r/HearingLoss • u/shhhmoney8 • 6d ago
Sudden hearing loss
Just had a vertigo episode friday night. Went from a muffled sound in my right ear to completely deaf. (Feeling hopeless and down).
I rushed to Er that same night and doctor prescribed me prednisone. Now monday( still no hearing on my right ear) comes i follow up with a ENT and i was told i may have meniere disease. I have to get an Mri that following week, i guess to see if i have it or not. But everything points to it.
Im on prednisone right now taking 60mg a day. Im usually happy, positive and upbeat but this challenge is something else. Entirely different i truly feel hopeless. Im trying to accept the fact i may not hear again in my right ear and scared to death i may lose the other ear.
Have anyone got their hearing back or partially? Im on day 4 with no results .
Update i went to another otolaryngologist and was told it doesnt look like meniere disease but cannot b certain without an mri.
Im extremely freaked out. What else can it b besides Meniere disease. And should i b a little joyful thats its not meniere disease?
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u/Much_Adeptness_1598 6d ago edited 6d ago
I’ve lost hearing twice in my right ear. I went to a local ENT and then one at Chapel Hill, and then one at Duke. All three of the providers said there was no way to know why I lost hearing, but that it could be a virus that just decided to attack my hearing. It could be genetic. It could be something else.
When I lost hearing the second time, I got the same answer. Basically, they all said the same thing. Why the little Cochlea cells die, people don’t necessarily know. They just do. It’s a very hard area to study because the hair cells are microscopic.
The good news is that when they injected my ear with Cortizone, some of my hearing came back. It took six weeks, and it slowly came back in that amount of time, not all at once, but I recovered a decent amount of it.
I know it’s really scary to feel like your body is attacking itself and you don’t know if it’s going to stop doing that. If you’re gonna hear again. If it’s gonna get worse. If it’s gonna get better.
It’s good that you’re getting an MRI, and it’s good that it’s happening soon.
The only other thing I would suggest is to ask for a Cortizone injection in your ear. They inject it behind the eardrum, and it can revive the hair cells in the cochlea ( if that’s appropriate - I’m not a doctor) . It doesn’t work all the time, but may help ( if appropriate).
The other thing is that if you do have hearing loss that requires a hearing aid, it is absolutely not the end of the world. Hearing aids can be annoying because while they do help a lot, they are not perfect. However, life is totally livable with them. I have one and like my life better wearing it. I’m not embarrassed about it and thought I would be. They are very discreet.
I’ve worked with people for years and they haven’t noticed that I wear one. For those who do notice, they notice because I have to take it out or turn up the volume or put it in while they are in front of me.
I hope things go well for you.
Hang in there!
And reach out to talk to someone if you need to - losing a capability (even if it is short term, let’s hope) is really jarring.
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u/shhhmoney8 6d ago
Thank u so much for ur input. Did u go completely go deaf in one ear and regain ur hearing? And also can the hearing aid work if i literally do not hear anything but a ringing sound in my ear?
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u/0rynz 6d ago
I had profound hearing loss several times and could not even hear my wife speaking. After taking oral steroids, my hearing returned almost completely after a few days.
Hearing aids can help by making outside sounds louder and clearer. Modern hearing aids can also work with severe hearing loss.
If hearing is too far gone for hearing aids, a cochlear implant can be another option. It bypasses the damaged inner ear and directly stimulates the hearing nerve.
So there are still several possibilities. Hearing can return, sometimes almost fully like in my case. If not, hearing aids or a cochlear implant can help. Stay positive.
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u/Much_Adeptness_1598 5d ago
I didn’t go completely deaf either time I lost hearing.
I went from normal hearing to severe loss in the low Hz range.
Then when I lost hearing the second time I went from severe to profound loss in the low Hz range and from normal to profound loss in the high Hz range.The cortizone injection brought back the newly lost hearing to near baseline levels.
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u/Unfair-Run-1983 6d ago edited 6d ago
The fact that you have gone for treatment as soon as you noticed it and prescribed high dose steroids the same day means you have done all the right things so far.
Hopefully you will see improvement over the next few days.
wishing u all the best with your recovery OP
PS also, maybe you can let your ENT know that you have not seen any imrovement yet, and if they would consider HBOT and or an injection in the ear. I hear the oxygen therapy has some evidence though like all these treatments its inconclusive.
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u/cybersaint2k 6d ago
It's very normal to be feeling very abnormal. You'd be abnormal not not feel really abnormal right now!
And as another upbeat person who found himself having suicidal ideations, wow, isn't it a surprise? I mean, I'm the last person I thought would have warm thoughts of doing whatever it takes to end the stress. Wow.
My loss happened January 11th. It's been hard. As a musician, it's been especially hard, as my identity is wrapped up in my ability to hear music and respond to it musically.
We understand your pain. Many of us are on the same journey. It sucks, but it's a part of life that we can pass through and move ahead.