steven Rauch in July, he told me that this is about 10 years away until it can be done on humans.
Again, if your hearing is lost or distorted in the ear that suffered the onset of SSHL, there is no use to amplify as it would only interfere with the hearing of your good ear.
Please pay no attention to my English, these days my concentration is lousy as in the back of my mind, there is only one thought 'I hope that I will not loose my hearing in the left ear'.
I am sure you all have the same anxieties.
I wish you the best.
And guess what, I am a female that was told in 1989 that she had 6 months to live lol, lol....Now we are in 2006. I came down with lung cancer, did not even know it, felt great jogged 5k 2 - 3 times a weeks.
Miracles do happen, keep a positive attitude and firmely believe that

anitime

the loss of hearing is very har but the tinnitus is worse then that. There must be away to first deal with that.

Even thinking about what your saying scares me to death because i deffenitly dont want that again.

since you have no hearing in that ear anyway then it may be good for you to look into cutting that nerve. most doctors dont want to cut the nerve becuase they dont want you to loose your hearing but in your case thats not a issue. it's a 50% chance it may work, it is called the the auditory nerve. the problem is if the ringing is in the ear it will work by cutting the nerve but if your ringing is different by being your brian or in the labrynth of your brain then it wont work. but i would do it if it was me.

there are also ways of masking that you can read on this link.
http://www.otocalm.com/tmask.htm

also adjusting your diet some may help ... i have cut my tinnitus considerably by adjusting my diet, working out, getting more sleep, hanging out in juccuzzi and taking tons ov vits and herbs to get blood flow up, also i beleive acccupncture has helped.

I wish the best. and I think we talked before about the ear shot and steroids. so if you havent been there and done that then i would do thta first. it saved my life. I know what your going threw. dont give up or give in.

to all .. here are some surgeries that can be done to help with certain pains and to help with ringing and other symptoms of SSNHL.

Surgical Treatment
Only a minority of patients needs surgery, however, when medical treatment fails and there are incapacitating symptoms, patients and doctors then need to consider this next level of treatment. No patient should ever have to suffer from continued severe vertigo in this disease, as it can always be remedied. The types of therapy depend upon how good the hearing is. There are destructive procedures and more physiologic ones, which will now be described.

Endolymphatic Sac Shunt Surgery
This is an ear operation that is done to drain and open the endolymphatic sac, the site that is responsible for resorbing inner ear fluid. This is a mastoid operation that takes approximately 1-2 hours. This is done under general anesthesia and the patient may stay over night or, if doing well, go home that afternoon. This operation will usually not cause hearing loss and carried with it the risks associated with any ear operation: hearing loss, dizziness, and facial nerve weakness. This surgery had a success rate of 60-70% in control of vertigo. We usually do not perform this surgery solely for hearing loss, as it is impossible to predict if hearing will improve after the surgery in time. Sometimes there will be dramatic hearing improvement however tinnitus is rarely affected. Why doesn’t this surgery work every time? Since this site of drainage for the inner ear is at the end of the drainage system, it requires that the ducts (tubes) that carry the fluid be open all the way to it, for the surgery to be successful. If the ducts are blocked upstream, then opening the sac will not have the desired effect. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine this preoperatively. This is a conservative, nondestructive procedure that is often recommended as a first step in attempting to control the illness.

Vestibular Nerve Sectioning
This procedure is done with a neurosurgeon and is an intracranial approach. The procedure takes approximately 1-2 hours and requires a three to five day hospital stay. In this microsurgery, the facial nerve is first positively identified by electrical stimulation and then the eight nerve is exposed and the balance portion is identified and cut. The hearing nerve is spared. Sometimes the separation between the hearing and vestibular nerves is not distinct. In this case, the surgeon must estimate the percentage of the nerve that is balance and perform the neurectomy with out exact knowledge of how much of the nerve carries hearing fibers and how much carries balance. Since vertigo is the compelling reason for doing the surgery, we usually recommend that we err on the side of taking more of the nerve rather than less, in order to ensure relief from vertigo, even at the expense of some hearing. The risks of the surgery include: deafness, persistent dizziness, facial nerve weakness, meningitis, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, stroke and bleeding. While these risks are exceedingly small, they nevertheless need to be considered.

This operation is reserved for patients who have good hearing, severe vertigo, and who either have failed the endolymphatic sac procedure or only wish to undergo one, definitive operation. The success rate for relief of attacks of vertigo is 90-95%. Since the balance nerve has been cut and no information gets to the brain from the diseased labyrinth, some unsteadiness, particularly in the dark or with quick turns, can remain permanently.

Cochleosacculotomy
This is a procedure that attempts to drain fluid and create a fistula upstream rather than down at the endolymphatic sac. It is a procedure that can be performed in thirty minutes under local anesthesia and as an outpatient. It does not destroy balance function but tries to restore normal physiological function. It is a good choice for patients with severe dizziness and relatively poor hearing, especially if they are elderly and might have a hard time compensating from destruction of their balance system. The major drawback to this procedure is that there may be significant hearing loss from it (especially high frequency) and, over time, symptoms might return due to closure of the internal fistula. The success rate is approximately 65-70%.

Labyrinthectomy
This is an excellent, safe, definitive destructive procedure in which the balance organs are systematically drilled away under general anesthesia. Hospital stay is usually three to five days. Hearing will be lost from the procedure so it is recommended for patients with severe vertigo and poor hearing. This has a high cure rate for vertigo (90-95%0, but in elderly with poor vision, or any preexistent brain dysfunction, there can be a problem adjusting to the loss of balance function. Risks include persistent dizziness, definite, profound deafness in the operated ear, tinnitus, and facial nerve weakness.

