Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 64 of 105}

Christopher, in answer to your request to hear from anyone who has had full recovery----I have been on this forum for a couple years. I experienced SSHNL twice (Aug '05 and Oct '06)both in my left ear. 60 mg of Prednisone daily for 2 weeks both times. 1st time, I did not see the ENT for 10 days, hearing started returning 2 days after taking Prednisone following the visit to the ENT. I regained my hearing to normal levels for my age (60 at that time) but was left with tinnitus.

The second time I immediately started taking Prednisone that I had left over from '05 and it started returning 5-6 days later. It returned 80% with an annoying echo with high pitched voices. One shot of Decadron brought it back all the way and eliminated the echo.

Still have the tinnitus. Have added a number of autoimmune and vascular related OTC supplements to my supplemental regimen, as proactivity since no one can tell me whether it was vascular, viral or autoimmune.

I am suspecting vascular due to some other events that have occurred on the left side of my head.

thanks so much seattlestan for the info. glad to hear that there is hope. but what is Decadron?

Decadron is a liquid steroid that is injected into the ear.

Thanks im going to ask my ENT doc about that...You have been very helpful. I really appreciate it...Thanks again.

Chris,

I had my SHL on Oct 10, 2007. In my case shots of Decadron, two weeks after the onset of SHL, in my left ear 4 times once every two weeks brought 64% of my hearing back. Oral prednisone did not work. Also three months back I had Bell';s palsy on opposite side. My guess is that my SHL and Bell's palsy is due to Mercury toxicity from my dental fillings. I just got all my mercury fillings out by a dentist who specializes in this procedure. My acupuncture doctor detected my mercury with Neural therapy (ART- check on internet) that he also practises. He is chelating my mercury out by Chlorella pills and local and IV shots of DMPS. My tinnitus has reduced greatly. I am hoping that my hearing is back to 100% soon. I have provided all this information in case you or anyone still has silver (amalgam) fillings in your mouth. We need to be aware of toxicity of mercury and the problems it can cause.

Good luck to all!

ALC123

AND speaking of mercury toxicity - be aware that amalgam fillings are not the only source of it. I believe there are prescription drugs that contain some form of mercury, and vaccinations (flu and Tetanus) carry levels of ethylmercury (thimerasol) many times the level of what the EPA considers safe for humans!

Yo Christopher,
I guess I am 8 days your senior in SSHL. I'm up in Auburn, so maybe it took 8 days for the bug to trickle down the aquaifer to you. I did the steroids and anti-virals within 6 hrs of onset. I went from 0 to 5% within 2 weeks. I go back in for hearing test on 10/30 and I sense I've improved some more from my patented 'jiggling car keys next to ear' test. I go in to a neurologist to discuss my MRI on 11/4. The two things that have helped me most are this website and accupuncture. This website let's you know you are not alone. The accupunture has seemed to help with the hyper-accusive hearing. I wasn't a believer until this ailment, but it does seem to help. Hang in there, dude, and make your doctors earn their co-pays by demanding they do their homework in finding treatment for you.

Thank you MarkLM, ACL123, rjmnatural & sandmanranch for your comments. It helps a lot. I've got a lot of questions to ask the doc on my next visit. Keep ya posted on how im doing. Take care everyone...

Hi All, i first posted here on the 19Th. My age is 53. Today I had a hearing test and as I knew there was some improvement. Where at first I was severely deaf I now can hear. One test on my good ear he warned me that the sound would be extremly loud and on the bad side I could hear! The tinnitus has become stronger(not as bad as at first) which the Dr. said should be diminishing. All I can say is that it's louder then last week.

there were 2 other people there with it also. One woman was a week behind me in it and hasn't had much improvement . My Dr. told me the older you are the longer the time frame is for improvement and the very old usually don't get any hearing back.

I am as most of you waiting it out. I don't mind the hearing loss as much as the hair dryer ,space alien noises! Being home from work is wonderful though. when I do go back I'm requesting a transfer to a lower volume store.Stress will interfer with my recovery and make my condition worse. THE DR. SAID.

I even rode my motercycle 2x this week(with ear plugs of course) thank God I'm in a good frame of mind.

Glad I found the forum,what a helpful site! Go Phillies!!!

ALSO- I asked my Dr. about HBO treatment. He explained it to me (the chamber etc) he also mentioned that you could suffer lung and sight effects foom it. He said that in the 1970's people were breathing into paper bags (carbon moioxide) I haven't tried that yet. I'm more annoyed with the tinnitus now.

