by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady explained,
I had a cold on Feb 17 and on Feb 22 I suddenly went deaf in my left ear. I went to my primary care doctor immediately and he prescribed Amoxicillin and Flonase. I was not told this hearing loss could be so serious. I saw an ENT on March 23 and was diagnosed with severe sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) in my left ear. I am on a high dose of Prednisone for the next 2 weeks and hoping for the best. My question is even though it has been 30 days is there a chance that some of my hearing will return? I would be happy for that.
There is always a chance, but in your case I’m afraid it is a very slim chance that your hearing will come back at this late date. I’m not God and thus can’t see into the future. However, here are some things for you to consider.
First, sometimes hearing comes back spontaneously, without any treatment. Sometimes hearing comes back because of a given treatment such as taking Prednisone. And sometimes hearing never comes back in spite of any treatment.
Thus, taking Prednisone sometimes works, so it is worth a try. However, having said that, Prednisone works better if taken in the days right after the sudden hearing loss. It becomes less and less effective as the days go by. Typically, by the time 30 days has gone by, Prednisone doesn’t do much if anything. So your beginning the Prednisone right around the 30-day mark is really a “last ditch” measure. The chances of it doing much are slim—but there is still a chance. You’ll know the outcome in a couple of weeks.
I also have 3 rules of thumb that will give you some indications of what you might expect.
1. The greater the sudden hearing loss, the less likely it is that your hearing will return. You now have a severe hearing loss. Thus, the chances of hearing coming back are much less than if you had a mild hearing loss, for example.
2. The sooner hearing begins returning, the greater the chances that most hearing will return. For example, if you notice that after 2 or 3 days your lost hearing is beginning to return and continues to return a bit more each day, then you have an excellent chance of getting all/most of your hearing back. However, if no hearing seems to be coming back in the days and weeks after the sudden hearing loss, then the chances of any/much coming back are very slim.
3. The hearing you have at 30 days after the sudden hearing loss is the hearing you will be left with for the rest of your life. There are two exceptions to this. One is if your hearing had been slowly coming back in the previous 30 days, it may continue to come back even after 30 days, but in this case, you’ll already have significant hearing returned by the 30 days. The second exception is a miracle. Rarely, hearing suddenly comes back beyond 30 days, but this is not common.
Those are my three rules of thumb. Think of them as a guide to what typically happens.
So what do I see happening in your case? You’re not going to like it—but I will tell you the truth as I see it (as I always do). Since you didn’t mention any hearing coming back in the past 30 days, and since you started the Prednisone after 30 days, I really don’t see much of your hearing coming back at this point.
Thus, if the Prednisone doesn’t do anything, I think it will be time for you to go from trying to get your hearing back, to learning how to successfully live with one deaf ear.
Depending on how bad the hearing loss is in your left ear, and if your discrimination score for that ear is still good, you may find that just wearing a regular hearing aid in your left ear is all you need.
However, if wearing a hearing aid in your deaf ear isn’t effective, you might want to try wearing a CROS hearing aid which will take sounds from your deaf side and pipe them to your good ear so you can hear them. This works very well if you often have people talking to you from your deaf side. For example, if you are typically the passenger in a car, you will have difficulty hearing the driver speaking because your good ear is against the passenger side door and picking up road noise. A CROS aid will pick up the driver’s voice (you wear what looks like a hearing aid on your left ear that picks up the sounds and transmits them wirelessly to a corresponding “hearing aid” you wear on your right ear) and let you hear it in your right ear. Instead of a CROS aid, you might want to consider a BAHA aid (BAHA stands for Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid).
You also want to learn the “tricks of the trade” for single-sided deafness. For example, if you are in a classroom or at church, you want to sit on the left side of the room so your good ear “faces” into the room. You will hear much better that way than sitting on the right side.
I wish you well as you deal with this unexpected problem in your life.
I was hit with viral labrinthitis 10 years ago. Total hearing lost in right ear. A month ago another inner ear infection in my left ear. Took prednisone 60mg for 7 days, all hearing back in left ear and I would say 25% in my right ear is back. Iknow what I hear, who would have thought after 10 years some hearing would come back.
Hi Tom:
Cool. Who would have thought that would happen. Did you have a new audiogram made to see exactly how much hearing came back and at what frequencies? That would be the proof.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Sr.Neil
I lost some hearing on left ear with pressure like feeling on November 15th
; while playing soccer.
2-3 days later like around November 18-19th hearing on my left ear was totally gone. I went to urgent care on November 15th, he gave me “brompheniramine-pseudoephedrine-DM 30-2-10 MG/5ML “ syrup , 4 times a day. Didn’t help so i went ENT on November 20th, started steroids predisone on Nov 21st for 80mg dose a day tapering 12 days. Then i gain my low and mild frequencies almost back to normal levels 30-35db on November 30th; then December 7th to 20db.
But my high frequencies is still bad , it got improved from 85-90db to 70db. I also did 15 HBO dives since today December 21st. And also took another set of predisone 30mg a day week then taler a week. My last audio result same ; normal on low/mid frequencies but 70db on high. That was from December 14th. Today Dec 21st finished steroids but seems high frequencies still bad.
Should i take Injection steroids since i didn’t want it because of the risk to eardrum. My ENT said he wouldn’t give hope much to injection since i did 2 sets steroids and HBO dives. But is it worth to try? My ENT offered me on Dec14th but we decided gain wouldn’t be enough to risk the injection. Since i am on the 5th-6th week of onset. I don’t want to miss my chance to get injection to fix maybe my high frequencies. Thanks
Hi Tufan:
I wouldn’t take the intratympanic steroids at this late date. I’m with your ENT on this. It probably wouldn’t help anyway as the 10 dB or so you got back in your high frequencies is about right for that degree of loss.
Normally you don’t get all your hearing back after sudden hearing loss, but you get some back (if it is coming back at all) based on how much you lose. So if you lost say 30 dB in the low frequencies, most or all of that typically would come back. If you lost 50 or so dB of hearing in the mid-frequencies, I’d expect at least half of that to come back, but if you lost 90 dB in the high frequencies, I would only expect around 10 dB or so to come back.
What you have now is all the hearing I think you’ll have going forward.
Cordially,
Neil
I had hearing loss from a virus about 6 years ago in my right ear only. I lost about 40% of my hearing and had tinnitus. I wore a hearing aid for awhile but over time I got use to the ringing and it didn’t bother me. 3 days ago I woke up to a fullness and louder ringing in that same ear. When I went to speak or when I was spoken to it was echoing and vibrating. I was seen by and ENT on Monday and further hearing loss was confirmed. I am currently on 60 mg of prednisone My main concern is that the ringing isn’t the normal same tone like before. This is very loud, sometimes pulses and swishes and when I move my head from side to side or bend over it gets very very loud. Any ideas as to why or any hope this will go away.
Thanks
Hi Crystal:
Since this change occurred overnight, and since it is affected by your moving your body, I think you may have kinked your neck as you slept. Is your neck/shoulders/jaw tight or sore?
You seem to have the somatosensory form of tinnitus. This kind of tinnitus often changes volume or pitch with various body movements.
If your neck is tight, I’d suggest going to a chiropractor and/or massage therapist. Once things are properly aligned and the “pressure” is taken off the various joints, you should find that your tinnitus will revert to its old kind and level.
Does this seem to be your situation? If not, tell me more about what happened.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey im a 27 M and i was injected with 240mg gentamicin intramusculary on Feb 8 2023 for what was supposed to help me with abdominal pain. 10 days later my body started to shut down and my hearing seems like its progressively getting worse. It’s now March 7 2023 and i feel like it’s getting worse. I read after that gentamicin is extremely ototoxic but i was only given a one time dose and I’m still feeling these symptoms almost a month later I went to ENT and did the audio gram and they said my hearing was perfect. But it doesn’t feel that way, I’ve been in and out the hospital since to figure out the issue. It just feels like built up pressure in both ears, im extremely unbalanced and fatigued with muscle weakness. Hearing sounds like everything is just more quieter than usual and the bass has disappeared from my everyday life. I also did an MRI and everything showed unremarkable appearance. The only thing i have is low pressure in both ears. Am I going deaf?Do i need to see a neurologist? Am i supposed to let it take its toll?
What Am I supposed to do from this point on to go back to normal?
Hi Curtis:
Gentamicin is an antibiotic so I guess your doctor thought you had an internal infection somewhere.
One of the nasty things about Gentamicin (and other aminoglycoside antibiotics) is that it can get into your inner ear fluids and stay there long after the gentamicin has been eliminated from your blood–several months and up to a year. During all this time, it can continue to damage your inner ears. I doubt many doctors know this.
One of the characteristics of gentamicin is that it more often affects the balance system than it does the hearing system. Thus I’m not surprised you are feeling unbalanced and fatigued as when you lose some of your automatic balance, you have to consciously correct your balance and this is fatiguing and you really notice it by the end of the day.
You can have a considerable hearing loss and not have it show up on your audiogram. This is because they typically don’t test your hearing above 8 kHz, yet your hearing goes to 20 kHz. So any hearing loss above 8 kHz goes undiagnosed. The same occurs when your “loud” nerves are damaged. Again, this doesn’t show up on an audiogram because the audiogram only tests your “soft” nerves since it sees how soft a sound you can hear. If you have this hidden kind of hearing loss, you realize you can’t understand people in noise anymore, but you hear well in quiet where the soft nerves are mostly used.
If the gentamicin is still in your inner ears and causing more damage, I’d take N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) to kill the free radicals the gentamicin is forming there. It’s the free radicals that zap your hair cells and kill them. The NAC helps your body make more of its own powerful antioxidant called glutathione that zaps these free radicals before they zap your hair cells.
If it were me, I’d take about 1,800 mg per day of NAC for a couple of months. Hopefully, this will prevent more inner ear damage.
And in the future don’t take any of the aminoglycoside antibiotics such as gentamicin, neomycin or tobramycin as you know you are sensitive to them unless it is a case of life and death.
You can hope your ears will go back to near normal in time, but there is no guarantee as unfortunately, ear damage from aminoglycoside antibiotics is often permanent. That is why you shouldn’t take them except in extreme cases.
Cordially,
Neil
Is it 100 that i will lose my hearing or that ive lost hearing ? Is it 100 percent that i can go deaf because of the one dose of gentamicin ?
Hi Curtis:
There are no absolutes (100%s) when it comes to your ears. Almost never does a person lose ALL their hearing from drugs. You may lose a bit, some or most, but not all of your hearing. And a bit, some or most of your hearing may return–depending on the drug. Typically, any hearing loss that occurs is permanent if due to aminoglycoside drugs such as Gentamicin.
In a few months you’ll know exactly what your ears/hearing will be like for the future.
Cordially,
Neil
I WENT TO THE ENT TWICE AND GOT MY HEARING CHECKED AND THEY SAID I WAS PERFECT.But it doesnt seem that way, it seems as everything sound a couple pitches lower, like my everyday sounds sound lower than usual . Do I need to take steroids or hyperbaric chamber. How can I get my hearing back to normal ?
Hi Curtis:
Are you on any medications? Certain drugs change the pitch of sounds. If you stop taking them, your sound pitch returns to normal. That would be the simplest solution. If you are on any drugs, let me know and I can tell you whether that drug has this characteristic.
Cordially,
Neil
Haven’t been taking any other medication, it was just the gentamicin shot. I just left the University of Miami Ent office and they said I have some damage of the inner hair cells on the high frequency side. But my hearing all around was perfect. I was tested from 125-20khz. And i showed no decrease in hearing frequency across the board. I was well above 20Db all the way through. But I’m still feeling these symptoms of my hearing seems like everything is further away and it sounds lower than it usually did before. Soo what can be the problem now ?
Hi Curtis:
If you have “some damage of the inner hair cells, then your hearing can’t be “perfect”. Don’t confuse “perfect” with “normal”. If you had “perfect” hearing–your audiogram reading 0 dB all across the frequency spectrum and the gentamicin caused you a 10 dB loss, even though your hearing is still well in the “normal” range, you would have lost considerable hearing and you could notice it. For example a change (loss) of 10 dB in hearing means that you would perceive sounds as half as loud as before. So you can have “normal” hearing and still notice the change in your hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
So does that mean its temporary or permanent? And do i need to get hearing aids. Will gentamicin cause me to progressively lose my hearing?. What does this mean for me and what should I do next Dr.Neil ?
Hi Curtis:
Damage from Gentamicin is generally permanent.
You need to go to an audiologist and have complete audiological testing, then see what your audiologist says about your need for hearing aids or not.
The Gentamicin can continue to affect your ears for up to a year. Thus, you might want to take N-acetyl-cysteine or NAC for short. This is one of the major building blocks of glutathione, your body’s powerful antioxidant. You need lots of glutathione in your inner ears to zap the free radicals that are produced by the effects of the Gentamicin. If you are worried, take this for a year.
Personally, I take NAC every day just for good health as well as being proactive in protecting my remaining hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Is there any chance that my hearing goes back to normal with or without the NAC? Is there other ways to clear gentamicin out of my body ? Are there specific doctors who can help me with this ? What type of hearing loss am I having ? And how common is one dose ototoxicity is and is there room for recovery?
Hi Curtis:
There is always a chance your hearing could return, but I really doubt it will. It’s a slim chance.
Cordially,
Neil
Do I need to take prednisone? Or get a steroid injection into my ear?
Is gentamicin progressively making my hearing worse because I feel like it is. My ears have pressure and everything seems a little muffled in both ears. Will I eventually go deaf from this medicine and Do I need to get lawyers involved for negligence on the doctor and or hospital?.
Hi Curtis:
It’s a month since this happened so its highly unlikely that steroids will make any difference at this late date.
If the gentamicin is making your hearing worse, it should show up on a recent audiogram.
I doubt you will go deaf–probably you will just lose a bit of hearing, but your audiograms are not showing that, so you can be positive about this.
And I wouldn’t bother with a lawsuit. Your chances of winning are slim to nil so it would be a lot of cost and aggravation with nothing to show for it in my opinion.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil, I was diagnosed with SSHL 12 days ago. I’ve been on the prednisone standard treatment 60×7,40x5x20x3. On the 7th day my hearing came back in my right ear what I thought was my full hearing. On the 8th day it’s started to get worse now I’m on the 12th day and it’s really bad. Have you heard of this at all? I go to get injections on Wednesday. I told the ENT about it he said that it’s normal to have fluctuating hearing loss. Any help insight is greatly appreciated.
Hi Trevor:
Some hearing losses do fluctuate–such as when you have Meniere’s disease, or in the case of autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED). In my experience AIED improves with steroids and when you stop it can get worse again.
But what you are describing is hearing getting much worse while you are still on steroids. I can’t say I’ve heard of this happening.
What happened in the days leading up to your hearing loss? Anything different. Did you take any different drugs or get any vaccines? Any active viruses in your body? Colods? Flu?, etc.?
The more I know about your history, the better I can try to figure out what is going on.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Yes I did get the Covid-19 vaccine about 9 days prior. Also, MRI showed enlarged vestibular aqueducts. Never had this happen before (37/M). My hearing came back to normal and was stable for about 4 weeks and then dropped again.
Hi Trevor:
The Covid-19 vaccine can result in hearing loss, but I don’t know how likely that was in your case.
Enlarged vestibular aqueducts (EVAS/LVAS) is something that can cause sudden hearing loss and then your hearing often returns in the following weeks following an incident. If you are 37 and have not had any EVAS problems before, that doesn’t seem too likely now unless you had some sort of trauma to your head, or sudden pressure changes. Anything like that happen before you had the sudden hearing loss?
Cordially,
Neil
Only wanted to say how grateful I am for your advice Mr.Bauman.
No need to ask any questions since all of them were answered in comments or new articles. Thank You for being here and helping people out.
Hi, I suffered some mild hearing loss in the right ear on August 10 (woke up with a “clogged” feeling ear, which I attributed to allergies and did nothing about). After about a month, my hearing improved a bit (subjectively) but I still had the clogged feeling. At 6 weeks, I developed a bit of tinnitus so I went to my GP, who said there was fluid in both ears and to use Flonase. She said to try this for a few weeks and go to an ENT if it did not improve. So here I am at about 10 weeks from the first symptom and just saw an ENT. I have mild hearing loss in the right ear, only in the low frequencies. They have scheduled me for the IT injection. After reading your site, it seems like at 10 weeks out, the likelihood of any therapy is slim (to none?). As a curiosity, a family member who was visiting me right before my hearing loss ALSO came down with the same affliction a few days after their visit, which makes me think it is viral or allergic (?). Thanks for any advice.
Hi Kathleen:
As I’ve written, taking steroids 10 weeks after the hearing loss probably are not going to do any good. To me, it’s just a waste of time at this point.
It does seem coincidental that your family member ended up with exactly the same results you had at exactly the same time you did, after visiting you. So you’re looking at some commonalities– and the virus could be one as you said. Allergies could be another.
Do you think you still have allergies that could be causing the problem? how about your family member? Does he/she still have the same problem and could it be allergies as well?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, I just happened up in this reply. My family member was treated in Canada, right away, with steroids and antivirals. He made a full recovery and has not has any further symptoms. I am in the US and have not been so lucky. My hearing just dropped again, and going to try prednisone this time around. It looks like I have hydrops, hoping it does not develop to Menieres. I have been in the low sodium diet for 4 months. This is a frustrating and discouraging illness.
Hi Kathleen:
Don’t expect miracles from Prednisone or Prednisolone. Sometimes they work and other times they don’t make any difference.
If you think you have hydrops (which includes about half the symptoms of Meniere’s), you will likely find that it has the same underlying cause as does Meniere’s.
I’d strongly suggest you read my comprehensive article on Meniere’s and the cure for it, then follow through. You can read this article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hi . I have Meniere and the ringing in both ears. When I take prednisolone only 20mg it would help but the problem is I have trouble sleeping even I’m taking alprazolam .75mg.
Dear Neil,
Hello to you from England. I found your article very informative – thank you.
I am a 54 year old, fit and healthy man. I woke up Thursday morning 9th November and felt a light ringing and some loss of hearing in my right ear. I assumed it was ear wax as I’ve had previous issues. I happened to be calling on a hearing aid shop for work. He checked my ears and found no build up of wax.
A long story cut short. After an audiologist examined my ears I started a course of Prednisolone 60mg a day for 7 days and 800mg of Aciclovir 5 times a day.
I started taking the tablets on the Wednesday – a week after my hearing loss began.
I have an MRI scan in about 5 weeks.
I am confident my hearing in each ear was very similar.
My left ear shows 10 at 125 to 4k and drops to 20 at 4500 and 40 at 5k.
My right ear is showing nothing at 125 and then flat-lining at 80 from 250 to 4k and then a slight rise to 75 at 5k.
I think I know the answer but, is there genuinely any hope I may regain my hearing?
The Tinnitus is playing its insidious theme tune. If you can answer at all, I’d be grateful.
Thank you very much in anticipation.
Peter.
Hi Peter:
You got quite a massive hearing loss in your right ear. Even though you began the Prednisone just seven days after your hearing loss, which is still within your golden hours, the fact that you had such a massive hearing loss, and no hearing has come back yet, to me indicates that your hearing loss is probably going to be permanent. I think you fear the same. However, don’t give up hope yet. Wait until 30 days have gone by.That will give you a better indication of how much hearing you will probably have in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I got an ear infection and took two sets of antibiotics. I had pressure in my ear and felt there was hearing loss. I was not given steroids but had a misongotomy that helped most of my hearing return. I can not detect the small amount of loss. What I have been left with is that my voice sounds funny when I talk and I am supper sensitive to pressure changes. In a car with window down for example. I began prednisone about 10 days after initial hearing loss that has now returned. What are the odds my goldfish bowl sound in my head will resolve? Are there any additional steps to be taken after misongotemy and prednisone. Can a hearing aid correct the goldfish muffled thing in my head?
Hi Emma:
You mean myringotomy, not misongotomy, don’t you? Just want to make sure I know what you had.
What antibiotics did you take?
Are you saying you had a middle ear infection so your middle ear and Eustachian tube filled with fluid to cause the ear pressure? And that is why the doctor performed the myringotomy?
It takes time for all the fluid in your middle ear and Eustachian tube to drain out and things return to normal–up to three months. So you may have to still give it more time to get out of the “goldfish bowl”.
If your hearing has returned, but just sounds “funny”, I wouldn’t consider a hearing aid. It won’t help as I see it. You need to give your ears time to heal and get back to normal. And in the meantime, don’t get any more ear infections.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your very informative posts. I also learned quite a bit from others’ situation/condition, which is very similar to mine.
I was diagnosed with some hearing loss to my right ear almost 10 years ago. This past March 25, I experienced total deafness in the same ear for about a week. I guess I made it in time to see an ER doc then an EENT specialist, and was put on prednisone for 10 days. Note – prior to the hearing loss, I was seeking treatment for vertigo, which has been occurring for about 8 months.
I regained some hearing about on the 12th day, but very muffled and indistinct. Other symptoms also arose – double hearing and pressure on both ears. A MRI on April 22 showed my ears as normal, structurally sound. It’s been about 35 days now and I could tell more hearing has returned in the right ear and although weak in volume I can understand what is being said. However, the vertigo, double hearing and pressure linger, perhaps worse. I have to pop my ears nearly 100 times daily for relief, and I get dizzy more often (used to be 3-4 times a week).
The ENT diagnosed me with SSHL and will not rule Meniere’s just yet because of the absence of liquid in the inner ear. Rather than a treatment plan, I will be given a hearing aid (available in 5 weeks ) and referred to see a neurotology specialist.
Because of my condition, I cannot do my job. Despite regaining hearing, I feel I’m suffering more from the other symptoms. What do you think will alleviate or even treat or cure whatever it is I have?
Hi Gepp:
I believe that you have the underlying cause of Meniere’s disease–namely, the top two vertebrae in your neck are out of proper alignment. In spite of all your doctors missing this, if I were you, I’d hustle to the nearest upper cervical spine chiropractor and have him make sure that the top two vertebrae (C1 & C2) also called the Atlas and the Axis are in proper alignment. This can help fix the balance and other problems such as the feeling of fullness.
To find an upper cervical spine chiropractor near you go to http://www.upcspine.com/ and hover you mouse over “Practitioners” then click on the area you are in. Then choose the state/province and look at all the listings that show up and choose the one that “turns your crank”.
Note that although the chiropractor may put your neck back in proper alignment with one treatment, because your neck has been “out” for years, the treatment probably won’t hold, so you will have to go back a number of times until the ligaments, tendons, muscles, etc. learn to hold things in proper alignment again.
I think you’ll find it is really worth it.
If you want to learn more about these special chiropractors and what they can do for Meniere’s like symptoms and Meniere’s disease itself, read my article on Meniere’s Disease and how they “cure” it. The link to this article is http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil, I had an ear infection (bad one) and went to the doctor last month, put on ZPAC which went well, my hearing was restored. Then a month later just recently, I had a heart stress test scheduled and i was given 2 pharmaceutical injections of myoview over a two day span. After the second day, that early evening, i lost hearing in my right ear. I immediately went to my doctor who told me to “wait it out a week” which i tried but the tinnitus got so bad that i went to the emerg room 2 days later. The doctor immed refered me to an ENT Specialist who prescribed prednisone over a two week course. I have two questions if i may for you? Have you ever heard of a stress test causing a hearing loss (1ear)? and what kind of a chance do you think i still have to regain any of my hearing at this point? I can only hear deep bass sounds and faint audio if i turn up volume slightly on my tv earphone. It has been now 6 days since the start of my right ear hearing loss and 3 days on the script so far. Thanks Tom
Hi Tom:
As far as I know, Myoview is not ototoxic.
I’ve not heard that heart stress testing can result in hearing loss either. Doesn’t mean it can’t–just means I haven’t heard of it. I wonder if the stress testing relaxed your arteries so more blood could flow and a tiny blood clot got lodged in one ear causing the hearing loss. Did you doctor hazard a guess as to what happened in that ear?
It’s still early days, but if no hearing has begun returning in 6 days, it doesn’t sound good.
Has your doctor done any tests to see whether it is a vascular problem in that ear?
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Neil, I recently have ringing in my right ear is been like that for about five days now I am on medication and I just started taking them today so will I get my hair back and will the ringing stop
Hi Jazmine:
I can’t answer your question unless you give me much more information about your ear situation, including what medications you are taking, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, May 5th (6 days ago) I woke up with a ringing in my right ear and not being able to hear out of it. Because of this I started experiencing dizziness, loss of balance, nausea, etc. My primary care physician told me it was vertigo and gave me medication for dizziness. May 8th, I took a visit to my ENT who ran tests to show that there is significant loss of hearing in my right ear. He put me on a 60 mg. of prednisone for 7 days and decreasing dosage for 9 days after that. I am also scheduled for a steroid shot to the ear next week. After being on the prednisone for 3 days now I still can’t hear much of a difference. I am still left with some dizziness and loss of balance, and some haziness almost like mild concussion that won’t go away. I am 23 years old, have not had a cold recently, and have not suffered any head/ear trauma. In your experience could you see any of my hearing returning?
Hi Mia:
To me, what you have experienced seems like a viral attack on your inner ear. Do you have any other active viruses in your body anywhere, since you haven’t had a cold in a while.
The hearing loss and tinnitus are results of damage to your cochlea and the other symptoms are the result of damage to your vestibular system–so your whole inner ear was affected.
Your doctor is doing the standard treatment for such episodes. Whether it works or not, only time will tell.
It’s still early so you have time for hearing to come back–in whole or in part. But the more days that pass without any hearing returning, the less likely it will come back, or come back completely. You’ll know where you stand by the end of 30 days as that is probably the hearing you’ll have in that ear going forward.
Cordially,
Neil
Neil,
How did it turn out? Any returning of the hearing? I feel deeply for you. I had the same thing month in October.
I’ve been through all the same things.
Ben
Hi Dr. Bauman,
Thank you for all of the information shared on your site thus far. I’ve read many similarities in the previous posts – but want to share my experience with you. I’ve had the feeling of “fullness” in my ears (primarily left ear) for nearly a year that would randomly come and go. I attributed the symptoms to allergies and treated as such (with no real luck). Fast forward to my daughter having a viral infection which I believe ultimately led me to an upper respiratory and ear infection. The sense of “fullness” changed to a complete feeling of “blockage” and I saw a nurse practitioner. She diagnosed an ear infection and started me on antibiotics and allergy medication. Ironically, I had an ENT appointment scheduled for what appears to be either an enlarged lymph node or parotid gland. When I saw the ENT, I had experienced the complete feeling of a blocked ear, ringing, and dizziness for about 10 days. I left the ENT completely surprised to hear that the ear infection was cleared, the enlarged lymph node or parotid gland is unrelated, and I am diagnosed with SNHL in the left ear. I am 5 days into a 6 day steroid treatment with no improvements in my symptoms and am scheduled for a MRI of my ear and biopsy and ultrasound of the lymph node/parotid gland in my neck next week. I’m curious to hear your thoughts in regards to my situation. I can’t help but wonder if the viral infection was related or not. Also, I have been taking Adderall twice per day for adult ADD for 9 months and wonder if there is any possible association to that? Are there any hearing devices that help with SNHL? I look forward to your reply.
Hi Dre:
When you told the nurse practitioner that your ear was “blocked”, I think she automatically thought you had an ear infection (with no evidence) and thus prescribed antibiotics unnecessarily. When you saw the ENT, he found no evidence of an ear infection (because you never had one).
I think you are correct that you had a viral attack that caused the hearing loss (which gave you the blocked feeling) and resultant tinnitus and also attacked your balance system in your inner ears and gave you the dizziness. This all seems to fit the situation you have outlined.
Adderall is a combination of two amphetamines and two dextroamphetamines. A number of people have reported hearing loss, tinnitus and dizziness (among other ototoxic side effects) from taking Adderall, so the may be a connection–perhaps related to your previous episodes of your ear periodically feeling blocked.
To answer your question about hearing aids. Hearing aid are DESIGNED to help people with sensorineural hearing loss. So if hearing aids will help you, go for it. However, personally, I’d wait until 2 months have passed so you know your hearing has stabilized before you get a hearing aid or else you may end up getting the wrong hearing aid for your loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman
On May 26 (Sunday) after showering I experienced sharp ringing in my right ear after showering, I had just completed a workout with wireless headphones. I wasn’t too concerned as I thought it would go away. By Tuesday May 28th I went to my PCP who sent me to a Audiologist on June 4th and i was told that I suffer from nerve damage on the high frequencies, and that there is a 90% chance that my hearing loss is permanent. The audiologist did mentions steroid that could have been taken within 48 hours that sometimes helps to recover hearing, but at this time it is unlikely to help. My question is;
1. I researched and I assume he steroid is prednosone; is it too late to take this steroid, 9-10 days after the hearing loss
2. Is it worth visiting an ENT for a more detailed analysis and opinion?
I’m very discouraged by this diagnosis and am looking for any alternative.
Hi Daniel:
Steroid use is better in the day or so after hearing loss, and the longer you wait, the less effective it becomes. It might still work at two weeks–at least to some degree, but by 30 days, its probably just a waste of time. Note that steroids don’t always work. Your hearing may come back on its own. On the other hand, your hearing may not come back whether you take steroids or not. So it’s something you try to see if it works in your case.
I take it that your hearing loss is the result of listening to your headphones with the volume much too loud, correct? And the tinnitus is probably just accompanying the hearing loss. If your hearing returns, you could expect your tinnitus to fade away.
You need to protect your ears from loud sounds so you don’t make things worse. The correct volume to listen to music is at the same volume you typically listen to a person talking. You don’t need the music any louder or you risk further damage to you ears.
I’m not sure that seeing an ENT is going to be all that productive. He will probably just tell you what you already know, although he could give you a shot of prednisone through your eardrum and see if that helps.
Cordially,
Neil
Chronic allergies. Then maybe a cold. Pain in both ears. Got prescription. Then changed to liquid yellow discharge in both ears. Got to ENT 5 days in – he drained ears … did comprehensive hearing test …. mild to moderate hearing loss. Noticed my hearing improved slightly with the draining of the ears and air in ears. Now on prednisone for 7 days and then back for another hearing test and check in with ENT. As everyone is asking, so am I, what is the change of getting my hearing back in both ears? What are the changes of permanent hearing loss in both ears? Why did this happen? What is an viral infection and could I have done anything at all to not get that. Thank u
Hi Tracy:
I don’t have enough information to give you a good answer to your questions so I can only give you a more general answer. You typically get a temporary hearing loss when you get a middle ear infection such as you have. When the infection clears up and the gunk drains out of your middle ears and Eustachian tubes, then your hearing typically returns to normal.
However, if the virus gets into your inner ears, it can cause permanent hearing loss to some degree. Sometimes it only attacks one ear and other times both ears. Sometimes you’ll also have balance problems besides hearing problems.
What can you do to prevent this? Well, obviously build up your immune system so you don’t catch colds/viruses in the first place. It’s like the horse in the corral. You have to shut the gate BEFORE the horse escapes. Once it is gone, its not easy to do much, so prevention is key.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman
About 6 weeks ago I got cold and suddenly I woke up at the midnight and felt both my ears wet. I decided to continue my sleep (considered it as sweat only) by sleep to left position.
In the morning, I felt my right ear completely clogged but my left ear felt normal.
I went to the doctor and he said “it is allergic” and gave me some allergic medicine
3 days later nothing happened, my right ear still feel clogged and I became difficult to hear (almost no sound I can hear at my right ear)
I went to ENT doctor and he said I get ear infection and gave my some antibiotics without did any proper check before
I consumed the antibiotics for 10 days. And still not much happened. My right ear still feel clogged and I became has Tinnitus. My hearing return a little, previously I can’t hear sound at all at my right ear, but after this antibiotic I can feel some sound from my right ear. At the first the hearing at my right ear felt like sound that come from broken speaker, but soon it become clearer
The doctor said to be patient until 3 weeks.
At the fourth weeks since my symptom, I went to another ENT doctor and he said I get SNHL.
I lost 60db at my right ear, and he gave my some nerves medicine and vitamin
1 week later still nothing happened even though I felt the clogged feeling was disappeared, but I still have Tinnitus and my hearing not feel better.
Last week I have another test and my hearing still lost at 60db. The ENT doctor gave me oral steroid medicine to be consumed for 8 days
Today is my 6th days consuming the steroid, and also my 6th weeks having this symptom
PS. since consuming steroid I feel my Tinnitus became more quiet. But I can’t sure exactly
Hi Jack:
Since 6 weeks have gone by since you lost your hearing, I think you have permanent hearing loss and the hearing you have now is the hearing you’ll have in the future. Typically, you’ll also have some degree of tinnitus as it accompanies the hearing loss. Learn to ignore it and let it fade into the background so it doesn’t bother you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman
Thanks for your reply
I’m trying so hard to deal with it, even though mentally I still hard to accept this sudden new condition 🙂
I have one additional question, my audiogram showed I have Low Frequency SNHL
From many literature I read LFSNHL is the symptom of Meinere?
But I don’t got any vertigo so far, that I think also the important symptom of Meinere?
Thank you Dr Bauman
Hi Jack:
Typically, Meniere’s disease does start out as a low frequency loss. But there are other reasons for a low frequency loss too (e.g. some drugs and genetics). And yes, full-blown Meniere’s typically has vertigo as probably the most important symptom. But you can get “half-Meniere’s”. There are two versions that they call cochlear hypdrops and vestibular hydrops. The former has hearing loss and tinnitus as the main symptoms and the latter has vertigo and a feeling of fullness as the main symptoms.
In any case, they are both caused by the same underlying condition. If you want to learn more about Meniere’s and the cure for it (yes, there is a cure although doctors don’t know about it) read my comprehensive article on the Meniere’s at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ . See if anything in this article rings a bell with you.
Cordially,
Neil
Diagnosed with SNHL one week ago. I started the high dose prednisone, 2 days ago. In 24 hours it seemed to be a little better, no more reverb from people talking. Went to bed, woke up 5 hours later, it’s worse than ever. Does the steroids do this? Meaning it gets good, then bad, then good again? Hoping for the good again. Already wear heating aids for loss over years, tinnitus too but hearing aids really take that away.
Seems laying down stops my hearing and it comes back slightly late in the day, only to start over again in the morning. Tested for fluid in ear, none there.
Hi Matt:
How severe a hearing loss was your SNHL?
Doctors typically use Prednisone to treat SNHL, and often it works. But prednisone can also cause tinnitus in numbers of people. You may be one of them. If you notice this after you take Prednisone, then you might want to stop taking it as it is making your tinnitus worse. It can also cause hearing loss. So either it can help you, or cause you even more problems.
Are you saying that when you go to bed at night, your hearing loss gets worse and stays that way until you get up and get on with the day? If that is the case, I wonder whether you have a tight neck and shoulders. That could cause that. But there are other possibilities too of course.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, i would appreciate some advice here.
I had a bad cold start around 2 weeks ago. On day 2 or 3 of the cold, i woke up with a feeling of fullness in my ear and diminished hearing in one ar, as if i was wearing an earplug. At first i could not pop my ears but now i am able to, although it does not relieve any of the symptoms. In addition to occasional pressure in the ear, i have some tinnitus, clicking/popping sounds when i swallow/yawn, but no pain, no vertigo. My primary care doctor examined by ear and said the ear drum is reddened around the malleus. He put me on antibiotics (penicillin at first, now bactrim).
I read about sudden hearing loss, and suggested my doctor prescribe me a sterioid. He put me on 20 mg prednisone, currentlyl on day 2 of 7. I see that that is a lower than normal dose for sudden hearing loss.
The original plan was to get a referral to an ENT if this doesnt improve by next week. I dont know if it is fluid in the middle ear vs sudden hearing loss. Is there an easy way at home to distinguish the two? I dont have a tuning fork.
I am basically terrified of losing my hearing permanently, and am almost at the 2 week mark. I also have an international flight in a few weeks (flights not great for earing problems!). Navigating the health care system and finding good advice is so hard and slow… i would be grateful if you can provide any. Should i be alarmed?
I should add that there is some minor evidence of conductive hearing loss rather than sensorineural; when i talk or hum, my affected ear seems to vibrate/hum more, which is sort of like the Weber test and i think indicates conductive hearing loss there. Im looking around for a tuning form… tried my electric toothbrush to simulate, and it is not so great for this test 😛
Hi Matt:
Instead of trying a home test, why don’t you go to an audiologist and have a proper audiological evaluation. That can quickly tell whether you have a sensorineural hearing loss, a conductive loss, or both (mixed loss) and how bad it is.
You can try the hum test that I mention in my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/the-hum-test-for-sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss/ . This will tell you whether it is sensorineural or conductive since it is only in one ear.
