im so confused & depressed

i am 31. i have been complaining about hearing loss to my doctors and family since i was 25. either no one believed me, or they said, "oh you are fine, probably just have wax buildup, its selective hearing, blah blah blah..." When I did go to an audiologist at 30 he said, oh yeah you have hearing loss, heres a list of the hearing aides (starting at $5000), call me when you pick one out. have a nice day".  i went a  a whole year before seeing any more Doctors because I felt so stupid and i have NO MONEY.

i finally got some decent insurance and got in with a good ENT. he did all the tests, and said "Yes you have hearing loss BADLY in your left ear. but i dont see anything wrong with your ear, it is Sensory. in your brain. you have to go to a neurotologist. the closest one is 2 hours away. it could be genetic, we dont really know. heres his number" he also sent me the HEARx, who did another exam, was the same results and fitted me for an aide which i get next week.(thanks to insurance coverage its not the smallest thing, but looks like it wont be too obtrusive either)

int eh meantime, it takes MONTHS to get in with the neurotologist, and NOW im FREAKING OUT. what if i have a  brain tumor? what if i go completely deaf? WHY doesnt anyone seem to CARE?!! its like they dont believe me, and they make me feel so stupid. when i tell people about it they look at me like,"yeah ok whatever"...like im doing this for attention or something?! and i kinda dont blame them because i can only tell them what the DRs say which is" we dont know".   which still seems unbeleiveable to me. i have kids and i get scared that i wont be able to hear them, or what if this happens to them etc etc.......
then all THAT send me into panic attacks and anxiety.

and is it normal for me to be afraid of having the hearing aides? im not afriad of what people will say about them, but i dont want any extra attention, either. and im afriad of the physical part, will things be too loud? will i sound different when i talk?
and is it normal for people to be so RUDE when you say "I have a problem hearing please speak up?!"

sorry if im all over the place here, this is the first forum i found online that seems decent. and im kinda depressed and nervous. everyone in my life is supportive. i sense they want to, but just CANT, get it.  

thanks for any input you may be able to give me.
kimberly

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

1) What you suposed competent ENT did or said to you makes no sense.  If you had a Neural loss, a hearing aid will not help you.

2) If you have a conductive or sensory neural loss, then yes a hearing aid (to some degree) should help you. (but may not due to the fact you have a unilateral loss)

Hard to explain this, so put on your thinking cap.

1) A large percentage, if not all hearing aids will not allow a person to hear at normal thresholds.  If you have one ear that is normal, and aid the second ear, and even when the hearing aid is worn, if there is a 6 dB difference of thresholds between the two ears (aided and un-aided) the poorer ear will be percieved by the brain as "dead/deaf."  In other words the brain will not recieve information from the poorer ear.  Think about it, the ears are extremely sensitive & they have to be, because if they were not, we could not distinguish or locate sound sources.  (up, down left right etc)

In an ethical practice, you should first rule out if you have a tumor before you purchase a hearing aid....   Why is that?  Well if you do have a tumor, in a lot of cases, after removal, you will lose all of your hearing, because the nerves leading from the cochlea to the brain may have to be cut to get the tumor out.

If you buy a hearing aid, and then have the tumor removed, now the hearing aid becomes useless.



It sounds to me, you are working with some Mickey Mouse organizations.

FYI- due to the advancements in cochlear implants it is difficult to become totally deaf.

Also, check out the 'DOT" by Resound, because that is a very very very small hearing aid.


The type of tumors that can cause a hearing loss are very slow growing, so having to wait for a Neurologist is not going to harm you physically.... emotionally, possibly.


Good luck

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

PS when I say you would lose all of your hearing upon removal of a tumor, I mean you will lose the hearing in that ear, not both ears

[kimber1978]

ok he did say its SENSORY as i stated above, and wants me to go to a neurotologist to be sure.

also, the people at HEARx gave me two aides. one for the bad ear and one for the good ear (which isnt perfect but nowhere near where the bad ear is). and their tests came out matching the ENTs.

thanks for your help. i wish i could just get to the neuro faster. but i guess whats done is done. i just have to be patient.

maybe i should stop watching shows like Greys Anatomy in the meantime! LOL

thanks again! :)

[luv2sew]

Please, take one thing at a time.  I have a 21 year old daughter who has a hearing loss in both ears, diagnosed at age 5, it's called a "cookie" bite loss, because when you look at her hearing graph it looks like some one took a bite out of a cookie.  She has been wearing aids since then & they did look big & bulky, not only that, she had to carry around a FM system at school & yes she was teased & picked on.  Your VERY fortunate your insurance company pd for your aids, are's will NOT.  They see them as a "luxury" item.  For college we did get a loan for the digital aids, which she loves because they can program them for her hearing needs.  She too has a sensory loss because the hair in the cochlea has been damaged & after all these years her hearing has gotten worse.  There's a great orginization that will provide you with lots of information called Hearing Loss Association of America, web site:  http://www.hearingloss.org/     I would find another doctor