Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 56 of 105}

Hi Sahmo, - yes I've had last Wednesday my first steroid injection ito the middle ear after being on oral steroids for almost 3 weeks. My hearing after the steroid shot did not approve and the first night I felt very dizzy (bed spinning) and nausea. Could not drive and stayed home resting. I did not have dizziness before the shot. Today, 4 days after the shot the dizziness is far less but hearing did not improve at all. I have a second shot coming Wednesday. I surehope this will help after all in the long run.....
Good luck to all !

Hi all, it has been 7 weeks since my onset, and I have not had any improvement. I shortly gained about 15 dB in one test, but during my last test 3 days ago, they were mostly gone again on most frequencies. So, sadly to say, the injections did not do the trick for me...

Hi all,
I havent been on here in a while, but thought I'd just say I'm sorry to keep reading that sudden hearing loss seems to keep happening to people all over the world.
I lost the hearing in my left ear, its been almost 2 years now. I had prednisone treatment within 24 hours and was in a hyperbaric chamber with 48 hours. I also tried all of the vitamins, ginko, the anti-viral, the diuretic...etc.
nothing helped.
i still have pressure in my ear, ringing and i find the general noise of the world makes me very tired. i have a hard time going to restaurants and any social gathering where there are lots of people talking. it just makes the ringing in my ear louder and i cant hear what people are saying anyway. my right ear--the good one is still sensitive but it does get better with time. i continued working but it has been difficult. i manage a behaviour intervention program for kids with autism, and it does get very loud--the kids often scream for long periods of time, but i wear earplugs when i can and this helps. sleep helps and relaxation helps. look after yourselves everyone, it is survivable, although life-altering.

I can't agree more with u , what?
It's really bad to read new people coming to this forum saying they have SHL. This mysterious disorder is really life-altering and not much thing can be sure to help much abt.
Life is not easy when human facing different kind of diseases. Try to treasure the things we have now, nothing is granted , not even a good night sleep.
God bless everyone here !

hey thought i would step into say hi. so far so good. i guess i'm rare but this august will be 2 years with having full hearing after loosing 90% hearing in left ear.

nothing much has changed. still somethings bother me. loud areas freak me out. nothing happens but it scares me to think it might. so i try to avoid them. also the funny thing is even though i lost my hearing in my left ear and i got it back. it is now my right ear that rings. i find my left ear to now be extra sensitive and my strongest ear. infact i can pick up conversation 2 tables down at dinner. its like i over did it or something.

my right rings but i cant hardly hear it during the day. only at night and only when i sleep on that side. i have loud fan and thats helps a ton. trust me get the loudest fan you can, at night it helps so much.

i know i dont write to often and if you have read the post comments from me, you will find thats its been a roller coaster battle almost to the point of suicide. i think i have tried and done everything plus took a few chances i shouldnt have. the main reason why i dont write is that thinking about this scares me to death. the more i dwell on it the more i get worried and then i start looking around on the net again, before you know it im up all night.

i feel i have failed alot of people because i thought for sure i could find what it was. i had every test i can think of. spent ungodly amounts of money to only find a ton of maybees and might bees.

truth is SSNHL seems to me to be some sort of warning that there is something wrong with your body, so you cant treat it as a disease but try to help it as a symptom. if your lucky you can fix the symptoms. 'and I mean exrtremly lucky' but my greatest fear is what may have caused it. for me i guess i wont know. at least for now.

the good news side is a can report SUCCESS!!!!! thats right success. i have spoken to 5 people with SSNHL and helped cure two. I have talked with 3 people with dizzyness and cure them all. the dizzy ones had no hearing loss. but they had serious dizzy spells.

Valium kicks but for this and some other things too.

this board and the people on it saved my life. i'm not as strong as you guys. i wont lie. i was ready to end it all and i was not scared to do it. i dont know how you guys do it and i pray that you will all hang in there. trust me there will be a cure for this one day it will be something as easy as hopping down to a doctor and getting it fixed like that.

hang in there. stick around to see the miracle of the cure. I pray for you all. you are way stonger then me and there are so many people in the world that are so much more deserving then me. :(

remember without you i couldnt be me :)

What? - I totally empathise and suffer similarly too. I've just had a contrast MRI because I have all the symptoms of an acoustic neuroma and although I can see a large white spot on the mri in my lefy ear it has not been mentioned in the report! I've asked for it to be looked at again as I just can't believe that this is not significant.