Has any of your lost hearing begun coming back yet? The sooner this happens, the more chances you have of all/most of it coming back.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for the reply Neil.
I am trying to schedule an ENT visit, so hopefully will get that ASAP. Offices are msotly close this weekend and specialist sometimes take a while for an appointment.
I think my hearing has either somewhat improved in the past few days or wasnt quite as bad as i initially thought. Wearing a earplug currently reduces hearing much more than the hearing reduction alone, at least as I compare one ear to the other. I can use my afflicted ear to succesfully talk on the phone for example, although the effective volume is down a bit.
I did try the hum test. It basically makes the afflicted ear buzz, though admittedly a tuning fork or audiologist exam would be more precise. I also feel my afflicted ear (and the general area in my head) buzz when i talk. So hopefully that indicates only a conductive hearing issue.
Beyond that, the last few days i have heard lots of crackling/popping noises in the affected ear whenever i swallow.
I can still pop my ears (valsalva technique) though it leaves my ear feeling pressurized, so im guessing the tubes arent working quite right.
I am having 70% of hearing loss. It was examined on 24/7/18. Im having it since 9days. Taking that steroid medication will get my hearing back?? PLs advice pls…I am from India. Our doctor have adviced to tk steeroid injection. What do you say??
Hi Naveen:
Taking steroids such as Prednisone MAY help bring your hearing back. There are no guarantees it will do so however. In the case of sudden hearing loss (you don’t say if that is what you have or not), sometimes steroids will help hearing return. Other times hearing comes back on its own and still for other people hearing never comes back in spite of timely steroid treatment.
You can try steroid injections. Again, sometimes they work and sometimes not much happens.
What did you lose your hearing from? And how fast did it happen?
Cordially,
Neil
On 7/9 I woke up with sound sensitivity in both ears. I was sensitive to my own voice, I felt I sounded too loud from the inside. The sensitivity eventually wore off as the day went on. Later that night I took a mucinex D and an hour later some children’s zyrtec, hoping to alleviate some sinus congestion.
The next morning, 7/10, I woke up deaf in my R. Ear. All I could hear out of it was a rushing sound, like the rushing of my own blood running.
I made an emergency appt. w/ an ENT, and after a hearing test my R. Ear was shown to have a reverse slope. My speech recognition was 92, I could still make out speech very well, but I had moderate to severe sudden sensorineural hearing loss in my R. Ear. I was started on a 10-day course of prednisone that day, and had a follow up on 7/19. Over the course of the treatment and by the follow up appt. I had near perfect regain of hearing. My R. Ear was ~5 pts below my L. and my speech recognition was 100. The ENT suspects Meniere’s, despite the absence of vertigo, and I’m supposed to follow-up in 2 months, unless something happens. Well something happened.
About 2 days after finishing the steroids I started to have throat irritation. On 7/23 I took a mucinex-D and 1/2 tsp on children’s benadryl as I was having sinus congestion and allergy symptoms again.
Morning of 7/24 I woke up with diminished hearing in my R. Ear. I eventually took a claritin and a mucinex-D as I was also experiencing severe head/ sinus congestion and severe allergy symptoms, and a fever. At this point I’m convinced I’ve got a sinus infection. I called the ENT and he recommended I continue what I was doing and report back in a week.
My fever broke last night, and my hearing loss has increased since yesterday. Could this be allergy/stress related? If my hearing came back once, could it come back again? I’ve never experienced allergy symptoms before, or so severe. I’m asthmatic, and most of my “allergies” come during the winter time and from exposure to cigarette smoke I’ve had bouts of acute bronchitis, strep, and upper respiratory infections throughout my life.
Hi Kayla:
From what you say, I think you had a viral infection (you had a fever than broke) that got to one of your ears and caused the hearing loss. Personally, I don’t think you have Meniere’s disease. The reason your ENT thought so is because you had a reverse slope hearing loss. This is often how Meniere’s begins, but its not the only reason for a reverse slope hearing loss.
In addition, allergies and sinus congestion can certainly result in hearing loss too.
I don’t really think your hearing loss is anxiety/stress related. From everything you’ve said it is more consistent with a viral attack.
With viral attacks, sometimes the hearing comes back and sometimes the hearing loss proves to be permanent.
Does this make sense to you?
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
About 2 months ago I developed sudden onset tinnitus. I hear it mostly in my left but also notice it in the right, I believe.At the time i was 4 months post partum. Had not been to any concerts, have not been exposed to anything too loud and have not been ill. I was on a low dose metoprolol 50mg for 4 months post partum but have stopped taking it. I have seen an ENT who completed hearing tests speech test and an inner ear pressure test. The speech and pressure test were normal and i have mild high frequency loss in both ears, i believe at 4000-6000 drops to 35-30 in both ears. The ENT did not seem concerned with this or think it was causing the tinnitus. I can also say that around the same time the tinnitus started I had been having a TMJ flare up consisting of soreness in my face muscles. I have been having some relief from the TMJ symptoms recently but still having the constant tinnitus which hasnt seemed to improve much in the last 2 months, and it is very frustrating. Any guidance would be much appreciated!
Hi Sara:
Metoprolol has the highest reported incidence of ototoxic side effects of any of the beta-blockers, so it could certainly have caused your tinnitus and hearing loss. The good news is that once you stop it, some people get their hearing back and their tinnitus goes away.
Your tinnitus could also be the result of your high-frequency hearing loss in spite of what your ENT thinks. Since they don’t check your hearing above 8,000 Hz, you could have very significant hearing loss up there. You might not notice the difference in hearing, but your brain knows–and that could cause tinnitus since the neurons now don’t have anything to do (except get into mischief that results in tinnitus).
TMJ issues can also certainly result in tinnitus. So can tight facial muscles or your neck being out of proper alignment. If that is your case, going to an upper cervical chiropractor and a massage therapist at the same time can often get your tinnitus under control.
In any case, you need to NOT focus on your tinnitus or it will likely get worse. Therefore, treat your tinnitus as a totally useless sound that you can safely ignore–then focus on the loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background.
I give a lot of good information on dealing with somatic tinnitus (your neck/TMJ issues) and on how to take control of your tinnitus so it doesn’t bother you in my book “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” which you can get at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
Cordially,
Neil
I had a hearing loss and fullness in the ear which I attributed to ear wax or eustachian tube blockage. That was about three weeks ago. After cleaning my ears I waited about 10 days and it went away. It started again about 5 days ago. I saw an ENT today and she diagnosed sensorineural hearing loss. She started me on oral steroids and scheduled an MRI. I have a history of ringing and dizziness in my now “good ear”. Anything else I should be doing? Thank you in advance. I learned a lot today from your website.
Hi Kirk:
I always start back when the hearing loss first began and try to identify any factors that may have caused it. For example, had you begun taking a new drug in the past 2 months or so, or increased the dose on an existing drug? Many drugs can and do cause hearing loss. Did you have a cold or flu or active virus in your body back about that time? Viruses can cause hearing loss too. Was there anything different going on in your life back then? See what pops up. If you can identify a cause, then the treatment may be obvious–but sometimes you can’t put your finger on anything.
What caused your tinnitus and dizziness in your good ear? When did that happen. That could also be a result of a drug or medication you were/are taking. The hearing loss could be a later side effect, for example.
Cordially,
Neil
Good day
I started to have a feeling of blocked ears about two months ago. I went to the GP and said my ears were clear and there wasnt any wax build up. I ended up seeing a ENT and audiologist. The hearing tests displayed mild to moderate high frequency sensorineural hearing loss. The ENT suspects I have a auto immune disease and had prescribed me with Predisone for three weeks. My question is, will my hearing improve while being off the Predisone or will ir return to the mild to moderate high frequency loss?
Hi Morag:
Why does your doctor suspect an autoimmune disease? I would say that typically if you have autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) you would likely also have some other autoimmune disease. Is this the case with you?
If you do have an autoimmune disease, often Prednisone will bring back some of your lost hearing, but when you go off the drug, you may lose more hearing again.
More to the point, what happened about 2 months ago? Did you have a cold, flu or any active virus in your body? Did you take any new medication or increase the dose on an existing medication? Those are two common causes of high-frequency hearing loss, apart from exposing your ears to loud sounds such as loud concerts, music, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil
Thank you for your feedback. My father passed away two months ago, the doctor recons that from the sever stress and anxiety from his passing it could have offset a autoimmune disease. Ive never been diagnosed with a autoimmune disease prior to all of this. He suspects its autoimmune disease but hasnt identified which one yet. I havent been sick nor have I been on any new medications. I also havent been exposed to any loud concerts or music. The only event I think was once the volume was high on earphones and I pulled my earphones off immediately. Not sure if that could have caused it?
Hi Morag:
I doubt the earphone episode caused this hearing loss if it was that quick.
Your doctor may be right about an autoimmune disease, but I’m not convinced. However, severe emotional distress can shoot your immune system down and open you to any bug going around–and it could be possible a virus attacked your inner ears. A lot of times it is hard to put your finger on exactly what caused a sudden hearing loss. Doctors just call it idiopathic hearing loss–meaning they don’t know what caused it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
Patricia again. Can prednisone help get back the conductive hearing loss?
Hi Patricia:
Probably not. Conductive losses are mechanical losses and thus are not amenable to drug therapy.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
Good morning from Spain. First of all, thank you for all the support you give to people like us who want to seek some advice.
I started getting a cold on Oct 13 and unfortunately had to take a flight by then. As a result, my right ear got blocked for a couple of hours before returning +/- “normal”. The problem is that it translated into a random blocked ear/light tinnitus for a couple of days, for which I saw a GP on Oct 15. Nothing particular was prescribed: light red eardrum, no ear infection, eardrum not perforated. Only got some cipro ear drops for 4 days as to prevent further infection. I also only took one Azitromycin by mistake (one pill, that’s idiot of me), though it didn’t have any effect.
As the light tinnitus never really went away, I saw an ENT on Oct 23. He diagnosed fluid trapped behind the eardrum, without infection (causing sometimes my ear to be a bit blocked). I am 100 kg and was prescribed 600mg daily NAC, Budesonide spray and Deflazacort (Prednisone) 2x30mg 2 days/1.5x30mg 2 days/1x30mg 2 days/0.5x30mg 2 days.
I do not seem to have any hearing loss (could hear all frequencies during the test) but don’t know about the level of dB. My right ear doesn’t really feel clogged anymore and I feel like I can hear everything perfectly.
Yesterday for the first time, after taking Prednisone, I had no tinnitus symptom at all. Only this night it was a “bit” back but nothing too important. Today I feel OK but a bit worse than yesterday, despite the Prednisone.
My questions for you, Dr. Neil, are: is the dosage adequate? Do you think that once all the fluid goes away I won’t feel tinnitus anymore (as of yesterday)? Do corticoids actually cure or just “ease” tinnitus pain?
I’m so afraid to have to live with it, even though I have to admit it’s probably a 0.5-1/10 scale…
Many thanks,
Damien
Hi Damien:
I think you doctor prescribedg the proper dosage of what he’s given you. At least, it seems to be working in your case. What the steroids do is reduce inflammation. They don’t cure tinnitus.
The one thing you don’t want to do is to dwell on your tinnitus. If you worry about it and obsess over it, it’s just going to get worse. Therefore, what you need to do is ignore your tinnitus and treat it as an unimportant sound that has no effect on your well-being. When you do this, you give your limbic system in your brain permission to not bring it to your attention. Thus, it will fade into the background and you won’t hear it much or at all in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much Neil, that’s much appreciated!
I have to admit I basically don’t hear it anymore, so I’ll continue keeping it out-of-focus!
Thanks again! I’m always amazed at how expert people like you take their time to answer other’s questions! Our world needs people like you!
Dear doctor… Like most people here I’m also desperate.
On 23 October I went to visit the ENT as I had for some months long periods with less hearing and a kind of underwater feeling. I got grommet placed in my left ear because ENT suspected I had fluids behind the eardrum. This was indeed the case and he cleaned my ear (with a kind of vacum cleaner).
Instantly when he was done I was totally (at least 90%) deaf and had a horrible ringing in my ear that I didn’t have before. I told this to the ENT and he said it would away after anesthesia will be gone. 3 days later I was not better and I had a horrible pain. Went back to ENT he said I had a ear infection ión and gave me eardrops (ofloxacine)… Next day I was dying in pain and getting crazy with the ring in my ear so I went to Er and got amoxicilline and other eardrops.
1 week later I was not getting much more better, pain was gone but my hearing and rings didn’t progress. So I went back to the ENT he said that I have to be patient and wait till the infection is gone. But I had a pressure in my ear and a strange feeling. Ringing was driving me crazy.
Last Monday 6 November, I went to a second opinion and the new ENT saw no infection and it looked like grommet was placed correct. He made a hearing test and I couldn’t hear almost no low tones.(80hrz) High tones were also not normal but beter (40 hez).
So he removed the grommet, gave me Medrol for almost 20 days. First 7 days 48mg, and then 32mg for 3 days and so on.
Yesterday Friday (9 November after 5 pills) I had an MRI which only showed some inflammation. New Hearing test and my hearing was improving (50 low tones and 30 high tones). I also hear the ringing is getting less… It is still continuous 24*7 but it is less hard and I can ignore it sometimes. My eardrum is also already closed. (after 4 days).
I would like to have your opinion on the treatment, prognose with the hearing and tinnitus.
Do you think that the grommet placing could cause all this?
Hi Nathaly:
From what you have said, I can’t really figure out what caused your hearing loss and pain. I’m wondering if the suction the ENT used was the cause. It could have partially dislocated the bones in your middle ear, or it could have caused acoustic shock by “sucking” out your oval window that then snapped back causing the equivalent to a very loud sound resulting in the sudden hearing loss.
It is good that your hearing is slowly returning and the pain has gone away. Your tinnitus should also keep improving along with your hearing, since hearing loss typically results in tinnitus. I don’t know whether all your hearing will come back or not, but I’m hopeful that things will continue to improve.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much for your feedback… This is a really bad experience for me and is leading to a lot of anxiety and I’m really scare.
Do you think that the dosis methylprednisolone I got is correct? I’m now in day 6 of 48mg, tomorrow it will be day 7. Starting on Monday I will reduce the dosis to 40mg for 3 days, 32mg 3 days, 24 mg 3 days, 16 mg 2 days, 8 mg 2 days and 4 mg for 2 days.
I also have piracetam 1200mg, 2 pills a day till Monday and as per Monday 1 pill per day.
I read in some forums that some people experience decrease in tinnitus while taking methylprednisolone but after that tinitus comes back. All cases are not exactly like mine (usually noise damage not treated on time). Do you think that once I stop taking methylprednisolone is the ringing coming back?
Thank you in advance for your feedback. Really appreciate it.
Ringing is no gone… But I feel a decrease on it. I still can hear it but it is more doable.
Dear doctor… My hearing is almost back to normal (85% last hearing test) . The ringing is less hard than in begin but it is not gone.
I have sometimes the feeling that my other ear is also ringing, and frecuently I have the feeling that my ears are sticky from inside.
I’m still taking prednisone (dappering now to 30mg to 0 the coming days)…
Tinnitus is still not gone. Do you know if this is a normal process? And how long can take to have the ringing gone?
Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Hi Nathaly:
It’s great that your hearing is returning and that your tinnitus is fading away. These are very good signs. There is no guarantee that all of your hearing will come back, and consequently, you may also be left with some tinnitus. But learn to ignore your tinnitus by focusing on the loves of your life and let your remaining tinnitus fade into the background. This may take a couple more months or so. You may always be able to hear your tinnitus if you listen for it–so don’t. Just ignore it and it won’t bother you, even if it is there.
Cordially,
Neil
What kind of shot do they put in your ear. Is there any side effects. Is this procedure painful? What exactly does it do?
Thank you
Hi Carolann:
The typically inject Prednisone through your eardrum into your middle ear. It then is absorbed through the oval and round windows into your inner ear where it is supposed to reduce inflammation. The idea of this over taking a pill is that it puts the drug exactly where the problem is without affecting you whole body with that drug’s side effects.
I think they numb the eardrum so you don’t feel any pain during the injection. I don’t know if/how much pain there is afterwards while the eardrum heals.
Cordially,
Neil
HI Dr. Bauman
I am a 28 year old male, and 4 days ago, I woke up with ringing in my left year and seem to have experienced massive hearing loss in the past 4 days. After the 1st date, I went to urgent care and they advised me to go see an ENT and also prescribed me 6 days worth of 4mg MethlyPREDNISolone treatment. I am currently on Day 3 of PREDNIsolone oral treatment. Today (Day 4), I went to an ENT who commented that I seem to have an inflammatory buildup in my left ear, when compared to right ear that may be causing the ringing inside left ear and hearing loss. The doctor prescribed me Loratadine-D (to be taken every 12 hour) and also Amoxicillin 250mg (to be taken 3 times daily). However, after doing research online, it seems like Loratadine-D and Amoxicillin can have ototoxic effects that can worsen tinnitus. Should I hold off on taking Loratadine-D and Amoxicillin until my 6 day oral PREDNisolone treatment is done? Do you recommend taking Loratadine-D and Amoxicillin for my symptoms? Please help, very much appreciated
Hi Tim:
I wouldn’t be surprised if you tinnitus is the result of your hearing loss. Tinnitus almost always accompanies sudden hearing loss. Doctors typically prescribe Prednisone or Prednisolone or Methylprednisolone (which are all similar corticosteroids. These steroids are supposed to reduce inflammation.
Personally, if I were you, I’d wait until I see what the steroids do before taking the Loratadine and Amoxicillin. Loratadine is an antihistamine, and unless you have an allergy, I’d hold off on it. Furthermore, I’d only take the Amoxicillin if you know you have a middle ear infection.
There is no point in risking getting other ototoxic side effects by taking other drugs on the off chance they will help some undefined condition. That’s may opinion. You are free to do what you think is best.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doctor I developed tinnitus in both ears from and ear infection that started about 2 1/2 weeks ago. It didn’t seem like a bad infection. It started in my left ear and moved to my right ear after about 3 days. By the time I was seen by my doctor, about 4 days later, it had cleared up in my left ear and was only mildly red in my right. I was on z-pack and then Augmentin which didn’t seem to help clear up lingering bit of redness in my right ear. After finishing the Augmentin , both of my ears had become slightly red. I saw an ENT who assured me that the ringing would rarely stay after just a moderate ear infection. I told her my hearing seemed sensitive (like things seemed louder) and she sent me to an audiologist who said my hearing was normal. I asked if the ear infection could cause the little hairs in my ear to be damaged she said no that it was only from hearing loss and that my ear pressure was normal aswell. I still have the ringing , its about the 16th day it seems to fluctuate like a high static sound, im not sure if its with my heartbeat. I just got on Prednisone 10mg for the next few days and am wondering if that will help me. I’m scared because online some people are saying it made their T worse. I don’t know if I want to take this if that is the case. Please help.
Hi Annie:
When you get an ear infection in your middle ear, it can sometimes cause some problems such as your sensitivity to sounds. This can go away as the infection goes and your ears return to normal. Normally, I’d just wait and give your ears time to “heal” rather than using all sorts of drugs–all of which can have ototoxic side effects.
Prednisone can cause tinnitus/make it worse in some people, but not in others. The trick is to know which class you are in–and you won’t know that until you take it–and by then it is too late. Personally, if I were you, I wouldn’t take it. Just give it time. And in the meantime, don’t focus on your tinnitus. Ignore it, and let it naturally fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil. Excuse me ‘piggy-backing’ this message. 10 days ago I noticed a slight ringing in my left ear and went to the ENT who did a hearing test and said that my right ear was fine but my left ear was not picking up high frequencies. He prescribed a very high dose of Prednisone. I went to the ENT for the Tinnitus in my ear and the ringing in my opinion is why I couldn’t hear the highest frequencies. I did not feel any hearing loss. I have taken Prednisone for a week now 100mg for the first 3 days, 90 for days 4-6 and 80 for day 7 (gradually decreasing over the month. I have only noticed an increase in the Tinnitus and if anything a spread to my head. I have a heavy or full feeling in my right ear but the Tinnitus seems to be coming predominantly from the left. I believe that it was listening to loud music that caused the Tinnitus but I believe that the prednisone is not helping and if anything making it worse. As you point out in this post- should I just stop the prednisone and hope that the Tinnitus fades and normal function begins to return? Thanks so much for all the support you give everyone
I should add that I went to the ENT three days after the mild symptoms. In addition to the prednisone I also have 400 mg of Trental 3 times a day and Gingko Biloba.
Hi James:
Your tinnitus could be from the loud music you’ve listened to in the past, or could be from the high-frequency hearing loss you have since tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss.
Taking Prednisone sometimes can help. Other times it doesn’t help at all, and still other times it can make things worse. So if the Prednisone is not helping and is making things worse then you are right in wanting to stop taking it.
Since you are on a high dose, you want to taper off. But maybe you want to taper off faster, just don’t quit cold turkey if you are taking a relatively high dose.
Accordingly,
Neil
Dear Doctor,
My hearing is now back to normal but my ears are far to be recovered. The tinnitus is changing constantly… Since 2-3 weeks I got also a shhhh sound in both ears and the bip sound in left ear is remaining.
My question here is, I have constantly the feeling of fullness in my ear and like somebody is pulling my ears from inside. The sounds in my ears changes all the time. Sometimes is really soft and sometimes really hard.
Is this the normal healing process? When I ask this to my ENT he just say that he don’t know.
I also hear that when I move my neck to some positions or my jaw then the pitch is higher and when I return to my normal position it is back to how it was few seconds ago.
Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Hi Nathaly:
I’m wondering if your tensor tympani muscle is causing the “bip” sound as the muscle suddenly contracts. This would be the feeling of something pulling inside your ear. This might have gotten started due to the suctioning experiencing if the doctor sucked too hard and thus pulled on your eardrum.
You can read more about Tonic Tensor Tympani syndrome (TTTS) in my article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/do-i-have-tonic-tensor-tympani-syndrome-ttts/ .
When you move your head and jaw to certain positions and your tinnitus changes pitch for a second or so, this indicates that your neck and/or jaw are not properly aligned. Over here, the best thing to do is go to an upper cervical chiropractor. These special chiropractors are pretty rare in Europe. The closest one to you is in Antwerp.
Here is his information.
Practitioner Type: Chiropractor
Name: Ben Corthier
Status of UpC technique Certification: Up to Date 15 Aug 2014
Please check with technique owner for current status
Practice: Ben Corthier Upper Cervical Specific
Address: Sint-Antoniuslei 51
Brasschaat
Antwerp, BELGIUM 2930
Tel: +32 3 283 72 50 Fax:
Email: bencorthier@hotmail.com
Upper cervical approach/technique used: HIO Toggle Recoil
Instruments: Neurocalorimeter (NCM)
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your feedback doctor.
Im lucky that I leave near antwerpen (only 1 hour driving) so I will try to contact this chiropractor.
Regarding my symptoms here I have more details:
Left ear (where the grommet was placed) a bip sound an a shhh. Right ear a shhhh that sometimes change to a high pitched eeeee sound.
Further I have in regular basis the feeling of preasure in my ears, like somebody is pulling my ears from inside and sometimes a warm feeling. Also when a swallow (even my own saliva) u hear a plop plop sound (difficult to describe).
ENT where I’m going thinks that only is a problem with the eutasian tube. And he gave me again methylprednisolon. Starting 2 days with 48 MG. Second day the sounds (all of them) were reduced, almost no full feeling in my ears and pressure was gone and almost didn’t hear my ears plopping every time I swallow. But now I’m dappering and I’m on 16mg and all symptoms came back.
Is this also according to TTTS? do you have any idea what can be the best treatment for me?
Do you know also a good KNo in Antwerpen that could help me?
I really appreciate your feedback.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Nathaly:
I sort of agree with your ENT that you have an Eustachian tube problem, but where we disagree is that when your neck is out, that causes Eustachian tube problems. He thinks it can fix it with drugs. I disagree.
TTTS is largely caused by anxiety as well as a physical condition–so dealing with your anxiety goes a long ways towards getting your TTTS under control. And getting your neck in proper alignment is probably the best first step to these problems.
I don’t know of any good doctors in your area. The upper cervical chiropractor, I got his name out of a directory. I don’t know him at all–or whether he is good or not. I don’t know any ear doctors over there.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, from last 3 to 4 years I have this problem of hearing. First there was vertigo. Hearing use to come and go. Vertigo lasted for 6 months. Showed all doctors and they gave all kind of treatment. But to no use. Today I don’t have vertigo but hearing comes with huss sound… Can became 100 percent OK and next day can became muffled. What do you think as I have taken steroid injection. Vertin.. All sorts of medicine. It became 100 percent OK for 10 days and then with hiss sound can became distorted.
Thanks in advance
Hi Dr. Boy has this blog been helpful. About a month ago, I woke up w/high pitched ringing in my left ear. I have had a cough in the am w/drainage down the back of my throat for a long time. My doctor put me on Flonase and Clareti n. That stopped the coughing and helped w/the drainage. The ringing continued and got loader. I went to an ENT. They did a complete hearing test. I’ve lost a fair amount of hearing in the left ear. Sharp sounds now bother my hearing too. I am on 60mg of Prednisone for 10 days. I’m in day 2, and the cortistaroid knocks the Tinnitus almost down to nothing. To add to the issue; I have seen a great Chiro for 10 years. I tell him this. He immediately takes xrays, and finds that the left side of my jaw is cavitated. We have been working on my neck for a while now. He has done 2 manipulations on my jaw so far. This explains the change in pitch of the Tinnitus when I yawn etc. Yes, my Chiro is well versed in upper cervical spinal manipulation. He can also read an MRI; most can’t. I’m very interested in your opinions concerning my issues.
Hi Jeff:
Fluticasone (Flonase) has been reported to cause tinnitus in multiplied hundreds and hundreds of people. Loratadine (Claritin) has about 1/3 the reports of tinnitus as does Fluticasone. So taking those drugs can have caused your tinnitus or made your existing tinnitus worse.
Hearing loss typically accompanies hearing loss and increasing loss can make tinnitus louder.
Hearing sharper sounds can be a result of the hearing loss (recruitment) or from hyperacusis–often as a result of exposing your ears to loud sounds. It can also be the result of a viral attack in your inner ear.
I’m interested in the fact that the Prednisone caused your tinnitus to drop to nothing. Are you sure it is the Prednisone and not the chiropractic treatments? I’m curious.
I’m glad you are working with an upper cervical chiropractor. He can help alleviate many ear conditions before they get bad if he keeps your C1 and C2 vertebrae in proper alignment.
Cordially,
Neil
Good evening Doctor Neil. I am a 34 year old Christian and I have been blessed with a loving husband and 4 wonderful children ( I mention this in the forefront as I couldn’t be making it through this difficult time without them). I came across this webpage (as most people probably have- looking for answers). Until now I took my hearing for granted and can only hope and pray my hearing is restored- if it isn’t I will adapt and be thankful for the innovative advances in audiology that can help me live and work with a new hearing impairment. I don’t expect a definitive answer via this message forum but I would love to hear your insight. So here’s my story- cold virus struck our family as they tend to do this time of year. I was going along with the typical cold s/s until 4 days ago when I noticed a pressure change in my right ear while we were eating dinner. The pressure in my left ear continued increasing and my hearing ability was declining. Went to my pcp yesterday (3 days since hearing loss began). I was prescribed the typical antibiotic/ Flonase/behind the counter decongestant triad. Today (4 days into hearing loss) I called the on call MD and inquired about adding on the oral steroid with my current regimen- the MD agreed and i took the 60mg loading dose this evening. I realize that outcomes to situations like this can’t be predictable but I’m just hoping that I took action soon enough? Prevention really is worth a pound of cure
. I’m an infection control advocate among my friends and nursing colleagues, but even with my vigorous hand washing efforts, this cold virus was aggressive. The MD told me to call the office if no hearing improvement by Monday which then they would mobilize a referral to an ENT. In your professional opinion am I doing all I can to save my hearing (IF it can be saved at all)? Thanks so much!
Hello Dr.
I have had a bit of fullness/pressure in one ear (not other) for about 2 weeks. No real hearing loss, no ringing. GP started with Flonase/Claritin. Then rd 2 has been 3 days of 40 mg of prednisone. So far no real change. Rd. 3 is supposed to be a visit to ENT. Any thoughts?
Hi Chris:
You didn’t mention why your ear has this fullness/pressure. Did/do you have a cold, allergies or congestion in your ears and sinuses? Or are you completely free of this and you still feel this fullness/pressure?
Second, did you expose your ears to loud sounds?
Third, do/did you take any drugs or medications?
I don’t go in for taking all those medications for a “bit of fullness”. It just complicates things and adds risk of ototoxic side effects to the mix.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil. Before 2 months I have SSHL at low frequency and fulnes in the ear. I take corticosteroids for 7 days and my hearing complete come back. I do not have any another symptoms. Doctors think thats fom viral attack. What do you think? Thanks
Hi Doc. I suddenly lost hearing to my right ear in 2011 , i contacted my GP immediately who put it down to infection and advised hearing would be restored. After four weeks, tinnitus developed and i had to see an ENT specialist who concluded i had permanent ear loss after undergoing MRI Scanning. Few months later, i regained 50% of my hearing back and I had learnt to live with that and the tinnitus ever since. Last December 2018, i had ear infection again with the same right ear and the GP prescribed otomizer this time around, hearing has gone down below 50% and now ENT Specialist has placed me on prednisone. Do i stand a chance of recovery please?
Hi Elias:
You haven’t given me enough information to hazard a guess. You may get some hearing back, but I doubt all that you recently lost will come back.
Cordially,
Neil
I was diagnosed with Meniere’s back in May 2018. I was put on Dyazide, but discovered through a survey that I created for myself that my trigger is high barometric pressure. When the pressure rises above 30.3 I get fullness, tinnitus, and hearing loss, but rarely get vertigo (vertigo has only happened 3 times in the last 6 years). I then take 40mg of Prednisone for a few days and my ear gets better. Only to happen again when the pressure rises above 30.3. Do you have any suggestions for how to deal with this trigger? I feel helpless and don’t want to take Prednisone every time there is a high pressure system. 🙁
Hi Brittany:
If you have Ménière’s disease, the way to treat it is to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and have your C1 and C2 vertebrae put into proper alignment. You can read all about this in my comprehensive paper on Ménière’s disease at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, about two weeks and a half, I had some ear pressure and feeling of fullness. Few days went by, one night my wife was talking to me and I would hear a echoing pitch noise at the end of her sentence. Went to urgent care. They prescribe Zyrtec thinking it was a allergy. Few days went by. On a night I went to bed I started with a buzzing noise that wouldn’t go away. Went to urgent care and they gave me prednisone. Took it for about 4 days until I went to ent doctor who said ears look okay, no infection. Audiologists said normal hearing. I have pressure feeling and that fullness feeling??? The buzzing noise went away but a lil ringing stayed. I’m very worried in what can it be?? What do you think it can be?? Thank you
Hi Leo:
How are your ears doing now? Did you have a cold or any active virus when you felt the ear pressure and the feeling of fullness in your ears, or allergies? If so, I think time will take care of the problem. Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it. When you worry about your ears ringing, it typically just makes things worse. It’s much better to ignore tinnitus sounds and focus on the loves of your life.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reply. When they checked my ear they said I had no infection. My stress went away. I still have minor ringing in my ears. I still wake up to it’s the feeling of fullness. Also every morning when I wake up, I have to blow my nose. I get a runny clear mucus. Can that be a reason my ears feel fullness?? I don’t know what allergy medication is safe to take that doesn’t give you tinnitus. Is there a specialist I can see to try to get to the bottom of what caused my ringing??? Once again thank you for your reply!!
Hi Leo:
If your ears feel full, it could be from sinus congestion. Do you have allergies? If you tell me which allergy medications work for you, I can tell you which one is the least ototoxic.
If your ears are plugged to any degree, this could cause tinnitus due to some degree of hearing loss since tinnitus almost always accompanies hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Good evening, I don’t feel congested, just have that sensation of full ear and achy inside. After 5 weeks I still wake up with the same symptoms. I also noticed my eyes feel pressure and nose hurt in the morning. Idk if that’s considered allergies. Maybe that’s why the doctor prescribed me Zyrtec and flownase. I stop using after I heard it caused tinnitus also.
My ringing started medium high and it has lower to mild. When I yawn or press on my temples the ringing gets louder . I wish I knew what’s causing my symptoms. That you again for your replies
Hi, starting with oral Predisone yesterday for a 25dB left ear sudden deafness, I woke up this morning with a high pitched tone in my right ear which during the day developed into ringing in both ears. Is this a normal side effect of the medicine? Should I stop taking the medicine, afraid of developing tinnitus in both ears? Best Regards, Anders
Hi Anders:
A more likely cause of the tinnitus isn’t the Prednisone, but the hearing loss. Very often tinnitus accompanies sudden hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Batman,
I came across your blog and I think I need some help. Feb 10th I started with a chest cold that became a severe cough with lots of mucous. I immediately began taking mucinex 2 times a day. Both ears seemed clogged and I had tinnitus in both ears. I took a flight on Feb 13th and with some difficulty was able to clear my ears. On 16 Feb I noticed that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear while on the phone. I attributed the hearing loss to congestion and figured it would clear. I’ve been continuing the Mucinex and added pseudafed thinking it might clear the congestion. On Feb 18 I flew home and was finally able to clear my ears on decent. After reading your blog I am more worried about my hearing in my left ear and tried to get an appointment with my dr. To no avail. I was able to see a PA at the urgent care today and she prescribed 3 days of 20 MG prednisone along with 10 days of amoxicillin 500mg. We are leaving on a cruise on Sunday and I am concerned that I might not be taking this as serious as it could be. Do you have any advice for me?
Thanks in advance
Mary
Hi Dr.,
I woke up with ear fullness on 2/14/19. I experienced no pain or ringing in my ears, but it felt off. Slight hearing loss, I would say. Went to urgent care 2/16/19, they diagnosed bulging eardrum and prescribed nasal spray. 2/21/19 went to ENT, since there was no change, they did a hearing test and prescribed Methylprednisolone. They said I have mild hearing loss in the left ear, with certain tones. They advised to take the prescribed meds and return in 3 weeks to have hearing retested. I can hear out of the ear, it just seems like something is blocking it. When there is change in elevation, my ears pop and seem to be clear, then they go right back. I’m not sure if the meds are changing anything, maybe a minimal amount. This was pretty sudden, I don’t recall being sick prior to this, however my son did have the flu and then had an ear infection. Thanks for any advice you can offer, on if I can expect this to clear up.
Hi Nicole:
What may have happened is that you caught your son’s virus and had a mild case yourself. The virus may have gotten into your ear and messed it up a bit. That’s my guess. I would expect things to get back to normal in a few weeks. However, it is possible that you may have some permanent damage. It’s too early to tell at this point.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr.,
During vacation, I was involved in a scuba diving incident 7 days ago. When I surfaced from my 2nd dive of the day I noticed my ear seemed plugged. I ate lunch and about 20 minutes after taking a break between dives, I began to feel dizzy. I stood up and couldn’t balance. A few minutes later I vomited and laid down. The Dive Master suggested it was food poisoning, but I think it was Inner Ear Barotrauma or IEDCS. Later that day the dizzy feeling went away but I was left with ringing in my ear and virtually no hearing in it. I did not dive any more the next 2 days and took a one hour flight home. The following day (4th), I went to an ENT who prescribed Prednisone and after that went to a hyperbaric chamber for decompression. Now on day 7 it seems the condition has not changed at all. Same tinnitus and complete hearing loss. I had a hearing test and it says “Profound Mixed, Hearing Loss. I had no medical conditions and been fine before that. My ENT said there’s a 70% chance of recovery. If this is a perilymph fistula, can it heal or is surgery an option?
I was just wondering if I could get your thoughts.
Thanks,
Stan
Hi Stan:
Perilymph fistulas can occur when the membrane on the oval or round window ruptures and leaks perilymph into your middle ear. They can heal themselves, or you can have surgery to patch them up.
A perilymph fistula could account for the sensorineural (inner ear) hearing loss, but you also have a conductive hearing loss. Did your ENT suggest what caused that–or did he even investigate the cause? This would be something gone bad in the middle ear.