This is my first time posting here but have read the board. I suffered considerable hearing loss in my left ear back in July. Unlike some of you my hearing loss was not 100% but was considerable enough where I could not hear lower frequences. The strange thing was that it wasn't the sounds I COULDN'T hear that was the problem but the frequencies I COULD drove me nuts. To say the least it was chaos in my head. I am a musician and gave up playing and composing. I could not leave the house and working, talking, driving where nearly impossible.

I eventually saw three doctors. The last one did not give up on me...did a whole bio-work up. Concluded that I was suffering from allergies of some sort. Also he emphasized a strict diet (complex carbos, less sugar, no salt). He also gave me steroid injections (in my arm) and B-12 injections and perscribed Alegra D. After a few weeks on Allegra D -- I started to improve. Now after nearly a month on Alegra I feel I have recovered, finally after 4 months I felt progress. I don't hear 100% and do have tinitus (sometimes I don't depending on the weather)...but most importantly I don't have the crazy sounds bouncing around and I would say I hear 90% in my right ear!!!!!

Yes, it does get better and I thought i would never be able to say this...but I consider myself nearly recovered. For those who are going through this please do not listen to those who say it doesn't get better...in MOST cases it does.

Hi everyone,

I haven't been on this forum for such a long time that I think I should say that I lost all hearing (profound hearing loss) in my previously excellent right ear during an afternoon nap this last July 17. I am going to print out what everyone has written since I was last on my computer. My wretched downstairs neighbors have a squeaky fan that keeps me off of the computer. I am going to bug the management about that after I get the smoking problem addressed. Thank you for your supportive words about that, MarkLM. They made me feel stronger and I am making some headway against the smokers.

I'm glad to see that you are okay after being hospitalized Sandmanranch!

MarkLM, about my second audiogram this October 30th, my left ear (the good one) is still unaffected and I have hearing that is between zero and 10 dbs all the way to 8K. That is as high as they test there at Vanc. Clinic I guess. My right ear still looks like a big cookie bite out of the audiogram..but there is an overall lifting of the cookie bite within the graph. I only have two arrows pointing down at 1K and 2K. Right after my sshl I had four arrows pointing down betweem 1K and 4K. Well, this might be getting boring for people who havn't had their tests printed out. I was in shock the first audiogram and didn't ask for a printout. It is very interesting to see the picture on the graphs for myself!

The upshot of this audiogram is weird but good because although I didn't do well at the test from the standpoint of tones (I was almost too careful not to push the button if I wasn't sure I heard a sound, so I was conservative) I did perfectly at word recognition with 100% in my right ear and, of course, also in my left.

Of course they had to blast me with 90 decibels to achieve that from what my printout says. But, it means that I can wear a certain kind of hearing aid successfully..not a cross but something newer. I guess I'll find out what from my ENT the 13th. I could tell that the tester was surprised at my word recognition. She wanted to explain it away by saying it was probably because my left ear was picking up sound across my skull. But, I don't know because I heard the words clearly in my right ear!?!

So, MarkLM, those are the results of my long awaited 2nd audiogram. Kind of a mixed bag but it felt great to hear with the right side of my head! I'm still almost as deaf as my 97 yr. old grandpa who is also deaf in his right ear. We are a funny couple talking on the phone:-). By the way, my grandpa says, having lost hearing in one ear and nearly all of his sight, that he misses sight the most. I'm going to print out what everyone has written now. Thank you all for helping me by contributing to this forum. It means a lot!

Sincerely, Frogs

HEY SMARTICLE!!

I'm reading back into the middle of last month and your post caught my eye for a couple of reasons. Many of the symptoms you describe are vestibular. It sounds like you are having side effects from propanolol from what I've read. The balance (sinking sensation)and dizziness problems are serious and debilitating by themselves but also may be a warning that you could lose your hearing down the line. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that Propanolol is quite ototoxic.

I hope you read this Smarticle! I wish you good luck. I know what those feelings of vertigo and tinnitis are like! I'm also deaf in one ear from sshl but had some symptoms before, in retrospect.

Frogs

Hello Folks:

I am new to this forum. Like many others here, I suffered SSHL in my right ear about 2 years back, and while browsing around the web for imformation, I came across this discussion group.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I have regained my hearing somewhat after steroid treatment, but nowhere near normal levels. Its the speech discrimination part that affects me most, I can hear sounds but can't really 'listen'.

