Sudden Hearing loss _{Page 95 of 105}

eltonlam,

After my experiance with SSHL, and taking 3 years to find a real reason & cure, I would double check what your doctor says, they know so little about this disorder.

Get the test results! If your histamine levels are unchecked or are high something is wrong, and it could be related to your hearing loss. It was for me.

Until then you can't rule out an auto-immune disorder; unless you'd rather stay in the dark (ignorance is bliss for most people, but not for those suffering from a hearing loss or tinnitus).

jhorowi1,
I cannot comment how knowledgeable are these ENT doctors. They work in the public hospitals. They treated many patients each day.
I know what you said. Could you tell me how you control with histamine levels? After you control your histamine levels, can you improve your hearing? I think besides histamine levels, there will be other reasons causing SSHL. These may include the bockages of arteries or the damage of auditory nerves etc. I am a vegan. I think that nature is the best healer.

eltonlam,

> Could you tell me how you control with histamine levels?

You can't directly. They are a response to something else, normally indicative of an allergic response. ENT's tend to ignore this, because it's not their field of expertise.

> I think besides histamine levels, there will be other reasons causing SSHL.

I'm sure there are many causes for this disorder just as there are many such indicators for different auto-immune disorders. Histamine was a clue for mine, that is why I asked.

> After you control your histamine levels, can you improve your hearing?

That is exactly what happened to me. Once I knew I had an allergy, I just had to find the allergens and avoid them. My histamine levels are now fine. See my story URL link from my profile.

> I think that nature is the best healer.

G-d is the best healer, but sometimes He throws us challenges that we are meant to meet by thinking and looking 'ouside the box.'

I wish it was easier, but apparently that is not what creation is all about (and not the forum for this thread of thought).

jhorowi1,
Thanks for your reply. Many processed foods could contain allergens. I never eat processed food.
The ENT doctors usually could not give definite answers to the causes of SSHL. SSHL is very similar to cancer and may be incurable nowadays. I hope that the scientists put more efforts to the research of SSHL and benefit humans by solving the perplexities.

> Many processed foods could contain allergens. I never eat processed food.

So do many whole food. You could be allergic to something you frequently eat.

> The ENT doctors usually could not give definite answers to the causes of SSHL. ... may be incurable nowadays. I hope that the scientists put more efforts to the research ...

I can give you one definitive answer, although it may not be the only answer; read my profile, get tested, get well (hopefully).

eltonlam - in what conceivable way do you think that SSHL is similar to cancer?? It is plainly not life threatening or disfiguring, does not merit debilitating medication such as chemotherapy and is not in any way similar. As a biologist I consider scientific facts and I am afraid that some of your ideas are quite off the mark. SSHL is an idiopathic condition which may or may not have a specific cause which will be identified in some individuals. If I had to choose between this or cancer then I would choose this every time!

I just mean it turns out to be incurable just like terminal cancer, of course it is a deaf ear only, it is not life threatening. Iam sorry if any misunderstanding was thus caused. It was said that neither cancer of the ear or cancer of heart would not exist, Food can affect our genes and abnormal gene mutations can cause cancer of various types.

Correction
I should have said that neither cancer of the ear nor cancer of heart would exist. Sorry for the inconvenience so caused.

I went from 0 hearing in R ear after 6 days of low dose steroids from ent #1-3rd ent consulted prescribed higher dose (60mg) for longer period, and hearing improving-this dr. seems knowledgable re SNL, he also presribed antibiotics to rule out inflammation & he brought up anti-virals & per jhorw. posts, I brought up allergies-- dr advising next decision to be made on based where I am in 2wks...
I am also having some reduction of tinnitus- which I assume is because getting some hearing back- am also using ginko as well as other vitamin regimen & thinking that may also be helping
? for group-
1 why do the steroids seem to help with the anti-viral & allergy cases?
2. did any of you use acupuncture for
i) possible nerve stimulation
ii)stress and/or pain relief?
111)anyone have any good results for tinnitus by using anything beside gink-?note there are many other advertised products on market


Thanks again all who share & care on this forum

No one has found that miracle supplement that will cure tinnitus. Although the internet is full of hucksters willing to take your money. Some have said a diet low in sodium helps. For me I notice my Tinnitus is quieter when I am hungry, especially in the morning.

I have already gone through the antiviral-oral steroid route, then I switched to liquid steroids through a tube placed in my ear. That was a big mistake as the tramua to my eardrum made the tinnitus even louder. Had an mri last week that showed nothing wrong.

Now I'm to the point that It's time to just make the best of this situation and try and live with it. I do hope yours gets better Fran, but few of us hear have that happen. Good luck.

Has anyone here had any expeience with accupuncture for SHL/tinnitus?

David-Have you tried the ginko-my research indicates it's the best homeopathic aid for the tinnitus.