Why did you have the decompression? Did you come up too fast? Is that what the doctor thought was the cause of your underlying sudden hearing loss? Or was it just for the hyperbaric oxygen treatment?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman
2 weeks ago I woke up with ringing in my right ear, some pain, feeling of fullness and some hearing loss. I’d had some upper respiratory symptoms leading up to it so I went to urgent care and they diagnosed me with a middle ear infection and prescribed antibiotics, Flonase, Zyrtec and Sudafed. After a week the pain had subsided but other symptoms persisted. I went to my pcp they confirmed ear infection and lengthend antibiotics from 10days to two weeks. At the 12 day mark I had less feeling of fullness but still pronounced ringing and perceived high frequency loss so I made an ENT appointment. Had a hearing test today then Saw an ENT physicians assistant. The hearing test revealed mild hearing loss between 6-8khz with the drop off starting at 4khz. After examining the ear they found no infection and started me on 30mg of prednisone for 2 weeks then they will repeat the hearing test. In your experience should I be able to regain the mild high frequency loss if the nerve is in fact inflamed and the prednisone solves the inflammation. I’m a sound engineer so even mild high frequency loss does affect my job. Thanks for any insight you might have.
Hi Mathieu:
If your hearing loss is due to viral activity in your inner ears from the cold/respiratory condition, then it may or may not come back.
There are no guarantees that Prednisone will work (or not). This is what they prescribe and hope it will work. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
You’ve left out some things I’d like to know. First, your age. It is common to develop high-frequency hearing loss as you age.
Second, did you have a baseline audiogram done in the past say 5 years so you can tell whether this recent episode was the cause of your hearing loss, or if some of it was from previously?
Third, you mention that your hearing began to drop off at 4 KHz. I haven’t seen your audiogram, but since you are an audio engineer, I’m wondering if your high frequency loss was from exposing your ears to sounds that are too loud and for too long. Often the first indication is a “noise notch” at 4kHz. Then the higher frequencies start to go. This may be where you are now.
If you have a copy of your audiogram, you can attach it to an email and send it to me. My email is at the bottom of any page on this website.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello. On 2/28/19 I was out in the cold rain working and became very sick. That night I developed a 102 temp and an upper respiratory issue. I also had very bad tinnitus in one ear (a low steady hum that stopped only if I spoke), with slight pain in my right ear and a feeling of being clogged in the left.
General doc gave me amoxicillin and low dose of prednisone. Said I had fluid behind my right ear. The steroid seemed to clear up my chest. I also used Sudafed and a Netti Pot. Now weeks later, I still have a clogged feeling in my left ear. The tinnitus went down where I don’t hear it outside anymore but I still hear it in quiet places.
I saw my ENT and he said my ears looked fine and that the tinnitus with my sickness that night is just a coincidence and they are unrelated. I don’t understand that.
With my ear still feeling clogged, what would be a good action plan? How long for a sinus/ear infection to clear to improve the tinnitus? They performed no hearing test and I can’t detect any hearing loss at this point.
I am white, male, age 42. Thank you.
Hi Wayne:
If your tinnitus is so soft that you can only hear it in a very quiet room, then you have nothing to worry about. It is not bothering you. And if you try to listen for it, your brain will cooperate and turn up the volume so you can hear it better–and you don’t want it to do that. So just ignore your tinnitus.
When a doctor tells you that tinnitus was just a coincidence, it just means he doesn’t have a clue and doesn’t want to say so. Since you had some congestion (fluid behind the eardrum), that alone is enough to cause tinnitus.
Your ear could feel clogged for one of several reasons. One is that it really is clogged. Another one is that your Eustachian tube isn’t working properly and thus you feel this as it being clogged. You could also have this feeling if you have a hearing loss in that ear.
If you go to an audiologist and ask for a complete audiological evaluation you could find the answer. Testing will show whether you have a hearing loss and whether it is conductive or sensorineural. If it is conductive, or has a conductive component, then the tympanogram could reveal whether your ear is really clogged or not.
So that would be a good next step.
Cordially,
Neil
D.C.
Hi doctor,
I am a 30 year old male, fairly healthy and about three weeks ago I was getting migraines and headaches every day on and off. I usually don’t get headaches and migraines. Then suddenly everyday I would get a migraine severe almost in the right side of my head. Feeling pain behind my eyes, temple, and ear discomfort and throbbing. I then went to finally see a urgent care doctor because at this point I was getting annoyed by the pain the discomfort and weird ear pains. I also began to get a sore throat. I was tested for strep and came back negative. My right ear looked like swimmers ear but no infection found. I was given ear drops and 1 50g prednisone. Next day I felt a little better. Sore throat was gone and ear pain was gone but still discomfort. And migraines persisted daily. I started taking Advil to help with the migraines and it did Aslong as I kept up with it.
The follow weekend on a Sunday or Monday I forgot u woke up with migraine and feeling of under water and fullness in my right ear. I immediately scheduled a ent appointment for Tuesday.
He told me my ears looked fine and didn’t seem like I’ve had an infection but my symptoms sound like sshl. Which I have never heard of in my life. Following a audiogram that day, my results were I had minor to slightly moderate hearing loss.
I felt defeated. I started 60mg of prednisone that Saturday and today is day 6 and I haven’t felt any gain in hearing or if I did. The ringing and fullness trumps it so I can’t tell a difference. Weirdly after getting the initial hearing loss. All migraines and headaches stopped as if it was working towards the hearing lost. Go figure.
So I’m losing hope as I am 10 days from when it originally started and day 6 on prednisone and I don’t feel like anything has changed or got better.
I have another audiogram today to see if anything has improved and next steps.
Any thoughts or advice on this ?
Should I try getting the injections in my ear to see if it improves? I’ve heard good things about therapy in conjunction with hbot. Not proven but heard it’s possible to help.
Looking forward to hearing from you doctor.
Thank you
Hi KS:
Certain kinds of ear conditions are associated with migraines and headaches. So the question is 3 to 5 weeks ago what brought on these headaches? Any ideas? Did you expose your ears to any loud sounds? Any head or neck trauma? Any balance problems?
You want to get at the root of the problem before you worry about treating it so you can choose the right treatment for the problem.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi i am a 23 year old female. I had a sore throat and cold which led to a painful ear infection and tinnitus suddenly when i woke up. I went to ent and found i had hearing loss as low as 60 decibels in my right ear. They started me on 60mg of prednisone. What is weird is that most of the ringing is now in my left ear and fainted in my right ear. Is that normal? Could that be a sign that i could also be losing my hearing in my left ear as well? Will this ringing ever stop??
Hi Danielle:
Often tinnitus is a symptom that you have damaged hearing in that ear. But tinnitus is “funny” in that sometimes you hear it in one ear, the other ear, both ears or just in your head. So I wouldn’t read too much into it changing ears. Mine do that all the time.
The cold virus that caused your hearing loss in your right ear could have also invaded your left ear and done some damage too–maybe just minimal so it wasn’t noticeable to you, but your brain knew–hence the tinnitus. It’s hard to tell.
Typically tinnitus accompanies hearing loss, so if your hearing improves, then your tinnitus should fade away. The big thing is not to focus on your tinnitus–but ignore it as much as you can. This gives it permission to fade away. If you focus on it, then it will tend to be more or less permanent.
Cordially,
Neil
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Hello,
I have been reading and just had to ask last sat the 4th of May I began with what felt like congestion that progressed to trouble with my vision extreme ringing in my ear and if I closed my eyes seemed as if the room was coming towards me activities like pushing my son on a swing or looking at my phone made me very uneasy ended up in the ER the next day with no help saw an optomologist who recommended an ENT who I saw the same day on Monday …. he gave me an antiviral with a hearing test no explanation since I was getting worst I saw my primary the next day who gave antibiotics for liquid in ear and the appearance of a lot of congestion to no help on Thursday another ER visit which led to nasacort and Zyrtec d …. again no help Saturday ER visit no help but a referral to another ENT who said no more liquid in ears but high frequency drop on hearing test in left ear said it was inner ear infection Nd gave me prednisone 60mg a day for 7 days and tapering down for the following 9 first day my vision improved and ringing calmed down I researched labyrinthitis which describes my symptoms to a T …. wondering if u have any suggestions? Or insight …. I should mention 4 years ago I had some hearing loss due to earphones that seemed to get better and ringing that I learned to live with since when I seeked help my dr brushed me off as allergies….
Hi Claudia:
What you have experienced sounds like a viral infection in your inner ears or labyrinthitis. The virus could have caused the labyrinthitis in the first place. You have had the standard treatments that doctors give. It’s good that the Prednisone is helping to some degree. Now, probably you just have to wait and let your inner ears heal. This could take 2 or 3 weeks for most symptoms to go away, but some balance issues can take a number of months to completely go away. Physiotherapy and balance exercises can help clear up balance problems that persist.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you sooo much for responding just one more question, I’m on the second day of prednisone and already I feel this will not be an easy two weeks no sleep and anxiety thru the roof plus I might be developing a yeast infection from the uneeded antibiotics prescribed to me which I read is a bad idea to have while on prednisone …. I have also read the possible side effects of the prednisone and not sure if it is worth it…. my question to you is does the prednisone only help the symptoms is it absolutely necessary ??? I’m very confused to whether I should continue or not …. your input would be greatly appreciated
Hi Claudia:
Remember, I’m not a medical doctor so what I say is just my personal opinion. Whether or not you continue on the Prednisone is up to you. My personal opinion is that the Prednisone is not absolutely necessary. It may help, but it also has side effects. Thus you have to weigh the side effects against the supposed good it will do and decide. If it is causing you problems (anxiety, lack of sleep, yeast infection, etc.) it may not be worth it. Typically, labyrinthitis resolves itself with time, so treatment is not critically necessary–it may just take a little longer.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I have been reading this article, and it has been so much informative for me so far. Thank you for that.
My mom (aged 57 yrs) has been diagnosed with wegener’s granulomatosis with renal involvement 7 years ago and has been put on prednisone and corticosteroids since then. She has lost complete hearing in her left ear and few days ago suddenly lost a bit of hearing on her right ear. Audiogram shows a level of 60db on the right ear. She is already on prednisone (6mg), so should the dosage be increased now? Please advise.
Also please advise on what are the chances of getting the hearing back on her right ear.
Hi Harshaa:
You haven’t given me enough information about your mom’s hearing loss and the events leading up to it.
Depending on its cause, having her doctor increase the dose of prednisone to 40 to 60 mg and then tapering down over 10 days or so seems to be a doctor’s standard treatment. It may work, but there are no guarantees.
I can’t really say what her chances are of getting her hearing back. If I had to pull a number out of a hat, I’d say around 30%, but only time will tell what really happens.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I came down with a nasty influenza virus on Wednesday 12 of June. On Thursday I noticed some muffled hearing (I had a sinus infection and ears felt very clogged), so I went to see a doctor on Friday 14 of June. She prescribed me with antibiotics and Otrivin nasal spray, which I took.
On Wednesday 19 of June, I was still sick with the flu. However, I started to notice diplacusis dysharmonica when listening to music and voices sounded very robotic. My right ear was hearing music about half a tone or so out from my left ear. I went back to the doctor first thing in the morning on Thursday 18 of June. I had some prednisone at home so self medicated with 60mg that morning. She referred me urgently to an ENT – but he would not see me until an audiogram was done. An audiogram was done on the afternoon of Thursday 18 of June which detected mild high frequency sensorineural hearing loss in my right ear. This compared unfavourable with an audiogram I received in January which was totally normal. Prednisone steroids were suggested. I called my doctor and she prescribed me with a course.
I have received contradictory information about the dosage and course I should take for the steroids. My GP has prescribed me 60mg for 5 days, tapering down to 40mg for 5 days, then 20mg for 5 days etc. I will be off all steroids in 20 days. Does that sound right to you?
I have no tinnitus (or barely noticeable tinnitus) or labrynthis and my speech perception is pretty good. It’s just the diplacusis that is really bothering me because music sounds out of tune (I am a musician) and the “echo” and robot sound of higher pitched voices (including my own) is really irritating.
So pretty much I started steroids within a week of muffled hearing and within a couple of days of distorted hearing. Been on prednisone 60mg for 3 days now – I think music is starting to sound a little better then it was on the day I first noticed the diplacusis and when I rub my fingers together next to my ears, I can hear them being rubbed together on both sides.
How long should I wait until I should expect improvements (if any)? Flu has gone and my sinusitis /stuffy nose has more or less cleared up this afternoon.
Hi Georgina:
I’m curious–did you get the flu shot, and if so, how long before June 12th?
You would expect some temporary hearing loss and tinnitus to occur with the virus clogging up your sinuses and Eustachian tubes.
If one ear is affected more than the other, you can temporarily have diplacusis. This should go away as your ears go back to normal.
Doctors have their own sense of what is the right dose/taper of Prednisone. Some use a 9-day taper and some use more. 60/40/20 over 15 days seems to be within the ballpark. I don’t think it is out of line.
I’d think that by the end of 30 days things should be pretty much back to normal, or as normal as they are going to get. I don’t see anything to be particularly worried about at this time. Your head is clearing up, virus under control–now to let your ears get back to normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
Thank you so much for your efforts in maintaining this informative website and responding to everyone’s comments.
I would really value your thoughts on the following situation. About two and a half weeks ago I went scuba diving in the Galapagos Islands. I had difficulty equalizing my ears on the way down, but I didn’t feel any pain and managed to complete the dive. At the surface I noticed that my hearing in my right ear was weak and muffled, I could hear a loud ringing sound, and I felt nauseous (I attributed this to seasickness). However (and this was probably my biggest mistake) having suffered mild barotraumas in the past before, I figured it wasn’t a big deal and I went on the second dive of the day, which I didn’t have any particular difficulty equalising for.
Following the dive, the muffled hearing and ringing continued, along with vertigo and an impaired sense of balance, the latter not being something I experienced with previous instances of barotrauma. The following day I went to see a local doctor on the island, who took a quick look at my ear and diagnosed me with a middle ear barotrauma, prescribing me a course of antibiotics, decongestant and Ibuprofen for a week.
Initially I was not worried and accepted the doctor’s diagnosis, as the muffled hearing felt similar to previous barotraumas I have totally recovered from. However this time around I noticed that the hearing wasn’t really getting better with time, and on top of that I became aware of a distortion of sounds in high frequencies (they have an unpleasant sharp and tinny quality). I began to worry that rather than simply suffering from conductive hearing loss caused by fluid in the ear (middle ear barotrauma) I had caused permanent damage to my hearing.
I finally went to see an ENT in Quito Ecuador yesterday (17 days after the incident) who examined my ears visually (no abnormalities detected) and then ran an audiogram which showed a big drop off in hearing in my right ear for frequencies above 4K. The ENT said this was not too bad in terms of hearing loss, and put me on a course of 60mg of Prednisone for a week, even though he admitted it was probably too late for them to be effective. As I am traveling through South America he told me to see annother ENT in about 2 weeks to see if my hearing has improved.
My questions for you are: (1) is there any benefit to me taking a course of prednisone this late (2) while the audiogram only showed hearing loss above 4K, everything sounds slightly muffled in my right ear, not only high frequency sounds. Do you know why this might be and is it something that is likely to get better (3) Do you have any hypothesis as to how I suffered the hearing loss? As I mentioned the ENT didn’t notice any physical abnormalities in my ear (and no liquid) and just assumed that the barotrauma had caused the damage.
Thank you so much in advance for responding to my post. I am feeling very low at the moment thinking about how this hearing loss will affect my life going forward.
Regards,
Max
Hi Max:
From everything you have said, your ear problem doesn’t sound like simple barotrauma. Rather, it sure sounds like you have had a viral attack on your inner ear. Did you have any active virus in your body at the time of the incident, or in the two weeks before that? It could be any virus, flu, cold, herpes, varicella, etc., etc.
What could have happened is that the barotrauma forced the “gunk” in the back of your throat up into your Eustachian tube and your middle ear. The virus then gained entry to your inner ear and did the damage–causing both sensorineural hearing loss AND vestibular (balance) issues.
1. Taking Prednisone now 18 days later or so may give limited help. Of course, it is best to take Prednisone right away–within 2 or 3 days of the incident. But it can help up to around 30 days although from days 15 to 30 you can expect less and less help. So you may want to try it and see whether it helps or not. Just don’t expect miracles.
2. With a high-frequency hearing loss you can still expect things to sound muffled and distorted. It can get better if your hearing comes back. If not, over time your brain will get used to the new “normal” and you won’t notice it so much. Probably what would happen in that case is that your good ear will become more dominant so your brain will listen to it more than to your bad ear so things will seem more normal. But if you plug your good ear and just listen to your bad ear, you will know it is still pretty distorted sound.
3. Probably a virus. Another possibility is a micro-vascular clot in your inner ear. But if you had had any active virus in your body, my money is on a viral attack.
You still have 10 or so days left in the window of opportunity. One of my rules of thumb is that the hearing you have at the end of 30 days is what you will be left with going forward. This applies to sensorineural hearing losses, not to conductive losses. But it seems that you basically have only a sensorineural hearing loss.
After 30 days or so, it would be good to get another audiogram and see if any changes have taken place. That will give you a good idea of what your future hearing will be in that ear.
Cordially,
Neil
My rule of thumb is that the hearing you
Dear Neil, thank you so much for this very prompt and helpful response.
Interesting that you think a virus caused the damage, that hadn’t crossed my mind but it would make sense as scuba diving barotrauma isn’t typically associated with permanent hearing loss. The only thing is that I have no recollection of having had a virus or any kind of flu-like symptoms in the weeks leading up to the dive…
In any case, I will take the Prednisone and hope for the best. Good to know that my brain will adjust to the hearing loss to an extent. Is there anything else you recommend doing to support my recovery before I hit the 30 day mark?
All the best,
Max
Hi Max:
If you can get it where you are, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) is one of the main building blocks of glutathione–your body’s most powerful anti-oxidant. You could take high doses of it for a week or so. Just don’t go over about 2,000 mg/day. I’d probably take 1,600 to 1,800 mg/day to kill any free radicals that are produced in the inner ear if I were in your shoes. I’d also take magnesium and zinc supplements. The most bioavailable forms are magnesium threonate and zinc picolinate.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
I’m a 25 year old female.. On July 20 I felt like my ear is clogged and a couple of hours later I started feeling dizzy and nauseous…on July 22 I saw my PCP who suspected I have ssnhl and started me with prednisone right away and referred me to ENT..on July 23 I went to see the ENT and after the audiology test they said I have severe loss of hearing in my left ear and told me to continue the prednisone for another two weeks.. It’s my 5 day of taking the steroids and I sometimes feel like I can hear a little from my left ear… It’s hard to wait without knowing what will happen.. Do u think the steroids will work on me considering it didn’t get too late
Hi Khaani:
From the little you say, I’d think you suffered from a viral attack in your inner ear. You got the Prednisone only two days later. That was in plenty of time for it to be effective.
I’d expect you to get some of your lost hearing back, but not all of it by any means. One of my rules of thumb is that the more severe the sudden hearing loss, the less hearing you get back. A severe loss is between 70 and 90 dB. You’d be lucky to get half of that loss back, leaving you with a 35 to 45 dB loss. You may only get 5 or 10 dB back. Only time will tell.
You should be able to hear something with that degree of loss. If your hearing is coming back, your hearing should be noticeably better day by day. Don’t give up hope yet. You may still get more hearing back. It’s at the end of 30 days that you’ll have a good idea of how much you’ll get back.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
I developed sudden hearing loss on right ear August 12. No other symptoms other than ringing. Never had allergies and was not sick in the last six months. Went to my PCP on Aug 14, she said it was OME, prescribed allergy meds. I was concerned when there was no improvement a week in so I saw a ENT on Aug 20 (day 8), got diagnosed with SSNHL and started prednisone. My question is regarding HBOT therapy for SSNHL. I read then it significantly improved recovery when combined with prednisone. What do you think? Would you recommend HBOT in my case?
Hi Helen:
I’ve not had any experience with hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT) myself, but from what I’ve read, it is used far more in Europe than here in the USA and with generally positive results. You will need a number of sessions of HBOT in order for it to be effective. There are no guarantees it will work for you, but on the other hand, it may really help you so it is worth the try. You’ll have to act fast as after two weeks it is not effective and you are more than half way through that time period now. I’ve not heard of any negative side effects from this treatment so it would seem there is nothing to lose and a good chance of hearing to be gained.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil,
I have along history or ETD, having had 20 pairs of tubes over the past 45 years. I did not have tubes from Fall 2016 until this summer. Late July of this year (2019) I got quite sick and developed ear infections in both ears. I started immediately on ciprodex drops. About 5 days after the ear infection started (yellowish drainage, muffled hearing, etc) I went on a long international flight (July 27th). When I landed back in the US, I was prescribed Amoxicillin and more drops. After a week, there was no change. At that time I went on a short domestic flight. When I arrived (visiting my parents), my father took me to his ENT (Aug 7th). The Dr drained my ears and put in new tubes. Since that time my right ear has been totally fine. However, even the day of the new tubes, the left hear has retained a sense of “fullness”, like it was just slightly off. I was told it would clear up. About a week later, another domestic flight back to my home. Around this time (no change in the left ear’s hearing), I began to develop tinnitus in the left ear. Since then, there has been no change in the left ear, the “fullness” and ringing have not changed. I have seen 2 ENTs, had 4 hearing tests (each show the hearing to be symmetrical) that show very slight hearing loss in both, but not to a point that “would indicate onset of tinnitus” (ENT’s words). A CAT scan was done showing no abnormalities or evident issue. I have an MRI scheduled for next week and started a 7 day/50mg round of Prednisone as of today (19-Sept).
My question is, based on this information, what do you think might be the cause of the fullness and tinnitus? Might the Prednisone make a difference? Both ENTs I’ve seen seem to have no answers. I understand that the tinnitus is not the “problem” but rather a symptom of another problem. Is there a chance that it’s viral? If so, how would I go about addressing that? Has too much time passed to be able to really “fix” anything? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Shane
Hi Shane:
20 pairs of ear tubes is a LOT of tubes. I’d hate to think of all the scar tissue on your eardrums.
You don’t need a lot of hearing loss to get tinnitus. And I’ll bet your ENTs didn’t test between 8KHz and 20KHz. You could have a lot of hearing up there, and thus have tinnitus, yet your audiogram would show a clean bill of health (because they just test the lower frequencies).
The first thing to figure out is whether your left middle ear/Eustachian tube are truly blocked–and thus the blocked sensation, or whether your middle ear/Eustachian tube are clear and the blocked sensation is due to another cause such as Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome for example.
I don’t see why it should be a viral problem unless you have an active virus in your body at this time. I assume your infections were all bacterial and not viral?
What is the doctor expecting the Prednisone to do since your hearing is basically “normal”? I rather doubt the Prednisone will do anything much to help you–but that is my opinion.
So far, I don’t have any great insight to your problem. Tell me more and maybe something will jump out at me.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
It’s been around 6 weeks ago my 12yo daughter complained about sensation of the “clogged ear” after swimming in the lake and doing acrobatics in the water. We’ve never had any issues with her hearing before and due to our relocation which happened at the same time, we delayed visit to the doctor. We were positive, that there could be nothing but ear wax (no other signs of illness).
I’ve tried to wash her ear at home which didn’t help, then we’ve got a GP appointment, the ear has been checked and no visual damage/wax/redness could be seen. Daughter took antibiotics for 3 days, this didn’t help.
Today we’ve seen our otolaryngologist and were shocked with the result – loss of high frequency hearing in her right ear, origin unknown (still believed there was water behind the drum). Waiting for MRI next week. We’ve been offered 2 week prednisone course. Doctor said there’s a very slim chance it would help.
Now I’m reading people have ear shots, could it be more beneficial in our case?
I understand it’s hard to come with any prognosis on this, but is there a chance my daughter could get her hearing back to normal?
I would be very thankful for your insight.
Feel desperate and guilty for wasting time which might helped in our situation.
Kind regards,
Victoria
Hi Victoria:
Prednisone for treating sudden hearing loss becomes less and less effective as time goes by. You have the best chance of success when it is started in the first 2 or 3 days following the hearing loss. It is still quite effective for up to two weeks. Then much less effective in weeks 3 and 4. After that, it is basically not effective. Therefore, I don’t hold out much hope at all for it to do anything now that more than 6 weeks have passed.
Thus, I’m with your doctor–it’s a very slim chance–more like grasping at straws. Personally, at this late date, I don’t think it is worth the risks of taking prednisone, especially injecting it through the eardrum which has it’s own risks.
I have 3 rules of thumb. One is that the sooner hearing begins to return, the more likely most of it is to come back. You have not indicated that any hearing has returned, thus at this late date, it would be a miracle if any returned.
Another of my rules of thumb is that the hearing you have at 4 weeks after the incident is the hearing you will have going forward.
Thus, personally, I wouldn’t expect the Prednisone to do anything, and if I were you, I wouldn’t take the drug.
Furthermore, I’ll bet the MRI won’t show a thing out of normal. Doctors want to do a MRI when there is sudden single-sided hearing loss, but from what you explain, I wouldn’t bother if it were me.
Did you daughter have any cold, flu or other active virus in her body in the two weeks before the swimming incident? If so, I’d think it was a viral attack on her inner ear–possibly exacerbated by the cold water getting into her ear canal.
Don’t continue to beat yourself up now. It is counterproductive. What’s done is done. Now you want to focus on the future and help your daughter deal with this high-frequency hearing loss.
Anyway, those are my thoughts, but you do what you think is best for her.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
Thank You very much for the response.
We decided to take the pills and already cutting them down. Daughter will also get MRI check as her doc suggested.
I don’t remember my daughter having any flu or symptoms, but probably there could be some virus in her her system.
Maybe she will be lucky and her hearing will improve a bit. If no, she will adapt to her new hearing. We will try to stimulate hearing as much as possible (will investigate if there are any possibilities).
Best regards,
Victoria
Dear Neil,
Wondered if you could spare me some advice.
I am 28, three years ago I had viral labrynthitus. I was sick and dizzy for a number of weeks and lost my hearing rapidly. It took me two – three months before I could return to full health and walk
Properly.
I went three years being profoundly deaf. In November 2018 I realised the hearing in my left ear (good ear) had reduced drastically I went on high dosage of predisilone for a week and hearing returned and I was fine.
8 months later I woke up and had severe vertigo. No hearing loss just dizziness and balance problems. I was put on predisilone for a month and stemil and serc. I finished my course and after three days noticed my hearing in my good ear reduced again. Went to the docs and given a week of predisilone. Finished the course and after three/four days my hearing deteriorated again. So I’m back on predisilone. What are the chances of me losing hearing in my good ear?
Doctors are always baffled by my case as I’m so young and never have experienced this before. I am a complete lost and worry about the idea of being profoundly deaf in both ears.
Doctors think it may be an autoimmune disease. They have done countless blood tests but still nothing. Any help or advice would be most appreciated.
Claire doherty
Hi Claire:
In my experience, if your hearing comes back after taking Prednisone or Prednisolone, and then your hearing drops when you stop taking it–and this repeats over and over, the likely cause is as your doctors have thought, is autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED).
Typically, if you have AIED, you probably also have some other kind of autoimmune disease. Do you have any symptoms of any other autoimmune disease? That’s the first thing I’d check.
If you think it may be autoimmune, there are three things you might do to get your immune system under control again. First, eliminate gluten from your die. Second, eliminate dairy products from your diet. Third, go on low-dose Naltrexone therapy. You can learn much more about this at https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/07/03/low-dose-naltrexone-for-autoimmune-disease.aspx . This article doesn’t mention anything about AIED, but you can read between the lines and see whether it may fit your situation.
I can understand your worry about having a profound hearing loss in both ears. (I’m very close to that myself.) However, that does not have to be a lifetime sentence. The good news is that if you get cochlear implants, you will very likely hear quite well again. I know hundreds of people with cochlear implants and they all say that knowing what they know now, they’d do it over again (get cochlear implants) in a heartbeat. So don’t despair of not being able to hear in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
I went on a live aboard dive trip earlier this year. I had a cold just prior to it, but everything seemed to clear by the time we were diving. Late in the trip I was unable to clear on my left side on descent. I felt a pop underwater as the pressure finally cleared, but no blood, fullness or other symptoms. I believe I got barotrauma.
A month later I got an echo in my ear – double hearing or diplacusis with some overall sensitivity to high noise environments. Women’s voices sounded odd more so than men’s. After repairing something metal at home with loud hammering I also got tinnitus – 2 different sounds. I went to an ENT about a month later, showed some low frequency hearing loss with no obvious physical damage. I got 2 weeks of prednisone and the echo & sensitivity went away early on, tinnitus reduced significantly, then went away for a couple of days all together. My hearing returned to normal.
A few days after the tinnitus went away I got the echo again and a few days later I was sick again – with both sinus & ear block. I fly a lot for my job so that is another constant factor.
I am now on my second round of prednisone, stronger dose, things seem to be improving 1 week in. An ENT has said Meniere’s without vertigo but he is not a dive doctor and I am thinking it is inner ear barotrauma, maybe virus related.
Thoughts?
Hi Dee:
From the little you’ve said, I tend to think your problems are viral related. And when you fly a lot, the constantly changing air pressure in the plane can push gunk into your Eustachian tubes causing your ears to feel blocked.
I doubt that you have cochlear hydrops (Meniere’s without vertigo). Your symptoms don’t seem right for that.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Mr. Baumann
I’m 79 years old and I live in Athens. About 4 years ago I had a sudden loss of hearing in the left ear. My doctor recommended small doses of cortisone, that is, 16 milligrams a day for 10 days, but I didn’t see any improvement. We ended up having an intratympanic injection of cortisone and the hearing was restored.
A year ago this happened in both ears. Hearing on the left was restored again, with one cortisone injection but on the right it did not and for about a year I have had a hearing loss of about 50% from that ear.
A week ago I lost part of my hearing in the left ear again so now, I can’t hear well.
I took cortisone 32 milligrams a day, I did an injection, but there is still no improvement. In addition, there is a constant noise in the ear from the beginning of the week..
In the hospital I am going, they don’t want to do more than two injections of cortisone. On the other hand, because I have diabetes, I cannot take oral cortisone for long periods and in large quantities.
Reading carefully the patients’ questions and your answers, I see that you have a lot of experience with ear issues, so I would be obliged if you would give me some advice on what to do.
Hi Tolis:
When you have periodic episodes of hearing loss that are often corrected by steroids, it makes me wonder whether you have autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED). Do you have any other immune system condition? If so, that could be what you have since AIED often occurs in conjunction with other immune system diseases?
If it is not AIED, my next thought is that your top two vertebrae are out of proper alignment, thus pinching your auditory nerve to some degree and thereby causing the hearing loss. The solution is to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and have him check your C1 and C2 vertebrae for proper alignment. Medical doctors and conventional chiropractors can’t do this as they don’t have the training to detect these minute misalignments.
I looked on the list, and there seems to be only one such upper cervical chiropractor in all of Greece–in Attica. If you are interested, here is his contact information taken from http://www.upcspine.com.
Practitioner Type: Upper Cervical Chiropractor ID: 1792
Name: Dr Michael Koontz
Status of UpC technique Certification: Up to Date 20 Oct 2006
Please check with technique owner for current status
Practice: Koontz Specific Chiropractic
Address: Dimitriou Liakou 8
Aspropyrgos
Attica, GREECE 19300
Tel: +30 210 5573050 Fax:
Mob: +30 6947 140786 Other Tel:
Website: http://www.Xeiropraktiki.gr
Email: Info@Xeiropraktiki.gr
Upper cervical approach/technique used: Knee Chest Upper Cervical
Instruments: Kale Thermoscribe & Tytron
Takes precision upper cervical x-rays: Pre Upper Cervical Only
So there are my top two ideas/suggestions. I’d check out these two and hopefully, one or the other of them will be the solution. I lean towards the upper cervical treatment first as I think it is also implicated in AIED.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Baumann
2 weeks ago I was riding in a car. I had fullness in my right ear from taking a lot of flights, so i used Afrin to try to clear it. I tried to pop my ear and immediately I started hearing a roar in my right ear. It got louder and louder. I began to feel dizzy and nauseous. It was Christmas Eve so I did not want to bother anyone, I just went to bed. On 12/26 I went to my ENT. I had lost total hearing in my right ear. He started steroid injections. Today I had my second one but no hearing has returned. I do not feel sick or dizzy, today. Is there anything else I should be doing other than the steroid shots?
Hi Mary:
I wonder whether you had a rupture in your inner ear that caused the two fluids there to mix and essentially short out your cochlear “battery” causing instant deafness. Hearing only comes back when the rupture heals and the fluids get their correct polarity again (essentially recharging your cochlear battery). However, the inner ear structures can be damaged severely so hearing may or may not come back, or only partially come back.
Steroids may help, but they likely won’t if the cause is as I’ve outlined above. I’m not aware of anything else you can do in the meantime assuming the above scenario. You just don’t want to do any strenuous things are expose your ears to loud sounds to give your inner ear the best chance to heal the rupture (doctors call it a fistula–in this case an endolymphatic fistula).
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Dr. Bauman
Slightly edited*
My ENT Docter will be giving me Dexamethasone Sodium Phosph 10 Soln into my inner ear to treat my acute tinnitus. He said the solution of Dexamathason is used for IVs, and not tailored for the Ear, so it might burn. My question is, do you think it will increase my tinnitus or cause damage? I asked for this specifically because I have read many trails where people had a decrease in tinnitus after it was administered a week later.
My tinnitus came on about 3 weeks ago from a hip surgery where they needed to shave down bone, so I was on Meloxicam 7.5mg for a week until I noticed I had developed tinnitus, so I stopped, and my tinnitus fade over 2 days. However because I was going to board a flight home in a few days after stopping the medication, and was afraid of the bone growing back and getting a stroke from the long flight home from California to Alaska, I took 350mg aspirin 2 times a day for only two day before my flight. I feel the aspirin and my flight pushed me over the edge to where I now have tinnitus.
I have no hearing loss as far as the test show. But the test only goes up too 8000hz
I also had ear pain and pressure that would come and go. I felt sounds over 75decible could sometime cause ear pain and fullness feeling that would fluctuate between both ears but mainly my left ear. The sounds I get are 8000 or 9000hrtz ish sounds cant be to sure that comes and goes, as well as a constant 5,500hrz constant sound that I can ignore better then the 9000hz fork on a dinner plate sound. I have noticed a great decrease in the frequency of 9000htrz tinnitus attack especially before bed. I don’t hear it as much, but it still comes and goes.
I will be going in for the shot in about 8 hours, so I am trying to do research into it before hand.
The tinnitus is probably at a 3 or 4 at the end of the day and a 1 or 2 when I wake up. So it is not to bad.
Also I just have the normal tinnitus tonal sounds, not the PT one.
The only negative thing I have heard about this injection, was from a forum where a man who had PT tinnitus had a dreadful in crease in volume after the drug was administered. He felt it was do to his inner ear hearing becoming stronger and better able to hear his blood circulating.
So yeah, is the iv injectable solution of dexamethasone ok, or should I just reconsider, and not go through with the injections
Thank you so much for all the help you give us. I spent about an hour reading all the posts and appreciate you taking the time to respond to so many people.
Sincerely, Brandon
Hi Brandon:
Some people may have good success with Dexamethasone, but others do not. In fact, hundreds upon hundreds of people have reported to the FDA that taking Dexamethasone caused them hearing loss and hundreds more reported getting tinnitus while thousands more reported various balance issues.
If I were you, I’d not take it, but it is your choice. All drugs have risks and I don’t think the risk is worth the possible benefits.
If you got the tinnitus from taking the Meloxicam, you are not alone. I’ve heard from several people that got tinnitus from taking this drug, just like you did.
The dose of aspirin you took and only for two days, I doubt caused your tinnitus. Even if it did, tinnitus from Aspirin almost always goes away after you stop taking it. My feeling is that the Aspirin was only peripherally involved, if at all. My money is on the Meloxicam.
Tinnitus from Meloxicam can develop right away or be delayed as much as 3 weeks.
Your feelings of ear pain and pressure are also two reported side effects of Meloxicam.
The fact that your tinnitus “comes and goes” and varies in intensity is a good sign that it is probably going to go away. Also, the fact that it has already greatly reduced in volume.
That is another reason I’d leave well enough alone and let it continue to ramp down and hopefully totally fade away.
From all you’ve said, if it were me, I wouldn’t have the injection. But as I said above, the decision is up to you. Now you’ve heard from the other side.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Bauman,
I am a 25 years old audio engineer and musician with mild tinnitus. I had an unexpected case of the flu a week or so ago that resulted in what I assume to be SNHL in my right ear. It first started as conductive hearing loss about 3 days ago when the fluid was in my ear.
As of the 15th, however, I assume that the fluid has cleared up and I seem to have a 15-20dB drop in high frequencies from 13.5kHz to 16.5kHz in my right ear. Also, my tinnitus seems to be somewhat louder in that ear as well. Attempting to clear my eustachian tube with the “close your nostrils and blow” method does cause some crackling in the right ear, however it does not result in the recovery of the high frequencies.
