Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 7 of 105}

and pleaseplease take evrything these doctors especialyy ENT's say with a healthy glass of skepticism
unfortunately not a lot of research on these inner ear problems..so if anyone definitively tells you, its this or its that...I would think theya re guesssing

as to the sleeping for an hour, its my guess that its the body's/brains way of resetting things...i know when i have a migrane i literally have to sleep it off
I think my grams has to sleep hers off as well...i will check with her

Michael

Hi Everyone,

Ref Meniere's Disease: This is a disorder of the endolymph in which endolymphatic hydrops develop. It's symptoms are:-
1. Low frequency hearing loss
2. Tinitus
3. Rotary vertigo
4. Fullness or pressure of the ear.

All of these symptoms are not actually required for you to have Meniere's Disease according to my Hyperbaric Chamber doctor who began studying ENT and went on as an Emergency surgeon. He worked under a UK ENT who treated many cases of the disease. Again, however, the range of similar symptoms and annecdotal stories helps us all to be rather confused....and dare I say the doctors themselves!

There is an excellent website reference cochlear fluids which will give some insight into the functional workings and problems of our inner ear.

The website is from the Department of Otolaryngology
Washington University School of Medicine,St. Louis, Missouri, 63110, USA.

My ear is still profoundly deaf, but my vertigo continues to improve. A fullness of ear still remains with a constant signal that I seem to block out when not consciously thinking about it. Better get off this site...I can hear it again! :)

Changing my ENT Mick...think I may have mentioned this b4.

Rgds

johnno

A friend of mine had severe ringing in his ears and tried many different things. The thing that worked best and made the ringing disappear for good was the chiropractor working on his spine especially his cervical region and occiput.

**great overview of the Meniere's thanks

Glad to hear vertigo improving
Hang in there John//If its the tinnitus you're talking about, it is a curse, mine seems to raise up whenever i am fatigued... got a sinus/cold infection...so its a very opportune beast.

** yes I am all for moving quickly out of the feeble grasp's of ENT's who can't help...

**this viral (lyme's and chronic fatigue) doctor I have started to see, says he's
had a large number of clients over the last year with hearing loss and tinnitus
i'll keep you all posted
but he focuses on tretamnet for lyme disease in conjunction with endocrine (hormone system); and analyses
your level of other pollutants and toxins including mold and heavy metals

I also saw an internist, who is exceptional and said it was uninmaginable that the ENT did not prescribe ongoing anti viral and or antibiotics
given that i had told him i had been very ill with a bug beforehand

The other treatment that i had related to accupuncture was the elctric current via needles at certain points along the back of my neck and back. I believe it was along meridian points related to the kidney which in acccupuncture lingo is related to the ear..or maybe it was the liver points... BUT this seemed to be stimulating an area that was kind of numb at the time around my ear and back of my neck

good luck all

Michael

interesting as i read an atricle that said this person was cured of SHL by one cranial sacral treatment... which is all related to skeletal structure and such
Michael

Michael,

Has your Grandmother been diagnosed with Meniere's? I wonder if she is taking medication similar to mine, as in the leaflet with the tablets it says it is medication for Meniere's (even though the ENT doctor hasn't mentioned the possibility I may have this..) I would be interested to know if it is the same.

Thanks, Suzanne

yes she was diagosed with it about 10 year ago i believe
I will call her tonight and ask her what her medicine is, I spoke with her today and meant to ask her but forget.

Her attacks seem to come on whenever she is very rushed
or trying to do too many things...or worried about something...she's 85 god bless her and I can't keep up with her.

I am at home now and the herbal treatment that has eliminated her vertigo and dizzy spells where she must lay down or get sick to the stomach is called CBG made by Nature's Sunshine
Let me know if you found my eralier post with the ingredients somewhere in the last month

To the best of my knowledgeshe has not had a vertigo/dizzy spell attack since taking this and IS NOT TAKING her regular medicine
that was prescribed to her

Good luck and good health
Michael

i spoke with my grammother tonight and the medicine she was taking is betahistine 16mg
per bill.

she was to take a .50 tablet twice a day, She has only had one episode since not taking the betahistine and it happened when she leaned over to get something for my grandfather

she had lost her hearing about 3 years ago; and she
had already been diagnosed
with Meniere's.

the dr my grandmother went to see diagnosed it from the symptoms she had, as the doctor had the same disease and symptoms...its a pretty small little town

Thus there was no formal test
involved so maybe there is no actual test for it...but my grandmother swears the herbal supplements help

Good luck
Michael

aspartame/nutrasweet/
sweet&low ANY DIET COKE/PEPSI ADDICTS

Have been reading a lot about the enhanced toxicity
of mercury poisoning (with aspartame) and the general toxicity of aspartame alone and that one of the results of each of these poisons is hearing loss

myself, i was a diet coke fiend (literally 5-10 cans a day) and stopped cold turkey
2 weeks before my hearing loss..i was experiencing burning tongue syndrome
(meaning i was full of the damn poison). This burning
tongue symptom has been tied to the Gulf War Syndrome.