Franc C,
I have tried acupuncture for three times. I am not sure how much benefit I could obtain from it. At least, it does you more good than harm. Acupuncture can stimulate blood circulation and promote healing. I am a vegan, and I find out that my tinnitus is mild except when I am under stress or noisy environment.
I also had the experience of taking ginko. I think ginko can promote blood circulation of samll arteries of our brain. Now I take gogi, walnuts, pumkin seeds, flaxseed power, grapeseed oil, banana, papaya, apple, pear, spirulina, chlorella and unrefined natural sea salt. I never eat processed food. I always believe that a strong immune system is a must for healing ourselves of various diseases.
People always talk about allergy. Allergens can really undermine our immune system. We must be aware that processed food can contain various types of allergens. Food unrecognized by our genes can be considered as foreign substances or allergens. Dr.Howard said that white blood cells in our blood increase tremendously after taking processed or cooked food. This will not happen with the raw living food.

David A-I'm at your point. I have never in the 2 years since this suddenly happened, had any hearing whatsoever in my left ear despite the TM steroid injections within the 1st week. I'm totally profoundly deaf on that side. The tinnitus does vary sometimes, sometimes its all I seem to hear, sometimes I get clicking sounds and when I lie down at nite, I often get extremely high pitch jolts that are hard to describe, kind of like a bad speaker going crazy. I've tried to adjust as best I can and although I pray nightly to have the hearing return, I pray moreso that I can maintain the hearing on my right side and it doesn't go. If this is my lot in life and I've pretty much accepted it is, I still feel mighty blessed that something much worse hasn't happened and am thankful for each day and some days, don't really think about it. Of course, some days it makes its presence so known that I can't ignore it. Everyone, good luck with improvements and acceptance.

David A- Have you tried the allergy testing as per jhorow yet?

eltonlam-3 accupuncture treatments don't seem lie very much-my undestanding is a longer course is necessay- i canreport back after my 1st consultation & treatment tomorrow
Acceptance is a valuable principle which I feal should be embraced after we try all other possible course-whether it be steroids, anti-viral,allergy testing accupuncture, hoemopatghic, vitamins etc supplements, et al.

I tried Ginko a couple weeks ago and i made my tummy very upset, so that one is out. As far as allergys go I have never had them. I have had to change my diet. After being on the steroid-antivirals for a week, and after three nights of ambien my stomach gave up and I developed severe reflux in my throat all the way up to my mouth.

I think something in the ambien finished off my stomach. Now I have a diet of mostly acid free fruits and veggies and still get the reflux two hours after I eat. My ent said its not Candida, which I thought it could be.

I just started taking prilosec today as the pepcid ac is not doing anything. I have an appointment next week to see a gastro doc to see whats going on. I have never had reflux like this before. Add it to my tinnitus and I've got my hands full.

Interested in knowing group's experience with injctions in earconjunction/after oral steroids
David A-I know the problems you had-semed like that was something other than injections-you had tube put in-right?
Re sleep: Hopefully prilosec will help-works for me Also- May I suggest-if you haven't yet-trying mediation route re: sleep problem?(also has worked for me re sleep issues)

Yes I had the tube put in, and personally I don't reccommend cutting the eardrum I think my doctor took it way to lightly. I did find a study online where a group of people with shl were studied as far as steriods go. One group was given the oral steroid only, and the other was givin the oral and liquid injections into the ear. The study showed the the same recovery rate from both groups. http://callierlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/can-intratymp....

I wish I would have seen this before I had the liquid steroids put in my ear. The brain is a funny thing I think the tramau to my ear (cutting for tube) drew my brains attention to that ear and made my tinnitus much louder. I am not trying to influence your decision as you want to do all that is possible to save your hearing. Some in this forum swear the injections saved their hearing. Anyways good luck to you.

David A.- Any improvement re: the tinnitus which will hopefully improve once the cut in your ear heals...do let us know as time passes

also had my 1st accupuncture treatment to stimulate healing...was relaxing & helping with the stress- if nothing else is accomplished, that was beneficial in that regard

How amazing it has been for me to find this forum of so many people whom I can identify with. My story is just so eerily similar to those of us unlucky enough to be suddenly struck with this awkward affliction. I have spent the entire day going through all the previous posts. Such a wealth of knowledge and incredible sharing of experiences over such a long period of time (since 2004). I now know that the noises in my head are going to be with me for the rest of my life and I will almost certainly have to learn to live with the hearing loss in my left ear.

I am into day 6 of my SHL experience in my left ear with total hearing loss. I woke on Monday (26 April 2010) with a fuzzy feeling in my head, ringing in my left ear (another lefty to add to the list if anyone ever did manage to start gathering affected ear side statistics) and no hearing in that ear. I did not realize there was a problem until Tuesday morning when there was no change and the deafness continued. Strangely, two weeks prior I had had deafness in my right ear but had been able to clear it by wiggling my ear and clearing the wax blockage. I had found an ENT and was waiting for my daughter, visiting from UK and delayed by the ash cloud, to leave on 27th, to make an appointment to have the wax cleared.