I am familiar with the treatment of SNHL with steroids, so yesterday I found some leftover prednisone that I have from a previous procedure and I have started it back up at 20mg a day for the next couple days before deciding what next to do.
If it helps, “cupping my hand around my right ear results in me being able to hear those high frequencies better”. I also have found that its not that I strictly cannot hear those frequencies in that ear, they just have to be closer in proximity than usual.
I know that the loss is somewhat minor but I am quite worried and anxious about my hearing and I would really appreciate your insight and experience on this matter if possible.
Thank you kindly
Hi John:
When your ears clog up, you definitely have a conductive hearing loss.
Don’t assume that your ears clear up that fast. It can take up to 2 or 3 months in some people. So it is a bit soon to say that you now have a sensorineural hearing loss and not still a conductive loss. Having a complete audiological evaluation would show which kind of loss you really have.
I’d expect your tinnitus to be louder as tinnitus typically accompanies hearing loss. The cold virus can get into your inner ears and give you a sensorineural hearing loss in some cases. An audiological evaluation would tell you for sure.
I’m not in favor of the Prednisone route you are taking, but its up to you, of course.
Cupping your hand around your ear gives you about a 12 dB gain, so it is noticeable. I’m sure you have some degree of high-frequency hearing loss. I just can’t say whether it is temporary or will prove to be permanent.
Having a proper audiological evaluation by an audiologist will answer most of your questions.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Bauman,
Thank you very much for your prompt and insightful response.
I knew I might have been wrong in assuming that my ears have fully cleared, I did assume so because it doesn’t currently “feel” like there is any fluid in there.
I am familiar with your 30 days rule, taking that and my age into consideration, how long do you estimate I should give my ear to recuperate?
I also noticed another thing, I do hear certain frequencies a semitone or so off, much like another poster here has. It feels like my right ear is just ever so slightly too sharp and a little “flutter echo-y” or “robotic”, certain frequencies in speech have a barely noticeable resonance somewhere.
Also, would you advise that I skip the urgent care and head straight to an ENT/audiologist?
Thanks again for your help.
Hi John:
Well, I wouldn’t do anything for at least 30 days and give your middle ears time to drain and return to normal.
When you hear some tones “off”, this means that one ear is affected more than the other. Again, at this point, I’d do nothing and give your ears time to clear and return to normal. This “diplacusis” should go away without any treatment.
I wouldn’t go to urgent care. They are not going to do anything significant. Ditto for the ENT. The first thing I’d do is go to an audiologist and ask for a “complete audiological evaluation”. THEN, based on that, you decide what you want to do, but I think just waiting is the right approach from what you have already told me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
You write in such a caring knowledgeable way that I had to reach out as well.
About 2 weeks ago I began to have some kind of bronchitis/virus/not sure, and could feel the congestion in my chest traveling into my right ear. Was prescribed antibiotics for 10 days. My ear was congested throughout that time, until I went to an ENT at day 10 when the tinnitus began. Hearing in the right ear was slightly below normal, with a drop at higher frequencies. He prescribed a six day course of prednisone. I’m on day 4, so total of 14 days since getting sick and starting antibiotics. My hearing seems slightly improved, tinnitus still there in right ear. My question is- I read that it can take some time for that congested feeling in an ear to clear, as much as 2-3 months. Is that true, or am I looking at some type of actual hearing loss?
Hi Amy:
It is true if you have thick “gunk” in your middle ear and Eustachian tube that it can take a couple of months to clear. However, if you have thin “gunk” it can drain out much faster. And when the congestion goes away, then hearing comes back–ASSUMING your hearing loss was conductive (and thus due to the gunk in the middle ear inhibiting hearing).
However, if the hearing loss is sensorineural (meaning the cold virus got into your inner ear) then the hearing loss may be permanent. In that case, the blocked feeling can be more a psychological feeling due to the sensorineural hearing loss. It too, can fade away as you brain gets used to you new level of hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman, I have read many of the reply’s/comments in this thread which has given me some hope/comfort given my current personal situation. Around 15 Days ago, after having 2 x teeth removed by a specialist as they were close to my sinuses, I had sudden onsite of both Tinnitus and mild-severe hearing loss in both ears (right ear worse than left) After 15 Days (yesterday) I managed to get into an ENT Doctor after going through the normal 2 x GP visits and 1 x Audiogram test before being referred. The ENT Dr prescribed both Prednisolone and Betahistine. In your experience is 15 Days too late to try this course of action? Also I know everyone is different but how long (days) before I should notice if there is any benefit or reduced tinnitus and improved hearing?
Hi Anthony:
When you have teeth pulled (or worked on)–typically upper back molars, it can affect your hearing as these teeth are close to your cochleae. Apparently you are one of the unfortunate ones. Did you have the typical lidocaine anesthetic? Or did your dentist use a different drug?
Taking Prednisolone now after two weeks might help, but I wouldn’t expect too much improvement at this late date. And if your tinnitus is associated with the hearing loss, unless the hearing improves, I wouldn’t expect the tinnitus to just go away on its own.
Why did he prescribe Betahistine. That is an anti-vertigo drug. So unless you have resulting balance problems, I don’t see why you’d want to take it.
If you take a course of Prednisolone now, the hearing you have at the end of the course is probably what you’ll have going forward. Normally, if hearing is going to come back, it begins coming back in the 3 or 4 days following the episode. Since you have already gone 15 days without any improvement, I don’t really foresee much coming back–with or without the Prednisolone. As you probably know, my rule of thumb is what hearing you have at the end of 30 days is probably what you’ll have in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman
My hearing loss has a 9 year history and counting. In 2011, I had sudden hearing loss in my left
ear. Got on prednisone 2 days later and got some of it back. No tinitus to go with it either.Fast forward to Jan 3,2020 I was on the treadmill and put my ear buds in way too deep and noticed my left ear ringing right away. It was manageable for a couple of weeks.It would die down at night and eventually I could fall asleep. Then on Jan 21, I went to the dentist and got my left upper wisdom tooth pulled plus the molar right next to it as well. My tinitus got real bad. So bad, that I had to cancel a weeks worth of work – I’m a professional drummer, which doesn’t help my cause.The tinitus has been excruciating at times and has made me feel very depressed.So,as a last ditch effort, suggested by my ENT (who treated me for SSHL the first time, ) Today,She gave me a 50 mg prednisone treatment for 7 days to see if it could work. I know it’s a long shot, but is there any hope that this could help? The Dr said that she is treating it like a sudden hearing loss. Any thoughts?
Could prednisone help with bringing the tinitus down?
I can deal with it in on the level before the dentist, but THIS higher level is really hard on me. I’m also taking Elavil to help me sleep.Ive read that both meds can make it worse!!
I’m feeling a bit desperate here.
I guess my main question is this:5 weeks into this, am I wasting my time with this stuff?
Thank you so much for your time, Neal
Tony
Hi Tony:
Taking Prednisone after 5 weeks for HEARING LOSS is probably almost a lost cause. I’m not familiar with using Prednisone for tinnitus, so can’t say whether it might help or not.
As far as Amitriptyline (Elavil) goes, some people get screaming tinnitus from taking this drug, but the good news is that it may just be temporary. One man found his tinnitus went away 12 days after it quit taking the Elavil. So if your loud tinnitus started AFTER you started the Elavil, this might be a good thing to do–stop the Elavil for 2 weeks and see what happens.
Prednisone can cause tinnitus, but many doctors use it for hearing loss and it seems to help some of them, so it certainly isn’t the most ototoxic drug as regards to tinnitus. Of the two drugs, my money is definitely on the Amitriptyline.
Dental work–particularly on upper molars can certainly cause tinnitus to flare up.
I hope you wear adequate ear protectors when you are playing the drums so you don’t cause further ear problems.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, Dr. Bauman, I faced sudden sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear on the evening of early July 2018. I had an audiogram done the following month but it wasn’t until October that I was asked to try Prednisone 10mg 75 tablets. I had another audiogram done in December 2018 and there was marginal improvement in the results. I didn’t do anything about it during the entire 2019. recently I had another audiogram done and the result was similar to the one in December 2018. Profound hearing loss in left ear with low speech understanding. I will try getting a hearing aid for that ear this time but Is there any harm in trying prednisone after this long?
Hi Mir:
Personally, I wouldn’t do the Prednisone again. First, it didn’t do much good back then, so the chances it will even do that much now is slim. Thus, it is basically a waste of time and money. Second, all drugs, including Prednisone, have harmful side effects on your body–so why risk potential side effects for almost no chance of improvement in your hearing?
One of my rules of thumb is that the more severe the sudden hearing loss, the smaller the chance that it will recover–and over the past 2 years, this has been shown to be true in you case.
I’d go for a hearing aid if it will help you. Note: if your discrimination (word recognition) scores are low, you may find that wearing a hearing aid messes up how well you can hear with your good ear as you brain will have to try to ignore the racket from you bad ear while decoding sound with your good ear.
So try a hearing aid, but if it makes things worse rather than better, return it and get your money back. However, you may find it useful to help you tell from what direction sounds are coming even if it doesn’t let you understand speech better. So there may be a reason to wear it in certain situations.
You’ll have to try it and see how well it works for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you and I consulted them today they said that the hearing aid is still needed so that the ear still gets some stimulation and also to reduce burden on the good ear, because since that day in 2018 I basically just tested the traditional powerful hearing aid and the CROS Aid As I didn’t feel the need to use them unless I was in a crowded place where I had to turn my head if someone was trying speak from my left side. Yes my speech discrimination low, when I wore the hearing aid again in left side based on my audiogram I could hear well although it sounded more like vibration, I could understand a few words while blocking my right ear as well as I could
I woke up 2/18/2020 with loss of hearing in my left ear. After going to the ER the day before and being diagnosed with a Viral Upper Resp. Infection and given Sudafed and Robitussin. The on 2/19/2020 I woke up loss of hearing in both ears(I could hear but barely), I went to the ER and I was given Amoxicillin(sp?) which the PA said was used to treat bacteria, I was told to take it for 10 days, along with my previous prescribed scripts and follow up with my PCP.
On 2/24 I went to my PCP which she determined it was fluid build up, she gave me a script for Flonase and told me to continue my meds previously subscribed and gave me an apt with and ENT doc.
Tooday 3/5/2020 I saw the ERT doc and he stated that I never had an ear or bacteria infection and I didn’t have fluid build up, I was misdiagnosed. My hearing test results came back as my right ear(which had gotten better but not 100%) was functioning below normal and they left ear was above normal. I was given Prednisone(3 times a day for 3 days only) and he told me to get and MRI and that my hearing would come back eventually, maybe not at 100% or as well as before but it would come back.
I do have significant improvement in both ears however the right hear I still cant really hear out of and I have ringing in that ear.
Do you think given the time frame or the onset of hearing loss and the appt. with the ENT that my hearing will come back, maybe not at 100% but improve significantly, and do you think the hearing loss will come back
Hi Angelica:
PCPs typically don’t know much about ears and they “see” what they want to see. So she thought she saw fluid behind your eardrum and prescribed Amoxicillin which wouldn’t help since first, you didn’t have a middle ear bacterial infection, and second, apparently never had fluid in your middle ear in the first place.
I think what you had was a viral attack on your inner ears. Prednisone sometimes works, and sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes hearing comes back on its own like it did in your case. Depending on how bad the loss was largely determines how much hearing comes back.
I doubt the MRI will show anything significant.
Tinnitus (ringing) almost always accompanies hearing loss so I’d expect your ear to be ringing.
Your hearing began coming back after a few days, so I’d expect much of it to come back. As long as you keep on hearing improvements, you have hope. Once the hearing plateaus, at that point, I doubt much mmore, if any, hearing comes back. I doubt that you will lose more hearing at this point.
I wouldn’t expect any more sudden hearing loss in the future, but it is not outside the realm of possibility that you’d get another viral attack in your inner ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your response. My doctor also recommended Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy once a day for an hour for Two weeks. Do you think that will help.
Hi Angelica:
Hyperbaric oxygen can help as studies have shown, but the best results occur if you begin the treatment right away and its almost 3 weeks later now. Thus, it may help (and won’t hurt), but I wouldn’t expect very good results now as compared to if you had started the hyperbaric oxygen within a couple of days of losing your hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
PLEASE PLEASE answer:
I don’t know if you will read this but I need help.
3 years ago I started hearing everything on a higher pitch on my left ear, the next day I lost my hearing. I got on Prednisone and after 30 days my hearing was 95% back but with bad TINNITUS.
Now I woke up this morning again with the higher pitch hearing on my left ear, I fear tomorrow I will wake up deaf in one ear and don’t know what to do.
I am also fighting Central Serous Retinopathy which they say it gets worse if I take steroids and I think Prednisone is a steroid.
What do I do? I am very scared and need an answer as soon as possible.
*** PLEASE answer doctor, I beg you ***
Hi Max:
Yes, Prednisone is a steroid. So you probably don’t want to take it.
In the case of sudden hearing loss like you have experienced, there is no guarantee that Prednisone helps. Sometimes your hearing comes back on its own whether you take Prednisone or not. Sometimes it never comes back in spite of taking Prednisone, and sometimes it comes back presumably as a result of taking Prednisone. So in two out of the three scenarios, taking Prednisone doesn’t make any difference to the outcome.
If it were me, I’d protect my eyes as much as possible, so I wouldn’t take the Prednisone.
What did the doctor say was the cause last time? If he thinks it was viral, then an antiviral would be a good choice. And hyperbaric oxygen is known to help too–but you want to get started in the next 2 or 3 days.
You might want to take certain supplements–the minerals zinc and magnesium for two, and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) which is one of the main building blocks for glutathione, your body’s powerful antioxidant. There is no point in taking glutathione as your stomach juices break it down. That is why they suggest NAC–and let your body make glutathione from it.
Are you on any medications (and last time too) that were the cause of your hearing loss? There must be something common to both of these occurrences. What is it–any ideas?
Cordially,
Neil
Oh my goodness you answered!!! I cant believe it!
What did the doctor say was the cause last time?
— He was a ENT specialist and he suspected viral but was honest with me and said he was not sure.
Last time I was not taking any medications it just happened (a non-doctor friend suspected mold or a fungus after cleaning a room with mold)
The only medications I recently (finished last week) took was Ciprofloxacin for a bacterial infection on a wound and Acetaminophen w/Codeine for pain.
I barely rub my finger on my outer ear and I can hear so, sensitivity is still good but when if I whistle I hear two VERY different tones on each ear, right is the correct tone and left is HIGH pitched.
It’s Saturday so I have to wait until Monday to see someone… what do you recommend?
Also…are in ear injections recommended or is just going to make it worse?
What precautions should I take?
And if it’s not too much (thank you so much) does salt really make things worse with my hearing like for example eating movie popcorn?
Someone also said good diet habits and exercise helps but I really don’t know but I am willing to try anything.
Hi Max:
Typically, doctors aren’t sure it was a virus, but I agree that it sounds like the most likely scenario IF you had an active virus in your body at that time or in the 2 or 3 weeks before the sudden hearing loss. If you didn’t have any active virus, then I’d look elsewhere.
Drugs such as Ciprofloxacin are quite ototoxic. You can get massive sudden hearing loss from just taking this drug for 3 days as several people have told me. That may be the cause this time–who knows?
When you hear different pitches in each ear, that is called diplacusis. Some drugs can cause diplacusis. Typically, one ear is damaged (or damaged more) than the other ear.
Typically, they inject Prednisone through your eardrum to get the Prednisone close to where it is needed (your inner ear) without affecting your whole body like oral pills do. Since you want to stay away from steroids to protect your eyes, you probably don’t want this either, especially since that would be placing the drug very close to your eyes.
I doubt that salt affects hearing much (if any) in normal situations. What salt can affect is Meniere’s disease–which I don’t think you have. Also, it may affect the volume of tinnitus in some people.
Proper diet and exercise are good for overall health and help to keep your ears healthy–but I don’t see it making a dramatic difference in sudden hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil,
I am happy to inform you that my hearing has gone back to normal (when I say normal I mean MY normal, which means loud tinnitus on my left ear)
I was panicking and very scared because last time that I had two tones I lost my hearing the next morning for 30 days, it was awful.
I’ve been sleeping sitting up for fear of increasing blood (liquid) pressure in my left ear. I really don’t know if it made a difference.
Based on the limited medical options for people with my affliction we tend to resort to prayer because is not like there is a surgery or medicine that instantly takes care of the problem. God heard my pleas and has removed my fullness feeling and today I can hear like I did a week ago.
If you can answer just one question please:
—————————————————–
DOES LISTENING TO SOUND TO MASK TINNITUS HAVE ANY LONG TERM BENEFIT OR IS JUST LIKE A BAND AID AND JUST COVERS THE PROBLEM?
—————————————————–
I thank God for your life Dr. Neil and I thank you so much for your support and useful information you shared with me.
God bless you plenty doctor.
-Max
Hi Max:
I’m glad your ears are back to “normal”.
You don’t want to totally mask your tinnitus as that won’t help in the long run. When you quit masking your tinnitus it will still be there. What you want to do is passively listen to white or pink noise or fractal music or some other sound that is meaningless to you (so you don’t actively listen to it). Water sounds–waves on the beach, babbling brook, waterfalls, etc are very good too.
Now here’s the secret. You set the volume to a bit below your tinnitus level so you can still hear your tinnitus. As your brain learns to ignore the sounds your are listening to, it also learns to ignore your tinnitus. Thus it turns down it’s internal gain. When this happens, you reduce the sounds you are listening to a bit so you can still hear your tinnitus and let your brain turn down the volume again. Keep doing this and over the course of months to two years, your brain will have tuned out your tinnitus so that it will no longer bother you (unless you think about it).
Cordially,
Neil
I am 30 years old and might have made biggest mistake of my life this past Saturday. I went to the gun range with a few friends. Owner of the gun shop gave us all ear plugs but I don’t believe they were the best quality as once we began shooting I thought it was a little louder than I was expecting. About 30 minutes later we exit the range and my left ear is ringing and I can not hear any of my friends talk. I instantly knew something was up. By the time I got home my hearing had returned mostly but the ringing was still there and my GF voice sounded distorted.
I went to Urgent care the next day(Sunday) and the Doctor just snapped his fingers next to my left ear and I told him I was able to hear it. He then said he thinks it may just be earwax and prescribed me Debrox for earwax removal. I told him I strongly doubted it was earwax and decided to make an appointment with ENT the very next morning.
Next morning I go to my ENT appointment and do audiology exam which revealed I had a ~45dB hearing lost in my left ear (moderate) at 4kHz. My right ear wasn’t great but not too bad I think ~10-15dB. I met with the ENT and explained what happened and reviewed the results. He gave me a prednisone injection into my ear and told me to come back next week to do another audiology exam and do shot number 2/3.
I went to sleep that night hoping to see some type change but nothing really changed. The tinnitus was still ringing and it seems to get louder if I use my headphones to work from home. Even though I only put the headphones on my right ear. I also called the doctors office to see if I could get prescribed the prednisone pills as well and am awaiting his callback. I also made sure to go to the store and bought and started taking some supplements that I researched could help regain/protect my ears like NAC, niacin, vitamin b-12, and a one a day vitamin that had a ton of vitamins including magnesium.
Now this night, I had the best sleep since the trauma to my ear this past Saturday. I initially went to sleep with rain music to mask the T and I also keep a cotton ball in my ear. Then my GF woke me up in the middle of night using the bathroom. I took the cotton ball out of my ear and realized my T was very low. My Tinnitus is a very low hissing and I was able to sleep without any music to mask it and no cotton balls! Actually felt almost normal, close to silent! Woke up feeling refreshed and so far the Tinnitus has still been very low this morning. I still have some hyperacusis to certain sounds but it doesn’t hurt and ear actually feels better. Is this a sign of my hearing returning? Do I Have a chance at my Tinnitus disappearing? Do you think I should continue to press my ENT for the prednisone pills or wait until my next injection?
Hi Jay:
Your ear plug mustn’t have been seated properly so too much noise got into your ear resulting in the hearing loss, tinnitus and sound sensitivity. Typically, these symptoms go away in a few hours to a few days and everything goes back to normal.
Sometimes it takes longer. You seem to be doing fine. Since things are doing well for you now, you may choose not to have any more prednisone shots. Just make sure you have ear protectors seated properly before you shoot again.
And in the meantime, give your ears a rest–no loud noises for a couple of weeks while they recover. If you expose them to loud sounds now, you’ll just make things worse again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
Thank you for your response! Within the last week it’s been a bit of a roller coaster regarding the status of my left ear. My hearing seems to have returned (although I guess I won’t know for sure until I take next audiogram test) and the hyperaccusis is very mild if existent at all any more. Since last week I purchased ear plugs and have been using them whenever I leave the house and avoiding loud noises. My ENT did prescribe me prednisone subscription and I have been taking them (60mg) for the past 6 days as well. I also had my second Intratympanic injection into my ear this past Monday which I was kind of wary to do because of the progress I had made up until that point.
Since taking this last injection on Monday, the Tinnitus seems to have increased a little during the day and a lot at night and I my ear feels full (like theres water or blockage) and my jaw is sore around the ear lobe area. In fact, last night I experienced probably the worst Tinnitus I have had since the initial incident on April 4.
Now I am unsure if I am getting better or worse or how to proceed with treatment. I have another appointment scheduled for my last ear injection this upcoming Monday and I am supposed to be tapering down off prednisone starting Friday.
I am unsure of what to do and its causing me to have anxiety as I thought I was getting better but now seems as though I may have taken a step back. I am happy that my hearing has seemed to recover and the hyperaccusis seems to have dissipated but I am most worried about the Tinnitus. Shouldn’t the the hearing recovery/hyperaccusis lead to my Tinnitus going away as well? Do you think I should get another injection this Monday or opt to take the audiology exam again and see my current status before proceeding on with any more procedures to the ear?
One last thing I wanted to add which I am finding a bit weird is that now my Tinnitus amplifies a lot when i clinch my jaw or open as to yawn. Is that normal during the healing process?
Again, I want to thank you for all your help and guidance with this! You are very much appreciated.
Hi Jay:
Don’t overuse the earplugs–only when you really need them. You don’t want to make your hyperacusis worse by wearing them too much.
Maybe the ear injections are causing your escalating problems. Things seemed to be going well before you had the second one, so maybe you want to call off the third one. I think if I were you, I would. And do get another audiogram so you can see how your hearing is progressing.
If your tinnitus gets louder momentarily when you clench your teeth, etc, that indicates a degree of somatic tinnitus–due to your jaw/neck not being in proper alignment. What I do if that becomes a problem is go to a chiropractor or massage therapist. When things are again in proper alignment the louder tinnitus when you clench your teeth (or turn your neck hard one way or the other) goes away.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I took your advice and did not get the 3rd ear injection yesterday. I am awaiting the ENT to schedule my next hearing test. I am still taking the prednisone but will start tapering down on the dosage. I’ve been reading up on Tinnitus a bunch since this whole ordeal and hear a lot of differing information on chances of it disappearing/Fading away or not. Currently, (15 days since incident) I still have some tinnitus/ringing in my left ear although it’s nowhere near as loud as it was initially. It fluctuates throughout the day from maybe like 1-3/10. I can sleep without masking it but sometimes I do anyway just to get started as I tend to think about it right before sleep. Do you think this should disappear soon ? I know I am still i guess kinda early in the whole process?
Hi Jay:
You are still early in the process. It may disappear tomorrow, or it may be 3 years from now. Who knows? But if it is not bothering you, who cares? It’s when you focus on it–like reading about it all the time–that you really hear it. I say, give it more time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
Hope all is well. On Tuesday I was having a feeling on my left ear of being clogged the same feeling you get when you are on a plane or get off a plane. I didn’t think much of it I was still able to hear fine. By Thursday is was worst I took advice from my friends and put peroxide which after that my hearing has gotten worst. Friday morning I went to a ENT and she said she doesn’t see any wax buildup and prescribed prednisone for 10 days the 1st five days I have to take 60mg then it trickle down to 40mg and so on. A total of 45 pills in 10 days. I am on day 3 of prednisone. Still have the clogged feeling on my left ear. What worries me is that I have hearing loss on my right ear so my only good ear is my left and now this. I can’t hear but it sounds muffled and I have to be pretty close to the person to make out what is being said. I have a appt for a ent specialist this coming Tuesday. Do you think I have a chance of regaining my hearing being that I started the prednisone in less than a week from start of symptoms? May I add at times I feel pressure around my forehead and eyes. Im afraid of becoming deaf at the age of 42.
Thanks
Frances
Hi Frances:
You’ve had the standard treatment in a timely manner. Only time will tell whether the Prednisone works or not. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. You didn’t say anything about your degree of hearing loss, so I can’t even apply my rules of thumb to your situation.
Any ideas about what brought this on? Did you have an active virus in your body–flu, cold, herpes, etc.? Are you taking any medications?
How much hearing did you lose?
How bad is the hearing in your other ear? And what caused it?
Hi Dr. Bauman, thanks for your response.
For hearing loss on my right ear the doctors were not able to see why it happened or how it’s something that worsen through out I would say 10 years. I got a MRI and results came back normal. I was recommended to get a CROS hearing aid as the right ear has profound sensorineural hearing loss. I did not get the hearing aid yet as I didn’t have the funds at the Time to purchase 2 hearing aids. My left ear the results came back fine my hearing is within normal limits. These are results from a year ago.
I haven’t been sick no virus infection or anything no medications. I usually follow a pretty healthy life style for the most part I exercise and eat right. My left ear still feels clogged or blocked. When I hear my self talk I sound kinda distant. If I’m explaining it right. Yesterday I was able to watch tv had to put the volume pretty loud and had to mute it for certain sounds like high pitch noise my ear is sensitive to. I can hear people on the phone just not clear some words are easier to make out then others.
I use FaceTime to talk on the phone to checks up on my parents I find I can hear them better this way weird right! I am on day 4 of prednisone 60mg. My ears still feel clogged/blocked I try to pop it by pinching my nose and breathing out but it doesn’t work. My ears aren’t ringing but I hear like a humming sound or like a motor is running hard to explain the sound i hear. when I went to the ent this pass Friday May 1 the ent referred me to a specialist stating for a sudden idiopathic hearing loss on left ear. so I’ll be seeing a neurotology tomorrow May 5. Tomorrow makes a week that I had the clogged feeling in my ear. Although the feeling started on Tuesday it was so mild I was still able to hear fine just felt a slight clog it wasn’t until Thursday that my hearing became bad especially after I put peroxide in my ear maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Even though the ent did not find any wax buildup in my ear could I still have fluid in my ears? Will the clogged feeling go away.
Im really nervous and kinda freaking out because my right ear is no good so if my left ear does not improve I’ll be almost deaf completely. One more thing it may not be relevant But when I got the MRI what was found was cavernous malformations.
Although I don’t feel pain at times I get like a feeling of irritation in both my ears it’s really mild kinda feels like I have some sort of infection or something going on. I hope I have given you sufficient information.
What are your thoughts?
Hi Frances:
I still don’t understand your hearing situation in your left ear. Did your ENT do hearing testing and if so, what did your audiogram show. From what you have said, I can’t tell whether you have a conductive or sensorineural hearing loss and how much and at what frequencies, etc. I don’t know what type of tympanogram you have.
If you scan or take a picture of your audiogram and attach it to an email and send it to me (my email is at the bottom of every page on the website) I’d know instantly the answers to all my questions.
The humming/motor sounds you hear are a type of tinnitus.
If you had fluid in your ears, your audiogram should have that information on it.
Since you are going to the neurotologist tomorrow, you can ask him all your questions. I’d be interested in what he says.
Your problem could be that your Eustachian tubes are not working correctly. And that could be caused by a pinched nerve in your upper neck. But I’m shooting in the dark at this point.
Cordially,
Neil
Sorry for the multiple threads. It’s 8:49pm and I just started getting a feeling of fullness like if my right ear is being filled with air never had this feeling before. It’s not the same clogged feeling like my left ear. with a pretty loud sound. Sounds different than the sound I mentioned in the previous thread. just came out of nowhere. Why would this happen almost a week later. I only went outside today had to do grocery shopping, when I shower i make sure to not let any water in my ears. Could it be a infection on both my ears. I’m trying to stay positive but mentally it’s so hard.
Thank you in advance
Frances
Hi Frances:
Are you meaning you have a feeling of pressure in your ear, rather than a clogged feeling?
I don’t understand what you are saying when you say “With a pretty loud sound.” That’s not a complete sentence. Sorry, I just don’t understand what you are really saying so I’m having a tough time replying to you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I am almost 9 months pregnant, a few days ago I had a small emotional breakdown, as soon as I calmed myself down I felt pressure in my ears drop as if I was in an airplane changing altitudes. My right ear immediately felt fine but my left ear felt clogged up and any time by 2 year old would talk my right ear would make a whistling noise. I started doing home remedies and I felt better the next day. It was a Saturday I couldn’t go to a doctor. Next day in the evening I started to have a loud ringing in my ear and I could barely hear out of it. I went to an ent the next morning. Less then a day after the finishing started and 2 days after the initial symptoms started. Doctor said I have 70% hearing loss in that ear. He said it was because of all the fluids from my pregnancy and it should all go back to normal once I deliver. I wasn’t too convinced I was extremely worried. He then said he would put me on prednisone and famvir for 10 days to clear and infection or swelling. I got them both cleared by my obgyn. And started to take them right away. I’ve only been on them for 2 full days now. One day after I loss hearing in my ear. I’m not sure if I fee a difference just yet but I’m so worried It’ll get worse and I won’t be able to hear my kids. I’m terrified it will go to my other ear as well. I can hear well it’s just the right year that I can barely hear from. My doctor thinks I should get my hearing back in a week which was giving me high hopes but I’m still so worried. I would like to know your thoughts and if there’s anything I can do to help out.
Hi Tamara:
In the week or so before this happened, did you have any cold or flu or other virus active in your body such as herpes? It almost sounds like a viral attack on your inner ear if that was the case. This is sort of confirmed in that your doctor prescribed Famciclovir (Famvir) a herpes antiviral drug.
Did your doctor tell you what kind of hearing loss you have–sensorineural or conductive? I suspect it is sensorineural.
If it was a viral attack, it shouldn’t get worse, so you don’t have to worry about that. Only time will tell if it gets better. You’ll know within 30 days. I suspect you’ll get some, but not all your hearing back based on what you’ve told me.
As far as helping out your ears, there are three things I’d do. I’d take zinc and magnesium supplements (zinc picolinate and magnesium threonate are the most bioavailable forms of these minerals) and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) which is a main building block for glutathione–your body’s most powerful anti-oxidant. This can zap the free radicals in your inner ear that cause a lot of the ear damage. You could take up to 1,800 mg a day for a week or two. Those are the things I’d do if I were in your shoes. If you choose to take the NAC, you want to start ASAP as once the free radicals kill cells in your inner ear, its too late to help them.
Cordially,
Neil
No I don’t have any of that but he said it could be one of three things besides the extra blood and fluids in my body from the pregnancy.
He said it could be a viral infection, inflammation or a blood clot.
So he decided to give me both meds just in case. I feel like doctors would never give false hope so I don’t know why he thinks I should have it back my next week when he will retest my hearing.
I have sudden sensorineural hearing loss. I’m not sure if this means anything but yesterday I put my finger in my ear and felt some fluid on finger.
My doctor told me I’m really young (27 years old) no history of it in my family and I started medication really early I have a chance of gaining it back.
If I recover some of it or all of it back hopefully when do patients start noticing a difference?
Hi Tamara:
I’ve not heard of pregnancy giving a sudden hearing loss like your experienced, but I slower and not so great a loss.
Anything in your ear canal shouldn’t have anything to do with a sensorineural hearing loss (inner ear). Was it just “wet wax”?
You did have a timely Prednisone treatment. It may work or may not. Prednisone doesn’t always work.
The sooner you see some hearing coming back, the better your chances are of getting more/most/all back. Typically, you should notice some hearing coming back around 3 days after the incident if it is coming back, certainly by 5 days.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your response, I have noticed a few things today but not sure if they are positive signs or not. Can you tell me what are the signs I am gaining my hearing back?
Also I’m on prednisone 60 for 3 days only then I drop to 40mg for 3 days then 1 pill a day for 3 days. I feel like I should be on the 60 mg a bit longer. What are your thoughts?
Hi Tamara:
The simple answer is you hear more and better. One way some people judge this is to listen to the dial tone on their phone and see whether it is getting louder day by day.
You are on the standard 9 day taper. I wouldn’t want to be on that drug very long as it is not easy on your body.
Cordially,
Neil
I’m not sure if my mind is playing tricks on me or if really improving. The second day of me taking the prednisone I could barely hear my husband talking to me on the phone with my damaged ear. It was a faint. The day after I felt like I could hear a little more. Today I tried it again and felt like I could hear his voice a bit louder and a little more clear but I’m not sure. Another thing I noticed in my damaged ear is I’m hearing my voice and other people voices but it’s muffled. I didn’t hear it that way before. However it’s still hard to hear clear and I still feel fullness and loud tinnitus in my ear. Do you think these are signs of improvement or mind playing tricks on me. Today is day 4 of me taking prednisone
Also when I swallow I can hear it in both ears that it makes a small sound. In my damaged ear every few minutes or hours I randomly hear a beep on top of my tinnitus and it goes away in seconds.
Hi Tamara:
From what you say, I don’t see any significant change in your hearing yet. See what a couple of more days bring.
Cordially,
Neil
When is your expected due date? You said that prior to your hearing loss that you had a small emotional breakdown. Is your pregnancy considered high risk and do you mind answering, what caused you to have an emotional breakdown in your last trimester of pregnancy? Are you taking blood pressure meds, cholesterols meds, and/or depression med?
Neil,
Good day! 11 days ago I was shooting with a friend without ear protection. I’ve had hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear since that day. I believe my hearing improved slightly in the first week without treatment, but it’s hard to tell how much. Nine days after the hearing loss occurred I visited an ENT and was told I have high frequency hearing loss at 3k(-10), 4k (-30), 6k (-50) 8k – (20). All other frequencies below 3k are perfect. I was prescribed 50mg of Prednisone for 7days. Today is day two of my prescription and I believe my hearing hasn’t changed. My question is do people who respond to prednisone respond quickly to the treatment or does it take time? Thank you for your time.
Hi Jason:
I’d think you’d see some improvement in 3 or 4 days on the Prednisone if it is going to work. It doesn’t take a long time. Either it works or doesn’t. And if your hearing was going to come back spontaneously, I would have expected it to have happened by now.
Cordially,
Neil
Neil,
Thanks! I noticed last night that my hearing has slightly improved and my tinnitus is lower and at a higher pitch/frequency. I’ve been taking an online hearing test daily to track my hearing progress since day one of the prednisone. Day 1 and day 2 had the same test results with no improvement at 9am each day. Last night (day 2) I took the test again and had .5 db improvements at each frequency. Thanks again for your quick response and for the time and effort you give to others in need of advice and help. God bless you abundantly Neil!
Dear Neil,
I am 51 with (up to now) no serious health issues. On April 12th I awoke with a “blocked” left ear. Feeling of numbness in and around the ear and on that side of my face and skull. Hoped it would clear up but it did not. The numbness got less pronounced but still, plugged ear, ringing, muffled hearing in the left ear.
Got telephone appointment with Doctor. Said probably wax, try drops and spray, check back in 1 or 2 weeks if no improvement. No improvement so I did check back. Physical exam this time. Diagnosed outer ear infection and prescribed antibiotic/steroid spray. 7 days. No improvement. 2nd physical exam at Doctors. Proscribed stronger antibiotics, oral this time. 7 days. No improvement.
Referred to ENT specialist. Tested and examined today 26th May. Diagnosed as SSNHL. Offered oral steroids. Prednisolone 60 mg for 5 days tapering down to 30 mg on day 8. Also have a future appointment for day 8 for a steroid injection to the ear and an MRI to (I think) check for inter alia Accoustic Neuroma.
My question is – in your opinion is it worth doing these steroid therapies given that it is now 44 days since the onset of the hearing loss?
Also, is there any other course of action you would recommend?
Thanks very much for your help. I am rather worried.
Mike
Hi Michael:
I’m sure you know that my opinion is that steroids given after around 30 days only have a tiny hope of helping hearing loss by then. I think that in your shoes, I wouldn’t bother with the steroids at this late date, but you still might want to try them.
The key is whether any hearing has come back during this time. If not, probably the steroids won’t do any good. However, if you hearing is slowly still improving, then the steroids might help.
