MemberI've been aware of my tinnitus since around 2018. It sounded like cicadas, and never particularly bothered me; I constantly listened to audiobooks or podcasts so I would be hearing a spoken voice rather than my cicadas.
On April 1st of this year, something happened in my right ear. I call it "the event" and it was like a door or window slamming shut. It grabbed my attention, then I went about my business. The next day, while I was cooking and listening to my audiobook, I became aware of a lot of noise in my right ear. I moved my Bluetooth speaker from one ear to the other and found significant hearing loss in my right ear. It was SSHL (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss), which is considered a medical emergency, and thus began my medical journey. Now, after a Medrol pack, then 60 mg of Prednisone for 2 weeks, then 3 cortisone injections a week apart in my ear drum (this is interspersed with many visits to an ENT doctor and an audiologist), the conclusion that my doctor has come to is that I have hyperacusis and dysacusis. Noises are amplified in my head, so a noisy room is torture.
I am getting a brain MRI next week and am scheduled to see a tinnitus specialist who does Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (which is not covered by insurance), but I am afraid that because my problem is not tinnitus, but rather hyperacusis and dysacusis, that it won't work for me.
I have been doing a lot of crying...
On April 1st of this year, something happened in my right ear. I call it "the event" and it was like a door or window slamming shut. It grabbed my attention, then I went about my business. The next day, while I was cooking and listening to my audiobook, I became aware of a lot of noise in my right ear. I moved my Bluetooth speaker from one ear to the other and found significant hearing loss in my right ear. It was SSHL (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss), which is considered a medical emergency, and thus began my medical journey. Now, after a Medrol pack, then 60 mg of Prednisone for 2 weeks, then 3 cortisone injections a week apart in my ear drum (this is interspersed with many visits to an ENT doctor and an audiologist), the conclusion that my doctor has come to is that I have hyperacusis and dysacusis. Noises are amplified in my head, so a noisy room is torture.
I am getting a brain MRI next week and am scheduled to see a tinnitus specialist who does Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (which is not covered by insurance), but I am afraid that because my problem is not tinnitus, but rather hyperacusis and dysacusis, that it won't work for me.
I have been doing a lot of crying...
