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Sudden Hearing Loss
Hi all,
I am a 51 y.o. retired language teacher. Most of my hobbies revolve around hearing. I've been singing on and off most of my life, as a soloist and choir member. I'm also a choir director and an avid birder. This last passion I share with my husband. When we go out, he takes the photos and I'm in charge of the "ear-birding" -- ID'ing and finding birds by their calls and songs. This past Friday, I finally made non-refundable reservations for a long planned and dreamed about trip to a famous Costa Rican birding lodge. And then ...
This past Tuesday morning (5.5 days ago), I noticed something very strange when I started singing. The sound in my left ear was much too loud and harsh. Later when I went out to lunch, it felt like everyone was shouting at me. My friend and I had to sit outside on the patio, b.c. I couldn't sit through an entire hour of that din. I started doing some on-line research and thought I simply had hyperacusis. It wasn't until the next morning when I went birding, that I noticed I the hearing loss. I couldn't hear any bird song at all on my left side! And worse yet, I had no clue where the bird songs were coming from. Zero directionality.
Scared and depressed, I went home and immediately did more research on-line. It seemed like I might have Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. I didn't bother contacting my PCP and made an appointment directly with an ENT. Had an audiogram. My good ear had above normal, even excellent hearing -- either zero or 10 Decibles at every frequency, including 12,000 hertz, which the ENT said was not normally part of the test. He added it because I mentioned birding and some birds sing that high with overtones going even higher. My problematic ear was just as good as the right up until 4,000 hertz, where it dropped off rapidly with: 4,000 Hz: 55 Dbs; 8,000 Hz: 60 Dbs; 12,000 Hz: 80 Dbs. My speech comprehension was 100% at 45 Dbs.
My ENT prescribed a 7-day taper course of Prednisone, starting with 30 mg. That afternoon I went back online and saw that this is not the standard high-dose treatment. That starts at 60 mg and lasts for two weeks. I started wondering if I hadn't been prescribed the full dose because: 1) My hearing loss is mild, at least when viewed in terms of everyday functionality (although it's a near total loss for the things that I care about!); 2) I only weigh 116 lb and if the dosage formula is followed in my case, the top dose should be 52 mg/day not 60; and/or 3) I have had recurrent problems with severe diverticulitis over the past 15 years w/ 5 hospitalizations and one surgery. I'm thinking it's particularly this last thing which is stopping him from giving me not 60 maybe, but 50 mg of Prednisone. I called the nurse back and left a message explaining that the diverticulitis has been 100% under control for a year now and that I wanted to know if this was why he wasn't prescribing a higher dose. I waited about 6 hours for her to call back with the message that the ENT simply didn't feel comfortable giving me a higher dose. Period. End of story. Instead, he'd wait to see me in 3 weeks and if there wasn't enough improvement, he'd order the steroid injections in the ear.
So, now I don't know what to do? I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find someone who would prescribe me a higher dose, but I really don't want to risk yet another diverticulitis attack. I have no clue if this would be a problem or not. I'm thinking not, but I'm not a doctor and I do not have a GI. (I am no longer seeing a GI because nothing they had was working for me. I eventually got my digestive issues under control with lots of probiotics and a major change in diet that I worked out on my own.)
After 4 days of the medication, I think I might be seeing a little progress, but I am not sure. In addition to the medication, I am also doing a version of the "Constraint-induced Sound Therapy" that was described in one of these threads. I'm plugging up the good ear and listening to a lot of bird song played as softly as possible on iPhone. I'm seeing progress in the volume level I at which I can hear the moderately high frequencies. Today, I can hear at a 5 setting, what I could hear two days ago at a 7. However, the tone quality is still scratchy, metallic and generally wretched. No improvement whatsoever there. I'm also having problems even doing the sound therapy at the highest frequency level at all (12,000 hz) since with a 70Db difference between the two ears, I still hear the sound in the good ear no matter what I do. Yes, I have it plugged and covered with a noise-cancelling headphone and I am lying on a pillow while I have an earbud playing directly into the bad ear. And still I hear it in the ear with the plug, headphones and pillow and not in the bad ear that's supposed to be getting the sound therapy.