I’m curious about the numbness you felt. That to me would seem to indicate nerve problems or a blood clot in your ear. That could have caused your SSHL.
What kind of outer ear infection did the doctor think you had that could be cured by antibiotics? Based on what you have said, it doesn’t seem that you had any significant infection–since nothing changed.
Since it is so long since the incident, most treatments probably won’t work now. However, since your ears always need Zinc and Magnesium to function properly–and lots of people are low in these two minerals, you might try supplementing with those. They are good for your health anyway–I take them both every day just for good health so they won’t hurt you.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil,
Thank you for the reply and the advice on the Zn and Mg. Will definitely try them.
No improvement with steroids as you predicted. Will finish the short course but not do the injection.
The infection – it seems quite a co-incidence if it had nothing to do with the hearing loss, but I don’t even know which of the two things came first. The doctor did not give a name to the infection, just prescribed the antibiotics.
Assuming the scan excludes accoustic neuroma (which I hope!), the upshot seems to be idiopathic SSNHL in my left ear with maybe 75% loss at high and middle frequencies. Some ringing. Numbness coming and going. Cause perhaps nerve damage or blood clot as you say. Re the latter, perhaps I could have had a stroke overnight? Hope not obviously.
Last question if I may. Would you hope or expect that I could get some practical improvement through use of a hearing aid, and if so is there a particular type you would recommend for my situation?
Thanks again.
Mike
Hi Mike:
I doubt you have an acoustic neuroma, but it’s always a possibility.
A hearing aid should give you significant improvement in your hearing as long as your word recognition score for that ear is high–80+% and not below 40% which would be pretty poor.
The brand of hearing aid doesn’t really matter. What matters is the skill of the person fitting the hearing aid to your hearing loss. I’d recommend an open fit, receiver-in-the-ear hearing aid that fits behind your ear.
Be aware that they will always try to sell you the top line with all the bells and whistles that you may not need. I’d choose the middle line, rather than the top or bottom ones of whatever manufacturer you choose.
If you go to a Costco store, you can choose from several lines–and the prices will be MUCH less that if you go to a hearing aid dealer for the same quality of aid.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I am a 37 year old male and have been diagnosed with SSHL. On May 15th I started feeling fullness in my left ear. After losing most hearing in that ear and having vertigo and nausea I went to urgent care on May 16th. I was diagnosed with a middle ear infection and was prescribed an antibiotic. Without symptoms subsiding I did a telehealth with my primary care physician whom prescribed me a stronger antibiotic and thought I might have a bppv along with the middle ear infection. Long story short I finally made it to the ENT on May 27th and was diagnosed with SSHL with severe to profound hearing loss. I was prescribed a 14 day course of dexamethasone and in conjunction I have received 2 steroid injections. I am on day 7 of my steroid and had my second injection yesterday. I still don’t believe I have had any improvement on my hearing. Anything I hear is distorted. On June 4th I go in for another audiogram. What are your thoughts on doing more steroid injections? My physician thinks if there is no improvement then my chances will go way down of having improvement with more injections. Any other thoughts on alternative treatment with hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
Thank you for your time!
Regards,
Ryan
Hi Ryan:
Did you have any virus active in your body in the week or more preceding this event–any cold, flu, herpes or other virus? If so, what you describe sure sounds like that to me. The virus can get into your inner ear and affect your hearing and balance.
I doubt you ever had any middle ear infection, but the antibiotics could also have made your condition worse as all antibiotics have ototoxic side effects.
I agree with your doctor–if the steroids/injections aren’t showing any significant improvement after 2 weeks, then I think it is a waste of time getting more injections or taking another course of steroids.
If you had started hyperbaric oxygen right away, it may have helped, but now I wouldn’t expect much improvement. You might want to try, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up that it will miraculously cause your hearing to return at this point.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I don’t believe I had a virus. However, I did have really bad allergies the weeks leading up to the hearing loss. If it was caused by virus is there any course of action at this point or just let it ride and pray for the best. Thank you for your prompt response!
Regards,
Ryan
Hi Ryan:
If it was a virus, I don’t know of anything that will help at this late date. If it was a virus, it is probably long gone and whatever damage was done is done. So you just have to wait and see what happens. Once your ears have settled down, then have another hearing test and perhaps you’ll need hearing aids.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I’m a 40 year old male and have been diagnosed with SSHL. On June 13th I started feeling fullness in my right ear. By Monday night June 15th I could not hear at all in my right ear. Went to walking on Tuesday the 16th and was told I had fluid in my ears and to take allergy medication. I did not believe this was true as I have allergies frequently and never felt like this. Went to ENT on 17th an was told I have SSHL. Started Prednisone on the evening of the 17th and scheduled for a shot in ear on Monday the 22nd.
Sounds like a pretty common scenario from reading previous posts. Hopefully I will see some improvement but have strong doubts.
I’m scheduled for a hearing test on Friday the 19th to see how bad the loss is but I think I already know the answer is a full loss.
I assume hearing aids won’t help in this situation?
Thanks!
Hi Tony:
How is your ear doing now? Any hearing coming back? If it is going to come back, you should have seen some improvement by now.
I’d be interested in knowing what your audiogram looks like.
Almost no one loses ALL their hearing–but it may seem like it–although you should still be able to hear loud low-frequency sounds.
After a month or more has gone by and your ear has stabilized, then it’s time to look into getting a hearing aid. Since hearing aids only bring your hearing up to about half of what it was, you’ll still be left with some degree of hearing loss.
Whether you wear a hearing aid or not depends on your word recognition scores. If they are low, then a hearing aid will only let you hear louder gibberish. This can be useful for locating the source of a sound, but not for understanding speech.
At that point, you’ll have to try and see whether wearing a hearing aid is going to be useful enough to you to be worth the cost.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I lost my hearing all of sudden in my right year on 6/25 (Thursday). I was lucky enough to see the doctor same day and they prescribed prednisone 60 mg for 1 week along with additional week for the taper. The next day 6/26, it felt like some of my hearing was coming back without taking prednisone, but I went ahead and took it as instructed. Then on 2/28, my hearing got worse. I felt more pressure and hearing loss compared to first time.
Have you heard of any cases where hearing could come back temporarily without meds and now that I’m on my meds, it got worse? I’m still taking prednisone now (6/29), but hearing hasn’t improved at all. I was wondering if I could get some of your insight on this.
Thank you
Hi Sun:
I don’t think I’ve run across this before. What was the cause of your sudden hearing loss? If it was a virus, it could be that the virus was still active and caused further damage the 3rd day. I’m not sure the Prednisone had anything to do with your hearing stopping from coming back–but I suppose it is always a possibility.
How is your hearing doing now that its 10 days later?
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Dr. Bauman ,
18, Male
I am a drummer of many years, frequently playing in bands at shows. Two years ago I developed tinnitus in my left ear after playing in the corner of a venue without ear protection. I got used to the tinnitus. Around eight months later I played another show, foolishly without ear protection, and engaged in the aggressive head bobbing and shaking that is typical of rock drummers. The next day, around the late afternoon, I began to feel dizzy and off balance. Later that night the dizziness became so intense that I vomited. Went to an ENT two days later who tested my hearing and found the left significantly lacking, particularly in its ability to hear higher frequencies. Right ear was normal. I was prescribed prednisone for two weeks and hearing was retested as normal. Tinnitus returned at an unknown time after this, and I have gotten used to it. No vomiting has occurred since that initial episode. One week ago, I developed a painful ear infection in my right ear. After waking up the second day of the infection, I felt dizzy and off balance. I did not vomit. Went to ENT, gave me hydrocortisone ear drops, infection went away within the week. Tinnitus remained the same. Hearing was again tested as deficient in the left ear and normal in the right. Doctor has suggested MRI. First ENT from two years ago did not think MRI necessary after hearing improved. Is it likely that I have a tumor? Or is it normal for my tinnitus to come and go? Maybe the ear infection caused the dizziness? I’d appreciate any information.
Thank you,
Jim
Hi Jim:
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that your hearing loss and tinnitus are mostly or all the result of exposing your ears to excessive sound. The more you do this, the worse your hearing will eventually become and your tinnitus may get worse and become permanent. So you need to keep the sound level down or wear good ear protectors when you are in loud venues.
The dizziness and vomiting could be due to all the head bobbing that put your neck out of proper alignment and thus pinching the vestibular (balance) part of your 8th cranial nerve. If your neck realigned itself and stopped the pinching, the balance problems would go away.
The other possibility, for your latest occurrence of balance problems could well be an ear infection. If the “bug” gets into your inner ear it can affect your balance (and hearing too of course).
Personally, I don’t see any need for an MRI as it is unlikely you have an acoustic neuroma (benign tumor) on your auditory nerve based on what you have said.
If you are lucky, your tinnitus will go away in time (like yours has done in the past). If you are unlucky, you tinnitus will remain and become permanent.
Cordially,
Neil
What are your thoughts about using prednisolone drops in the ear after acoustic incidents?
Ie…Eye drops used off label
Hi Mary:
What do you call “acoustic incidents”?
If you are referring to sudden hearing loss, I doubt eye drops would be strong enough to make much of a difference.
Better to go to the ENT and have him prescribe what he thinks is appropriate.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Jim,
My tinnitus started 35 days ago after I had vertigo , ear fullness, and severe headache on my right side of my head as well as a little ear pain. My ears were fine with no infection and MRI was negative for tumors and MRA negative for aneurysm. My hearing test came out normal. My ENT wants me to do 5 days of prednisone starting with 60mg , to 40 mg,to 30mg to 20mg to 10mg to calm the tinnitus. Should I even bother taking the prednisone at this point? I thought the prednisone was for hearing loss. My doctor thinks the tinnitus will go away either with the prednisone or in time given my tests were negative. Is it worth it to take the prednisone for 5 days even with no guarantee it will work on the tinnitus? Please advise.
Hi Suzy:
Doctors prescribe prednisone for whatever they want–but it mostly is used for hearing loss.
You can try it for your tinnitus, but I don’t hold out much hope that it will help. Besides I think it is probably too late to do any good now–but you never know. It’s up to you to decide, but if it were me, I’d probably not take the prednisone at this late date.
What happened to cause the vertigo, ear fullness, ear pain and headache you experienced? Any ideas?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
So far no clue on the headaches, vertigo, and ear pain. My Ent says there was a little inflammation on my neck MRI but I dont know if that’s triggering the ear pressure and says I would benefit from the prednisone and that there might be some inflammation in my ear. But my neurologist was not concerned about my Neck MRI. My neurologist says the only test we didn’t do was a spinal tap to test for intracranial hypotension but since My headaches were getting better, and he said it was an invasive test, that we decided not to do it. In your opinion, is the prednisone dose my ENT prescribed a strong dose for 5 days? I’m worried about side effects in 5 days like anxiety or sleeplessness. Or is it considered a short dose and any effects will be short lived? He even said I could start at 40mg for 2 days instead of the 60mg. Please, your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Suzy:
The prednisone may help reduce the inflammation, but I can’t speak to non-ear side effects such as anxiety or sleeplessness, etc. from taking prednisone. That is outside my areas of expertise. I just focus on ototoxic side effects. As I said previously, I don’t hold out much hope that the prednisone will do anything helpful. And since you are concerned about side effects, you make choose to forego the prednisone. That is up to you to decide.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman, would it be worth wearing any kind of hearing aid unless needed for someone who is deaf in one ear from sensorineural hearing loss with very low speech recognition while the other ear is perfectly fine? Like would it lead to any cognitive decline or impact the good ear by letting that bad ear stay like that?
Hi Haris:
You don’t say what your speech recognition scores are, but if they are very low–say less than 20%, then wearing a hearing aid in that ear is iffy.
There is one pro–and that is it can help you tell which direction sounds are coming from even though you don’t understand the sound.
However, there is a major con. Wearing a hearing aid in your deaf ear sends garbled speech to your brain while your other ear sends good information. Now, your brain has to work much harder to sort through the garbage to find the good stuff. So listening to speech with a hearing aid in your bad ear is detrimental.
Not wearing a hearing aid in your bad ear won’t lead to cognitive decline as you brain is adequately stimulated by your good ear.
I can’t see that it would negatively impact your good ear in any way by not wearing a hearing aid. It’s the other way round.
What I’d recommend is that if having directionality of sound is important–you NEED to know where sounds are coming from–then wearing a hearing aid in just those situations could be beneficial.
The rest of the time, I wouldn’t wear a standard hearing aid. However, wearing a CROS aid can be very beneficial if you regularly have people talking to you from your deaf side. A CROS aid has a microphone on your deaf side and sends the signal to a corresponding aid in your good ear, so your good ear hears both what it normally does, PLUS the sounds from your deaf side. This eliminates the head shadow effect. Unfortunately, since both signals come to your good ear, you don’t gain directionality using CROS aids.
A good example of where a CROS aid can really help is if you are a driver and your right ear is the deaf one and you thus have trouble hearing your passenger. Your good ear is picking up traffic noise better than your passenger’s voice since it is close to the window. A CROS aid by being on the same side as your passenger will pick up his voice better so you’ll understand more and have easier listening.
Now, if you’re the passenger, then you won’t need a CROSS aid because in this case your good ear would be facing the driver and the CROS aid would pick up the traffic noise better as it is closer to the window.
Here’s a tip. As a general rule if your left ear is deaf, in classrooms, meetings, etc. sit on the left side of the room so your good ear hears into the room and your bad ear faces the wall.
And of course, when you have the choice, have people you are talking to either opposite you and thus facing you, or sitting beside you are your good ear side.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello sir, I’m so glad I came across your website. I’m hoping you might have some answers for me.
My case is a bit different. 3 weeks ago, I was slapped in the left ear. Immediately I felt my hearing was muffled and could hear a ringing. 2 days later I went to my gp who said my eardrum was perforated and I had an infection. I was prescribed Amoxicillin and Ciprofloxacin eardrops.
A week ago the doctor confirmed that the ear infection is gone and my eardrum is scarring so it’s healing.
The muffled hearing went away after a few days but I still have some ringing in my left ear which is like a high pitched eeeee sound sometimes, other times it sounds like crickets. I’ve heard another sound a few times like when your phone is vibrating.
In the beginning it was maddening but it seems like it’s getting better. It gets quieter to the point I forget it’s there and then louder at various points in the day. When I go to bed now it’s usually quieter and I can sleep with the sound machine on, when I get up it gets a bit louder and then quietens down again. It’s at its loudest when I’m most active.
1) Is there a chance my tinnitus is fading and can I do anything to ensure it continues to fade? I’m very hopeful it does and I’m trying my best not to be anxious. I also try my best to ignore it which lately has been easier to do.
2) I’ve booked to see a private ENT this weekend which is a little expensive but I’m just looking for some reassurance that this isn’t permanent. Do you think it is better to see an audiologist instead?
3) Someone advised me to ask for a prescription of prednisone? Is it worth it?
Many thanks in advance. God bless you greatly.
Hi Lulu:
You are actually doing great–learning to ignore your tinnitus and it is getting better. These things can take time so continue doing what you are doing. It may take a year or more, but the longer you ignore your tinnitus and focus on other things and not be worried/anxious about it, the better you’ll be as time goes by.
It doesn’t really matter if your tinnitus goes away if you habituate to it because it won’t bother you so you can easily ignore it when you do hear it, but likely hours will go by without your even being aware you have tinnitus.
At this stage in the game, taking prednisone probably won’t help. To be effective you want to take prednisone in the first few days after the incident. By the time 30 days has gone by, prednisone typically is a waste of time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil –
My ear issues have been going on for about 2 years. In 2018, had an “ocean” sound in my left ear out of the blue, lost about 25% hearing, and was prescribed a course of Prednisone. Hearing came back in a month or two. Doctor thought it might have been a virus.
Then, back in March/April 2020, the ocean returned. Lost about 40%, took Prednisone, hearing returned after about a month. Also suggested that, while I don’t have the symptoms of Meniere’s disease (no dizziness or vertigo), I might have cochlear hydrops. I am supposed to limit salt. To be honest, I am not always good at that.
2 weeks ago, the ocean returned, tho it seemed milder than the previous times, and the doctor gave me Prednisone again. The hearing isn’t responding as we hoped so if things don’t change by Monday, I have to get another hearing test and discuss the possibility of steroid injections.
1. My issues seem to happen around allergy season even tho I take Flonase and Allegra. Not sure what else to take to keep this away.
2. I have stress in my life (multiple jobs, working crazy hours, some self-imposed stress). I’m always worried about something. lol. Not sure if that is a large contributing factor?
3. I saw YouTube videos on the injection and found people saying how excruciating the pain was. I am so terrified I don’t know if it’s even worth pursuing. Why is the pain of the injection so unbearable if they numb the ear drum? I’m sick over the thought of having it done once, let alone 2 or 3 times. Is it something they can do via short stay rather than in the office?
Can you advise? Thanks!!
Hi Joanna:
The “ocean sounds” are tinnitus as I’m sure you know. Since tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss, you’d expect the tinnitus at the same time, or even slightly preceding the noticeable hearing loss.
I’m curious how much hearing you lost by frequency each time, and whether it ALL came back or just most came back in the months following, except for the last time when none came back.
Do you have any allergies? And do you take the Flonase and Allegra all the time or only as needed?
Do you have any immune system diseases? What you are describing almost sounds more like auto-immune inner ear disease than Meniere’s. I’d love to see your various audiograms to better understand your hearing fluctuations.
Were you ever in any motor vehicle accidents? Or had head trauma?
As you know, stress is hard on your ears, but what you are describing doesn’t seem directly stress-related.
As for getting intratympanic steroid injections, if the oral steroids don’t help at all, then it is highly unlikely that injections will either. It seems that for the last hearing loss episode steroids didn’t help at all, and if more than 30 days goes by since the sudden hearing loss, it is unlikely that steroids whether oral or injected will help significantly. Steroids work best if given in the day or two following the hearing loss, and work less and less well as the days go by until by about 30 days when they almost never help–unless hearing has been continuing to improve all during the 30 days–then it may continue. But if there is no improvement from about 15 days to 30 days, it is largely a waste of time by then.
If you are worried about intratympanic injections, just say no. They won’t work if oral ones don’t. They probably work better than oral steroids as they deliver the steroids right to you middle ear, but they won’t work if oral ones won’t.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Neil
8 days ago I woke up with a ringing tinnitus in my right ear. It did not go away for hours and I’ve never experienced tinnitus like this before. After this my hearing seemed a bit off, and I had frequent wierd sounds in my ear this and the following day. 6 days ago I started noticing a constant whitenoise tinnitus, followed shortly by a feeling of fullness in my ear and in a matter of hours I was almost deaf on the right ear. Two days later (4 days ago) my symptoms had not changed much and I went to see the ENT. She could not find anything wrong in the outer or middle ear and prescribed me some prednisolone. The hearing test I took at the ENT’s showed that my hearing loss was severe across the board (this test only went down to 500hz, however from personal testing I think the right ear did ok with low bass). Already the next day I seemed to regain the higher frequencies and could hear inner sounds from my mouth. in the following days the recovery has continued qnd I seem to have regained most of my hearing although there is still a discrepancy between the ears around 1000Hz ( an online test shows a treshold difference of 30db, but I haven’t had another at the ENT’s yet). Is it usually stable when I recover my hearing or should i expect relapses unless we find the underlying cause? Also its difficult to judge the relative strength, but my tinnitus seems to still be here. Is this something that usually fades if I recover?
Last summer I had some balance issues for a couple of weeks (brief on/off feeling of being on a boat when walking). Could my symptoms be related to meniere’s or is there most likely a different explenation? (I was struggling with a lot of allergies last summer)
Hi Eric:
When you experience the sudden hearing loss like you did, two possibilities are that you had a mini stroke in your inner ear, or a virus attacked your inner ear. The fact that you had hearing improving the very next day bodes well for everything getting back to normal.
I would expect that your hearing will remain stable at its new level probably a little below what was normal but not by much. Your tinnitus should fade away as your hearing returns, so I’d expect that you will just have a little bit of tinnitus that you should be easily able to ignore.
Balance issues could have been from allergies or could have been a viral attack on your inner ears, and it’s possible it could have been Ménière’s disease but you didn’t have full blown Ménière’s or else along with the balance problems you would’ve had tinnitus, hearing loss and a feeling of fullness in your ear. Probably it was related to allergies. If it happens again notice if it’s allergy season are not if it’s not then we’ll have to see what other possibilities make sense if it happens again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
I discovered your site while doing research on SNHL; this is a wonderful resource.
I was recently diagnosed with Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) of left ear with unrestricted hearing of right ear” after an audiology hearing exam.
Context:
About 2 months ago, I installed a carbon monoxide alarm in my home and the alarm instantly went off; my left ear was close to the alarm. As days passed, I noticed fullness, clogged, muffed ears, pain especially in my left ear. However, I did not feel my hearing was impaired. After a couple weeks of my left ear not improving, I went to see my primary doctor who referred me to an audiologist and I was diagnosed with the above result of SNHL in the left ear. Lastly, I went to see an ENT who at about 6 weeks prescribed me 14 days of prednisone (60mg) with a taper to see if it would improve my hearing in my left ear. Today was my last day on the medication and I begin to taper tomorrow. Prednisone has not been easy on my body but hopefully has/will improve my hearing.
Concerns:
Currently, my ear is still clogged and full & also has popping & cracking noises coming from it. I am constantly popping my ear all day. Also, I noticed I developed some buzzing noises when it is quiet in the evenings.
Questions:
Does the popping & cracking noises go away on its own?
Do I take another hearing test next to see if my hearing is improved?
Any additional insight/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Best,
Jon
Hi Jon:
When the CO2 alarm suddenly went off, you suffered acoustic trauma that has developed into acoustic shock dysfunction. Your hearing professionals all seem to have missed that point. They are just focused on hearing loss.
The interesting thing about acoustic shock dysfunction is that you may not have obvious hearing loss (which was your initial assessment), but you get hidden hearing loss that may not show up for a few weeks (as it has done). At the same time you can develop other symptoms including the ear pain, the feeling of fullness or clogged up feeling (Eustachian tube dysfunction) and the buzzing (tinnitus).
All your ENT has done is tried Prednisone. I doubt it is going to help at all as you didn’t begin taking it soon enough. My rule of thumb is that you have to take it within the first 30 days (not 6 weeks later), and ideally within the first 2 or 3 days.
If the prednisone is going to work, typically you’ll notice your hearing coming back in the first week you take it. Since that does not seem to have happened, I’m not hopeful of this treatment, and I wouldn’t take any more after you finish you taper.
What I would do is first–give your ears a rest from all louder sounds for the next month or two. In other words don’t expose your ears to sounds much louder than the level of human speech as your ears need time to heal themselves–to get rid of the ear pain and Eustachian tube dysfunction and possibly the tinnitus. As I said above, I doubt any/much hearing will come back so be prepared for this. But the other symptoms should fade away in time.
If during the next two months or so you expose your ears to louder sounds, this can set you back and you may have to start the whole process all over again.
You want to keep the volume down on any devices you listen to, keep them to the level of human speech. If you have to be around loud sounds, wear ear protectors to again bring the sound level down to about that of human speech.
One caution, be careful NOT to overprotect your ears by wearing ear protectors when you don’t need too–that can make your situation worse and you can develop loudness hyperacusis as a result–not something you want as then all sounds will appear to be too loud.
If you take any further hearing testing in the next 2 months or so, make sure they do NOT do any loudness tests such as uncomfortable loudness level testing and tympanic impedance testing (tympanogram), etc. Doing pure tone testing should be perfectly ok–which will tell whether any hearing is coming back or not.
And finally, do not worry about your ears. The more you are anxious and worry about these conditions, the worse they can become. It’s just something unfortunate that happened and will take time to “heal”, just like a bruise–so give it time and go about your life as usual–but be careful to look after your ears when around louder sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thank you for your reply & insight!
I will rest my ears for the couple months giving time for my ears to heal.
Would it be ok to use closed ear buds/apple style earphones during this period? I often used these for work during virtual meetings.
Best,
Jon
Hi Jon:
I see no reason not to use earbuds or headphones–as long as the volume is kept down to normal human speech levels. The problem with earbuds is that sounds get trapped in the ear canal and if those are loud sounds, it causes problems. But if you keep the level to a conservative level, then this should not happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thanks again for your help!
I had another concern/question regarding my prednisone usage and the symptoms. It has been 2 weeks since I finished by taper and I am still experiencing symptoms in my hips, legs, and pelvic, buttock area. I’ve had no previous pain in my hip area and have been experience while on prednisone. Also, I have reduced my exercise during this period as well.
It feels sore, achy and feels slightly uncomfortable when I sleep or lean on either side. I was on a 2 week dosage of prednisone of 60mg and a taper (40,20,10 mg) for 9 days after. My ear fullness has decreased, but tinnitus still remains; additionally, I have been monitoring my volume level.
Are these lingering symptoms common for this usage of the drug?
Best,
Jon
Hi Jon:
I only focus on side effects related to ears. So I don’t know the various other side effects of Prednisone, but I do know that there are many.
It’s great that your ear fullness has decreased. Your tinnitus may prove to be permanent if there’s been no change in volume over the past number of weeks.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
First of all I’m very grateful for the service that you are providing thru this site and it really help people. I had exposure to acoustic trauma (loud music exposure thru my headphone) on September 29 and as a result developed tinnitus and hearing loss. Saw an ENT doctor after two weeks and he aid I had moderate hearing loss on my left ear and suggested steroid injection. But I was scared of it and the doctor then prescribed me predinsone for two weeks. Then I came across this site and learned that time is the essence to recover my hearing. Even after one week of prednisone, there was no improvement in my hearing loss or tinnitus. I called the doctor and we decided to try steroid injection. The injection really worked and right away my hearing improved and lessened the intensity of tinnitus. Now I’m almost 6 weeks after the acoustic trauma and feel like normal hearing. I have an MRI scanning and audiometer testing scheduled for December end. In the mean time I just had an audio test @ Sams club and it shows normal hearing on my both hear. I really thank you for regaining my hearing as I was able to take a decision for the injection. I have a question for you now. My tinnitus has not gone away completely. though I have normal hearing. Will it stay longer?
Thanks
Faizel
Hi Faizel:
There is no way to know whether your tinnitus will go away entirely, or remain narrative very low level. The main thing is not to worry about it, but rather ignoring it and let it fade into the background where it won’t bother you. This is called becoming habituated to your tinnitus.
It’s great that the Prednisone injection works so well for you.
Now I’ve got a couple of cautions for you to consider. First when you get an MRI realize that they are noisy and you need I emphasize need to wear ear protectors especially since you’ve had this your problems recently. What I do is where foam earplugs and then earmuffs on top of them. Second, when you have the hearing tests done till the audiologist you don’t want any loud tests done at this time because they may exacerbate your ears hypersensitivity and you don’t want to risk it. Specifically you don’t want the uncomfortable loudness test and maybe not any tympanometry testing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thank you for your reply & advice. I’ll take take care during MRI & hearing tests.
Thanks
Faizel
Hello Dr,
10 days ago I suffered some sudden hearing loss from a dog yelping in my ear in close distance. I cannot tell if my condition has improved over the recent days or I am becoming use to it. The tinnitus I have is very minor and I can only hear it when I’m trying to sleep, but I do have a pressure feeling in my ear that has been there since the dog yelp. This is the biggest problem for me, I feel like I am unable to pop my ears. I feel like they have gotten closer to “popping” and unclogging but it still won’t happen. It has become very frustrating focusing on daily life from this pressure I fee in my ear. I am going to my ENT tomorrow morning, can steroids cause the tube in my ear to unclog and “pop”?
Thank you
Hi Brennan:
How are your ears doing now? Has the pressure feeling gone away?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi. 3 weeks ago I experienced sudden deafness. After 1 week the ENT gave me prednisolon for 2 weeks. I just finished. I dont feel any better. Does this mean it was not successful? Or should I give it more time. I have a Big hearing loss. I also feel abit unsteady. Is this usual with sudden deafness? I have a historiy of minor episodes with feeling pressure in the ear + tinnitus, lasting for about 5-15 minutes. Could this be related to my sudden deafness?. Its the same ear.
Also, I have had a MRI snd eveythibg looks fine
Hi Anelle:
If you haven’t seen any improvement in your hearing loss after two weeks on the prednisolone, I rather doubt taking more is going to make any difference. In my experience, you should start to see improvements in two or three days after beginning the steroids if they are going to make a significant difference.
When you have a massive hearing loss, the chances of getting hearing back, or getting much hearing back, is slim. You may get 10 or 15 dB back, but typically you won’t get anywhere is near back to normal. That’s just the way it seems to be for the most part.
What caused your sudden hearing loss? Do you or your doctor have any ideas? Did you have any active virus in your body in the two weeks before the hearing loss? Quite often when a virus attacks your inner ear not only do you get hearing loss, but you can also have balance problems like you are having.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the reply. My Doctor dont know what caused it. He said that sudden deafness can happen for no reason. I have not been sick or had an infection Prior to this. Only thing is my previous short episodes with fullness in the ear and tinnitus. The Doctor has never been able to find a reason for this either. Do you think the balance issues will get better with time? Im trying to be active, but i get tired more easily with the tinnitus and the feeling of being Off..
Hi Anelle:
How is your balance now? Sometimes you feel unbalanced because you don’t hear equally in both ears anymore. Other times it is because the same thing that caused the hearing loss also damaged your balance system.
When you are out of balance, your brain has to consciously work harder to balance you and that is tiring and can be very tiring leaving you fatigued at the end of the day.
Depending on the exact cause of your imbalance, balance therapy can bring you back to normal or close to normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Bauman, greetings from England!
Firstly can I thank you for all your replies within this thread. They are invaluable reading the types of conditions and treatments I’d never knew existed!
My Current condition/situation:
On 1st October a started anti-biotics to treat an infected cyst on my back. The course was for 5 days, and didn’t resolve or change the status of the cyst.
On 9th October, I contacted my local GP for a telephone consultation, appointment booked for face 2 face consultation on 20th October. Later that day I had purchased an over-ear headset for leisurely use to replace my existing aging headset. I used the headset for approx. 4-5 hours that evening. When waking up the following morning, I had a “fuzzy” feeling to any sounds I heard with that ear. This continued for approx. 3 days and resolved itself.
The following week on 16th October, I tried the new headset again. 4-5 hours use at the same volume as previous week and previous headsets. The following day the fuzzy feeling to any external sounds returned. This time it lasted 4-5 days. At this point I decided not to use this headset again.
Doctor appointment on 20th for cyst on back, I asked the GP to look at my ear while I was there. They commented that it looked slightly red so changed the anti-biotics to include something that should treat my cyst as well as my ear. The course was over 5 days and my ear got better the following day however there remained a low ringing in ear and fullness feeling. and cyst cleared after a week.
On 6th November I made another telephone consultation about ear and that the fullness feeling and, ringing remained. They booked a face to face consultation on the 9th November.
On 9th November the GP examined me did some kind of tuning fork test (banged 2 metal prongs on a desk and head next to each ear to see if I could hear them, I could. He also asked me to follow his finger and asked if I got any blurred/double vision which I did not). He advised to monitor the issue and I start getting dizziness and/or headaches to contact him back as he believe it maybe a condition where a benign tumour presses against the audio nerve?
15th November I purchased numerous over the counter/publicly available decongestants and nasal sprays but after a number of days these didn’t work/improve anything.
16th November, advised doctor that I was getting very mild unsteadiness (not enough to make me fall or bump into anything, but the feeling I was going to) and very mild headache (around the front right of my head and around the temple area)
24th November, doctor advised to go for an MRI scan and see an ENT specialist.
1st December, while attending a contact lens check-up I also requested a hearing test. They have a standard test and if anything is detected they will organise a private consultation. Conducted a hearing test with headphones within an iPad table. This detected that my hearing was “outside of normal parameters” and would organise an appointment (still awaiting)
2nd December – Paranoid/panic sets in and start conducting lots of online hearing tests available online. Most of these either come back a mild hearing loss or within normal parameters (tests consisted of either sound reactiveness (press a key when you hear a noise) or reading numbers/words out with increasingly loud background noise)
13th December – MRI conducted (awaiting results)
15th December – Appointment with ENT specialist. Audio test conducted, ear pressure ear test conducted. ENT advised that there appears to be pressure in ear (movement in eat drum?) Can see a drop in hearing on affected ear compared to 2008 (went to ENT following bad cold and certain frequencies lost in same ear). Results were not given to me, but audio graph looked like a Tick shape which I’m assuming is a drop in earing in low ranges). Consultant has prescribed 3x 30mg Prednisolone 1 a day due to me having Type2 Diabetes (he said he can mess with your blood sugars). Also prescribed Dymista nasal Spray (Which contains/delivers 137 mg azelastine hydrochloride and 50 mg fluticasone propionate in each spray)
Feeling/Symptoms: It my ear has a low rumbling sound, sometimes can change to an higher pitched sound with varying volumes each day. Sometimes if I sit in total silence, it can nearly disappear. if I’m sitting in a room with the TV on or something else, it can get louder, like something is being aggravated and making it react to sound. I have found sometimes listening to speech or music via over-ear headphones and make it feel like normal compared to listening from standard speakers. Other times the tinnitus can be loud to the point where I need to wear in-ear ear buds/headphones and play background noise like rain/storm/wind to drowned out the sound of it.
I can hear out of the affected ear, but it seems most of the lower range is undetectable, so voices sound tinny/mono/old telephone quality and Bass in music seems to be totally removed, I can still hear the “kick” of the bass, but not the depth of it. Also any sound I hear, make my ear feel “full”
Reading your previous replies and this has gone on in excess of 30 days, I’m guessing the Prednisolone is a “matter of course” treatment and the Consultant feels they have nothing to lose by trying it? They mentioned that if it doesn’t do anything within 2 weeks, then to make another appointment for “plan B” which is to fit/insert a “Gromit” ? but personally this feels rather overkill?
Could it be that these new headphones damaged the nerves in my ear and they may rebuild over time? Or possibly I picked up some kind of infection while taking the anti-biotics for my cyst which remnants may still be there?
Thank you in advance for your experience, advice and time it’s very much appreciated!
Hi Dave:
My first question is whether your old earphones were wireless or not? And are the new ones wireless or not?
What level do you listen to your earphones? About the same level as you listen to people talking, or louder, or softer?
The benign tumour your doctor was talking about is called an acoustic neuroma. You probably don’t have one, but the MRI will make sure.
The antibiotics could have affected your ears. All antibiotics are ototoxic to some degree. You never mentioned which ones you took. But it seems that all your ear problems occurred since you began taking the antibiotics so I suspect they may be part of the problem.
Then the 4-5 hours listening to music. If it was a bit too loud it might have had a synergistic effect with the antibiotics.
If you don’t have a cold and a clogged up head, then I don’t see that your blocked Eustachian tubes are from that cause. Therefore, putting in grommets won’t solve your underlying problem.
I’d love to see a copy of your audiogram so I can see for myself the results of you tests. I’m curious just how bad your low frequency hearing is as compared to your high frequency hearing.
Personally, I’d lay off all the drugs and decongestants, etc. and see what happens. If your ears aren’t infected and full of gunk, these drugs aren’t going to help you and just cause other side effects.
I’ll await your answers to my above questions and anything else you can report on before I try to figure out what you underlying problem is.
Cordially,
Neil
Good Afternoon Dr Bauman
Thank you for your reply and Happy New Year!
I’m Old good and new “faulty” ones were wired, the new ones that replaced the new “faulty” ones are Wireless. I usually listen at around 50% volume on the headset and 80% Volume on the computer itself.
I’ve found out from my GP that I took the following:
flucloxacillin 500MG 1 4xday for 5 days (the ones that didn’t seem to do anything, but took when the ear issues started)
clarithromycin 500MG 1 2xday for 7 days (the ones that did clear the cyst)
I am attending the hospital for a checkup next tuesday so I will try and ask for the audiogram for you so you can see the results.
Thank you!
Regards
Dave
Hi Dave:
Concerning your drugs.
I don’t have much information on Flucloxacillin, but what I do have doesn’t list any specific problems with hearing or tinnitus so that one probably wasn’t the culprit.
Clarithromycin is definitely a possibility. Numbers of people report getting hearing loss and tinnitus from taking this drug (and it can cause all sorts of balance problems). How is your balance doing now? Getting better?
Cordially,
Neil
Good Afternoon Dr Bauman,
Thanks again for your reply.
Yes, no problems with balance at all. The only thing I have now is the tinnitus (which ranges in severity depending on day or time of day, it seems to be totally random. Yesterday I could hardly hear it, today is worse, but not as worse has it has been). It still seems to be sound related, so if I’m in a room with a TV on all the time the tinnitus seems to get worse, if I stay in a room in silence, it seems to calm down and nearly fade away.
