Ailúron
So sick and tired of being so sick and tired.
- Messages
- 34
- Location
- NW Arkansas
I have just gone through the ordeal of sudden hearing loss (this is called SSHL). It has been not only extremely upsetting, but also deeply depressing and discouraging. (This is for those in similar misery from sudden hearing loss, as misery loves company and a grief shared is sometimes half a grief. Most may very well not want to continue reading.)
Back in early April (I mention the month because a number of other people say their sudden hearing loss occurred in early Spring and like me, most often in the left ear - I have no idea why this seems to the typical scenario), I lost 100% of my hearing soon after I woke up in the morning - it was preceded by some strange clicking (almost a smacking sound) in the ear and tinnitus so intense it was painful. I quickly contacted my local emergency clinic and was told it was probably a build-up of earwax against my eardrum, so I put some high-quality wax removal drops in my ear and lay down for this to work. However, when I got up 15 minutes later to let the drops drain out, the noise was gone, but so was ALL my hearing in that ear!
I rushed to the emergency clinic and they found no build-up of wax at all, and I was given an immediate emergency appointment with one of the most reputable ENT specialists in the area who confirmed that my ear canal was clear and I was put on huge doses of prednisone - to which I am very, very sensitive (as I am to many standard meds) - both physically and psychologically (prednisone makes me panicky).
However, after suffering through two days of 60mg of prednisone a day, and feeling very ill all over and unable to sleep at all b/c of the steroid, I returned to the ENT clinic, and was told that to avoid the serious systemic effects that oral prednisone was having on me, methyl prednisolone would be injected through my eardrum into my inner ear. The injection process was painless (the ear was numbed), but hours later I felt like my inner ear was ON FIRE!!! (I feared that more damage was actually being done to my inner ear! Returning to the ENT again, I was injected with an old steroid that I knew I was tolerant to - Kenalog - and had two more injections of it during the next week.
Sadly, my hearing didn't return, but tinnitus is now constant and plagues me all day and night. Weeks later, I noticed that I was beginning to hear a rattling sound in my left ear when I heard certain frequencies and volumes of sound that were normal sounds to my right ear. The rattling has continued to increase somewhat, but there is never any discernable speech or music in my left ear. The ENT has given up, saying that it is most likely serious viral damage from a cold I had last winter and blowing my nose too forcefully and up my eustachian tube, and there is nothing more he can do. I have had an MRI, but it shows nothing.
This crisis, along with my mold allergy and the constant fear of COVID19 fear is dreadfully overwhelming.
I keep taking all my nutritional supplements. But I'm taking much more xanax than I ever wanted to take, just to keep from "losing it". I keep hoping for some miracle.
Back in early April (I mention the month because a number of other people say their sudden hearing loss occurred in early Spring and like me, most often in the left ear - I have no idea why this seems to the typical scenario), I lost 100% of my hearing soon after I woke up in the morning - it was preceded by some strange clicking (almost a smacking sound) in the ear and tinnitus so intense it was painful. I quickly contacted my local emergency clinic and was told it was probably a build-up of earwax against my eardrum, so I put some high-quality wax removal drops in my ear and lay down for this to work. However, when I got up 15 minutes later to let the drops drain out, the noise was gone, but so was ALL my hearing in that ear!
I rushed to the emergency clinic and they found no build-up of wax at all, and I was given an immediate emergency appointment with one of the most reputable ENT specialists in the area who confirmed that my ear canal was clear and I was put on huge doses of prednisone - to which I am very, very sensitive (as I am to many standard meds) - both physically and psychologically (prednisone makes me panicky).
However, after suffering through two days of 60mg of prednisone a day, and feeling very ill all over and unable to sleep at all b/c of the steroid, I returned to the ENT clinic, and was told that to avoid the serious systemic effects that oral prednisone was having on me, methyl prednisolone would be injected through my eardrum into my inner ear. The injection process was painless (the ear was numbed), but hours later I felt like my inner ear was ON FIRE!!! (I feared that more damage was actually being done to my inner ear! Returning to the ENT again, I was injected with an old steroid that I knew I was tolerant to - Kenalog - and had two more injections of it during the next week.
Sadly, my hearing didn't return, but tinnitus is now constant and plagues me all day and night. Weeks later, I noticed that I was beginning to hear a rattling sound in my left ear when I heard certain frequencies and volumes of sound that were normal sounds to my right ear. The rattling has continued to increase somewhat, but there is never any discernable speech or music in my left ear. The ENT has given up, saying that it is most likely serious viral damage from a cold I had last winter and blowing my nose too forcefully and up my eustachian tube, and there is nothing more he can do. I have had an MRI, but it shows nothing.
This crisis, along with my mold allergy and the constant fear of COVID19 fear is dreadfully overwhelming.
I keep taking all my nutritional supplements. But I'm taking much more xanax than I ever wanted to take, just to keep from "losing it". I keep hoping for some miracle.