Need to Educate Medical Community SSHL Is a Medical Emergency

I got SSHL 6 years ago. I went to urgent care and the doctor there told me my ear is "normal" and sent me home. Then I went to ER and they also told me that's nothing they could do and just gave me a few information sheet about tinnitus. I saw my GP the next day and he told me I had middle ear infection and told me that the hearing will come back but it never did. I only got the treatment I needed three weeks later and by then it was too late. I developed severe tinnitus because of the hearing loss and because it was not treated a medical emergency, it will have this condition for the rest of my life. It affects everything I do.

We need to educate the medical community that SSJL is a medical emergency and need to be treated just as a heart attack. Please do your part by spreading the news and do whatever in your power to make it happen.

 

I got told "its just the kind of thing that happens at your age". That was from the Hospital I worked at.

 

SSHL stands for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. It is not age related. It happens without notice and suddenly. It's different from the gradual hearing loss that leads to tinnitus. I guess I am right about education : )

 

@Chung,
Your experience is very similar to my own. I had sudden sensorineural hearing loss three years ago. My GP diagnosed middle ear effusion and told me to take Claritan and antihistamines and return to her office in a week. When I saw her again, I asked if I should be referred to an ENT and she said no. She said that I should stick with the Claritan for a month and she said an ENT would treat me the same way. Well, when she finally referred me to the ENT after a month, I found out that I had SSHL instead of middle ear effusion. I also found out that I should have received prednisone immediately after the hearing loss occurred and it was not likely to help me after a month had passed by. I did try the prednisone but it didn't help. Even when people with SSHL do receive prednisone right away, they may or may not regain hearing. You and I will never know if the correct diagnosis and treatment would have changed the outcome. Like you, my hearing loss and resultant tinnitus has completely altered my life.
Here's the kicker.....I switched to a different GP because I never wanted to see Dr. Misdiagnosis again. On my first visit with my new GP, I explained my SSHL and the events that followed. I didn't badmouth my former doctor but I just laid out the facts. The new doctor defended the old one! She said that my former doctor was highly regarded and she said that she would probably have made the same mistake. That is when I lost it! I got angry and started to cry and I told her that doctors in our area of Michigan do not know how to respond to SSHL! I told her that I had researched and I knew of tests that can be done in any doctor's office to differentiate between SSHL and Conductive hearing loss using a tuning fork!
No, doctors do not recognize SSHL as a medical emergency.

 

my ENT believes that SSHL is a medical emergency, so from the point of view of the one doctor in this arena that I like and trust, it's definitely taken seriously.

Another problem is what do you do with that knowledge; the only interventions that are commonly used anywhere are hyperbaric oxygen and steroids -- and neither of them actually have that much research showing that they are astonishingly more likely to improve outcomes than doing nothing is.

 

ENTs and most audiologists do understand that SSHL is a medical emergency. The problem is with general practitioners and emergency room doctors. I realize that prompt steroid treatment may or may not change the outcome but it's all we have right now. I also own that I did not advocate strongly enough for more help. My gut told me to go to an ENT and I did not push hard enough to make that happen. I'm not angry at myself or either doctor at this point. Like @Chung, I just want to educate others about this.

 

it's worth remembering that the rate of medication mistakes in US hospitals is one per patient per day, so any time you go into an ER and they don't actively muck something up or kill you, you're actually beating the odds.

 

Lorac, thanks for sharing.

I agree that ENTs know that it is an emergency but not the GP. After I had the chance to see one, he told me next time if it happens, don't care what the insurance company or the GP say, just go see him immediately. So whoever is reading this thread, please go see an ENT immediately if you have sudden hearing loss! As for the emergency room statistics, it does not make any sense especially if it happens to you. Then you want the percentage to be lower or close to zero. They have a job to do to protect my health, if they can't do that job then find some else who can.

 

I had SSHL treated with intratympanic and oral steroids but after 3 months still having same symptoms, it's controversial if steroids actually work.

 

I'm of the opinion that urgent cares are almost completely useless. If you have a bad cold or an obvious injury that is easily identifiable then they may do you some good. Other than that stay home or go to the ER. I know it's a lot more expensive, especially here in the US, but the care you receive at urgent cares that I have seen is pretty abysmal.

I have seen so many misdiagnosis and real emergencies overlooked in urgent care facilities.

 

They have a reasonable success rate, but it's not 100%... sorry it didn't work for you (it didn't for me either, but I now know why and it makes sense that it didn't).