Got Tinnitus, SSNHL Ensued

Well, first and foremost. An enthusiastic "hello" to each and every single one of you. I honestly don't know if I've come to the right place but I appreciate the opportunity to share my current situation. I'm 21 years old, and I came to this forum seeking guidance and hopefully regain some leeway to carry on with my life.

Two weeks and a half ago (September 24th) I was playing videogames after a few hours of work, late at night and boy do I wish I had given my ears a break since my headphones had stayed on for a while at low volume. Once I shut everything off and was getting ready to go to bed, I noticed a weird-sounding ringing in my right ear. I'd already had it before after a music festival I went to back in April (irresponsibly, I didn't consider getting earplugs at the time). I thought I'd be able to sleep it away and drifted off.

Surprisingly, the following day I realized that the ringing was still there and began to panic a little. I began to ravage through the internet looking for answers and learned about this condition called tinnitus. I couldn't believe it, but as the day progressed, I also began to notice a faint decrease in my hearing capacity along with the symptoms of a cold or the flu. I went to see a GP, who prescribed me some vasodilators and loratadine/betamethasone pills. Fast-forward to Wednesday; not only had the ringing grown in intensity but my hearing in my right ear was completely gone. Or at least that's how I perceived it. I called my mom so she could come pick me up from the university and we looked for an ENT.

After all the pertinent testing, the doctor came to the conclusion that I had given myself severe noise-induced sudden sensorineural hearing loss (because I would use headphones heavily during my work sessions at the university) and prescribed me a single intramuscular dose of betamethasone along with antiviral medication, with the stern observation that I'd likely regain only 50-80% of my hearing. Alas, this medication didn't seem to work and the tinnitus only seemed to get worse. Not only could I not hear, the ringing itself was driving me over the edge. I even still feel guilty about ruining my dad's birthday over the weekend.

Since we didn't like the treatment, nor the prognosis, we went looking for a different ENT on Tuesday (October 2nd). He was far more assertive and went on to point out that the culprit was the viral infection that accompanied the T, rather than noise exposure. He started me on 50mg prednisone tablets and gave me intra-tympanic dexamethasone for five days straight. Thankfully, God and the doctor have helped me regain some of my hearing, to the point at which I can hear conversations again but the clarity still leaves a lot to be desired, since sound comes as if I were wearing a piece of cloth over my ear. Plus, I think there's some degree of diplacusis and, of course, the tinnitus remains incessant.

I'm on my tenth day of prednisone, and tomorrow I have to start narrowing down my doses to 25mg for three days, after which I'll have to take three more doses over the course of six days. I know that the progress has been massive compared to other patients, and it's not that that I'm greedy or ungrateful but I still feel terribly anxious about the culmination of my case (I have another audiometry scheduled for the 27th).

I just haven't been able to readjust to my academic life, since I have to wear an earplug to minimize the impact of noise on the afflicted ear (and to let the tympanic membrane rest after the injections), which only fuels the tinnitus. It can't be masked like this. I also think I'm sleeping rather well but it's still pretty distracting to try to move on with life with the prospect of not getting my hearing back to 100% and conserving T as a nasty souvenir for my troubles. Right now, I only have the humming of my animation classroom's AC to focus on with my healthy ear but it's not terribly effective. Especially when I'm on the bus that I have to use in the morning and the evening. Dad got me a pair of earmuffs to filter out the engine/mechanical noise, but in turn, it does the same thing as the plug.

So yeah... I really wish I could be optimistic and say that I'm certain that things will get better but my paranoid mind is having none of that, causing me tons of unneeded stress. Does anyone have any advice or tips on how I could improve my situation please? Especially after the injections (the doctor wasn't too sure of when the tear would repair itself, and I've read that you have to be extra careful when you have one but they don't go into too much detail).

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you're having a great day or night wherever you are.

 

My mom - once had some injections done to her by an ENT specialist - and was suffering from all sorts of side effects for a while- she actually told me she could not hear a thing if she covered her left ear, but somehow a few months later
she was able to recuperate completely and she no longer has T and can hear again with her right ear.

And this all happen around her 50's - so my guess is that you actually experiences a blessing in disguise - now you know that you need to protect your ears and stop playing games with headphones lol.

You are 21- so I'm betting that you will be alright soon and back to normal.
Hopefully once you lay off all those meds and stuff.

 

My aunt lost most of her hearing for 4 months straight and had intrusive loud tinnitus. After 4 months, she regained her hearing and her tinnitus went away. She does get tinnitus that comes and goes. I hope you recuperate and your tinnitus goes away also! good luck!

 

Darian, that's great to hear! I'm really glad for your mom. Yeah, I intend to plan ahead and stick to safe practices regarding the impact of sound. I'm frankly astonished by how fragile our ears can be.

Striveon, I'm also really glad to hear that your aunt got her hearing back!

Thanks to both of you for your good wishes. I sure hope you guys can recover from your tinnitus too!

 

@Rudy R I'm really sorry about what happened to you. I know how much it sucks.
It's a good thing you got Prednisone.
You're definitely in the right place. We're rooting for you, and for each other.

 

It's very good you went in for a second opinion. SSNHL and noise induced hearing loss are two different things.

I'm really sorry this happened to you, it's no fun. I hope you continue to improve.

 

@Manny Thanks for your words. I really feel your story about how you got your T. I too am mourning not being able to take my favorite tunes with me at the time but I'm really hopeful that we'll eventually be able to enjoy them without worries or ringing someday (preferably soon!)

@Alue Thank you! Same goes to you as well.

 

You might want to consider showing interest in this clinical trial it is about restoring hearing in humans and they are in their early stages, hopefully they could be public in 2023-2024 and you can get all your natural hearing back.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/frequency-therapeutics-—-hearing-loss-regeneration.18889/page-71#post-377491

Langer Karp Breakthrough Hearing

it won't get better on it's own, mammals cannot naturally restore their own hearing.
restoration of hearing is only possible with bio-medical research, curing hearing loss in all likelyhood should reverse tinnitus if tinnitus was caused by hearing loss.

 

When do they start their trials?

 

they are already active, do you mean the stage 2?

 

Oh nevermind! I thought this was a new research!