So, I don't know? Is this OK progress? Am I getting impatient? Should I just find someone who will go ahead a prescribe a higher dose of Prednisone? Should I skip more othe oral Prednisone and ask the ENT to prescribe the steroid injections sooner rather than later? He is having me wait 3 weeks from the start of the 7-day Prednisone course for the steroid injections. Is there any point at all to waiting this long and not doing it ASAP? I might be answering my own question here, but one of the frustrating things about this whole syndrome is the lack of really good research. No double-blind studies; meta-analyses inconclusive; lots of anecdotes and seemingly random recoveries ... or not!
I'm also worried because I don't think my prognosis is that good. It seems like it's easier to regain the lower than the higher frequencies. Or maybe the higher frequencies just take longer to come back? Also my losses in the higher frequencies are pretty severe. I'm thinking I might as well just kiss that 12,000 hz in my bad ear good-bye. That's probably never coming back no matter what I do.
I'm also a little worried that I'll lose the lower frequencies in the bad ear too. I've been hearing some weird lower pitched "chirps" or "chirrups" every once in a while. About 6 times today. It's not tinnitus. Just a weird, rather loud, lower-pitched blurp. If my loss has all been higher frequencies, why this lower pitched stuff? Maybe I should get a second opinion about this too?
So, anyone care to answer a question and help me not go crazy?
I am a 51 y.o. retired language teacher. Most of my hobbies revolve around hearing. I've been singing on and off most of my life, as a soloist and choir member. I'm also a choir director and an avid birder. This last passion I share with my husband. When we go out, he takes the photos and I'm in charge of the "ear-birding" -- ID'ing and finding birds by their calls and songs. This past Friday, I finally made non-refundable reservations for a long planned and dreamed about trip to a famous Costa Rican birding lodge. And then ...
This past Tuesday morning (5.5 days ago), I noticed something very strange when I started singing. The sound in my left ear was much too loud and harsh. Later when I went out to lunch, it felt like everyone was shouting at me. My friend and I had to sit outside on the patio, b.c. I couldn't sit through an entire hour of that din. I started doing some on-line research and thought I simply had hyperacusis. It wasn't until the next morning when I went birding, that I noticed I the hearing loss. I couldn't hear any bird song at all on my left side! And worse yet, I had no clue where the bird songs were coming from. Zero directionality.
Scared and depressed, I went home and immediately did more research on-line. It seemed like I might have Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. I didn't bother contacting my PCP and made an appointment directly with an ENT. Had an audiogram. My good ear had above normal, even excellent hearing -- either zero or 10 Decibles at every frequency, including 12,000 hertz, which the ENT said was not normally part of the test. He added it because I mentioned birding and some birds sing that high with overtones going even higher. My problematic ear was just as good as the right up until 4,000 hertz, where it dropped off rapidly with: 4,000 Hz: 55 Dbs; 8,000 Hz: 60 Dbs; 12,000 Hz: 80 Dbs. My speech comprehension was 100% at 45 Dbs.
My ENT prescribed a 7-day taper course of Prednisone, starting with 30 mg. That afternoon I went back online and saw that this is not the standard high-dose treatment. That starts at 60 mg and lasts for two weeks. I started wondering if I hadn't been prescribed the full dose because: 1) My hearing loss is mild, at least when viewed in terms of everyday functionality (although it's a near total loss for the things that I care about!); 2) I only weigh 116 lb and if the dosage formula is followed in my case, the top dose should be 52 mg/day not 60; and/or 3) I have had recurrent problems with severe diverticulitis over the past 15 years w/ 5 hospitalizations and one surgery. I'm thinking it's particularly this last thing which is stopping him from giving me not 60 maybe, but 50 mg of Prednisone. I called the nurse back and left a message explaining that the diverticulitis has been 100% under control for a year now and that I wanted to know if this was why he wasn't prescribing a higher dose. I waited about 6 hours for her to call back with the message that the ENT simply didn't feel comfortable giving me a higher dose. Period. End of story. Instead, he'd wait to see me in 3 weeks and if there wasn't enough improvement, he'd order the steroid injections in the ear.
So, now I don't know what to do? I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could find someone who would prescribe me a higher dose, but I really don't want to risk yet another diverticulitis attack. I have no clue if this would be a problem or not. I'm thinking not, but I'm not a doctor and I do not have a GI. (I am no longer seeing a GI because nothing they had was working for me. I eventually got my digestive issues under control with lots of probiotics and a major change in diet that I worked out on my own.)