But my biggest problem after 2 years is the imbalance and dizziness. Some days the imbalance is pretty bad and actually quite disconcerting and depressing. I can't move my head without the feeling that I am dis-oriented. As I said, some days worse than others. And I still cannot fathom what triggers the worst vestibular response and why is it that when I wake up in the morning, it is worst and improves as the day goes by. Other things that make it worse are a head cold, stress, getting tired etc. But the peculair thing is that sometimes even when I have a sleepless night, I get up from bed quite OK, and sometime when I have a good night's sleep, I get up feeling I am going to fall to my right side. Any thoughts on how I can manage this dizziness/imbalance better? Any treatment options? My ENT surgeon and neuro otologist says just ignore it. I have, and many times, as the day goes by and with exercise, I feel OK, but there are those days its terrible. Any suggestions appreciated.

Cheers
SSHL1234

This website has been a Godsend!
Finding this site helped move me away from feeling alone and scared.
Thank you to everyone who has posted here.

I am a 47 year old woman who has had perfect health. I’ve never been had any major medical issues, have never been on any medications, eat a well balanced diet high in fruits & vegetables and live an extremely fit lifestyle. On 10/21/08 I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Sensory Neural Hearing Loss – left ear; profound loss. Here’s my story:

The first week of September 2008 I had a cold. It resolved on its own. About 10 days later my ear felt “full”. This would last about 20 to 30 minutes and then go away. A few days later I would notice it again. I checked my blood pressure twice and all was well. I know I could hear as I used the bud of my cell phone to talk. On Oct 5 I awoke to find the ear “very full” and had difficulty hearing. I saw a physician and began a Prednisone blister pack on Oct 8. They thought I might have Menieres. My ear felt fine Oct 9 – 11. I was able to use a phone without problem. During this time I made a plane flight and had no troubles. Oct 12, as the blister pack dosage dropped, I noticed the full feeling return. Oct 13 I had my return portion of my plane flight and during descent I felt the ear close up. Once on the ground I knew I could no longer hear well. Oct 14, while sitting in a class, I could hear female voices reverberating and had one bout of dizziness. I went to a walk-in clinic that evening and received Prednisone 60 mg., antibiotics and oral decongestants. Oct 15 I returned to class and within the hour the dizziness became worse and I began to vomit. For the next 72 hours I was in bed with severe vertigo and vomiting. Oct 17 I was seen by my PCP and prescribed Prednisone 80 mg, a diuretic, Valium for dizziness and suppository for vomiting and referred to an ENT. The vomiting stopped that day and the dizziness began to decrease. Oct 21 I was seen by the ENT. Audiogram #1 was done showing profound loss in the left ear. Prednisone continues in taperdown mode, the diuretic continues, antibiotics were given, all other medications were stopped. MRI with and without contrast done shows fine. Blood work shows no autoimmune disease. Oct 22 I received intratympanic injection#1. The “full feeling” left within 4 hours of the injection. Oct 24 intratympanic injection #2 was given. Once again the “full” feeling decreases. Oct 28 audiogram #2 given and no change. Oct 29 in addition to the Prednisone and diuretic I begin an anti-viral. The ear again feels “full”. Oct 30 a neurologist consultation confirms that there is no underlying pathology. The vestibular issues with balance will correct themselves with time. Intratympanic injection #3 is done and once again relief of the “full” feeling occurs within 4 hours. Oct 31 audiogram #3 shows continued profound loss, but this time I react with “pain” at two tones. Nov 4 I see an otoneurologist. I am taken off diuretic and Prednisone. Audiogram #4 shows “pain” response at three tones. The option of hyperbaric treatment is being researched now as an option. I am told that medically there is little else that can be done. The vestibular issues improve daily, however I am still unable to drive a car. I am also told for one month to do a high anti-oxidant diet and to spend one hour each day listening to classical music. Apparently research indicates some potential results if this is done during the first month of SNHL. FYI..the Antioxidant diet given to me is: berries, broccoli, tomatoes(particularly cooked), red grapes, garlic, spinach, tea (black or green), carrots, soy, whole grains.

All the physicians believe my case points to a viral infection. I have been told my scenario (the vomiting, dizziness and profound loss) are the worse scenario for any hope. I know I will never be “normal” again, and I am working daily to move myself to acceptance, but I continue to pray that a miracle may happen which would take me from “profound” to “severe”. Something would be better than nothing.