I also still have the sensation of sounds being distorted in the affected year, similar to if you put your ear into a sea shell or glass, the sound seems to bounce around and become distorted.
Lastly I still have limited range of frequencies in my affected ear also, where anything with bass in I cannot hear and everything sounds “tinny” and shallow. Similar to older mono recordings vs HD sound where you can still hear everything, but not the full spectrum of the sounds.
I will be attending the hospital in a few hours so if there are any updates I will post here.
Thanks again
Dave
Hello Dr. Bauman,
First off, thank you for replying to everyone that contacts you. It has been very helpful to read through these comments as I am very concerned about my mom.
My mom, generally a very healthy 70 yr old, woke up unable to hear out of her right ear. Two weeks prior she had begun having odd pains, weakness and burning in her lower arms (elbow to wrist) and lower legs. This was followed by stomach pain and reflux. Dr suspects neuropathy and she was referred to a Neurologist, appointment is in February. Lots of bloodwork/urine has been completed by primary dr as first round of it all looked normal. We are waiting on the more extensive results and Neurologist appointment. Anyway as all of this was going on, she awoke 11 days ago unable to hear from right ear. She had never had any hearing issues before. We went to urgent care and ER where they prescribed drops for ear infection, although there were no signs of infection. I finally got her to an ENT today (day 11) and 60 mg of prednisone for one week was prescribed with a follow up appointment in one week for possible injection in her ear. Her loss is severe in her right/bad ear (Suden Severe Sensorinural Hearing Loss). Also her good ear is making whooshing noises and has mild pain. ENT did not seem worried about her good ear, said prednisone would help. ENT referred her for MRI to check for benign tumor in bad ear. Could neuropathy be causing this all or is this hearing loss unrelated to her sudden health issues? Have you ever come across anything similar? Also, when is the “golden” timeframe for best prognosis (day 11 in that timeframe)? Should I be concerned regarding the whooshing and pain in her good ear? Thank you for your time and any advice.
Hi Kat:
When all this began, did you mom have any active virus in her body, or in the two weeks previous or so? Something like the flu which could leave you feeling weak and nerves on edge. This same virus could get into the inter ear and cause the sudden hearing loss.
Another possibility is that her vertebrae is out of proper alignment and cause the tingling sensation in her arms and legs, etc. It could also affect the auditory nerve.
If this is the case, I’d suggest she see an upper cervical spine chiropractor and makes sure her neck vertebrae in particular are properly aligned. That could fix the problem quickly. You can find an upper cervical chiropractor by clicking on “Practitioners” at http://www.upcspine.com/ .
I rather doubt the MRI will find an acoustic neuroma. They usually don’t just suddenly cause massive hearing loss–the process is typically more gradual. Furthermore, that would not be related to your other tingling symptoms.
It is possible that the two conditions are unrelated, but it is just as possible (as I pointed out above) that they could be related.
The sooner you take the Prednisone, the better the chances of it working (if it is going to work at all). But you can still get reasonable results up to two weeks after onset. By the end of 30 days, the chances of Prednisone working is slim to nil.
Cordially,
Neil
On December 17, 2020 I started to feel that something is wrong with my ears and by the time of Dec 20, I had sudden hear loss on both ears. Our hospital allowes only phone/video doctor’s appointments. So, the doctor assumed that it is a swimmers ear and sent me drops. Then, otomycosis, again, sent me drops Then, inner ear infection, sent antibiotics for 10 days. Then, sudafed, then zyrtec, then Singulair(?) why I don’t have asthma and I was not sick with colds since December 2019 for a year. Then, they said just to take Ibuprofen. That’s North CA Kaiser.
To make it short, I asked them multiple times for prednisone, because I had sudden hear loss on one ear in 2015 and it helped. They didn’t want to give to me but I convinced. They started to tell me that I have TMJ and my hearing is severely impacted by that. But I never had any jaw problems or tenderness around jaw.
So, today is January 16. It is 30 days since I lost hearing in both ears. I feel like it is too late to treat with Prednisone and it will not help. But I will still try. It is 12 days 10 mg with tampering that starts on 5th day.
What are your thoughts on my strory?
I forgot to mention that yesterday on January 15, the doctor concluded that I have intact and retracted ear drums, they looked like they are sucked in my head.
Also, how it all started. I got new wireless earbuds AirPods, and listened to music on high volume at least 4 times before December 17, so that what was happening and contributed to my hearing loss.
Thank you for having this forum and helping people
Hi Olena:
My thinking is that the Prednisone likely won’t help much if at all. But feel free to take it if you want to and maybe it will help.
I just hope all those drugs your doctor prescribed won’t have further damaged your ears, because they are all ototoxic.
It’s too bad you didn’t contact me right away, because I could have told you what I’d have done to help your ears get as much of your hearing back as possible.
In the future, you will have to keep the volume down on your headphones so you don’t further damage your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman I came across this medicine recently on google that is currently in testing phase called Fx322 which aims to rengenerate hair cells in the inner ear and has improved some participants hearing including word recognition. Do you think this could provide any benefit for me when it becomes available to all?
I have had Sudden sensorineural hearing loss since early July of 2018. The first symptom was around evening when I was watching tv and suddenly felt a complete loss of hearing in left ear. I didn’t pay attention to it since there was nothing they accompanied it and assumed it’s just clogged temporarily. Fast forward to midnight, I laid down on my bed watching a video on my phone for 1 hour straight with my body facing upwards the whole time. The moment I put the phone down to finally close my eyes and sleep to my left side, I suddenly felt extreme dizziness to the point that it caused me to throw up and the dizziness wouldn’t leave unless I would lay to my the right side. I was alone that night and was not in a condition to be able to use my phone to call for help. By morning it was not as worse but still I had to keep my head facing atleast partially if not completely to the right side to feel normal. A few days passed and the vertigo was gone completely but I felt lightheadedness until a week had passed since the hearing loss, and since then I have not felt nausea or lightheadedness at all when sleeping or moving head in any direction but the hearing never returned in left ear. I went to a general physician and he couldn’t understand the problem and described ear infection medicine to take by mouth but it didn’t do anything.
I went to an ENT after about 40 days had passed since the hearing loss and had my first audiogram done along with an MRI scan. The MRI showed nothing abnormal and she said that CROS aid is the only solution to it. I went to a different ENT in October that year and she ordered some blood work for me to detect the cause including if there was any active virus or any autoimmune disease but the results showed nothing and prescribed prednisone for a month while saying that there’s a slim chance it will provide any benefit at that point but there was no harm in giving it a try. The 2nd audiogram showed very marginal improvement in hearing but the word recognition was still close to 0. In 2019 I tried out both a traditional hearing aid programmed for me and a CROS aid but I didn’t feel comfortable with either and didn’t buy them. All I could hear with the traditional hearing aid was strong sense of vibrations in the left ear whenever I would talk
During March of last year I went to another audiologist and had another audiogram done. She said there’s still some hearing left which can be preserved with a hearing aid so this time I did buy a traditional hearing aid based on my hearing results because I wanted to feel some stimulation in that ear sometimes but I ended up rarely using it because just like the first time, the hearing aid made my ear perceive any sound as a vibration, so although I initially felt good about getting some stimulation in that ear, the constant vibration along with not understanding a word was uncomfortable.
I never went into large gatherings much even before Covid so I have rarely felt the direction of sound issue including while driving. Last year I had also traveled by plane a few times without any hearing aid or earplugs and didn’t feel any issues and have also stopped wearing earbuds or headphones completely since 2018 just as a precaution. Out of all the doctors and ENTs I went to in these two and half years, nobody could understand the cause. Some physicians just made an assumption it may have been a viral attack on the inner ear. My relatives thought it may have been because I didn’t look after my health well and assumed it may have been because of a weak immune system(my vitamin D levels were below 10 in January 2018 so I was prescribed vitamin D 5000iu supplement everyday for 3 months. My level went up to 45 ng/ml.) but no doctor or ENT ever stated that. The tinnitus since 2018 in that ear has been same throughout. It just comes and goes, i only feel it noticeable when I’m not busy or in a quiet room. One last thing I’d like to share is that my mother had hyperthyroidism while I was in her womb and she told me that she was advised by someone to not take her thyroid medicine till the baby is born as it may harm the baby so she wasn’t taking her medicine regularly during the pregnancy. She does not remember much else but looking back now, could it be that her thyroid problem and my issue are related? There’s no history of such a type of hearing loss in my family and My blood tests have always showed my thyroids levels as normal. The hearing loss occurred while I was in my early 20s.
Hi Haris:
I think FX-322 shows some promise once they can get an effective dose into the inner ear so it can regrow all frequencies of hair cells, not just a few of the high-frequency ones.
But there is a serious caution that needs to be addressed and that is that when you cause cells to grow, you can also stimulate other cells to grow uncontrolled–and that is what cancer is–so I’d certainly not be in a rush to get it when/if it comes out until its been out for some years to be sure no cancer side effects become apparent.
When you have sudden hearing loss that fast accompanied by vertigo/dizziness, I either suspect a vascular problem–blood clot in your inner ear, or a viral attack on your inner ear.
Prednisone given more than 30 days after sudden hearing loss is pretty much a waste of time. You really want it in the following 2 or 3 days for it to be really effective.
If it had been a virus, it would likely have been long gone by the time your ENT tested for it so it didn’t show. As for an autoimmune disease, I’ve never heard of it hitting you “instantly”, but hearing loss occurs more gradually over a period of a few days to a few weeks.
When you have a massive hearing loss, when you amplify sound until you can “hear” it, like you say, you feel your eardrum really vibrating rather than actually hearing sound. So a traditional hearing aid is just a waste of time and money.
A CROS aid can work quite well to help you hear on your deaf side. Some people love theirs and others don’t like them at all. It’s basically a personal preference.
Your vitamin D levels really were low, but I don’t think that accounted for your experience with sudden hearing loss. To be sure, Vitamin D affects about 3,000 genes, so that can result in all sorts of health problems. I’m glad you’re up to 45 ng/ml. For optimal health, it should be up to around 70 ng/ml. I take 10,000 IU of D3 daily to maintain my level in the optimal range.
You are fortunate that your tinnitus is so faint and come and goes. Some people with such hearing losses have very loud tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Doctor,
I got a link to your site from a hearing loss forum. I am from Eastern Europe and I’m seeking help where I can now because doctors don’t know what to do.
So I’ve been dealing with a strange thing. I’m 26 yo woman. In general I’m ok – I only have Hashimotos but no problem with tsh/ft levels. The only thing I suffer from is GAD and I take Zoloft for that (2+ years).
I was totally well and I stayed mostly at home. One day, two months ago I started to feel dizzy while at home and I vomited. This quickly passed and I forgot.
Later in December I did not hear for a day, one of my ears felt stuffed. It went away the next day so I assumed it was earwax or sth. After that nothing was wrong so I lived my life as usual. (These events may be even not related to the loss I have now, but I just thought that maybe this was something then…)
Fast forward to last two weeks, I was working on my computer when I had an awful vertigo. I needed to lay down and I went to sleep because the world was going crazy. In one of my eyes, a blood vessel was ruptured the next day. The day after that I lost hearing in my ear. I signed up to see a ENT two days later. He tested me and it turned out nothing was visiblly wrong with the ear – it was only deaf for no reason. I had an audiogram, it showed I was totally deaf in lower frequencies.
I immedately went to ER. They tested me (heart, xray, negative covid) and prescribed me oral Prednisone, Serc, vitamines and some additional stuff for better blood circulation and hyperbaric therapy.
I had MRI and it went out completly fine according to the radiologist.
I took the meds + have attended the oxygen therapy for two weeks straight. Throughout the days my ear was better and worse. Sometimes I get vertigo, maybe due to meds, idk. I feel like I had some kind of fluid in the ear. Sometimes when I get stressed and my muscles tense (my jaw especially at night – I clench my teeth, but my hospital ENT told me it cant be this….) start to feel as if the fluid was there again. Sometimes I wake up and everything is ok expect ringing in the ear and slight deafness.
Doctors have no answers. I’ve been to a neurologist, three ENTs and and a hospital. Everyone tells me to wait – for a month, maybe it will come back. I will end my hyperbaric therapy (15 meetings) and steroids next week. My yesterday’s audiogram is as bad as the 1st one.
They told me this can be stress due to my anxiety but this serves as no explanation to me.
I dont want to be deaf. Especially that I feel it gets better sometimes – like the fluid or the pressure or whatever goes away sometimes (im only slightly deaf then) and sometimes it goes back. When it goes back, I have a feeling like I have my head put against an invisible wall. I physically feel something is there (they tell me they see nothing). When the feeling of something being there does away, I have ringing in the ear.
They did not check my blood so I’m planning to do it on my own – what should I check? What shall I do? What could this be? I had no viral infections in over a year or so. No bacterial infections as well. At least not that I could feel them, I had no sympthoms.
I’m waiting to see one more specjalistów ENT and one more orthodontist (maybe it is the jaw? although my hospital ENT really laughed at me when I suggested it, but when I move my jaw I hear a loud POP in my dead ear, like something was opening there). I need to wait fear that each day gives me lesser and lesser chance of getting my hearing back.
I’ve read that 30 days is the window in which I could help myself so I look in every possible place now that steroids don’t seem to work.
I wonder, what might have caused it? Is the feeling of pressure / fullness a sign that there is something blocking it or is it just a feeling being deceiptful? Are there any more tests I should check out?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Mary:
I can’t put my finger on one thing and tell you this is what you have, but I have several possibilities that you should investigate.
1. Ototoxic drugs. Are you taking any drugs other than Sertraline (Zoloft)? Zoloft by itself could be giving you the various symptoms you are experiencing such as vertigo/balance problems, ear blocked feeling, tinnitus and hearing loss. Did you change the dose on your Zoloft in the past few months?
2. Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease. Since you have Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease, it is possible that you have another autoimmune disease such as Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED). Often the symptoms appear to go away and things get better while you take Prednisone (steroids) but come back when you go off the steroid. You can read more about AIED in my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/autoimmune-inner-ear-disease-aied-2/ and see if anything you read there seems to fit your situation.
3. Cervical Spine out of proper Alignment. You can get these symptoms if your upper cervical spine (C1 and C2) are not aligned correctly. They don’t have to be out very much to cause you problems. For example, I was only out 3 degrees one way and 3 degrees another way for a total of 6 degrees and that was enough to cause episodes of vertigo. Two treatments by an upper cervical spine chiropractor got my neck within 1 degree and I’ve never had another vertigo episode in the 4 years since then.
Medical doctors don’t have a clue about this and don’t see a problem, that is why you have to see one of these special chiropractors. (Unfortunately, I don’t see any listed in your country.) You can find them by going to http://www.upcspine.com and then click on the “Practitioners” button along the top. You might want to read my comprehensive article on Meniere’s disease at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ and see whether anything applies to you. These adjustments not only correct Meniere’s disease, but other conditions as well so read between the lines.
4. Relating to the above point, your trigeminal nerve may be pinched and thus causing the feeling of fullness or blocked feeling in your ear. This is because your Eustachian tubes “run” off a branch of the trigeminal nerve, and if that nerve isn’t working correctly because it is pinched in your neck, you can have this problem. Upper cervical spine chiropractors can help you here as well. Possibly also experienced conventional chiropractors.
5. Your jaw being out can be indicative of alignment problems that can cause your problems. See points 3 and 4. So again a good chiropractor should be able to help you.
Taking the hyperbaric oxygen was a good step. They seldom do it over here.
If you get your blood checked, have them check it for immune system markers in case you have AIED.
Normally, for sudden hearing loss I say that you have a 30 day window, but that is just a rule of thumb, not an definite time limit depending on what the problem is. If hearing loss is due to a pinched nerve, then it is possible to have hearing return–even years later. So there is still hope.
So these are my suggestions for some things to investigate since your doctors have covered the obvious things with no success.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Neil
I’m 24 and I’ve suffered from mild somatic tinnitus in my left ear for several years, but I’ve mostly become habituated to it.
That is until recently about a week ago — I was cleaning my ears and I believe I damaged my ear drums which caused a significant spike in my tinnitus. I’ve gone through these before so I knew it would fade in time.
My biggest mistake, however, was trying to mask the tinnitus with various therapeutic sound generators. Even at a low volume for minor periods of time, I noticed a residual humming, or in crickets, much like the sound present in the white noise I used. I think I most likely damaged some of my upper frequency hearing while trying to mask the noise, thereby making the problem worse.
The next day, my tinnitus flared quite badly again which only exacerbated my anxiety towards the condition.
Today, it’s improved modestly, but not enough for me to feel comfortable. It’s very pronounced in my right ear which was my former good ear.
I scheduled an appointment with an ENT on February 12th, but I’m worried that might be too late to treat the issue if it is sudden hearing loss via Prednisone.
What do you believe my best course of action would be in this case? Should I try to find an ENT whom I can meet sooner, or just go to urgent care?
Also, I would also like to ask what medical practitioners are capable of prescribing Prednisone? A cursory glance suggests Audiologists can’t write prescriptions, but is that true?
I’ve decided to go to urgent care in tomorrow given that I’ve read time is of the essence for this.
With any luck, they’ll prescribe me a sufficient dosage of Prednisone that’ll hopefully suffice until I see a specialist.
Hi Avery:
You are not going to damage your hearing my masking your tinnitus–unless you are using masking sounds greater than 80 dB or so.
More likely you caused your tinnitus by cleaning your ears with a Q-tip or equivalent and pushed too hard on your eardrum causing the 3rd bone in your middle ear to violently push against the oval window inducing what would appear to be a VERY loud sound into you cochlea resulting in tinnitus.
You have to give this time to heal.
Masking sounds for tinnitus should be LESS than the tinnitus, not so loud that they drown out your tinnitus. Unless your tinnitus is very soft, doing that is just asking for trouble.
The only people that can prescribe drugs are medical doctors and physician’s assistants. Audiologists are not allowed to do this. So if you want prednisone, you’ll have to basically see your doctor.
Personally, from what you’ve said, I’d just do nothing and let things calm down. And ignore your tinnitus and don’t worry about it and give it a week to see how much it calms down. But if you always focus on it, that won’t happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for the timely response, Neil. It’s comforting to know you think it’ll pass with time.
However, I would like to clarify that my tinnitus was perfectly tolerable after potentially perforating the ear drum after a day or two — and the tinnitus I was suffering because of that physical trauma was merely tinnitus I already had worsening. It was only after exposure to the white noise that it became exacerbated beyond what I could sanely handle. Even after a day or two now, I still hear the sound of cicadas hissing and crickets chirping identical to that of the white noise, which leads me to believe it must be somewhat related to that at least.
https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/ultrasonicNoiseGenerator.php this was the masking I used for reference.
What’s more fascinating, is that I only listened to this white noise in my right ear, but it seems to have drastically altered the pitch of the somatic tinnitus in my left ear to the frequency of a cicada buzzing even though that ear was not exposed to the noise as severely as my right ear. Having 3+ different tones resonating at such high frequencies is excruciating and is drastically affecting my existing insomnia. Even low volume music is enough to trigger a spike in volume so I have to give up that pastime until it heals.
I fear what might have happened is that my ears were left vulnerable after perforating them with a Q-tip, and exposing the inflamed eardrum or cochlear hairs to high-pitched resonance in the white noise might have resulted in auditory damage. Do you believe that’s a plausible conjecture as someone who’s far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am?
If it was just the physical trauma, I wouldn’t be as worried, but I’ve also developed an acute hyperacusis now that I never had with my previous tinnitus which makes most attempts at masking a futile effort.
I made an appointment with an ENT for today to get a checkup to see if they can identify the crux of the issue and potentially any hearing loss. I just hope they acknowledge my concerns and don’t harm my ears any further with harmful hearing tests or procedures. Ideally, I’d like to get a prescription for Prednisone as well just to be safe because I believe the merits of taking it outweigh the side effects for me significantly. There are some anecdotal accounts of victim’s tinnitus radically clearing up after taking it even though conventional wisdom might suggest otherwise, so even though those claims are unsubstantiated, I do believe there is definitely some plausibility that it could help.
Thank you again for taking the time to respond — it’s very reassuring to have an educated second opinion that doesn’t require weeks to get. I’ll report back with what my the ENT says if you’d be kind enough to offer further consultation.
Hi Avery:
I’m not sure what you are saying–that you used white noise to try to cover up your initial tinnitus and this caused your tinnitus to get much worse? Right? At what level were you listening to the white noise–soft, medium, loud?
Your ears were vulnerable due to loud sounds or strong vibrations, not because of any damage to your eardrum.
If you had punctured your eardrum, you wouldn’t have made your hair cells more susceptible to high frequency noise, but less so as the bones in your middle ear wouldn’t be stimulated as much so wouldn’t “rap” on the oval window as strongly.
Hyperacusis is a different “animal” from tinnitus although you can often have both conditions at the same time. Both are made much worse by anxiety and by exposing your ears to loud sounds–especially in the higher frequencies.
A course of Prednisone may help (or not), but it will help control your anxiety because you won’t be worrying that things might have been better if you had taken the Prednisone.
Let me know what you ENT says.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello doctor. You’re doing God’s work by helping out people in the comment section for all these years. I really appreciate it. I had a quick question for you.
About a month ago, I had sudden hearing loss in my left ear. I went to an ENT 2 days after this happened and the audio gram showed that I had mild hearing loss. The doctor gave me prenisolone steroid tablets and told me to start taking them the next morning. However, the very next day, I had a complete and spontaneous recovery – without taking any medication. My audio gram was normal again. I thought things were good! But after a few days, I noticed tinnitus in my left ear. I thought it will go away on its own, so I did not do anything. But it seems to be getting worse as the days go by. It’s been a full month now, and my hearing loss is no more… but my tinnitus is extremely annoying. Should I take the prednisone tablets that I was initially prescribed? Would that make my tinnitus go away? Please help. What should I do? Thank you so much!
Also I forgot to mention that I live in Germany, and here the prednisone treatment regiment is a 3-day high dosage course. I was prescriptive to take 200mg the first day, and 150mg the following two days. Do you have any thoughts about taking such a high dose? I know the international standards basically just stick with 60mg per day. Thanks a lot!
Hi David:
Sometimes taking prednisone (or prednisolone) helps hearing return. Other times it doesn’t. And sometimes hearing returns on its own without taking any drugs. Your case is an example of this.
As far as I know, prednisone doesn’t work for tinnitus. I have no information that indicates it helps. But that doesn’t stop doctors from prescribing it in case it might help.
I am wondering if your tinnitus is a result of hidden hearing loss that obviously doesn’t show up on a standard audiogram. You may have incurred significant hearing loss in the frequencies between 8 kHz and 20 kHz where they do not test. But hearing loss up there can still result in tinnitus.
I wasn’t aware that they used such high doses of prednisone in Germany. Since prednisone (like most other drugs) becomes more harmful to ears and the rest of our bodies as the dose increases, I tell people to only take the lowest dose that will do the job.
My thinking is that taking prednisone won’t do anything for your tinnitus at this point, but feel free to take it if you so desire. It’s your choice.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for the prompt reply Dr.Neil.
So is it pretty dangerous if I have hearing loss in the 8-20 kHz range? Should I go see an ENT doctor again? I played a so-called audio test on YouTube on my computer, and it seems I can’t hear anything once the video goes above 15 kHz. Not sure if I need to be worried about this or not.
Regarding the tinnitus, it comes and goes most days. Usually lasts for a few hours when I do notice it. Seems to increase in intensity when I watch TV or if I have just stepped out the shower.
Do you think my best course of action is to just wait this out and try to not focus on it too much? Thank you so much for taking the time to help out!
And also, Germany is notorious for prescribing natural remedies as well. So my doctor did recommend taking Ginkgo biloba Tablets to help with my Tinnitus. Apparently there has been research done to suggest this is an effective treatment.
Do you have any thoughts on this and whether it would help with tinnitus?
Cheers
Hi David:
I wouldn’t call that notorious–but a wonderful idea. Natural herbals do not have the harsh action on your body that prescription drugs do. But they take longer to “work” as a result and too many people are too impatient to get “instant relief”.
Your “E” commission says that the effective therapeutic dose of ginkgo extract is 480 mg per day standardized to 22 – 27% flavone glycosides, 5 – 7% terpene lactones and 2.6 – 3.2% bilobalide so any Ginkgo extract that is in this ballpark should be effective.
I’d take this for 3 months and then evaluate how your tinnitus is behaving. You may find it is gone by then. At least you can hope so.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi David:
It’s not dangerous to have a super-high hearing loss. But it is an indicator that you are doing something that is damaging your hearing. Typically, things that cause hearing loss (loud noise, drugs, etc.) often begin in the highest frequency you can hear and work their way down the frequency spectrum until they are finally picked up as a “high-frequency” loss at 8 kHz where it becomes noticeable on an audiogram.
I don’t see what an ENT can do now. Too much time has passed. But if you had a high-frequency audiogram done up to 20 kHz, you’d know how much hearing has gone up there. Then you have a baseline to know if you lose more in the future.
I wouldn’t be worried about it, but you can test your hearing from time to time and if you are losing more high-frequency hearing, try to figure out what is causing it–typically either loud sounds or ototoxic medications.
If your tinnitus comes and goes, I think of this as a good thing, because it if goes away for some hours, it can go away for longer and come back for shorter periods and eventually fade away.
With the TV or shower, your ears are exposed to constant louder sounds. That probably is exacerbating your tinnitus. Not much you can do about your shower, but you can turn the volume down on your TV. (I normally watch my TV with the sound muted and read the closed captions instead. That way all the racket in the sound track doesn’t bother me like it otherwise would.)
Personally, I’d just wait it out. And don’t be anxious or worry about it. Just ignore it by focusing on other things as much as possible.
Cordially,
Neil
Got it. I will keep an open mind and try those natural remedies and take it easy on my ears. I will also try and get an audio test done so I can figure out a baseline of where I’m at for the future.
Thank you so much for the amazing, quality advice you’ve given out. I don’t know how I can repay you. You have my eternal gratitude. Stay safe and have a great year ahead!
Helloo Dr
I am 37 year old male. Have tinnitus from past 7 years because of a head trauma and never gave me any problem in daily life. Also taking warfarin from past 2 and half years. Had 1st dose of Pfizer vaccination last month. Long story cut short, on 16th March I woke up with no hearing in my left year. First i thought it was earwax and booked appointment straightaway. But by the day pass I red more and more on internet suspect that I have SSHL. Seen by ENT on 18th. In my Audiometry report I lost moderate to sever hearing. Taking Prednisolone 60mh since yesterday (I actually started Prednisolone on 17th march but with some misunderstanding I consumed only 5mg of it). Its fourth day since its started (2nd day on steriod) and since yesterday i am feeling increase in tinnitus in left ear. No improvement i could say. Some time it slightly improved but it is actually the same. I have next hearing test on 25th March and from there they will decide to give me injection or keep going with oral dose and MRI. please let me know my chance of getting my hearing back? I started treatment within 72 hrs so should it improve a bit? and if it doesnt then how useful hearing aids are?
Thank you
Hi Zeeshan:
Your tinnitus probably will get better as your hearing returns. If no hearing returns, then the increased tinnitus may prove to stay the same as it is now–pending specific tinnitus treatments.
You are still early days in your hearing loss. If no hearing begins to come back in the next two weeks (since you had such quick treatment with Prednisone), then the chances of much of it coming back is slim, but I wouldn’t give up hope until 30 days has gone by.
A hearing aid should be of definite benefit if your hearing doesn’t come back–but you need to wait two months or so before you even consider a hearing aid. At that point, your audiologist will measure your hearing loss and your word recognition. If you have word recognition scores of 40% or better then a hearing aid should significantly help you. If your word recognition scores are very poor, then all a hearing aid will do is make sounds louder, but not necessarily understandable.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much Dr for replying fast. Do you suggest if I should book a private MRI scan? Knowing the end result of SSHL I am too scared and do not really want to waste time for something which is needed by now. I really appreciate for helping everyone here.
Hi Zeeshan:
I doubt an MRI will show up anything unusual, but if it will give you a measure of peace, go for it. In its favor is the fact that you had a sudden hearing loss in only one ear without an obvious cause so doctors like to do an MRI to see whether you have an acoustic neuroma (a benign tumor growing on your auditory nerve). In my experience acoustic neuromas do not cause sudden overnight hearing loss. They cause problems over time that get worse and worse and often cause balance problems too. But you haven’t mentioned any balance problems.
You also had head trauma in the past that might be causing problems now. So the choice is up to you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil
Today is 5th day(3rd Day on steroid). I can feel very little improvement in my ear. Tinnitus is somehow same but feeling of fullness is gone. Is it a good sign? and also what is not to do list while you have SSHL and what is to do list?
Thank you very very much for helping
Hi Zeeshan:
Any time there is an improvement such as the feeling of fullness going, that is a good sign.
As for what not to do–don’t obsess over your tinnitus and hearing loss. You don’t want to keep checking to see if your tinnitus is improving as that will just make it worse, not better. Ignore it and focus on the loves of your life and every few days take note of whether it is improving or not. Same for you hearing loss.
As for good things to do, you can help your ears by taking magnesium and zinc supplements as both are critical to the correct functioning of your ears and help them repair themselves.
Cordially,
Neil
. Thank you very much Neil for replying again. Yes you are right I am trying to be calm but I am so panicked that I always thinking about this. Just wanted to ask one more question, My job is in customer services and today was my 1st day since sshl. All the betterment which I was feeling after waking up was gone apart from not fullness. And I felt like there is no imrpovement at all. My job place isn’t very noisy apart from a standard coffee machine making noise and but i was struggling to understand when many customers comes into together and speak with each other. My question is while having sshl is it a good idea to start job again in a little noisy environment or should I just sit home and wait till healing time ends?
Thank you
Hi Zeeshan:
Don’t think about it all the time–focus on the loves of your life. You don’t have to panic. In fact, panic will just make things worse. Learn to relax. Breathing exercises can help you calm yourself down in just minutes.
Sine you now basically hear with one ear you will find things are different as you already found out. When there is much noise around you–multiple voices for example–you find it much harder to pick out the voice of the person you want to talk with. And you will have a tough time determining where a sound is coming from. In quiet you won’t have any (or little) problem because you good ear will let you hear well.
I’d go to work as the standard noise should hurt your bad ear–just make it harder to hear with your good ear. You can ask people to only talk when you are talking to them so you can hear the customer you are currently dealing with. And maybe turn your good ear towards the customer so you can hear him better.
You don’t want to just sit at home because you’ll then just focus on your hearing. At work, you can focus on your customers. Besides, you don’t know how long it will take for your ear to heal (or even if hearing will come back), so learning how to deal effectively with just one ear is good for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I have suffered from tittinus for about 2 weeks constant ringing in both ears that’s driving me crazy. I’ve had no viruses or colds and I can hear fine except for the constant hissing. My doctor put me on Sudafed decongestant tablets but they have not helped at all. Do you think prednisone my help and what dose ?
Hi again I forgot to mention I was listening to my headphones very load for a while and now I’m worried this was the problem.
Hi Marcus:
Listening to loud music is a surefire way to give yourself tinnitus. Wearing headphones or earbuds traps the sound waves in your ear canal where they can’t escape like they can when you are listening via loudspeakers. Thus, it can exacerbate tinnitus and hearing loss. Thus you want to listen to headphones at lower levels that when listening via loudspeakers.
I always say that you should listen to music at the same level you hear people talking. That is a safe level and won’t damage your ears.
You can try Prednisone, but I’m not hopeful that it will do much.
Hopefully, your tinnitus will fade away in time IF you protect your ears from loud sounds in the future, AND if you don’t treat your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being. Just treat it as you do any other unimportant, useless background sound and essentially ignore it.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you For the quick reply my doctors hear in England are no help at all. I will give my ears a complete rest like you suggested.
Thanks again.
Hi Dr Bauman,
On Sunday evening, I was vacuuming my stairs at home and my right ear got close to the noise of the vacuum ( Dyson brand). I have had SSHL in my left ear in the past 6 months, so I have been extremely careful & mindful with noise. The last few days, my right ear has had some pain, but I am unsure if I have lost any hearing. It does seem like my hearing is ok, but my ear is in some pain, no fullness, or tinnitus. Also, this has cause some anxiety with my history of my left ear.
Would you recommend me contacting my ENT at this point and going in for a audiogram? Also, I am bit afraid of using prednisone again. Can prednisone cause tinnitus?
Any help is appreciated — Thanks again for your insight !
Hi Jonathan:
You probably have a bit of acoustic trauma that has resulted in the ear pain. I wouldn’t worry about it as worry and anxiety are what make it worse. I think it will fade away in time without doing anything in particular. Just don’t expose that ear to loud sounds so it can heal.
I don’t think going to an ENT would help anything. Prednisone can cause tinnitus, but it also helps people with sudden hearing loss so it is not all bad. But why take drugs unnecessarily–that’s just asking for ototoxic side effects.
It’s not a bad idea to wear earplugs when using a vacuum cleaner–especially if it is quite noisy. Just remember to take them out when you turn the vacuum off.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thank you for your reply!
Its been little over a month since my incident and I am still experiencing pain (some days more than others) in my right ear. Some fullness and stuffiness occasionally as well. I contacted my ENT and he asked me to take a audiogram; the exam came out good and stable from the previous exam.
I followed up with my ENT regarding the pain & he recommended an MRI. I tried some over the counter ear drops and it does help for a small period of time.
This has caused me a concern and it is quite bothersome. Is this something that will heal on its own over time or is there another appropriate action to take you would recommend?
Is there anything I can do or take medicine wise that will help with healing?
Appreciate your help as always!
Best,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan:
When you say you experience the pain some days more than others, are you meaning the pain is sometimes louder than baseline, or than sometimes it is softer than baseline. If the latter, that would be a good sign as it shows that the pain is slowly going away.
I doubt an MRI will show anything unusual since I believe the ear pain is from the result of the acoustic trauma you experienced not from anything out of place that would show up on an MRI. Your doctor probably want’s to rule out an acoustic neuroma as the source of your pain, but it is unlikely you have one since the origin of your pain is the vacuum cleaner, not a tumor.
Are you taking any medications at this time? I ask because more than 600 drugs can cause ear pain and if you were taking a drug to help you deal with your ear problems in could be the culprit. Let me know and I can tell you whether it is associated with causing ear pain.
The ear pain should heal on its own. How would you describe it–a burning pain, stabbing pain, aching pain, or what?
As far as I’m concerned, the best treatment for your ears is to protect them from all louder sounds until they heal AND to not focus on our ears. Constantly focusing on your ears and your ear pain just makes matters worse. Much better to focus on the loves of your life and let your ear pain fade away in time.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Thanks for your reply!
Some days, my ear feels more clogged/fullness than pain, and certain days there is more pain. But, the ear consistently haven’t felt normal in over a month’s time.
I am currently only taking allergy medicine (Claritin) and was taking the below ear relief drops- Similasan Earache Relief Drops:
https://www.amazon.com/Similasan-Earache-Relief-Ear-Drops/dp/B00014THNG
They seem to provide small temporary relief — Are these drops helpful, safe to use? Is there other over the counter products, or home remedies that can help? I’ve taken prednisone in the past for the my other ear and it did open back up.
The pain itself sometimes feels itchy and aching; sometimes annoying like how acne would be. Also, it feels stuck at times where I cannot pop my ear open. Does fullness/stuffness also fade away in time as well? I am concerned about that.
Appreciate your insight; I’ll do my best to keep it off my mind.
Best,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan:
Have you taken Loratadine (Claritin) before without any ear problems? If so, I doubt it is causing problems now–but there are no guarantees.
Do you think allergies are messing up your ears and making it hard to distinguish from your original acoustic trauma complaint? If so, you may have to wait until after allergy season is over to see how you ears are really doing.
I doubt the Similasan-Earache Relief ear drops will cause you any problems. I haven’t had much experience with homeopathic preparations so can’t say whether it will help or not.
Yes, feelings of fullness can fade away in time. This could be a result of your allergies too so may go away when your allergies fade.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
I am replying here since I do not have an option to reply on your previous response.
Ive taken Loratadine (Claritin) for many years without any ear problems and I haven’t been taken it daily; only from time to time.
I do not think it would be the allergies are causing the ear issues and feel this is related to the vacuum noise.
I hope it will fade over time; besides protecting my ears from loud noises, is there anything else I can do to help? Also, is there anything I should avoid as earphones/headphones?
Thank you!