You can see my mri on the link below - please feel free to comment though I know we are not medics here.

http://www.frappr.com/?a=myphotos&id=4872740

Did anybody have steroid shots and took at the same time Gingko (blood thinning) I can't get an answer from US doctors since they are not into herbal medicine. I am afraid to try and it may cause more damage?

JeWel41, I would go to another doctor for a second opinion about your MRI's - just to get peace of mind !!!

JeWeL41 sometimes they miss it by looking at so many of these every day. i would take it to the mayo clinic. I dont know if they have one where your at but there is one in jacksonville florida and they know their stuff. they are one of he best. also maybe ship it to Dr. atkins in celebration florida. he runs a hearing institute there. he is the best in florida.

betty08

I did the steroid shots and took the ginko but once i started reading up on ginko and understanding what it. then i stopped. ginko really doesnt thin the blood much. it is actuall more like a herbal version of a antibiotic. even thoguh it has it's good points it also has its bad points. it gets rid of alot of enzymes, bacteria, and antibodies that your immune system needs. so allthoguh it directs helps in some cases it also has a indirect negative effect on your immune system. also find out what shots they are giving you. there are only two stopically approved steroids to use for inner ear shots. thats important. god bless.

Nitrams2000, sadly I am in the UK and we just don't have any experts here. Also, because our National health service is free it is not very patient orientated so we are not told anything that is not on a 'need to know' basis. I paid for the scan but still can't get to speak to the neuroradiologist. Also, I don't think this bright area on my scan could be missed - it is not small.

JeWel, it is the same in the US. I try to get a hold of my ENT since Friday. They promised to call back and nothing happened. I am desperate to get more info from a professional and all I can do is like reading on message boards finding out what possibilities I have. I went to acupuncture today trying to get rid of some of the fullness and ringing in my ear. I don't even know much about it, I just try it and it is not cheap either.
I would try to get a second opinion JeWel, no matter what it costs!
Best wishes - betty

does anybody had acupuncture treatments for SHL? were any successful?

betty08

I had the accupuncture but i dont know if it helped. it does seem to relax me when i did it which did seem to help but i wonder if it did much at all. i would say try it once or twice just to see if you buy into it. I ofcourse did get my hearing back but i did so many different things that i dont know which it was. i was so freaked out i tried everything possible.

i did everything but they air chamber because i hate enclosed places or id probably would have done that too.

put it this. if you got the money then it cant hurt. try everything you can. i think the ear shots helped me the most.

Thank you nitrams.
I supposed to get my second steroid shot tomorrow and I am very unsure I should have this done since the first one last week gave me even more dizziness and no improvement.
How many shots did you have and when did your hearing come back?

Like nitrams2000, I have restored hearing from 2 separate instances of SSNHL (August 2005 and again October 2006). The first time I did not get in to see an ENT specialist until 10 days after the severe loss in my left ear. After 24 hours of taking 60mg of Prednisone per day, I could use my left ear in taking a phone call. After 2 weeks, I had full recovery with tinnitus (left ear only) as a souvenir. The second bout I took Predisone the very day it happened again, but did not have any recovery until 5 days later. A shot in the inner ear after a couple of weeks brought it from 80% to 100& recovery.

Like nitrams2000, my total story is in the long thread. I have added certain supplements, protect my ears (hyperacusis prevails as well as tinnitus), massage around my ears when I feel some 'fullness'. Am writing from Mexico and have my vial of Prednisone at the ready.

My heart goes out to those that seem to have had the same treatment as me and no great success stories. I count myself lucky and share my story only to convey that successes can happen. I read the forum everytime I get an email as to a new posting, but have not posted much since there has been a lot on hearing aid choices and other avenues that I have no experience with.