The army apparently shipped tankers full of diet coke and diet pepsi drinks to the Gulf and let it sit outside in 90 degree weather which causes aspartame to turn into formaldehyde

I realize this may be a stretch but wanted to check out to see if anyone was heavy users of these sugar substitutes?

Thanks
Michael

Michael, I am not a heavy user, i do it from time to time, probaby maximum of half a package a day but nothing heavy. Viral nature of hearing loss makes most sense to me so far.

polina

Michael, I am not a heavy user of sodas or aspartame/nutrasweet.

Last weekend I happen to notice that I could hear a bit more in my SHL ear. I can hear a faint noise of a dialtone when on the phone and here some noise when talking on the phone (not really able to make out what people are saying yet)!! I have a hearing test on the 16th and looking forward to finding out how much my hearing has improved and to show my ENT up!! I talked to him the other week and told him what happened at my second opinion visit that I had in the States, and he sounded a bit shocked that I had the steriod injection done. And he basically said there wasn't anything more that I could do and I should consider my hearing gone. I, too, don't find this acceptable. But very frustrating at where to turn next.

Mary thats great news on the hearing...
yes now unfortunately back to those dopey ent's

Sometimes you do recover from SHL without any treatment..

How much hearing has come back?

I dunno what to say about suggesting another steriod shot; If it was me I would probably do it as I know when you have no hearing you become desparate which may or may not be the right thing to do

See SEz's post on 12-29-05 that provided the name of Professor Narula in London

Have you been doing any other treatments?/

More good health to you, I hope the recovery continues.

As we have likely noticed almost all the posts on here
happen in the flu season which is a very strong indicator that this SHL is a virus of some sort, meaning the steriods are what help
knock out the inflammation...

Also, they say some aspects of this loss may be related to brain virus which is why the oral steriods do not seem to get to the problem. That is our bodies have this brain/blood barrier thing that keeps things separate
and therefore the oral steriods do not reach where they need to
The steriod shots may overcome this and are obviously direct to the area affected

Michael

I'm not saying that my hearing is completely back but at times, like when watching tv with the volume turned up or when my kids are being loud, I notice that I hear what I would call a scratching noise. And if the tv is turned up loudly, and I plug up my good ear, I can faintly hear the tv, which I couldn't before! I feel like the injection made the difference but even the ENT I saw who gave me the shot thought it was pretty late in the game to give me the shot (8+weeks after initial hearing loss). That's why I kind of question getting another shot as it seems like most people on this forum have them either shortly after the hearing loss or have a series of shots within a short amount of time. I will let you guys know how my hearing test goes (on the 16th). Haven't really done anything different either. Have been taking vitamins - Q10, mulitvitamin, vitamin C, and glucosamine.

In lymes disease 15% of people experience hearing loss and a host of other maladies including tinnitus

some sites say that lymes is
an epidemic

Christine (engelchen) you should try to find a good Dr that will test for the igenex lymes test..The blisters and all that you had from the cat tick bites are clear examples of a high liklihood of lymes disease

Johnno, I have recently learned that lyme Disease can be spread by any blood sucking mite or fly ie mosquito..you said you were keeping some sort of flies off the sheep

SO PLEASE ALL TRY TO GET TESTED...these tests sometimes give false negatives but the igenex in Palo Alto, california seems to be the best

PS You need to find a local LD (lyme disase) and knowledgeable doctor to test for this as its almost like
the ENT problems in that lymes disease can have literally hundreds of symptoms that get misdiagnosed

Not trying to sound alarmist here but after reading a few sites that i will post here tomorrow, I am 90% sure I have lymes...as i know i had tick bite recently before the hearing loss


The bad news is that "IF" your hearing loss is Lymes related what you have experienced to date is a walk in the park compared to the symptoms of lymes over the past 6 months
-- fatigue
-- sore joints like a constant really bad flu
sometimes hard to walk a block without stopping
-- sinus and bronchial infections left and right
--shortness of breath
--brain fog, anxiety



Michael

Please see ":Treatment" and post any responses here
Thanks

Further clarification--
there is potentially useful information sudden hearing loss information I just posted
under the subject heading "treatment".
Not sure how to redirect back this site but please feel free to answer here.
Thanks

Sorry johnm, how do I get to that site?

go to the "search forums" box on the upper left hand side of this screen.
Type in "treatments", Click on "search forums"
when page appears scroll down to the bottom where it listed simply as "treatments"

Thanks for that! I finally found it. Lots of good information there.

I had another hearing test done last week and I was hoping for a big improvement on my test as I can tell some hearing has returned - but the test only showed a slight improvement. I think partly too I wanted to proved my ENT wrong as he seems to have given up and has turned into a broken record saying that my hearing won't return when, in reality, it seems to be coming back. I have asked my GP for a referral to the ENT doc that was mentioned on here so hopefully I will get to see him at some point. But I'm going back to the States over Easter and thinking of seeing the ENT doc over there and get another injection. My hearing was affected in November and not sure if even having another shot would help. Is it worth it as it will be a couple months since I've had the last one?

remind me...
how many db did you lose?
how many db did you regain?
Did you have vertigo?
And how soon after the symptoms began did you start on oral steroids?