Gentamycin Chemical Labyrinthectomy
This is an outpatient procedure that capitalizes on the known toxicity of this antibiotic to the inner ear. This drug, in drop preparation, is instilled on a daily basis into the ear canal or through a catheter into the middle ear through a small hole made in the eardrum.

Over time, enough of the antibiotic will be absorbed into the inner ear to cause a destructive effect on the balance system. Unfortunately, the drops also have a potential to destroy hearing and cause tinnitus, so that it must be used with great caution in hearing ears. Because absorption of the drops is unpredictable and susceptibility varies, the end result will vary from patient to patient. Therefore, patients may still have instability because of the incomplete “labyrinthectomy.” This is a good technique in patients to ill to undergo surgery or who have poor hearing, but it is still a destructive procedure and compensation issues raised above pertain to this procedure as well.

god bless

Nitrams2000 & All

I appreciate your comment on the tapering, as that is what I did 14 months ago and everything I read indicates to do so. I had been on 60 mg./day for 10 days prior to the injection, so I called my ENT (who had referred me to this otologist) and we came up with a compromise taper, moving from 40 mg. t 20 mg. to 10 mg. over a 3 day period. My hearing appears to be back to the level prior to this 2nd SSHL onset, so I feel lucky and guilty at the same time compared to some of the journeys others on this board are experiencing.

I created a single sheet yesterday of all the events that seem to have surrounded both of my SSHL episodes, no matter how far-fetched they might seem as to being connected to SSHL. Some of them were: (1) Heavy use of Ibuprofen for several weeks preceding onset; (2) A loud Cyclone fan at night, which we have only done the last 2 summers, in our open window, 10 feet from my left (SSHL) ear-as I sleep on my right side-due to summer heat and my spouse's menopause nightly sweats---inner ear hair affected?; (3) Basement dust allergenic attacks preceding both onsets; (4)Gout attacks over the last 2 years on top of cataract surgery and high triglycerides---systemic issues?; (5) Blood tests showing Hepatitis C anti-bodies plus outbreaks of Herpes-like outbreaks on my lips---autoimmune?; (6) Attendance at a loud indoor rock concert the night before the day of hearing loss this last time---thought about bringing ear plugs, but did not; and (7) stress in my life at each of these times.

My primary care physician was very interested in having a copy of it so he now has that. He is an M.D. working with N.D.s in a Healing Arts co-operative and is homeopathically-oriented. He is very much mind-body oriented and helped me reduce my panic quite a bit. I think about what my emotional role might have been in this and have taken to eliminating some of the burdens I was putting on myself. I have re-committed to joining a health club (which I am doing upon return from Mexico)to increase oxygenation and blood flow in my body. I am meditating and generally caressing my soul to relieve the stress of this happening now for the second time. Just because my hearing seems to be good now, the journey is not over until I have a better idea of what I need to personally do to eliminate potential agents causing this (mental or physical) or add certain things (nutrients, supplements, etc.), those things within my control...and then trust the process!

My otologist is mentioning things like vestibular neuritis, labyrinthitis, cochlear hydrops, etc. due to the recurrent nature in my case. We will see.

I know this is long, but I couldn't sleep (coming off Prednisone) and it is 2:00 a.m., so one last comment. I had cataract surgery on both eyes 3 years ago. It was a breeze and my eysight has never been like this since I was 5 y.o., since getting man made lenses also allowed my extreme near-sightedness to be corrected. I thought about all those that had come before me to forward the medical innovations that made the quality of my life so much better visually. They were the guinea pigs for improvements for cataracts sufferers. We appear to be the guinea pigs for SSHL. So, hats off to all the fighters here who are not willing to back down, sharing their victories, pain, findings, and potential solutions. Some day, others will think about us the way I was thinking of my cataract predecessors.

Seattlestan - Thanks for sharing your medical history with us all.
Reading this makes me happy for you but gets me depressed, because I see that even though you had different medical issues to deal with in your recent past, your doctors still were on your side with the Prednisone etc...
I received only one single 6 days treatment, and the hearing came back distorted so I asked for more Prednisone because I felt I was on the road to recovery.
But my demands were met with an attitude more or less of learn to live with it.
Then a few weeks later all hearing in that ear was gone.
My family and friends's attitude is 'well you are in the hands of the best' so do what they tell you and live with it.
Obviously I am not in the hands of the best.
Anybody that has not dealt with Tinnitus (three fold in my case) has no clue what we have to deal with.
But I do believe it is stress related, as I am right now under a lot of stress.
Again have fun in Mexico, when we lived in Agoura Hills CA, we made quite a few trips over the border.

Hope01

Thanks for the response to my early morning note. I wrote it with some trepidation (i.e., guilt) having read your story and those of others that haven't had the support I believe I do (even with my otologist suggesting that I stop cold turkey off of Prednisone). The one extra advantage this time is that I did not have the response 14 months ago, had to wait 10 days to get seen by an ENT and was totally panicked during that wait. I will have a good time in Mexico, regardless of my hearing. Thanks and hope you get the best resolution possible.

seattlestan

I love mexico, great time of year to go too. you lucky dog. Ive been to Cozamel, progresso, merida, cancoon, and a few other cities. always nice to go thier.

bring that prednisone. as much as people dont like i still sware buy it. LOLOL

seattlestan - thanks for your kind words and have an enjoyable and safe trip

Seattlestan - Sorry to get a bit off the SHL subject, but you say you have had cataract surgery. Me, too. Both eyes or just one? How do you deal with the night vision problem?
Nitrams2000 - You say you can deal with SHL better now that you have improved your diet. Can you please give some specifics? Thanks!
To anybody with a hearing aid - Is it my imagination or does the tinnitis seem much worse than it used to be? (I mean, after you take the hearing aid out for the night.)