After 4 days of the medication, I think I might be seeing a little progress, but I am not sure. In addition to the medication, I am also doing a version of the "Constraint-induced Sound Therapy" that was described in one of these threads. I'm plugging up the good ear and listening to a lot of bird song played as softly as possible on iPhone. I'm seeing progress in the volume level I at which I can hear the moderately high frequencies. Today, I can hear at a 5 setting, what I could hear two days ago at a 7. However, the tone quality is still scratchy, metallic and generally wretched. No improvement whatsoever there. I'm also having problems even doing the sound therapy at the highest frequency level at all (12,000 hz) since with a 70Db difference between the two ears, I still hear the sound in the good ear no matter what I do. Yes, I have it plugged and covered with a noise-cancelling headphone and I am lying on a pillow while I have an earbud playing directly into the bad ear. And still I hear it in the ear with the plug, headphones and pillow and not in the bad ear that's supposed to be getting the sound therapy.
So, I don't know? Is this OK progress? Am I getting impatient? Should I just find someone who will go ahead a prescribe a higher dose of Prednisone? Should I skip more othe oral Prednisone and ask the ENT to prescribe the steroid injections sooner rather than later? He is having me wait 3 weeks from the start of the 7-day Prednisone course for the steroid injections. Is there any point at all to waiting this long and not doing it ASAP? I might be answering my own question here, but one of the frustrating things about this whole syndrome is the lack of really good research. No double-blind studies; meta-analyses inconclusive; lots of anecdotes and seemingly random recoveries ... or not!
I'm also worried because I don't think my prognosis is that good. It seems like it's easier to regain the lower than the higher frequencies. Or maybe the higher frequencies just take longer to come back? Also my losses in the higher frequencies are pretty severe. I'm thinking I might as well just kiss that 12,000 hz in my bad ear good-bye. That's probably never coming back no matter what I do.
I'm also a little worried that I'll lose the lower frequencies in the bad ear too. I've been hearing some weird lower pitched "chirps" or "chirrups" every once in a while. About 6 times today. It's not tinnitus. Just a weird, rather loud, lower-pitched blurp. If my loss has all been higher frequencies, why this lower pitched stuff? Maybe I should get a second opinion about this too?
So, anyone care to answer a question and help me not go crazy?
Exercise can help solve a lot of hearing problems. Hearing loss is usually caused due to the lack of blood flow to the inner ear and some parts of the brain. Exercise increases blood flow and hence it becomes a solution to hearing loss. This post explains how exercise can help combat hearaing loss
http://www.hearingsolutions.ca/blog/can-exercise-help-you-hear-better
http://www.hearingsolutions.ca/blog/can-exercise-help-you-hear-better
you can buy the steroids online, I also take insulin with them.
I wish a doctor could tell me what the degradation in hearing is when you stop steroids; my hearing became remained clogged and distant and I think I had some tinnitus but this was even after I stopped antibiotics. it seems to be a sign of ongoing inflammation and damage, but this is just speculation
I wish a doctor could tell me what the degradation in hearing is when you stop steroids; my hearing became remained clogged and distant and I think I had some tinnitus but this was even after I stopped antibiotics. it seems to be a sign of ongoing inflammation and damage, but this is just speculation
Well, I would have liked to have been given such a high dose (I think). I begged and pleaded with the result that my ENT gave me a second course of Prednisone, starting at 30mg, tapering by 5mg and lasting 12 days.
I experienced noticeable improvement on the first day of this new Prednisone course, but have backslid since then. I think there is no improvement overall at this point. I may be wrong, but it's what it feels like. I am still relatively early in the process (only 9 days after onset and 7 days after beginning of treatment), so I'm still hopeful.
No objectionable side effects so far.
I'm now wondering if I should go the IT injection route after the Prednisone is through. I'll think I'll do another thread about that.
I experienced noticeable improvement on the first day of this new Prednisone course, but have backslid since then. I think there is no improvement overall at this point. I may be wrong, but it's what it feels like. I am still relatively early in the process (only 9 days after onset and 7 days after beginning of treatment), so I'm still hopeful.
No objectionable side effects so far.
I'm now wondering if I should go the IT injection route after the Prednisone is through. I'll think I'll do another thread about that.
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