Hearing Loss Caused by Virus

Hello everyone.

About seven months ago, I was riding my bike home from work. I walked into the door, sat on the couch and felt my eyes kind of well up from allergies. About five minutes after that, I felt this sensation like my left ear filled up with fluid. It was uncomfortable but I didn’t really think anything serious was happening because I thought it was associated to my allergies. Next thing I knew, the ringing started. It didn’t concern me because I still felt as though the ringing was because I had fluid in my ear. I went to the doctor two days after this experience and sure enough, he said it was due to allergies. There was fluid in my ear drum and it would empty on it’s own. I left the doctors office feeling confident with my nasal spray. After two weeks, nothing changed. I still had ringing and a plugged up feeling in my ear.

These doctor visits happened over the course of two months. I saw 8 doctors in which all sent me home with different kinds of antihistamines and sprays...one told me to lay on the couch upside down and spray to max the effect of the nasal spray.

The last doctor I saw ordered me to get a hearing test that concluded severe sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear. Because I’m new to a small town community, I didn’t have a family doctor here and not one doctor was able to figure out that my hearing loss was a serious situation. My family doctor in Vancouver, BC called me the next day to book me in to see an ENT under an emergency situation. He injected my ear drum and have me a high dose of steroids but because it took two months to diagnose, the recovery process was too late.

I now have severe hearing loss in my left ear with tinnitus that ranges in tone that’s all over the board. Like a jet engine at times. I do have some hearing left in my left ear and have a hearing aid but with recruitment, it’s been tough trying to tune my hearing aid so that it isn’t uncomfortable. Does anyone have advice or success with recruitment and hearing aids? Does anyone here have a SSHL story? I’m curious because sometimes I feel alone in this. No one around me In my community can relate to what I’m going through. Dealing with significant hearing loss, loud tinnitus, recruitment....it just all seems overwhelming at times. I have these vivid dreams every night and I wake up with tears in my eyes, like I’m grieving a loss. The old me loved going to concerts, relaxing in silence, being outdoors in the middle of nowhere because it gave solitude. Now, I can’t seem to escape noise and it scares me. It crushes my heart and breaks me in half. When emotional situations arise, I have a hard time pulling myself together. I’m more emotional than I ever been. Before this all happened, I was able to let things side off my back, to see the light in all things upsetting. Now, emotion is amplified. I have a hard time saying goodbye to people, I’m scared to be alone. Why?

 

Hi @Chris Fraser
I am very sorry to read your story. Your tinnitus sounds quite severe, exacerbated by significant hearing loss. Hearing loss contributes to tinnitus severity because of the loss of ambient sound input to the brain.

You're grieving too. How can you not, when you've been slugged with such a profound life change? It may be useful to seek some kind of counselling at this point. At least someone to talk to, to unload the painful feelings and fears your experiencing.

It's such a traumatic time for you and you're in the midst of the early acute stages of this condition. Don't face it alone. Seek help. A therapist experienced with this situation would be ideal. Perhaps an audiologist may recommend someone or your closest university audiology clinic may have that kind of resource.

There are TT members who have experienced identical issues to yours. The names brownbear and Lorac come to mind. Perhaps you could send them a private message and seek advice. Hopefully they may still frequent TT and respond. Otherwise, if you search past threads on SSHL, you may be able to read about people's experiences and coping strategies.

Time is the tinnitus sufferers best friend. It takes a long time to come to some kind of acceptance of a different version of you. It's not easy, but it can be done. One day at a time and all that. Hang in there mate!