Do not give up before the miracle.

I had a similar thing happen to me at age 21, I agree it is very distressing. I was told it was maybe from too much noise or from a blow to the head or from medication, I think streptomycin was mentioned. I used to have a lot of throat and ear problems prior to that. I am also new to homeopathy so I have not tried anything ofr this as yet, however I did used to take a herbal ginko biloba supplement which helped with the tinnitus. I know that ginko is also used homeopathically but I'm not sure for what.

I did not receive a second steroid shot into my middle ear since my hearing did not improve a bit from a week ago having the shot. The shot gave me dizziness and nausea. The doctor was surprised about my symptoms and I guess he was afraid to give me a second shot since other patients don't have the same symptoms. Everybody is different....
I was hoping for the shots to cure my hearing loss and now I am trying acupuncture again. I went today for a session and the chinese doctor gave me ginseng astra for my tinnitus. I also take gingko biloba.
I am depressed today since my ear is constantly ringing and I left work early today because of headaches on my left side , even my eye is hurting.

betty08, your symptoms are very similar to min. Have you had an mri scan with gadolinium contrast? If not you should get one.

JeWel, yes I did have a MRI and it was normal. Supposed to go to a Meniers test this week, but the specialist in Miami told me that if it would have 'Meniers Disease', I would not hear low tones. I can hear low but not high tones. If I watch TV, womens voices sound alot like Mickey Mouse and I hear also an echo effect which is very annoying.
Went to acupuncture yesterday. I've got some herbs called Ginseng Astra for tinnitus.
Jewel, are you going to have your MRI's checked again?

Hi Betty, I'm having a lot of trouble with the mri. I paid for it and got a short report saying nothing abnormal. I asked for another neroradiologist to look at it as the first did not explain the large white area in my ear! but instead got a radiographer who said it was a 'dominant sigmoid sinus and jugular bulb' that was a variation of normal and not the cause of my problems. she could not explain why it had enhanced on one side only and of course was not qualified to make a diagnosis. The original Neuro also turned out to specialise in paediatrics so not really the right chap! I'm trying to find a specialist in the UK who will give me a more comprehensive evaluation of my scan but so far no luck and the symptoms, particularly headache on that side are getting worse.I take betahistine for tinnitus and imbalance and have tried Ginko and other things but haven't found anything that really helps. I wasn't tested for Menieres but I assume for the same reason as you re type of hearing loss.Maybe there really is no answer and we will just have to grin and bear it.

Hi JeWel, I found a doctor in Germany which is using Laser Therapy. He is a specialist in hearing loss and tinnitus. He sounds very promising and I will fax my tests tomorrow to his office. I am German and I would consider a treatment there, even that it is very far for me to travel from the US.

betty08, can you please advise which Dr. this is? I am German as well, and am planning to visit my parents this summer. Maybe I can contact this Dr. as well, and have him check things out for me. 9 weeks after onset, still no change for me, and I feel like I tried everything available in the US. Thanks!

betty08

I did the ear shots and i also had the dizzyness and nasseua but that goes away. also I did not feel anything tell the 4 or 5th day after the second shot. i know your scared but i would suggest you go back and continue your shots. you have nothing to loose.

just a note on the shots guys... the reason why you feel dizzy or nasea is normal and everyone will feel this. the steriod they use is kept cold and anytimea cold liquid is injected to your ear it feels like a really wild rolloer coaster ride and it feels like your drunk or soned but it does go away I promise and the ear shot and oral steroids at the sametime are probably the best thing i could suggest. dont do just one. do them both. thats what i did and i got it back. i think its the only thing thats works.

do the ear shots or go to church and pray for a miracle but thats about it.
:(

sahmof3babies

they do the ear shots in the states. get it done.

but if your going to do it you better hurry. 9 weeks is almost to late. dont walk run.

I have had three doctors tell me . the longer you wait the less chance you have. some say 2 months. some say more important is 3 weeks. personally i have only heard of one healed case after 2 months.
Sorry :( I wish u the best.