Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 87 of 105}

JeWel41-thanks for your information. I know that SSHL is different from conductive hearing loss. I sometimes feel some pain in the affected ear when the pitch of tinnitus and the volume of the noise is high. I do not know why I have such feeling. I wonder if the tympanic membrane is really affected by the high pitch tinnitus.

I also have pain from time to time and my tinnitus sounds change quite frequently. It is not possible for the tympanic membrane to be affected by tinnitus because it is not an actual sound so there are no vibrations or apparent cause. Many liken it to brain static and i believe that the 'pain' is again the brains response to loss of normal signals. I totally understand your frustration and need for answers but sadly, it seems, that there are none and we just have to live with this condition as best we can. I can only reiterate, it does get easier, if only because you learn to accept the new status quo.

JeWel41-thanks for sharing information and encouragement. I know that there are many possible reasons for causing SSHL. Can MRI reveal the real causes? If the real cause can be identified, it may help the doctor a lot in giving the appropriate treatment.

I had a MRI of the head with and without contrast with attention to my left ear and it showed absolutely nothing. This was done within the first 2 weeks of the deafness. I am lucky I guess in that I never have had pain or any vertigo just absolutely complete hearing loss overnight with never any recovery and having a lot of inside the ear/head noises, what I call the deafening silence. Intratypmanic and oral steroids never made any difference. The only difference I have noted at any time since waking up with the left sided deafness was the different kinds of noises or tinnitus. I'm at about 18 months with this now and it is amazing to see through this forum how many more people are affected. The only certain thing I know is that you have to learn how to cope and deal with this and some days and some environments will be more frustrating than others. It is much easier to avoid crowds or sit down dinners in social situations because you can't really listen to more than one person at a time and if someones calls your name, you cannot tell from which direction it comes. A lot of background noise also interferes with trying to carry on a conversation. These are all frustrations I'm sure you all deal with and for those of you that have the other physical symptoms, I am sorry that you have to deal with that in addition to the hearing loss and tinnitus. It is good to have a way to vent however.

Jewel, thanks for the response. So it took 2 years for your head fogginess to go away, I guess I can deal with it. I was wondering, if you have tinnitus, and did it get better as the years went on?

Hi martinrd. Do you have the contact info for Hans who went to see Dr Weldin in Germany? If so, how can I give you info re how to contact me with his e-mail address without my violating the rules of this forum?

Martinrd-Thanks for sharing information and encouragement. You are right that the tinnitus always intensifies under noisy environment, but we cannot avoid noisy environment. It is embrassing when you cannot hear people talk and they think you can hear. It is always said that a strong immune system and careful diet can reduce tinnitus. I believe it. Tinnitus also intensifies when I am under tension or stress. I do not know why tinnitus and discomfort intensify while I am under stresss. Any explanation is appreciated.

hi etmd22, I also check out another website for SSHL and I will try to leave my email address there so you can leave me your email address and I will forward you the 2 messages Hans sent me last year. At that time he had given the website for Dr. Wilden as www.dr-wilden.de

The other web site can be obtained by googling sudden sensorineural hearing loss that is for collectivity.goof. But the actual web page the blogs are on is:
www.collectivity.goof.com/articles/2006/04/11sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss/ and I posted as Susan who woke up with SSHD Memorial Day 2008. I think you and others will also find this web site interesting. Anyway, I will try to post on there now and let you know my email address.

hey eltonlam-You know, I jokingly say that sometimes I feel so frustrated that I feel like I need to wear a sign saying I'm totally deaf in my left ear, please talk on my right side! Unfortunately, when you learn to deal with it to your best, even my husband and parents I think tend to forget about it and they will invariably get on my left side, especially in a store shopping or something and try to talk to me. I do really think that caffeine does tend to aggravate the tinnitus but other than that, I really feel that the only thing I know for certain about this is that I don't know nearly enough. Again on my soapbox, to our misfortune, I don't think anyone else, especially in the medical profession does either.

Martinrd-Nowadays, science is so advanced, but we still have many incurable diseases. I believe the creator wants to make challenges for humans to ovecome. Without challenges, we will lose the motives to go forward. Tinnitus and hearing loss are very much similar to cancer which may not be curable. Incurable cancer will eventually terminate our life but we have to live on with tinnitus and hearing loss wisely. I do believe that a person with hearing loss will act more wisely in order to catch up with reality. We still have many unknowns in medical science. Similarly we do not know the origin of life. Can rocks and water combine to create life? It is not within the power of humans to obtain the answer except the creator of the universe.

Hi martinrd (susan);


You left an incorrect e-mail address on the other forum. Please send correction.