I saw the ENT yesterday and he confirmed that the deafness in my left ear was caused by damage to my cochlea, cause unknown, but with all the suggestions that other SHL sufferers had been given..virus etc. I am due to have an MRI on Monday and today I started taking a 10 day course of 60mg/day Prednisone. This is hard for me because I have not taken any allopathic medication for more than the past 30 years. It feels like I am putting pure poison into my body but I do not feel that I have a choice if there is a chance to gain, however small, some hearing back. I cannot bring myself to use the antivirals also suggested.

I will see a homoeopath next week when I can get an appointment and also try to contact a Prof who deals with autoimmune conditions.

And that is my story. Thank you for 'listening' to me.
Rose

Fran C.,

> 1 why do the steroids seem to help with the anti-viral & allergy cases?

Because they inhibit your auto-immune system. That is why Zinc and others work to some degree as well. But steroids are only a cure if your auto-immune resets back to normal, for some people it seems that the steriod are enough to allow this to happen. I was not fortunate enough.

But I was able to get full relief, no hearing loss or tinnitus, by dealing with the allergy directly (and with my stress to aviod a repeat of the disorder).

David A,

> Now I'm to the point that It's time to just make the best of this situation and try and live with it.

Have you checked for type-3 allergies yet? *Please* see the link in my profile. My hearing loss was caused by a non-standard allergy; I had no other symptoms and I have few allergies other than cats. (I wish I could post URLs or send you an email.)

Just went through your site Jhorowi1. Wow, I always thought alergys would present in some nasal way, and not just in one ear. Looking at your hearing test it looked like you lost all your low frequency hearing. In my test I lost all my high frequency hearing and some of my lows also. So I'm not sure my shl is like yours. I'm seeing a gastro doc on wednesday do you think I should ask him about a type 3 alergen test?

David & Joey- My hearing test Fri. revealed very minor improvement due to oral steroids taken in weeks 3-5 (75% loss in R ear)
It seems the allergy path is tied to MM disease-not a complete loss like I had which was concurrent with flu,with minor improvement due to steroids started in week 3 after onset (can hears tones-words are totally garbled...)... so believed my cause was flu virus, not stress-induced like joey's Ent said no use doing oral injections at this point since any benefit from steroids already maximized
Because I asked,ENT gave me anti-viral script, but said it really deals with those who have virus in herpes family (Shortcake said she had lip sore I recall)-not case brought on by flu-like symptoms..& he didn't see how that would help me--seems to make sense & i thus am undecided re taking
I think i will get tested per joey for allergies first since seems i should rule that out, even though seems very unlikely, unfortunately fo me..
D.- And as you realize now per joey, you should also get the allergy tests
J- thanks for continuiing to be involved to help others
If you have any thoughts-please share

David,

> not sure my shl is like yours

I don't think we know enough about this disorder to jump to any conclusions one way or another. For all we know your specific loss is related to which foods you are allergic to (just as a wild guess). The simple blood test is far less painful than injections in your ear.

> I'm seeing a gastro doc on wednesday do you think I should ask him about a type 3 alergen test?

The type-3 IgG food allergy test saved my life. If your GI Dr, will administer it, by all means! However, most Drs. do not consider the results of an IgG test as valid; so don't be surprised if they poo-poo it. You may have to contact the labs that offer these tests (such as Metametrix or Neuro Science) to find a Dr. who will give it. It was covered under my insurance (when given by an M.D.), the cost was $250.

RosieCG,

> If you have any thoughts-please share

Please test just to cover all your bases, you never know. I hope it is an allergy since that is easy to cure.

It turns out that the path of my SHL disorder is *speculated* to be Stress -> Increased Intestinal Permeability -> Increased IgG response (due to 'Leaky Gut Syndrome') -> Hearing disorder. So to avoid a relapse good gut health is believed to be part of the cure. Luckily the L-Glutamine & Pro-biotics I take can't hurt, as far as I know.

whoops - I meant to address the last thought posted to Fran C., my mistake.

To RosieCG,

> I will see a homoeopath next week when ... who deals with autoimmune conditions.

Find a good one! My Nutritionist (PhD) saved me, he figured it out right away; he was the 2nd homeopath I tried. If you want his contact info, send me an email (see my Profile).

Undigested food must be eliminated fast enough to prevent toxic wastes from throwing back into our blood stream. Lactobacillus bacteria helping to clear toxic wastes are often destroyed by antibiotics. Cooked and processed food are often not completely digested and absorbed. Enough fibre intake helps the elimination of toxic wastes. Undigested food can become putrefied and rancid if not eliminated fast enough, which can harm our colon. Raw organic living food will not cause this problem by providing enough enzymes and fibre. Nutrients of raw living food can be broken down easily and readily absorbed.

Just noticed this weekend the volume on my tinnitus spikes when I chew something hard on the right side of my mouth. I think its one tooth in particular that if I bite hard into it, the ringing gets louder.

Last week when to ent was applying a paper patch to my eardrum it really hurt. The thing is the pain shot from my ear into this same tooth. Is their a neve that runs through there, or is there something wrong with my tooth, maybe causing the tinnitus?