This diagnosis has been devastating to me. I’ve felt despair and fear to a level I didn’t think was possible. I have found myself frightened that I would wake and find the other ear completely deaf. I have fear over what will happen when I catch another cold. The physicians have said getting this was a 1:50,000 chance and none have ever seen it happen twice to someone. I know I have received excellent and timely care and in that I take some comfort. This website has been an amazing source of comfort as well. I also had the opportunity to speak to two people who lost their hearing due to neuromas. Speaking with them was an inspiration. My husband has been my rock and my faith in God has sustained me. I know He holds all of our hands and never leaves us. If you are Roman Catholic go to see your priest. Talk to him and request to receive the Sacrament of Healing. Through the sacrament you can find inner strength.

Thank God for the internet and our ability to communicate with each other. It is amazing that despite the loss of our hearing we can still “hear” each other. I am so sorry this has happened to us. Each of you are in my prayers.

ElaineG

ElaineG,

Your case is almost the same as mine. I lost the hearing in my left ear May 2008. Before that the hearing came and go, and then I had bad vertigo and vomiting. I was on Prednisone and anti-viral treatment on day 10th, tried hyperbaric treatment, but that happened six weeks later.

Didn't feel any treatment helped me much. Slowly my hearing came back a little bit, I was total deaf in the beginning, now can hear low frequencies at around 30db, mid frequencies at around 50db. High frequencies are still at 90db. My biggest problem is with speech recogniition, I couldn't understand much.

I did start listening to piano a few weeks after I lost my hearing thinking that the hearing nerves need to be trained. And now I'm trying to train my ear/brain to understand speech again by listening to simple sentences with my bad ear. My last hearing test showed 20% improvement. Well, I was able to understand 2 words out of 10. But I feel I could do better if the words are in sentences. I could understand some sentences if they are spoken slow enough.

And be hopeful.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/120350.php

n2sd2

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your story!!! What an amazing blessing from God!!! It has given me hope that miracles are possible!! You are in my prayers for continued improvement.

8-month Update SHL onset since early March:

After a few months of herbal treatment didn't improve my profound hearing loss in the right ear, I have at least adjusted to a diet that suits my health type.

Tinnitus continues. Some days worse, some days better. The saddest moment is when I no longer experience true silence in the countryside, by a lake or mountain top, etc.

Dizziness comes and goes, mostly annoying when I get tired. It seems like I can no longer challenge myself like in the past by pulling late nights, etc.

I agree with ElaineG, the fear is worst. Fear of getting sick, fear of approaching people with flu, etc.

The hearing aid my audiologist strongly recommended isn't doing much. I don't wear it during work since I need to listen to music to mask the tinnitus. It's quite expensive for what it is--a hope that it will stimulate residual hearing. Anyone knows any research on this?

Now I listen to as much good music as I possibly can. If anything happens in the future, I will have music in my head.

Good luck to all of our remaining good ears!

9-14-08
..the day it all started. Iwent through the steroid treatment and at this time I want all to know that my hearing is becoming stronger each week. The blocked feeling is still there and the tinnitus is more disturbing now then the hearing loss. I hate the space alien noises. Does this ever dimminish? Thanks all! I was so happy to find all of you! Trish

I would like to report fantastic improvement, but I guess my situation is, at least, improving. My hearing in the right ear went from 0% on 9/4, to 5% on 9/18, and then improved a little bit by 10/30, but not enough to bring me up to 10%. The MRI showed nothing, except for some 'stardust in the white matter', which the neurologist has discounted thru further testing. It does sound cool. Neurologist & ENT have me in 'wait 'n' see' mode to see if it gets better on it's own. The acupuncturist is the only one being proactive and he seems to be effective in at least helping me deal with the hyper-accusive hearing. I am simply trying to avoid large gatherings of people, as just sitting in court all day and talking to people at work, wears me out by the end of the day after trying to concentrate on focusing my hearing. Fortunately, the other unrelated health issues have resolved themselves and I will be able to focus on the hearing, as soon as I get over the cold I got hunting in last week's snow storm. Acupuncturist and wife have me on all sorts of vitamins and anti-oxidants and other holistic stuff, so I guess I'll give the 'natural' cure route a chance and try to not be too stressed by the SSHL and learn to live with it a little better, before wife gets completely fed up with my cringing at her voice in the morning and the banging of pots and pans. One of my dogs has really stepped up to the plate and finds me every morning in the house and incessantly licks my face and sits on my chest until I turn off the alarm and get out of bed. If she didn't weigh 70 lbs., each day would start off a little more pleasantly.