Thanks

etmd

Danny 2000, for me the tinnitus is a constant battle. If you can use a hearing aid this does help though, obviously the tinnitus is still there but you feel more 'balanced' if you have louder sounds coming through the aid. When I take it out, and at night I do struggle but I try really hard to ignore it - the worse thing you can do is focus on it!! - far easier said than done

I intermittently hear water flowing in my affected ear. I wonder if it is a real fluid movement inside the ear. Any comments would be appreciated.

I just returned from seeing my rhuematologist. They think the Methotrexate is working as I am able to hear some. The on thing they can't understand is why I can hear better at times than others. I'm going on three months of the Methotrexate and will have another three months if my ENT agrees with my other doctor. I know the tinnitus is frustrating. I have it in both ears with hearing loss in both ears. You just have to keep a very positive attitude and know that you're not the only person is is suffering with this condition. I hope that others may be helped with the Methotrexate. Good luck to all of you.

eltomlam, an MRI scan cannot show the cause of SSHL unless it is an acoustic neuroma (tumour in the inner auditory canal). I have had four MRI scans in the last three years and they show nothing.

JeWel41-You are right. I think MRI cannot reveal details such hair cell damages or nerves damages. I wonder if MRI scan can harm our health or not, because our cells are under strong magnetic influence.

Hi everyone

One year on and still completely deaf after SSHL. Out of interest my hearing loss is in my left ear. From reading posts both here and on other web sites - it appears that left sided loss is the most common - I reckon about 80% of posted stories are left sided. Any ideas why this should be - seems more than chance.

Scorpiouk;

For clinical and diagnostic reasons, It would be incredibly important to know if it is actually the case that left sided loss is so much more common than right sided loss.

Actually it could lead to breakthroughs in the way medical scientists look at the suspected causes, because it would have to open the door to the possiblity that sudden hearing loss is more of a 'central' problem occuring in a compromised area of the brain (i.e. like a stroke) rather than in the cochlea, hair cells or auditory nerve.

It would be profoundly important to establish whether it is really so 'that it looks like 80% of loss is on the left.'

Do you or anyone else have the time to go through the literature, or even more important, other on-line forums to see if what you reckon is so is is really so?

If left sidedness is indeed the case, it could lead to profound shifts in thinking about sudden hearing loss. (I'm a family doctor and devoted medical scientist)

Scorpiouk-my SSHL is also on the left side. It seems that the left ear is more vulnerable to attacks. Do you have tinnitus? I have tinnitus too. It is said that SSHL is not necessarily accompanied by tinnitus.

My hearing loss is on the left also. I brought up this point earlier this year as this was my observation also. However, I dont think it proved itself out. However, it would be worthwhile if we could poll active users of the forum. I have no problem collating this information if we want to proceed. My email is in my profile.

Hi

It certainly would be interesting to collate responses on which side has been affected. I have read through most of the posts in this forum and left seems to be the dominant side. I also have found other newsgroups/weblogs and again left sided seems to dominate.

Eltoniam - yes I also have 24-7 tinnitus in both ears, but much worse in my deaf left ear. It rarely bothers me as I am so used to it, but does flare up occasionallly with background noise and stress.

Thanks Edisoar and Scorpiouk.

I have e-mailed my personal data re my left sided-hearing loss to Edisoar.
I hadn't realized that we could enter our personal e-mail address on our profile.

If you are willing to accumulate data on the potential left sided hearing loss preponderance by checking (and identifying) the several forums, then I can reach out to the international ENT, Neurology & Audiology community for their imput too--then I can submit a letter to their journals or possibly even a short paper to get a conversation started amongst the best brains out there.

Most important scientific breakthroughs occur through serendipity or the posing of a simple question, then gathering the data. In this case it's simply: 'What side is the hearing loss on?'

When possible, it would be good to have an idea of age, duration, and the associated symptoms too (vertigo? tinnitus?) but not necessary.

Thanks,

A Family Doctor

etmd22
My hearing loss is on the left side too. It will be three years tomorrow! I am 45 next month, female and have raging tinnitus and have had vertigo at the beginning, and particularly in the second year but this is rare now. I am quite excited by this potential breakthrough

etmd22
I am a female totally deaf on the left side, for the past 6 months. I also have tinnitus and BPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo)laying down, looking up or tilting my head. I have been trying to research why most pepple seem to get it on the left side but haven't found anything yet.

JeWel, Charlee, Edisoar and Scorpiouk all report left-sided hearing loss. Let's hear from others now.

Thanks,

A Family Doctor

etmd22-mine is also on the left side. I do not think that this is an coincidence with reference to statistics or probability. You are right. I guess it can be some nerve problems in connection with the brain, but it should be difficult to be proved or traced.