Week #7 Sudden Hearing Loss in Left Ear with Tinnitus

I am a 55 year old male who is very active... I do 20 to 40 plus hours of exercise per week, some work related.

On May 19th 2020 I woke up with a full feeling in my left ear... not long afterward I unsuccessfully tried to answer a phone call with that ear, which I have always used on the phone... Nothing there.

Though I had some concern I self treated with decongestants for a few days with no success.

On about day six I explained my condition to my general practitioner. He put me on 60mg of prednisone for 7 days and got me in touch with a local ENT.

At the local ENT's I was given a hearing test which revealed profound hearing loss in my left ear. I was advised to get a brain MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma which I did. Results thankfully came back negative..he did say that I could get a intratympanic shot in my ear to treat the condition but also mentioned that I was not a very good candidate for that due to the osteomas in my ear (bone growth in ear canal from cold water exposure preventing good angle at eardrum). If I did get the shot he said I would require a "general" in a surgical situation..

I feel I did not get the support from him that I needed.. he basically said see me in 6 months there is a small chance it will get better if it does not we will talk hearing aids... At this point tinnitus was my chief complaint and was almost ignored.

I talked again with my GP and was given Ambien for sleep and Valium to relax in the worst moments.. I have not had much luck sleeping without the Ambien. I try to take the smallest effective dose. I use the Valium not for the ear but for the tinnitus, not very often but sometimes with the thinking that stress will not help my healing.

I sought a second opinion in a larger town... At this point I had read extensively on the internet about treatments and options..

At the Specialists I was given another hearing test that confirmed profound hearing loss in my left ear and age related minor hearing loss in my right ear. They also recommenced that I try the steroid ear injections and that they could be started immediately. I consented. It was painful but the pain was brief. I had three injections at 5 day intervals. Each time returning with tinnitus as my chief complaint. There was nominal improvement with the hearing at best (5 dB).
Options running out it was suggested that Hyperbaric chamber treatment might be a good treatment. Literature also supported this but the insurance company did not.
I did 10 treatments... There was no noticeable improvement.

I am still hoping for some miraculous improvement. They say it is possible to 3 months but rare, and possible up to a year but very, very rare.

Right now the best relief that I get from tinnitus is from my Vornado brand fan that sits at my bedside...

It is refreshing to get different perspectives on this forum. These are crazy times with the global pandemic and this just adds to the situation. I have an appointment next week to discuss options.
Waiting and hoping! Thanks for reading.

 

Pretty bad situation. However, I would try to be clean of pills, especially the benzos. Those meds wont solve the hearing issues and one becomes dose tolerant so in the end a higher dose is needed to have the same effect. And there are also withdrawal symptoms...

I cannot really offer any other advice... SSNHL is still poorly understood. I hope everything gets better for you in time!

 

Juan
Thanks for the input. now at week 8.
hearing test nearly the same. Severe hearing loss with 24 hour tinnitus. off the Valium. I think the steroid injections made the tinnitus worse is the short term.
I still need Ambien to sleep but have been trying to keep it to 5mg.
Still hoping for improvement. don’t seem to be a good candidate for traditional hearing aids.
Does anyone on the forum have any experience with the ad hear glue on bone conduction aid made by med-el?
Anyway...thanks for reading.
Ready for tinnitus the help of some kind.