hi,

I'm Doug, age 64 and new to the forum. I awoke 6/23/08 to discover the loss of hearing in my left ear. No illness in the previous 6 months, no altitude changes and no recent exposure to loud noise. ENT did MRI and blood tests, both negative. Hearing test result was profound loss in left ear and moderate loss mid to high frequencies in right ear (preexisting loss from years ago). We discussed steroid therapy and I decided the risks of treatment outweighed the unlikely (due to my age and profound loss) benefit to my hearing.

My vertigo is much less thanks to therapy. When I make a motion that triggers it, I repeat the motion ten times and hold the position each time until the vertigo subsides. I've held off on a hearing aid to see if any recovery takes place. At the 6 month mark I'll get an aid for the hearing ear.

I've read many posts, and I can relate to the frustrations expressed about the difficulty of hearing. I've had tinnitus since the late '70s, so I learned to accept it long ago. I try to dwell on the positives. At least hearing loss is not life threatening. Sometimes my wife snores, now all I have to do is turn my good ear into the pillow. Forget stereo, surround sound and just give me monaural music and sound. I've learned to lip read, cup my hand to my good ear (old fashioned hearing aid), and sit to the left of everyone I want to hear.

Does anyone have experience with crossover hearing aids, the ones that put a microphone at the bad ear and feed the sound to the good ear?

glad227:

The dizziness pattern I have as I explained in my earlier post is peculiar. Its worse when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes I cannot lift my head and feel me head is tilting to the right. Do you have the same experience? I also notice that the dizziness increases when I am tired. For me the biggest fear is this dizziness and that it will affect my quality of life. There has got to be some effective treatment to manage this dizziness/imbalance. Any thoughts?

sshl1234:

This is what I did to correct my vertigo (dizziness). Sit on a bed, relax, then fall back and quickly twist your head to the right as soon as your head hits the bed. Twist it right as far as you can. Hold this position for at least 10 seconds or until the vertigo goes away. If this motion caused vertigo, repeat it 10 times. Do this several times a day. If this motion does not cause vertigo, try to find one that does and repeat it 10 times, as above. Of course, you must keep safety in mind to be sure you can't hit something that will hurt you if you lose control. Be sure to have only soft surfaces in the path of any potential fall.

glad227:

Thanks for the tip. Till now I have not had vertigo. And my otologist told me that as long as I don't have vertigo, just ognore the dizziness/imbalance and it will go away. He gave me some standard vestibular exercises to do, thats all. Somehow both my ENT surgeon and the neuro otologist downplay or are not even that concerned about the dizziness. They say it will go just go away. True, that has been the case after 2 years, but every morning, some worse than the other, the dizziness returns with a vengence and dents my confidence. Some Yoga and exercise also helps. At this point, barring a miracle, I don't expect to recover my hearing (especially speech discrimination) in the right year, but I will do anything to get rid of this dizziness :-).

Doug's entry about the wifes snoring made me laugh.

The other morning I woke up hEARing my husb. snoring through the blocked ear.

That I will never complain about again!~~~

sshl1234:

I think there're many causes that lead to dizziness. My SHL started with vertigo. My balance problems are minimal. It's inconvenient in a way that I get dizzy when overworked or stressed or I may slip a step or two when not paying attention. It might have been a viral attack at the 3-loop balance organ. Think of it as the x-y-z coordinates. In the beginning when I got used to driving again, turning my head in the x-axis got better first. Looking up and down then got better and now when I tilt my head sideways, I still feel a bit dizzy. There's also the possibility of imbalanced fluids in the inner ear that would make one dizzy. So, you have to figure out with the doctors.

I do bird photography a lot, thus require heavy telephoto lenses and holding still. I tend to stress my neck muscles quite a bit easier now that my vestibular ability is weaker after the incident. Although doctors always recommend doing exercises will help improve our balance. Just don't expect it to be as good as before.

Since you mentioned waking up feeling dizzy, you might want to check your pillow and sleeping position. Just a guess...I got a Sealy memory foam pillow recently and it saved my life.