Best,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan:
If you use headphones/earbuds, keep the volume of music to about the same level as you would for listening to a lecture. You don’t have to avoid wearing headphones–just keep the level to the level of normal speech while your ears heal. This could take a number of months.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
On May 3, all of a sudden I had a high pitched ringing tone in my left ear that didn’t really go away. It was somewhat faint but usually steady and constant. The only unusual activity I had done before this started was when I got my 2nd dose of Moderna vaccine. I have no idea if this is related and am not speculating, just adding this in case it helps to know. I have never had covid I also want to mention (that I am aware of.) Anyway, from May 3 on I have had this ringing in only my left ear. Throughout my life, very rarely and randomly, I have had an occasion where my hearing in one ear or the other will “turn off” instantly and I get a high ringing sound in that ear for about 10 seconds and then it fades away, but it never lasted and truly only happened maybe 3 or 4 times a year. With that being said, this constant ringing that has started May 3 seemed to maybe lessen in intensity for about 1 day or maybe 2 at a time, but like I said it was already faint in volume so it’s possible I just got used to it. By May 14, which was 11 days after initial ringing, the sound spiked when I was trying to sleep and it lasted throughout the night horribly. The volume was louder and the frequencies were all over the place, changing up and down and really irritating. I called an ENT and they scheduled me for Monday May 17th (tomorrow) to have an audiogram/hearing test and then afterwards the ENT visit. Since May 14 it truly seems to be getting louder/worse. It is very constant now (not changing up and down like the May 14 night) bit it seems louder each day. It has stayed completely in the left ear the entire time. Just to exact, I will note that literally one time only since May 3 when this began, my right ear had the rare 10 second occurrence when the hearing “stopped” and a tone came in but it immediately went away and back to normal hearing. Meanwhile my left ear has had the constant ringing problem the entire time. My main question to you is what do you think is going on? Specifically, the nurse on the phone asked me if my hearing in the left ear was suffering any loss and I told her I don’t really know how to answer that. I said that I don’t really notice a decrease in hearing per se but the ringing is so loud that of course it seems to be taking away from the hearing if that makes sense. But I can still definitely hear out of it. The lad thing I will add is that as of May 14 when this became so much worse, my left ear also feels somewhat sore inside, not so much a full feeling but more like if something poked me in the ear. Although I will admit I have been much more stressed since the larger attack on May 14 so I might be more aware of this actual ear “pain”. Do you think I waited too long since technically this started over 11 days ago with the first constant ringing? I am nervous that it only has been in the left ear and I am wondering if I should go to the ER tonight even though I have the appointment tomorrow morning with the hearing test and ENT visit. It seems from your answers here it’s important to go immediately for help when there’s hearing loss but I don’t know if the loud ringing in my left ear counts as loss. Sorry for such a lengthy post I wanted to be thorough. I am afraid if I bring up the vaccine timing to the ENT they might just think I’m being paranoid. I am not anti vaxx at all but this started just 3 days after so its the only thing I can imagine is unusual. Thank you so much for your help. If I don’t hear from you soon enough I will not go to the ER and just wait to go to my appointment tomorrow but I’m worried they will misdiagnose possibly and send me home with just a tinnitus brochure.
Hi Matt:
Your tinnitus seems suspicously like it was caused by a Covid-19 vaccine. The truth is that hundreds and hundreds of people have gotten tinnitus from taking the Covid-19 shots–both Pfizer and Moderna. So your case is not unique nor rare.
Sometimes it affects both ears and other times only one ear for whatever reason. Furthermore, symptoms can begin the same day, or show up a week or two later or even longer.
Your 10 second episodes of hearing loss and tinnitus are something entirely different. This is called SBUTT. Here’s a quote from my new tinnitus book–due out later this year.
“Transient Tonal Tinnitus (TTT), otherwise known as Sudden Brief Unilateral Tapering Tinnitus (SBUTT), is where you suddenly hear a loud tone or piercing whistle in one ear that quickly becomes extremely loud. It arises out of the blue, reaches a crescendo in around a second or so and then often quickly fades away in another 2 to 10 seconds, but could last for up to a minute.
Absolutely everyone experiences Transient Tonal Tinnitus at one time or another. It is 100% universal whether they remember experiencing them or not
Transient Tonal Tinnitus occurs sporadically. It may only occur once every 5 years, or much more often. In rare cases it can occur more than 100 times a year. I typically experience TTT maybe once or twice a year.
Experiencing Transient Tonal Tinnitus is perfectly normal and is part of the way your brain calibrates your auditory system. It is nothing to worry about. Although it may seem scary, stay calm and relax as it will quickly disappear.”
The only difference between your SBUTT and most people’s experiences is that your hearing disappears while the SBUTT is occurring, but otherwise it is the same thing.
I wouldn’t be surprised that your anxiety is driving your constant tinnitus louder and louder. Try to remain calm and treat your tinnitus as you do any unimportant background sound–ignore it by focusing on other things.
I doubt you have any hearing loss since you don’t notice any. With loud tinnitus it may seem like you have a concurrent hearing loss, but that is typically not so. To me when my tinnitus was loud, it seemed like I was hearing through a fog but in actually fact, my hearing loss didn’t change when I had these experiences.
Incidentally, ear pain can be another side effect of the Covid-19 vaccines.
You don’t need to take immediate action when you get tinnitus, unlike when you get sudden hearing loss. Hearing loss and tinnitus are totally different conditions, although tinnitus can accompany hearing loss, but not the other way around.
With hearing loss they typically prescribe Prednisone, but I’m not aware that Prednisone helps much if at all with tinnitus.
Typically ENTs don’t know how to effectively treat tinnitus so send you home and tell you to learn to live with it since tinnitus is not a medical condition.
However, there are lots of things you can do to help yourself successfully deal with your tinnitus. My book on the subject (7th edition currently) deals with many of these things. You can get this book at https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/.
Cordially,
Neil
That k you for your quick and in depth response. I went to the ENT / audiogram appointments today. The doctor said my hearing test was great for a 37 year old. He said the ear looked fine when he looked inside. He agreed with you that the ringing could possibly be due to the covid vaccine. He told me I am ok to get on a airplane I have scheduled for tomorrow but recommended in a month when I return to my homestate I schedule an MRI. The ENT wants to rule out an acoustic neuroma. He says it’s rare but because my ringing and ear pain has been in my left ear entirely it needs to be ruled out. As for the ear pain he did not have any answer and sent me home with the MRI referral only. Do you think this is necessary to have done? I know you said the vaccine may have caused both tinnitus and pain in my left ear but since there’s no other way to know I am hesitant to ignore the MRI advice. Although it does seem extremely rare and I’m not sure if my symptoms are enough to warrant. In the meantime I plan to fly tomorrow, but would appreciate if you have any thoughts on that as well. Thank you for your help.
Hi Matt:
A MRI won’t hurt you like x-rays (CT scans) do, but personally, I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t see that you have enough symptoms that indicate you have an acoustic neuroma. The likelihood is that it won’t find anything wrong.
If you don’t have ear problems when flying, then there’s nothing I’d do differently. If air pressure differences cause problems then wearing Earplanes to slow down pressure chances can help. They are very useful for people that have enlarged vestibular aqueducts for example–which you almost certainly don’t have.
And if your ears are congested from a cold or allergies, taking a decongestant a half hour before taking off and before landing is also a good idea.
If engine noise bothers your tinnitus and makes it worse, then wearing ear plugs can help. So can sitting ahead of the wings since engine noise is directed behind the wings.
That’s about it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Dr. Bauman
On May 15, i woke up to feel stuffiness and moderate hearing loss in my right ear. Later on that evening, I stared to feel tinnitus in that same ear once I was in a quiet room with no sound. The symptoms continued throughout the weekend so I made an appointment to see my primary care doctor on for May 18. She initially believed it was either due to build up of wax or an ear infection. I was prescribed a weeks worth of amoxicillin and was told to use debrox four times a day for a week. Over the next few days I was still experiencing symptoms and was not feeling any better. On May 22, I was doing my own research and came across a study on sensorineural hearing loss. I began to panic once I read that there is only a short amount of time before it can be treated. I quickly called my doctor and went o see her on May 24. She gave me a ear cleaning and I begged her to prescribe me prednisone to which she did. Today is my first day of treatment on prednisone. I would like to know since this is Day 10 since onset which is within the two week window of time, what is the likelihood of recovery and much of my hearing and tinnitus is likely to improve if any? I’ve read from multiple sources that say treatment should start within the first two weeks and the sooner the better. They also say that after four weeks recovering of hearing is nearly impossible. Other sources say the window of time is 10 to 14 days.
Hi Jared:
The sooner treatment is started, the better the prognosis, but 10 days later is better than waiting longer. Sometimes hearing comes back on its own without any treatment. This happens in 30 to 60% of the cases. If this is going to happen, you’ll see definite progress in your hearing returning within 10 days.
Sometimes hearing returns with treatment, and obviously the sooner the treatment the more likely your hearing loss is to come back. And in some cases, hearing never comes back, in spite of any treatment.
Obviously, your hearing is not coming back without treatment as you haven’t mentioned any improvement in the first 10 days. So you have maybe a 30% chance of the Prednisone causing some hearing to come back in the next two weeks. After about 30 days, hearing very seldom improves.
I have 3 rules of thumb.
1. The sooner hearing begins coming back, the better your chances of a full or near full recovery.
2. The greater the hearing loss, the worse your chances of recovery.
3. After 30 days, the hearing you have is what you will have going forward.
Since you had a moderate loss, and you began treatment in 10 days, you still have a chance of some hearing coming back, but I would not expect all of it to return based on the average. But who knows, maybe you’ll defy the averages. Only time will tell.
Cordially,
Neil
Actually, I noticed some minor improvement yesterday as I wrote to you. The tinnitus is still present but it’s not as loud and slightly more tolerable. The stuffiness and swollen feeling in my ear is still present but the feeling isn’t as rough and is less prevalent throughout the day. I’m really hoping the prednisone will boost my chances of a full recovery or at least 75 percent. I’m 28 years old so from what I’ve age also plays a role in chances of recovery.
Hi Jared:
Glad you are making a bit of progress. These things can take time so as long as you are slowly improving, that’s good news.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman,
I have had tinnitus for years in my left ear. I got the Pfizer vaccine on April 20th and two weeks later, developed sudden hearing loss in my right ear. I went to the ENT the next day and have been getting steroid injections every 3-4 days. I’m taking 50 mg of prednisone daily for 19 days.
Last week, my hearing returned almost completely BUT it’s gone again now.
Do you think my hearing loss might just be temporary rather than permanent since it’s on and off? Some days I can hear 50% and other days I can’t hear anything.
I am 55 year old male.
Please advise.
Thank you!!
Hi Peter:
I agree that your hearing loss might be temporary in that it came back again (so obviously certain critical cells to hearing are not dead). But I don’t know why this is happening. Only time will tell what will ultimately happen to your hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Bauman,
I am researching the topic of SSNL as my girlfriend has recently been diagnosed with it.
So here is what happened and if you could share your thoughts or give an advise that would be greatly appreciated:
She started to have hearing less that she noticed and went to the GP. The GP looked into her ear and said that she has a mild ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.
After 1 week of antibiotics, there wasn’t much improvement (althought some hearing has been restored, but there was also a bit of pain and discomfort).
GP checked again and perscribed another antibiotics (ear spray antibiotics) – which were more helpful as my Girlfriend went again to the GP 4 days later and the GP said there is no infection anymore (clean ears), however my girlfriend still had a feeling of fullness (the way she describes it is as tension or weird feeling deep inside her ear).
After almost 4 weeks we went to a private ENT, who perfermed a tuning fork test and established it is SSNL and perscribed 40mg daily of prednisolone for 7 days and then 20mg and 10mg for another 2 weeks.
He said that since she restored some hearing already, there is a good chance she might recover, however at day 8 of her prednisolone, she has her ups and downs.
What I mean is – some time of the day (between lunch time and afternoon, mostly) she feels alright. Her hearing is okay, but she keeps complaining about this ear fullness all the time (or tension deep inside her ear) which really bothers her and it feels like imflamation I suppose.
My explanation is (because I observe her) when she is not panicking about her condition, she feels better. When she has anxiety about it, however, she feels worse. It is quite bizzare as there are times when she tells me she feels great, but then after awhile it goes back to not great.
My questions is basically, is the ear fullness (inflamation deep inside her ear, or tension) normal? Is it something that can be expected while she is treated with prednisolone? And is her hearing improving and then going back to bad, something that can be explained or expected?
Thankfully, she has an appointment to have a MIR scan in 10 days, and a meeting with another ENT to consult, however she barely sleeps and feels very tired and dizzy (dizzy mostly after taking the pills in the morning and then again during the night she feels not great) – so I would really like to encourage her, if I can.
Your thoughts would be really appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Kind regards,
Tom
Hi Tom:
When you have Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) you often have an accompanying feeling that your ear is blocked or “full”. I think this is because your brain can’t hear as much as it could, so it reasons that your ears must be blocked or it would hear better, wouldn’t it. So it gives you that blocked feeling. You could also describe it as a feeling of pressure, like you have to pop your ears, but can’t.
With SSHL, sometimes hearing (at least some of it) comes back without any treatment. This seems to be what is happening with your girlfriend–thus the late Prednisone treatments to see if more would come back. But I think the Prednisone was too late to be effective.
Anxiety can certainly mess up our ears–so I’m not surprised that when she panics, her ears seem worse, and better when she is calm.
I wouldn’t say that “up and down” hearing is common by any means–normally hearing just slowly comes back, but nevertheless, I still think it is a good thing–anything that gives you better hearing–even temporarily–is a good thing and shows that the hearing loss doesn’t have to be permanent due to death of the hair cells as if that happened, hearing couldn’t come and go.
How is she doing now?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Dr. Bauman.
I have also similar case as mentioned above just like other. Here is my stories:
On May 6, 2021 evening I suddenly developed dizziness and vomitted 3,4 times. Next morning i went to urgent care and they prescribed me antivert medicine. My dizziness was lasted only for 1 hr and it was resolved, eventhough i went to urgent care for further evaluation. After a week, again i had dizziness attack at evening time and tomorrow morning my hearing is gone, again i went to urgent care and they prescribed me antibiotics Amoxy- Clavullinate for 10 days. But my hearing was back after 2 days, but still i kept taking my antiobiotics as full course. After that again on June 4 i had dizziness attack with profuse sweating and hearing loss next morning, since then i still have hearing loss and tinnitus. Ear ringing is so worse that it is hearing like blowing pipe sound noise. I went to ENT/Orolaryngologist they gave me Steroids 40,50,40,20mg for 16 days. But my hearing is not back . Again they gave second round of steroid as 60 x7,40×5, 20×5 days. I am still taking steroid by mouth. My doctor also gave me 2 round of Steroid injection in my ear on June 17 and June 23 and 3rd round will be on July 1.
Note: I also had COVID vaccine (Pfizer) 2 weeks prior to first dizziness attacks and 2nd dose on after second dizziness attack.
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I have been scanning this site and it has helped to figure some stuff out.
I have been diagnosed with SNHL and was started on the high dose of Prednisone. Not sure if it’s going to work. I am on day 5 of taking the oral meds and haven’t noticed anything getting better yet. I believe I got in within 2-3 weeks of noticing the tinnitus and within of week of noticing the hearing loss, but not exactly sure when the hearing loss began. I had my first intratympanic dexamethasone injection this week. Just trying to do anything possible to help. My question is I am scheduled to fly to Greece July 14 for a swimming trip where we swim in the ocean for a week every day, and I am wondering if with two more injections scheduled with the last one being July 7, if that’s a problem with the hole in the eardrum healing. I will wear Doc Pro Plugs, but I don’t know for sure if that is 100% effective for keeping the water out. Also is flying a problem? Thank you so much!
Hi Tammy:
Flying shouldn’t be a problem whether the “holes” are healed up, or open. However, if the holes are still open, I’d wear ear plugs to keep the water away from your ear drums. The Doc Pro earplugs are guaranteed waterproof according to their website so if you insert them properly and they fit properly to your ear canals, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with any water getting into your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I woke up the morning of June 6 with my left ear feeling clogged. I also had some minor ringing in my ear. I went to urgent care and they saw no infection, but recommended ibuprofen and Flonase. This didn’t really help. I made an appointment with an ENT. The ENT gave me a hearing test, and determined that my left ear had lost some hearing performance compared to my right ear, although I was still within normal hearing range even in the bad ear. The ENT doctor determined from my hearing test that I have inflammation of my cochlea. He prescribed me a 14 day course of Prednisone. I started the Prednisone on June 15 and it worked beautifully. I was much better by day 2, and 100% better by day 4. Unfortunately the issue returned today, just a day after finishing the steroids. It is no better or worse, just the same as it was before I started taking the steroids.
At the end of May, I was battling a cold (Covid negative) which the ENT suspects is the cause of this. I took my Pfizer Covid vaccine on May 24 and second dose was one June 14, which I also fear may have something to do with my symptoms.
I am scared that I might live the rest of my life with this uncomfortable feeling. Or worse that the condition gets worse. I have been feeling depressed about this situation, and pretty distraught that the issue returned.
What do you make of the prednisone working so effectively, but the issue returning once the prednisone was completed? Is there anything you can recommend that will help me be more proactive with my recovery? Is there anything I can bring forth to my next doctors visit so I can accelerate my treatment in the right direction?
I really appreciate any advice. Thank you so much.
Hi Eric:
What is your situation now? Do you still have the clogged feeling or has it gone away?
Where I’ve heard of Prednisone working well AS LONG AS YOU ARE TAKING IT is when you have Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED). But from what you have described, it doesn’t sound like you have AIED.
Why do you think the COVID vaccine had something to do with this?
Normally, you don’t have to live forever with a clogged feeling. It typically goes away. Your doctors probably think you had a clogged Eustachian tube, hence giving you the Ibuprofen and Flonase. Then they suspected inflammation hence the Prednisone. However, what could be the real reason is your trigeminal nerve was hyperactivated/irritated/ inflamed and when that goes away, things will return to normal.
Don’t worry and give up hope. The future looks good for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reply Dr. Bauman! Wish I had seen it sooner!
I had blood tests for AIED and everything came back normal, thank God.
The suspicion of the Covid vaccine is only due to the timing of receiving the vaccine and the onset of these symptoms. Then reading other people experiencing ear problems after the vaccine. Otherwise, it is just a guess.
I was prescribed a second round of prednisone, which was completed one week ago. My ear once again got much better! The clogged feeling went away. After completing the second round of prednisone, I saw the ENT once more. They gave me a hearing test and, good news, I recovered all my hearing in the left ear!
I am so happy to about this, however one thing I did notice that started during this second round of prednisone is the sensation of feeling/hearing my breathing within my ear. In addition, I can hear my own voice inside my ear like an echo of some sort. Also I had some noise sensitivity in that ear (which has now resolved). From what I am researching this is an indication of some type of Eustachian tube dysfunction. The symptoms are not severe, and as time passes they seem to happen less and less. Yesterday, for example, I may have felt the “breathing within the ear” for a brief 20 minutes or so the entire day, before it going away.
My ear still has this feeling of needing to be popped from time to time. Again, it isn’t severe and nowhere near the feeling of being clogged I once had, but nonetheless I can’t help but feel much more frequently the need to yawn or do whatever to get relief from popping the affected ear.
I am also left with some tinnitus. It is a high frequency pitch. It isn’t particularly loud, and I don’t notice it at all unless it is very quiet, but it is there nonetheless. This seems to be decreasing in severity as time goes on as well, but at a much slower rate. It seems worse in the middle of the night/ morning. I am hoping this goes away. I am off caffeine, trying to eat little salt, and staying hydrated.
Hopefully the symptoms I am still dealing with are “residual” from whatever started this mess, and will resolve over time. That is what I am hoping for, anyway.
Thank you again for your reply, I really appreciate you!
Hi Eric:
It sounds like you now have patulous Eustachian tubes where they remain open–hence you hear your breathing sounds as quite loud and your voice sounds different too. Fortunately, it sounds like it is fading away which is good.
Theoretically, if your Eustachian tube is open, you don’t need to pop your ears as there is no pressure difference to change. However, some people get this feeling of pressure/needing to pop their ears when they have patulous Eustachian tubes–so it seems to be a psychological condition since the tubes are already open.
I think you just need more time and all your symptoms will fade away. You are well on your way–and that is great.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
I was deadlifting at my gym on the 9th of june which also has loud music. My ears out of nowhere started ringing and I was sensative to sound. THe next day my hearing was muffled. I went to the gym the next day with muffled hearing later at night. The next day I visited my GP who said I had an ear infection in my right ear.
GP presribed Amoxiccil and Sofradex ear drops. The muffling went away but was replaced with a sound gas/air leaking or the sound of someone sitting an a quite room 24/7.
I am on my 4th week as GP said to wait but can’t bear this sound. Will Prednisone help? Should I get it ?
Hi Dave:
When you are in a very loud environment and your ears start ringing and you become sensitive to sound, and everything sounds muffled, you have just damaged your ears and caused both tinnitus and loudness hyperacusis as well as some degree of hearing loss which may be temporary or permanent or partly both.
Since it is more that a month later, the likelihood that prednisone will help matters is very remote. I’d just give things time–like a couple months or more. And you need to protect your ears from louder sounds during this time so your ears can heal. That means no more gym’s or loud venues without wearing ear protectors.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
On 6/17/21 I was exposed to a very loud noise and have had muffled hearing and intense tinnitus in my left ear. I had my hearing checked the next day and there was no change in my audiogram. I still have the symptoms 19 days later. I don’t know if there is anything that can be done. I am feeling hopeless.
Hi Kristin:
If this was a sudden unexpected loud sound, you could now be experiencing acoustic shock–and two symptoms of it are tinnitus and a muffled or blocked feeling in your ears.
Hearing loss may not show up right away–it can take up to a few weeks, depending on exactly what happened in your ears. I suspect you have some hidden hearing loss which doesn’t show up on standard audiograms–so you think you didn’t damage your hearing, but that is not necessarily true.
If you had told me this the next day, I would have suggested taking NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) for a couple of weeks, but it is too late now to be effective. Even taking Prednisone might have helped.
The thing to do now is calm down and relax. Don’t worry or be anxious about your ears as that is counterproductive and can keep your symptoms going. As you relax, you’ll find the blocked/muffled feeling will fade away as your trigeminal nerve calms down. The loud sound probably hyperactivated and irritated it.
Don’t think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being. Rather think of it as a totally unimportant background sound that you can safely ignore–then ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and it will fade into the background in time.
It takes time–months not days, so be patient.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Bauman,
On May 31st, I started getting episodes of vertigo and pressure in my ear. I had not been ill and had been experiencing very little allergy symptoms (maybe a slight cough occasionally when outside – definitely not the normal allergy symptoms people have). I had been diagnosed with BPPV once several years ago, so at first I thought it was that. However, by the next day it was still happening so I went to the urgent care clinic. The doctor looked in my ear and said there was fluid, but it was clear and to take OTC anti-histamine, nasal steroid, and nasal decongestant, and prescribed meclizine and Zofran for the dizziness and nausea and to come in if I started getting pain or other symptoms of an ear infection. Over the next few days it seemed to be getting better and happening less frequently, and no pain or fever, etc. I had a planned vacation so I decided to go on it. On June 7th (2nd day of vacation), I started getting dizzy and was soon vomiting and experiencing vertigo that wasn’t going away. I called an ambulance and went to an ER where they said I had an ear infection and prescribed Augmentin and valium. I spent the next two days mostly laying in bed with vertigo and nausea. On June 10th, the vertigo/nausea had mostly subsided but my ear still felt full. I went to an ENT office and they said my ear was clear of fluid but did an audiogram and discovered that my left ear had profound hearing loss (couldn’t register anything). I am pretty sure I lost the hearing on the day I went to the ER. They prescribed prednisone so I could get well enough to drive home and follow up with ENT in my home city. I was able to get into my ENT office to see a PA on June 17th (day 11), and they changed my prednisone prescription a bit so I ended up doing 6 days 60 mg, and then tapered every 4 days 40>20>10>5 (22 days total) which I finished last week.
I’ve used a hearing test app on my phone in the last week, and its possible I got a bit of improvement (hear some frequencies at 80 dcbl) although I don’t know how accurate that is. My other symptoms such as dizziness and head pressure have gotten much better over the time, although still a bit there. MRI came back normal.
Is it worth it to try intratympanic steroid injections? I don’t have an ENT appointment or audiogram until July 20th but I asked about it over the phone and the PA is refusing. Should I try to get a 2nd opinion or go to another office? Unfortunately I was trying to get ahold of them last week and they just now got back with me today refusing to do the steroid injection, so that was more wasted time.
I also should mention that I am 40 years old and am in otherwise good health.
Thank you very much for your help in answering all these questions!
Nancy
Hi Nancy:
I think we can rule out BPPV as having nothing to do with your present situation, as BPPV does not result in hearing loss.
From what you describe, I wonder whether you had a viral attack in your inner ear (and you may or may not have had an infection in your middle ear–I tend to doubt it). Viral attacks can cause the dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss such as you experienced.
Did you have any virus active in your body just before this happened? You had the “funny” allergy symptoms that might really have been a viral attack.
The virus is probably long gone now, so I don’t think that having Prednisone injections will really help much. You’ve had the Prednisone and it has done whatever it did, but your hearing did not improve substantially. Thus, further Prednisone treatments probably won’t do much now.
If you have problems with balance issues, go to a balance clinic and see whether your vestibular system on one side is damaged. If so, physiotherapy to improve your balance could prove helpful.
After another month, I’d have an audiologist give you a complete audiological evaluation and based on that, you may find that getting a hearing aid in your bad ear will help (or not–depends on how bad your hearing is and your word recognition score in your bad ear).
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve had tinnitus since 2015 and am totally habituated, but this is a new tone, and the panic is starting all over again, can’t sleep, can’t eat, suicidal and also, there is a lockdown and highly stressed in life.
I have taken a course of Teevir for a risky sexual exposure as PEP, the medecine included these active ingredients:
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate
Efavirenz
Emtricitabine
I looked everywhere, and these are not ototoxic, well, apparently, they are…because something happened anyways…tinnitus started after 14 days on the meds, new tone, very intrusive, it’s not going away, been 48 hours now.
I’ve stopped taking Teevir, but the tinnitus is not going away.
Would Prednisone be recommended for medicine-induced tinnitus?
How long to I have to take it 72 hours, 7 days , 2 weeks, 4 weeks? I kind of want to wait it out more, see if the tone disappears by itself, it’s gotten very quiet on a few occasions where I could barely hear/find it.
I read that prednisone can sometimes make tinnitus worse, so I’m worried…but I took it before and I was fine, but that was for sound, this time it’s for ototoxic medication…;(
Hi Andre:
You need to get your anxiety under control as it just makes things worse. You habituated to your tinnitus before, and you can do so again.
All three drugs in the Teevir are ototoxic. They all have been reported to cause tinnitus among other ototoxic side effects. None of these drugs has a high probability of causing tinnitus, but for some people, such as you apparently, it does. So you are correct in your assessment of it causing your tinnitus.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any information whether the tinnitus is temporary or permanent. It may prove to be only temporary. You need to give it time. 48 hours is not enough. I’d give it a minimum of 2 weeks to see whether your tinnitus fades away–but remember, that typically only happens when you get your anxiety under control.
I don’t know whether Prednisone is effective for tinnitus. I seldom hear people mentioning it in regards to treating tinnitus, basically it is for treating hearing loss.
And you are right that Prednisone can make tinnitus worse or cause tinnitus in some people. I don’t think it is a high percentage though.
Since you tinnitus goes quiet at times, if it was me, I’d just wait it out as going quiet is a good sign. If a week goes by and it gets better that would be great. You could still take the Prednisone after a week and it should still be effective if indeed it is effective for tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear dr,
I have been struggling with dizzy spells, ear fullness and ringing in the ears for 5 years. Its not full on vertigo, and the dizzy feeling usually lasts 10-30 seconds. Total including ear fullness and ringing is somewhere beetween 5-20 min. MR is fine. No diagnosis, but my dr mentioned something about hydrops. Last year i suffered sudden deafness. Took steriiods, but the hearing has not returned. It has been 10 months, and since the sudden deafness I have not had any more dizzy spells. My Doctor finds this Very interesting, but cant explan it. Living without the dizzy spells and ear fullness and Always being scared of an attack has been amazing. I would say I prefer only hearing on one ear over the attacks. Anyways, I have my vaccine appoitment next week. Has there been any research on if the vaccine can worsen symptoms for people with vestibular disorders? I am afraid of a flare up. i keep reading about people with inner ear issues experiencing worse symptoms. Have you heard anything about this? And can you explain why deafness can make previous dizzy spell disappear (hopefully for good) . Sometimes I get a feeling that ab attack is happening, but it has so far been a false alarm.
Hi Anelle:
It sounds like you might be having “incipient” Meniere’s attacks. Hydrops is just another way of saying much the same thing.
Having sudden hearing loss and no more dizziness, etc. is unusual to be sure. However, I can think of a reason for this. When you have Meniere’s or hydrops the basic cause is your vestibulo-cochlear nerve (8th cranial nerve) being pinched due to a misalignment of your top two vertebrae (c1 and C2). Depending on exactly which nerve fibers are pinched determines what symptoms you have–whether full blown Meniere’s or cochlear hydrops or vestibular hydrops.
Going to an upper cervical chiropractor to get these two vertebrae precisely aligned again can get rid of these symptoms/problems. It sure wouldn’t hurt to go to one of these guys and see whether you are “out” or not.
To find one, go to http://www.upcspine.com/ and click on the “Practitioners” tab and go from there.
It is true that thousands of people have experienced vestibular symptoms after taking the Covid vaccines, so you take your chances. It is up to you to decide whether the risk outweighs the supposed good the vaccines do or not.
If you have had any head/neck “trauma” that might have caused your vertebrae to “move” could explain the change in your hearing, etc. Of course, there could be other reasons too, but from what you have said, that is the only one that comes to mind.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the answer. So as the attacks are incipient, there’s a risk of getting the real attacks later? I have had the same thought myself, but struggle to understand why I suddenly lost my hearing, as all doctors have I been to have said that loosing your hearing when having Menieres takes a long time..
Is it common to have incipient symptoms for years, and then suddenly you get the real deal Meniere?
Thank you,
Hi Anelle:
By incipient, I mean the attacks are real all right–just mild and not including all 4 classic symptoms of Meniere’s.
Typically, notice I said typically, hearing loss with Meniere’s is two steps down, one step back–so you have a fluctuating, but ever downward loss of hearing. But everyone is different.
Some people, like myself, have gradually increasing symptoms, while other people have a full-blown severe episode as their introduction to Meniere’s. As I said, everyone is different.
I didn’t say you had Meniere’s, or even incipient Meniere’s–but it is a possibility. Getting your C1 and C2 vertebrae checked/adjusted is a sure way to know and prevent further problems in this area.
Your hearing loss may be totally unrelated to Meniere’s. Doctors call it idiopathic–just meaning they don’t have a clue what caused it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I woke up last Sunday with tinnitus, ear fullness/pressure in and around the ears and a sense of partial deafness, particularly in the left ear. This was accompanied by dizziness, trouble walking straight and a general feeling of spaceyness/disorientation.
I was prescribed 40mg prednisolone for 7 days by my GP. However after my audiogram showed no hearing loss the ENT told me not to take the prednisolone. She also found no physical signs of anything wrong in my ears. She told me to just wait and see what happens and that possibly this was a progression of my existing tinnitus (which I had for 10 years and was not normally bothered by)
My questions are: 1) Does this sound like it could be something other than a worsening of the existing tinnitus?
2) Is there a value to taking prednisolone in this situation? If so, is the dose and duration sufficient? Most people seem to be prescribed 60 mg.
Really appreciative of any advice you can offer.
Best wishes,
Kirsty
Hi Kirsty:
Worsening tinnitus does not cause all those symptoms. My guess is that it was a virus that got into your inner ears. Did you have a cold, flu, herpes, or any other virus active in your body just before this occurred?
How are your ears and balance doing now? If things are back to normal, I sure wouldn’t take any unnecessary drugs.
Sometimes Prednisolone works and sometimes it doesn’t, so even taking it may not make any difference. Personally, I’m a drug minimalist–so only take drugs when it is absolutely necessary. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t take it based on what you have told me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello. I’ve purchased both of your books in the past. I had high frequency hearing loss and severe tinnitus after a middle ear infection and eventually (4 months ago) tymoanoplasty for a total perforation. At the 3.5 month mark after surgery, I still had high frequency hearing loss but it was improved, and the tinnitus was thankfully improved. The tinnitus was still not gone, and still depressing often, but at least I could sleep and live my life. Then about a month ago I had the unbelievable misfortune of being bitten by a wild kitten who showed up at our door, and I was trying to rescue to help. That led to a serious infection on my knuckle and two courses of antibiotics (clindamycin and augmentin or amoxicillin — not sure which on the second but a different doctor reading bottle said augmentin, bottle said “amoxi”). Those caused severe diarrhea for 4 weeks, which ultimately led last week to a suspected diagnosis of c diff. Doctor had me start metronixadole (sp? Similar to flagyl). Took that for 4 days until c diff test returned negative. Tinnitus started getting noticably worse first morning after taking that horrible medication. (I also developed mild to moderate tinnitus in my previously silent ear — which was extremely distressing.) My diarrhea has decreased in frequency but continues. So I’m worried I could have developed some kind of mild IBS, which I’m concerned could continue (I also have some nausea). I was totally healthy before all of this — I’m healthy weight, eat lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, etc, and I’m a distance runner. Never had gut problems before. Anyway, my tinnitus seemed to improve a little when I stopped the medication. But then I tried NAC and steroid cream, but the cream just in my “good” ear. That cream has worsened tinnitus for me repeatedly in the past (usually resolves after a few days). That’s why I only tried in my right / good ear. I know that is supposedly a treatment for tinnitus so I wanted to try. Then my tinnitus spiked WAY up — higher than it has ever been — yesterday and last night. It was catastrophic. I couldn’t believe it. I tried to stay calm by telling myself that it would probably get better. In the past, I’ve been very sensitive to lots of medications making my tinnitus temporarily worse — usually improving after a few days or weeks. Today tinnitus seems slightly better but mornings are usually better so I’m still terrified. Now I’m wondering whether there’s any chance oral steroids would be worth trying. I’m really concerned that I will be in the group that they don’t help. (My bad ear did initially with the metroprazilome feel weird / stuffy but that seems better — not sure now.) I’m concerned, for me, steroids might just make the tinnitus even worse. Other meds that have made tinnitus worse for me in the past are: cbd oil with .3% thc, moderna vaccine, allergy meds, steroid cream. (Side note: the week before I started the c diff med, I also started allergy drops, similar to allergy shots. I was on the second week when this all happened. I also noticed pretty bad post nasal drip developing. So I stopped the allergy drops, too.) Since I’ve had some improvement (tinnitus up and down over the last several days — sometimes horrible, sometimes improved, plus I added the NAC and steroid cream. The steroid cream was in the other ear — could that somehow affect my bad ear?? The NAC I’m not sure but possibly has also worsened tinnitus before. I wasn’t sure she thought maybe it could help.) Since I’ve been so sensitive to medications including definitely steroid cream in the past, and since my tinnitus *usually* gets better after a few days or weeks of stopping problematic medication, do you think I should just wait and not try steroids? I’m very concerned about this latest worsening bc my tinnitus has never been this bad and was getting substantially better a couple months after the tymoanoplasty. My tinnitus was severe before the surgery. Last night was catastrophic. I have had THI score in the past and it was severe. This was worse. I can’t imagine living with that level of tinnitus. I took melatonin three times last night every couple of hours to sleep 6 hours total. It was hell. Or should I maybe try oral steroids? Also, could all of these GI issues be causing my tinnitus worsening? I’m scared of that, too, bc I guess that could become permanent for some people. I’m a 51 year old female if that matters. My GI issues have been improving since I stopped the meds about 6 days ago. But still not back to normal so possibly I may need to see a gastroenterologist. Jesus tinnitus is hell. I’m praying to God that I can get back to the improved level I was thankfully enjoying after the surgery. I would greatly appreciate any feedback.
Hi Tina:
Here are my answers to your concerns.
1. I would NOT take steroids of any kind for your tinnitus. You are already sensitive to them and they make your tinnitus worse. Besides, I’ve not seen steroids listed as an effective treatment for tinnitus. So I’d stay away from them.