In november, I had a hearing test done about 3 weeks after the initial hearing loss. Then it was recorded that the hearing loss was about 100db. In December I had a follow-up hearing test after a 7 day course of prednisolone (30mg). My hearing had improved by 20-25 db. The hearing test I had done last week showed a another 15-20db improvement.

My ENT wasn't too impressed but then I said that I have noticed that I could hear louder noises in my SHL ear (like the tv, and even voices on the phone but not able to understand what is said). He tested this by asking me to repeat a series of numbers that he said while moving his finger gently over my good ear. I could almost repeat every number he said.

My question is should I have more steriods, either oral or by injection. Obviously something has made the difference. But my ENT is not agressive with any treatments which leaves me at a stand still.

I did have vertigo the first week but nothing since then. The ENT doc I saw in the States said that my balance is probably not what it used to be- which is true but it's not bad.

Oral steriods were started about 3 weeks after hearing loss and injection done nearly 9 weeks after.

Assuming the ENT doctor in the US is someone you trust.. I would leave it to him to help decide whether to get another shot.
Just FYI... I had six injections over a three week period and they had no effect. But I'm glad I tried. There is little risk.
Occasionaly the injection site does not heal but, personally, that's a risk I'm prepared to take.

Your case is odd from a number of perspectives.
Studies suggest you have several bad prognosticators: vertigo (indicating the damage to the inner ear is greater) profound loss, and a delay (three weeks) in the start of oral steroid treatment.

Yet your hearing has improved some. Why? No one knows.
Preliminary research suggests the sensory hair cells die quickly from the viral attack and the body's immune response. The tantalizing question is: are there many cells, badly injured, that are holding on? And if so, can one help improve the cellular environment of the inner ear to reduce oxidative stress and nourish these cells? That's why people are trying high doses of vitamin C, Coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid and N-acetyl-cysteine.

The conventional wisdom, supported by medical studies, is that if hearing is to improve it does so within two to four weeks of onset of symptoms.

But occassionally, some doctor will have a patient who goes from profound loss to recovery six weeks later.
Those cases, although exceptionally rare, must cause us to wonder what was happening to those sensory cells in the inner ear?

It's why we continue to hope.
Good luck to you.

no one quite knows how these steriod shots work other than possibly they knock out a virus or other inflammation that has been caused by anything from virus/bacteria/parasite

Parasites can also give us neuro-toxins that can affect many of your systems (including central nervous/
blood and other organs)

My dr at ucsg (head of the ent) who gave me these shots stopped after the third one
as he clinically had ever only done 3 I believe)
and didn't think another one would help (and could hurt) ..i trusted him
as i had gotten back apprpx 25% of my hearing and had no vertigo and was concerned with making my tinnitus worse

I think its natural to have some balance problems with inner ear problems,(i know I do..sometimes lose my balance) as your inner ear has the apparatus (not sure what the medical term is) that effects your balance. i think its called endiotric fluids or soemthing that affects balance)

but if you have only had one shot to date, anotehr shot should not overload your system...but again I am sure even the expert doctors (which I am not)would not know the answer to this

Unfortunately I think most on this site that did have steriod shots, had them in a 60 day sequence.

Michael

FYI-Other potential causes (I think)

I am awaiting the test results for parasites, in particular caled a liver fluke
(intestinal beast that can spread) and as I mentioned earlier can create neuro-toxins that can ultimately affect your brain

my tests have come back over the past year and a half showing some sort of brain infection or inflammation
that is active which gives me hope that if they can eliminate this inflammtion
and whatever is causing it
it may lead to improved hearing.(I feel 50-70% better having started a process to expunge these critters)..I have also read that hair cells can self regenerate so pray everynight
that this is happening

These infections that create inflammtion can (they think) break the blood brain barrier and if this is so could also affect your inner ear which is one of the most sensitive area of your body

I have been doing intestinal flushes, have stopped all sugar/yeast/gluten/dairy and and carbs (they break down to sugar) over the past month
and have seen evidence of these critters


Over the past 3 months I have lost about 30 pounds but over the last two weeks feel I would say 60-70% better after flushing these critters

In particular the top of my head and back of my skull used to burn (not a headache) just a burning feeling)and this has stopped since I flushed

I honestly think my hearing is slightly better and tinnitus has lessened over last three weeks, since I have been on diet to eliminate
food toxins (which is what these critters live on)


Unfortunately most western docs do not believe in parasites as something that affects us in the west...
and the labs aren't very good at detecting...so its another case of find your own solution


Good luck all
Michael

I finally was able to see the ENT specialist that was recommended earlier to me on this site and I have to say that I was very impressed! He suggested that I have a "wick" inserted in my ear and then on a course of steriod drops a couple times a day for a week. He is not guaranteeing that my hearing will return with this procedure, but it doesn't hurt to try it. I'm very excited as at least he is willing to try something new!

Has anybody else had this procedure done?