2. Whenever you take antibiotics, at the same time and for a couple of weeks afterwards, always take live probiotics to reseed your gut with the “good guys”. When you don’t, your gut gets overrun with the bad guys like C. dif. as you experienced. In addition to taking probiotics, also eat some live culture foods such as live-culture yogurt or kefir or other live culture foods. (Make sure the yogurt says it is live culture as most are pasteurized after the yogurt is made and that kills the “good guys”. Take them between the antibiotic doses–half way between the doses, not at the same time or else the antibiotics will kill the probiotics too. This should also help eliminate your diarrhea.
3. NAC shouldn’t be a problem. It is the body’s powerful antioxidant, but it isn’t really the solution to your tinnitus–but it helps prevent ear damage.
I think you’ll find your tinnitus will continue to improve as time goes on. Try not to focus on your tinnitus. Instead focus on the loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil. I’m still in total distress and haven’t been able to sleep for many nights now. I’m not trying the steroids, although I think maybe I have had a slight worsening of my hearing with these meds. I stopped taking probiotics bc I read a study saying that those made gut recovery after antibiotics not happen even after 6 months. That’s a long story. But here’s my other question. They think now that I have post infectious IBS. I’m eating a special diet and still having gastro symptoms although those are improving. Do you think there’s any chance that this illness is worsening my tinnitus, and that the tinnitus might get better when this illness goes away? I had a month of diarrhea bad, that’s improving but not gone, plus stomach bloating and pain.
Hi Tina:
Who was the study by? Someone associated or paid by the drug companies to bad mouth probiotics so you buy their drugs instead? If you have the link, I’d like to read it and see what is really going on.
Or are you going to believe the many doctors and people who prescribe/take probiotics to undo the damage done by the antibiotics and get their guts back to normal as fast as possible? I always take probiotics when/after taking antibiotics because they work. Maybe you have some rare thing that makes taking probiotics a problem, but I really wonder…
Are you taking any drugs now?
Your tinnitus could be “hanging on” because of your great distress and anxiety at this point. So you want to get this under control as well.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you for your reply.
The sense of pressure and dizziness has eased over the last few days and as it has, the tinnitus has decreased too. I think that my hearing being blocked was making me perceive my existing tinnitus as louder, rather than it being a worsening of the tinnitus itself.
I did not have an illness prior to this, however today I have spiked a fever. So I think your suggestion of a virus is probably correct.
Odd that it should occur 10 days after the first symptoms. I have to get a Covid test now but based on what you said, it seems more likely to be an inner ear infection.
I only took the prednisolone for 2 days as it did not make me feel good, and seemed to be for an uncertain benefit.
Thanks again,
Kirsty
Hello Neil, on Sep 3 my right ear clogged and it got popped in the evening, after few hours, I have started hearing the rigging noise in right ear and now I can hear it in both ears( Right ear has little high pitch sound compare to left ear)
I have been listening to music for almost 1 year using Bluetooth earpods at high sound and I suspect it could be the reason for my tinnitus.
Went to ENT on Sep 10 and did a hearing test. The test came back as normal until 8K and 10DB mild loss at 12K.. over all the Doctor said that my hearing is normal. Did not prescribe any medication to me.
Is it too late to take Prednisone ? I went through some forums and said the windows is between 2-4 weeks and after it wont work
I would really appreciate for any feedbacks
Thank you
Hi Shawn:
Prednisone is used for sudden hearing loss, but I have not seen it used successfully for tinnitus. So if you are taking it to reduce your tinnitus, I doubt it will make any difference. At the same time be aware than Prednisone has its own set of side effects.
It is true that the sooner you take Prednisone, the more likely it is to help–and it is now 2 weeks later so the time for its best effectiveness has already passed, but it may still do some good for the next two weeks.
You need to tone down the volume of the music, or you will just cause yourself more problems in the future. A good rule of thumb is to listen to music and the same level as you listen to people talking. If you do this, you should not damage your ears in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil, I had a basically textbook case of SSHL in my right ear (no clear cause — no covid vaccine, head trauma, meds, etc.), which did not end up being super obvious on an audiogram but I am young (early 20s) and used to have perfect hearing. Now everything sounds totally messed up, and doing an HD hearing test on youtube I notice that my bass pitches are now much quieter or nonexistent in my right ear. I started prednisone 60mg/d exactly seven days after it happened (now day eight, no change yet).
A few things I’m wondering:
– Do low pitches come back more easily than high pitches?
– I have an appointment tomorrow (day 9) with an ENT and plan on discussing steroid injections in addition to oral therapy, what do you think about this?
– Will my youth give me an advantage? Do you think I have decent chances of recovery?
Hi Bobby:
How much hearing did you lose by frequency if it’s not “super obvious on an audiogram”? Can you send me a copy of your audiogram? I’d like to see exactly what your audiogram shows. My email address is at the bottom of every page on this website.
When you say sounds are messed up–exactly what do you mean?
I don’t know whether low pitches come back as well/fast as higher pitches. Few people get low frequency hearing loss as compared to high-frequency hearing loss so not much data available. The one condition that is probably the most common cause of low frequency hearing loss is Meniere’s disease or if not full-blown Meniere’s, cochlear hydrops.
Steroids may help, or they may not. If you choose to get them, the sooner the better as time is of essence.
Until I know more about your situation, I don’t have an opinion on what the future holds.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil!
I hope you’re doing well. On Sept 23, yesterday, suddenly lost hearing on my left ear, and believe it was SSHL. I was prescribed calcort 6mg for 9 days. However, I see many people mention prednisone. Do you which steroid treatment would be better for?
Hi Kate:
Deflazacort (Calcort) has been around for 35 years, and is a gulucocorticoid as is Prednisone, but for some reason, you don’t hear of it being prescribed for sudden hearing loss. The most commonly prescribed drug seems to be Prednisone followed by Prednisolone. I don’t know why Deflazacort is not used for SSHL, but theoretically it should work just as well as other glucocorticoids. Why don’t you ask your doctor why he prescribed Deflazacort instead of Prednisone?
Cordially,
Neil
Dear dr Neil,
I have had Meniere-like symptoms for over 6 year. No hearing loss on yearly test, and I’ve had attacks on a monthly basis. Then earlier this year I woke up completely deaf on the troubled ear. Hearing test show that the hearing loss is flat for all frequencies (not just the bass). After the attack of sudden deafness I’ve had no vertigo or dizzy attacks. And it’s been almost 8 months now. Is it common for the meniere symptoms to ease off once the hearing loss is complete? I wish I won’t have to have any more attacks, but I’m scared of it suddenly returning.
Thank you for your time
Hannah
Hi Hannah:
Sometimes, as you get older, and have had Meniere’s for a number of years, it “burns out” and you don’t have the vertigo attacks, etc. much or at all.
However, if you have Meniere’s disease or one of its variations such as cochlear hydrops or vestibular hydrops, you can get rid of them quite easily. Read my article on the subject at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ .
It’s a long article (around 30 pages or so if you print it out), but it tells you everything you need to know. So far, everyone that has followed what I wrote there (and has reported back to me) no longer have the Meniere’s–so it works if you have true Meniere’s.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi dr. Bauman. On september 2nd i woke up to distorted hearing in my right ear, and decreased hearing in both. The distortion sounded like a blown car speaker. Went to the emergency room immediatly. Was told i had a loose hair in each ear and went to the ear dr on the same day. Had a hearing and tympanic test wich showed i had some high pitch hearing loss. And a relativly normal tympanogram. Was prescribed prednisone but was reluctant to start it due to previous unwanted side effects . So I contacted my ENT and she told me she would prescribe me a lower dose. Then sge advised me not to use it because they didn’t feel that it would help my situation. Distortion got better in a few days but the hearing loss pretty much remain the same. Sometime in the middle of the same month I was awakened on the couch I rolled to my right side and the Distortion came back for a few hours then it seemed to have resolved itself. On October 11th the same situation occurred in my left ear. Woke up and was okay and when I roll to my left side Distortion was in my left ear and I couldn’t hear very well In either ear. Got up in a panic thinking there may be wax in my ear and immediately used a Q-tip. When I pulled the Q-tip out there was blood on it so I immediately had my mother drive me to the emergency room. They looked in my ear and said I had a scratch and prescribed me antibiotics ear drops and told me to contact my ent immediately. So upon coming home I called my ent and they told me not to use the ear drops until they examine me. then wasn’t able to get in until that Friday. She examined my ears and said it did not look infected therefore not to use the ear drops. And then talked to me about possible TMJ problems can advise me to speak with my dentist and or get a mouthguard. Then i had spoke to my dentist and he told me a mouth guard is very expensive and to buy one over the counter. Which I did but the device used to make the mouth guard was too big for my mouth. My hearing has not returned to normal ever since all this has happened. My hearing sounds more muffled than it used to especially my own voice when I talk. I have a pressure sensation in my ears. I’ve also had tinnitus for the past 4 years. I Made an appointment with my regular doctor who I saw roughly about a week and a half ago, and when he examined my ears he told me I had a loose hair and a little bit of wax and what he thought he saw as some murky fluid behind my left ear. Prescribe me some nasal saline to try to get the fluid out. But never used it because I thought why would you want to put moisture in your nose to remove moisture out of your ear wouldn’t putting moisture in your nose make more fluid in your ear? Anyway, I made an appointment with my ent again and when she saw me she looked in my ears and said she saw no fluid at all and that some doctors aren’t smart when it comes to ears. Said I had a few floating hairs but no wax. And said there was nothing else they could do because they’re testing appear normal to them . Then gave me a referral for hearing aids and a list of ents my insurance may cover. My question is if i started prednisone now, would there be any chance for my hearing to get better? As my hearing test shows i have a mild hearing loss in some pitches and a moderate hearing loss in the highest pitch. I also want to note that previous to this I had noticed I have what I think is pulsatile tinnitus when I’m standing up straight and look down at the ground. I can hear my heartbeat in a wetness sound in my ear thumping. Also when I try to hum a note or sing a note steadily I can hear my heartbeat in my right ear during that note. Also i have degenitarive disk desease in some of my upper vertebrae between my shoulders near my neck. Had decompression surgery in 2001 for Arnold Chiari is in my neck. And I’ve had left shoulder issues for the past year or so. Cannot extend my left shoulder the same way that I do my right at times. Was also in a hit and run accident on September 3rd the day after the first ear Distortion occurred. Immediately following the accident my left cheek was somewhat numb and I had pain going into my shoulder which decreased over time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am getting to my wit’s end with all of this, thank you so very much for your time.🙏
I forgot to add, i also have sjograns and possable lupus. Along with inflammatory arthritus. Not sure if that would have any coralation.
Hi Tiffany:
First, to answer your question about Prednisone. After 30 days have gone by, taking Prednisone is largely a waste of time and money. To be effective you need to take the Prednisone as soon as you can after the hearing loss and certainly not later than 2 weeks. Between 2 and 4 weeks later, the Prednisone may still help, but typically it doesn’t help much. So I don’t think taking the Prednisone now is really worth it, but you are free to do so if you wish.
When you roll over and lose hearing or have distorted hearing, immediately the thing that comes to my mind is that you have pinched various nerves in your neck including your vestibulo-cochlear nerve and your trigeminal nerve. And having Arnold Chiari heightens my suspicions that your top two vertebrae (C1 and C2) are not in proper alignment and thus are pressing on your vestibulo-cochlear nerve. (I assume you have Type II?)
What I’d do if I was in your shoes would be to go to an upper cervical chiropractor (NOT a conventional one), preferably one who uses the Blair techniques (but there are 9 other techniques also used) and have him see whether your C1 and C2 are in proper alignment. This may be a problem since you have Chiari–but it never hurts to let him assess you and then discuss with you whether anything can be done having regard to your specific situation.
Make sure you choose one who takes precision x-rays so he can determine exactly how much and in what direction your neck is out and can show you on them.
You can find these upper cervical spine chiropractors by going to http://www.upcspine.com/ and clicking on the “Practitioners” tab.
Cordially,
Neil
Neil,
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions. I tested positive for Covid 19 on 11/08/21. Typical systems fever, chills night sweats. Then on 11/15/21 I noticed ringing in my ears. Prior to testing positive I never had an issue with ringing in the ears before. I went to urgent care who flushed my ears for ear wax and they told me that I had fluid behind my ear drum which could be causing the ringing. They suggested Flonase and Salt Water Nasal Flush. I also stated taking prednisone 20mg a day on 11/16/21. I am still noticing the ringing. Is there anything else I should be doing to help things along? I am also taking natural supplements like NAC, Vitamin C, Zinc, lions main ect. Do you think the ringing will subside with time?
Hi Aaron:
I think you are doing what you can at this time, except for one thing. You are focusing on your tinnitus, rather than focusing on the loves of your life and thereby ignoring your tinnitus. The more you focus on your tinnitus, the more your brain “sets it in stone” so to speak. Whereas the more you focus on other things and thereby ignore your tinnitus, the sooner it will fade into the background and not be a problem.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you kindly Neal for taking the time to respond!
I appreciate it greatly.
Aaron
Hi Neil, I suffered with SSHL on 20 Nov, it remained undiagnosed till 9th December when I got my audiogram with profound hearing loss in right ear. I started with tapering dose of steroid on 10th December. I also took accupuncture session on 10th December. I started getting very little hearing back on 11th December which has increased only slightly on 14th. I asked my doctor to put me on antivirals too which he prescribed and I started them on 13th December. What are the chances as per you for my recovery. Typically how many days it takes to see the maximum impact of steroids. Also would HBOT help improving my condition?
Thanks,
Anshu
Hi Anshu:
Twenty-five days have now passed since your sudden hearing loss. Any treatments you take now will only be minimally effective at this late date.
Anti-virals have to be taken in the first two days to have much chance of being effective.
Steroids should also be started ASAP, but still can be effective up to two weeks later.By the end of 30 days, no treatments are effective as far as I am concerned.
The chances of HBOT being effective now is pretty slim too–but it might still help.
However, to be realistic, if hearing was going to come back, it should have come back by now. I really doubt you will get much hearing back in spite of all you do/have done because in my experience, typically very little hearing returns after a profound loss–maybe 10 or 15 dB. I know you don’t want to hear this, but it is what I believe will ultimately prove true. Sorry. The hearing you have at the end of 30 days is likely all you will have in that ear going forward. It’s SO important to get immediate treatment after a sudden hearing loss to give yourself the best chance of recovering some/most/all your lost hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I like all your informative comments. About three weeks ago, woke up in middle of night.. room was spinning and had vomiting and diarrhea all day…. Hearing completely went out in left ear…. It came back but now I have a ringing and have been dizzy for three weeks although it is much better I feel completely off balance and unstable. I went to the chiro and acupuncture and I think it helped. Went today to ent and he did a hearing test told me I had sudden loss in left ear and ringing and is putting me on steroids prednisone. Is it too late? Should I just keep going to chiro and acupuncture? Also why does this randomly happy out of nowhere? Could it have been a viral food poisoning?? Never experienced this before or dizziness and vertigo… just want to feel normal! If it’s gotten better I hope with time it will?
Also random. But went to snow for a week and didn’t feel dizzy… elevation helps?
Hi Sara:
My guess is that you had a viral attack on your inner ear–that is why in hit both your hearing and your balance systems.
You are fortunate that most of your hearing came back without steroid treatment. Since prednisone is most helpful when taken right away, I don’t think it will help much at this late date. Typically you’d take the prednisone to get hearing back–and yours has already come back, so why take it now. It’s jut a “maybe this will do something” approach. The virus is long gone now (assuming that was what it was) so what you want to do is work on successfully dealing with your tinnitus and dizziness.
I suspect that not all your hearing came back–hence your tinnitus. Learn to ignore it and let it fade into the background where it won’t bother you.
What I’d do for the dizziness is go to a balance clinic and have them check out your balance function. It’s probably just bad in the one ear. They can then send you to a physiotherapist that specializes in balance issues. Doing their balance exercises can strengthen your balance system and you should find the dizziness fading away also.
I doubt the acupuncture and chiropractic will do anything much (again assuming it is a viral attack).
Did you have any active virus in your body in the two weeks prior to your sudden hearing loss? Or any vaccinations? If so, that would be a strong indication that a virus could have been the culprit.
Anther possibility is that you had a blockage in the tiny arteries that feed your inner ear on the one side, although I wonder because your hearing came back.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, I’m 40 and I’ve had mild bilateral tinnitus since I was 13. Way very habituated to it mostly but recently it got a lot worse. Basically I had my 2’nd Pfizer shot November 17’th and more or less straight away I felt a slight increase in my tinnitus. About 10 days later I was working early on a brisk morning with my Bluetooth headphones (listening to a podcast for hours each day which I’ve done for quite a long time which was usually not too loud) and felt an unbalanced sensation in hearing, but I kept working for an hour or two with the headphones going. Only when I stopped and took off the headphones I noticed my right ear was very muffled and the side of my head felt a bit of pressure. I went home, had a shower and watched quiet tv for 30 minutes while I waited to see the GP. I fell asleep and the muffled hearing was mostly gone. The doc gave me a course of amoxicillin after he determined I had a slight ear infection. The following days the tinnitus got worse and worse. It got to the stage where I could not sleep at all, maybe a few microsleeps during the night. This went on for about 2 weeks or so. I was having severe anxiety and some of the worst days of my life which obviously exacerbate the tinnitus. After those 2 weeks I went to another GP and he prescribed Temazapam which has actually helped me get a few hours sleep each night but it’s short term so I’m not sure what will happen when I finish those meds. The GP tends to think it has nothing to do with the vaccine and it’s just a coincidence which I find very frustrating and why is the ringing so much louder now and in both ears if the infection was just in one ear I ask. The tinnitus sound I had earlier is still there but now there’s a louder layer over the top and it seems to be less dynamic now as it sounded like a super high pitch swoosh but now feels more constant. I also want to note that when I clench my jaw, strain my head or bend my neck forwards it can really exacerbate the tinnitus. I’m convinced somehow the vaccine has caused inflammation which has aggravated my tinnitus. I don’t believe it’s merely from an ear infection. Have you heard of this sort of situation arising? And what sort of tinnitus do you think I have and can anything be done for me? (Drugs, surgery etc). I know in time I will habituate more as I have done once before but I cannot understate how awful tinnitus can be when it robs you of sleep and disrupts your life so much you feel completely and utterly hopeless. Thank you so much for your help, the comment section has been very illuminating.
Hi Mark:
You are certainly not alone when it comes to increased tinnitus/new tinnitus from taking the Pfizer shots. Thousands upon thousands of people have reported the shots affect their tinnitus. Quite often you’ll find that the side effects take a week or two to develop, so I’m not surprised your tinnitus got worse and worse for the next couple of weeks.
You GP refuses to look at the data and see that many people get tinnitus from the jab. Coincidence may happen in one or two cases, but for thousands upon thousands? He is grossly ignorant on the subject. In fact, tinnitus is one of the more common side effects of the Pfizer jab (and the other vaccines too).
Did you really have an infection in your ear–did the doctor take a swab and culture it to see, or did he just look in your ear canal and at your eardrum and “see” what he thought was an infection. (Too often doctors see what they want to see when it comes to middle ear infections.
You obviously also have somatosensory tinnitus–which can be totally unrelated to you main tinnitus (or not). You have the common symptoms–jaw clenching, twisting your neck or flexing it up or down.
I typically say that when you can do that, your neck/jaw/etc. are out of proper alignment. Furthermore, your anxiety tightens the muscles/ligaments/etc. and pulls things out of proper alignment.
So getting your anxiety under control, and seeing a chiropractor/massage therapist can relax/align things again and largely get rid of this kind of tinnitus. Also, getting your anxiety under control goes a long ways towards successfully dealing with your main tinnitus too.
There are no drugs that are approved by the FDA for treating tinnitus. Doctors use various drugs off label with varying results, but generally the results are not all that great. If the results were consistently great, then the drug companies would get approval for that drug to treat tinnitus–and it has never happened.
Tinnitus can be awful, but you can get control over it so it no longer has any (or much) effect on your quality of life. Don’t lose hope.You can win if you do the right things and are patient.
Cordially,
Neil
Highly appreciate the reply thank you Neil. Since the mass vaccination regime has been around for about 12 months has there been any data collection on the outcomes of those who have been afflicted with tinnitus from vaccines? Such as how long most people have tinnitus? Has it been mostly temporary or more chronic long term cases?
And out of curiosity, what do you think the vaccine is doing to peoples auditory system exactly?
Thanks Neil, I hope you have a great new year.
Hi Mark:
Information I have on the Pfizer vaccine is that 11% had temporary tinnitus and 89% had permanent tinnitus. I think this latter figure is rather high and may reflect that reports were filed too soon (perhaps within a month or two, and not 6 months or more later)–and thus didn’t give their tinnitus a long enough time to fade into the background.
Remember that tinnitus has both a physical (biological) component and a psychological component–and of the two, the psychological is the more important to deal with. Yet, too few people properly deal with this psychological component, and thus needlessly suffer from continuing tinnitus.
I don’t know the exact mechanism. Some think it is due to inflammation in the auditory circuits in your brain. Ultimately, most tinnitus is a result of excitatory activity and not enough counterbalancing inhibitory activity in the auditory circuits in your brain. In other words, things are out of balance and you hear this as tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi De. Neil,
I had a firework explode very close to my left ear on New Years. It was ringing right after. I went to the emergency the next morning and said I ear drum was bleeding but my ear drum was not perforated. I was able to start prednisone protocol within 24 hours.
Everything has been muffled but small improvements.
Tomorrow will be day 4 and I’m beginning to start hbot therapy as soon as I can get in.
How important is it that I get the steroid shots in connection with this therapy?
Thanks so much,
Manny
Hi Manny:
That’s a good question. In studies in Europe, they found that HBOT worked where conventional treatments (presumably including Prednisone) had failed to help. This might indicate that HBOT is better than Prednisone, and so taking Prednisone isn’t all that important.
But in some cases Prednisone really does help, so taking both together may be even more efficacious than just taking either one separately. IF that is the case, you might want to continue to take Prednisone for a bit in addition to the HBOT, but my gut feeling is that if you are taking HBOT, taking Prednisone at the same time isn’t all that important. This is just my opinion though. What does your doctor think?
Cordially,
Neil
Makes sense. I went to HBOT a today and they looked at my ear and said had an ear drum rupture.
Is there any need of me to continue with prednisone or is hbot dangerous?
I may have misdiagnosed. I’m trying to get into see my doctor this week so i will know more then just wondering if I should continue or halt the Hbot.
Thanks,
Manny
Hi Manny:
If your eardrum is ruptured, I’d think you could still do the HBOT because you won’t have any pressure build-up in your middle ear that you otherwise might have to worry about. The pressure will equalize through the rupture hole.
If the prednisone isn’t helping you, I don’t see any point it taking it. If I were in your shoes, I probably wouldn’t take it.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neill. I had sudden hearing loss for 1,5 years ago. No hearing case back, so I am deaf in one ear. I have been having problems with my ear for years (fullness, tinnitus, short dizzy spells). The problems have always been in the ear that sent deaf. I now worry about my other ear. Is it normal to have sudden hearing loss in bort ears?
Hi Anne:
No, it is not common to have sudden hearing loss in both ears. It does happen occasionally, but typically it is in one ear only–but that also depends on what causes the sudden hearing loss.
For example, a tiny blood clot is only in one ear obviously as it can’t be it two places at one time. Viral attacks in the inner ear also are typically in one ear, but can be in both. Sudden hearing loss from taking ototoxic drugs can occur in one ear or both ears at the same time. So can hearing loss from autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED).
Your symptoms also sound much like you have/had Meniere’s disease. That is another condition that typically only hits one ear, but in a few cases occurs in both ears.
Tell me more about your hearing history–did you have episodes of hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness and feeling of fullness in one ear?
Also, were you ever in a motor vehicle accident and get some whiplash, or have any head trauma–even decades ago?
If so, I have some good news for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reply! The doctors have mentioned Menieres, but they said that the dizzy spells I described did not sound as severe as the vertigo attacks from Meniere. Can Meniere go away once the hearing is lost? I have never been nauseous during my episodes. I have also taken hearing tests yearly for the last 5 years, and my hearing had prior to the sudden deafness always been great. They also said that if my deafness was related to Menieres it was odd that all hearing went away, and that it usually starts with the bass. My episodes was mainly a sudden dizzy feeling (not always the world spinning around, sometimes it felt like the world started to tilt), then fullness in one ear and after maybe a few minutes with fullness I would hear a roaring sounds for a few minutes. The dizzy feeling has always been from 10-seconds to 1 minute. I would have these “attacks” (I call them that) a few times per month, maybe weekly. The day my ear went deaf I was having a lot of these minor attacks. I did not have dizzy spells that day, just feeling of fullness and that roaring sound. And it lasted from a few seconds to a few minutes. And suddenly I noticed that I did not hear. And after that I have not had these attacks anymore, which again is odd. So I also worry if they will come back later.
I have never been in a vehicle accident or had whiplash.
I also have a question regarding Covid. I am unvaccinated due to the many stories I have heard about people with existing vestibular issues getting worse after the jab. I am not antivaxx, I am just scared. I wish I had the courage to take the vaccine, but I don’t. My worry now is what a potential covid infection may do to my current issues. I have constant tinnitus after my sudden hearing loss. I have tried to ask my doctor about this, but he says he can’t say. And I get the feeling he is not willing to even look at the research that has been done. Are you updated on the current research regarding covid/vaccines and how it may affects people with pre-existing vestibular disorders? I am now wondering if it’s best to take my chances with the vaccine or covid. At this point I probably will get covid sometimes anyways. It’s everywhere in my community.
I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions – I have not experienced anyone really taking the time to do that before.
Hi Anne:
I agree with your doctors that what you experienced sure doesn’t sound like “normal” Meniere’s. Especially the part about totally losing hearing in one ear and then no more episodes.
However, Meniere’s is one of the few conditions that cause periodic attacks so it seems Meniere’s-like. You could have “half” Meniere’s such as cochlear hydrops or vestibular hydrops or even a version of endolymphatic hydrops.
Can you think of anything that preceded these attacks that was common to them. For example, feeling a given emotion, or something you ate, or something in the environment (air/water/etc)?
I’ve never come across this before so I’m groping in the dark. I’m wondering if it could be related to a tiny blood clot that partially and sporadically blocked the blood flow to one inner ear and finally blocked it completely–thus the total hearing loss and cessation of the symptoms. Does that make sense to you?
Regarding the Covid vaccine, it is true that thousands of people have dizziness after and numbers have vertigo and other ear problems including hearing loss and tinnitus. Of all the anecdotal reports I’ve received, it appears these symptoms just came on shortly after the jab, but none indicate they already had vestibular or cochlear problems that got worse–but I’m sure that can be the case. If it can cause dizziness or vertigo, it only stands to reason that it could make existing dizziness or vertigo worse.
Personally, I think you are wiser to not have the jab and take your chances with getting Covid. Just make sure your vitamin D3 levels are up around 60 to 80 ng/ml and not the typical 25 or less that are common in people that get Covid.
I’ve not had the shots either, but I keep my vitamin D3 levels up. I take 10,000 IU of D3 daily and have for a good number of years.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I am a 50 year-old female with no significant health history. On December 31, I tested positive for COVID. From the onset I felt severe inflammation in my sinuses. A sinus infection was confirmed by my doctor and a 4-week course of antibiotics was prescribed due to the infection’s severity. I complained of pain in my left ear at that time, but the doctor did not believe fluid was in my ear. At the same time, I began having severe insomnia (getting only 1-4 hours of sleep each night) and experiencing restless leg syndrome, which I have never had before. Two weeks ago (around February 1) I began to get a loud ringing in my left ear. I saw and ENT and he sent me to an audiologist who found no fluid in the ear and normal hearing. I suspect that inflammation may be causing all of my symptoms. While my sinus infection has resolved, I still feel “fullness” and am “stuffed up” on my left side. Do you think a course of prednisone would help the ringing in my ears and perhaps my other symptoms? If so, at what dose and for how long? They are causing severe disruption and difficulty for me. Thank you in advance for any advice you may have.
Hi Kim:
Taking antibiotics for 4 weeks is a long time. Since all antibiotics are ototoxic, the longer you take them, the higher the risk of getting tinnitus, hearing loss, etc., etc. Which antibiotics were you taking.
Ear pain may be due to fluid in your middle ears, but it can be from taking drugs. In fact many drugs cause ear pain, and this pain is not associated with fluid. So I think your doctor missed this.
After 4 weeks of antibiotics, I wouldn’t be surprised if your tinnitus and ear pain are side effects of the antibiotic. If you tell me the name of the antibiotic, I can tell you how likely, in my opinion, these symptoms were caused by the antibiotic.
There are a number of causes of ear stuffiness or feelings of fullness besides having fluid in your ears.
I’m not a fan of Prednisone for tinnitus. In fact, in my just released 8th edition of “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”, I don’t even mention Prednisone because I haven’t found good sources reporting that it helps or works for treating tinnitus.
What is your worst symptom–the one that is bothering you the most? Tinnitus? or what?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Niel –
First thank you for all of the information you are sharing on this mysterious issue.
One of the main thoughts behind the sudden hearing loss occurring is an infection or illness that makes it’s way to the ear. I saw you asking others if they had any illness or vaccinations prior to the onset of the hearing loss.
I had a covid vaccination 6 weeks prior to the onset of symptoms. But in the days before I had no cold or other sickness that I can remember. I was feeling just fine. Is it still possibly to have no symptoms but have an infection of some sort anyway? In fact I haven’t had even a cold for what seems like years.
I went to an urgent care clinic the day of and it was initially diagnosed as Swimmer’s Ear as my ear canal was observed to swollen and that was thought to be preventing noise from getting past the ear drum. There was never any pain though.
I experienced partial recovery before getting any legitimate treatment, thankfully. My issue is now just with the higher frequency sounds & tinnitus which strangely occurred roughly 6 weeks after onset.
I finally saw a specialist 6 weeks after onset and I ran a trial of Prednisone and am now doing IT injection and may consider HBOT just to say I did all I could.
It is a shame more is not done at the first visit to rule out that it is not in fact sudden hearing loss.
The prednisone seems like such an easy fix for this and is cheap and seems relatively low risk for an otherwise health person for the 2 weeks or whatever it is ran for – that it is not given out as a just in case measure. But what do I know…
Thanks,
John
Hi John:
Doctors really have no excuse not to try the hum test before assuming you have swimmer’s ear or a cold or congestion and that is the cause of your sudden hearing loss. After all, the hum test is free and only takes 30 seconds or so and provides an immediate diagnosis.
Sudden hearing loss is one of the side effects of the COVID jab. It can cause tiny blood clots and if one gets into your inner ear–voila–instant hearing loss. If the clot breaks down before all the hair cells die, you can get a portion of your hearing back–but my rule of thumb is that the hearing you have 30 days after the incident is the hearing you will have going forward.
Prednisone up to 2 or 3 weeks after the incident can be helpful, but after 4 weeks, the results are basically nil/minimal. Of course, taking the Prednisone in the first couple of days is ideal and gives the best chance of good things happening. Be aware that Prednisone sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t do a thing in spite of timely administration.
HBOT can help for a longer period, but even so, the sooner you have HBOT treatments the more likely it is to be effective.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi. First of all – thank you for responding to these questions!
2 weeks ago came down with a stuffy head and congestion. Then a cough and congested a few days later. Then a week after symptom onset, my left ear was feeling “full”, couldn’t hear well (but could still hear) and tinnitus.
Went to Urgent Care a few days later when it didn’t clear and they put me on an antibiotic for a bacterial sinus infection and flonase/sudafed. Swab test came back neg for covid.
3 days later no better and my right ear developed a “clicking sound” that randomly occurs. Went to my GP. They added prednisone of 10mg 3x a day for 3 days, then twice a day and once a day to taper off. But she felt it may still be covid (no pcr test done)
It is now the next day so 4 days on antibiotics, sudafed and flonase and 1 day on pred. At one point today, after blowing my nose, my ears popped and I could hear again and no tinnitus but it went back to the same in about an hour. And this evening its back to being painful on the left side. Tomorrow I have an appt with an ENT.
I have never seen an ENT so not sure what I should be expecting them to do. And if all of these meds that I am on are even necessary. Thank you for your input.
Hi Linda:
I know I am grossly late in replying to you comment–health problems got in the way.
How are your ears doing now. Is everything ok?
I’m with you on not taking a bunch of drugs unnecessarily. Doctors are too quick to prescribe drugs instead of letting your body heal itself.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I received the first dose of Pfizer COVID vaccine at the end of Feb. That night, I began hearing ringing in my head. About 2 weeks ago (roughly 1 week after the vaccine), it seemed to retreat in my left ear but remain in my right even to today. ENT today said he thinks it will go away on its own, but also prescribed me Prednisone starting at I think 60mg and tapering off. I have heard reports of people saying Prednisone has made their tinnitus worse and now I am hesitant, although maybe in my situation it is different than those who have acoustic trauma. If it is inflammation causing the ringing, wouldn’t it have subsided in both ears at the same rate? Why would it be sticking around in my right ear so much longer (and also randomly spiking at night)? But if it IS inflammation I’d love for the Prednisone to knock it out for good. Do you think there is a high risk in taking the regiment?
Hi Matt:
Numbers of people do indeed develop tinnitus after the Pfizer jab. Often, there is no rhyme or reason why tinnitus may be in one ear, the other ear or both ears at the same time. You would think both ears would have the same results–but not necessarily so. For example, you take a given drug and you get it in your left ear, and I get it in my right ear and someone else gets it in both ears. That’s just the way it is.
Prednisone is used to reduce inflammation. It does not specifically work on tinnitus as such. IF your tinnitus was a result of inflammation, then Prednisone may help, but if your tinnitus was from some other cause, then it may not help, and for some people it can make their tinnitus worse.
How is your tinnitus now? Has it gone down? If so, I’d probably forgo the Prednisone. If not, you might want to try it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
I wanted to know what are my chances for getting my hearing back.
Note from Audiologist
“His primary complaint is a one week history of sudden hearing loss on the right with no noticeable tinnitus, aural fullness or imbalance. He previously had left ear surgery in 2019 with a history of otosclerosis. Today’s visit is coordinated with otology.
O/A: Otoscopy: Otoscopy was unremarkable in the left and right ears
Tympanometry:
Right: Type C (negative middle ear pressure and normal compliance)
Left: Type A (normal middle ear pressure and compliance)
Evaluation:
Right: Hearing is consistent with moderate sensorineural hearing loss rising to mild from 250-4000 Hz then sloping to moderate through 8000 Hz
A speech reception threshold was obtained at 60 dB HL and is in agreement with pure tone findings
Word recognition testing (assessed using NU-6 50-word list): 60% at 90 dB HL with contralateral masking applied
Left: Hearing is consistent with moderate-to-severe mixed hearing loss from 250-8000 Hz
A speech reception threshold was obtained at 45 dB HL and is in agreement with pure tone findings
Word recognition testing (assessed using NU-6 Order By Difficulty): 94-96% at 85 dB HL with contralateral masking applied
Note from Doctor
Audiogram performed 5/23/2019:
AD: SRT 15-dB SD 92%
AS: SRT 40-dB SD 96%
Audiogram performed 4/14/2022:
AD: SRT 60-dB SD 60%
AS: SRT 45-dB SD 94-96%
He had a sudden RIGHT SNHL that occurred the first week of April 2022. Hearing from his right ear is now worse than his left ear. This does appear to be from a sensorineural loss likely from a viral infection. He consented for a RIGHT IT injection today. Prednisone taper ordered also.
Orders Placed This Encounter
•
predniSONE (DELTASONE) 10 mg tablet
RIGHT IT steroid injection:
The RIGHT TM was visualized. The previous anterior and posterior-superior were used as both a ventilation and injection site. A total of 0.3-mL dexamethasone 10mg/mL were injected without issue. His ear was left to bath in the steroid for 30 minutes
Hi Ankit:
You haven’t given me much of the right information I need in order to give you my educated guess. For example, you don’t mention the information on your audiogram. You don’t mention whether any hearing has been coming back so far. You don’t mention whether the prednisone made any difference.
I really need your before and after audiograms. If you have them, scan them and attach them to an email and send it to me. My email address is at the bottom of every page on this website.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
Here is my story which began about a month ago. Perhaps Dr. Bauman or someone else may help me. Thanks a lot!
Early March
mild corona, some pain ion throat for two or three days. Was vaccinated by Pfizer in summer 2021 Due to the events in Ukraine, the serious difficulties associated with them at work, the threat of dismissal for this reason, I experienced stress, moreover, I was stuck because of the Corona at my own expense for 10 days abroad.
March 10
During long flights from the place of vacation – almost 10 hours in the plane – I was very exhausted. I also spent several hours outside in a light sweater not suitable for the weather, having to walk between flights. Obviously chilled out. Those. was stress, fatigue and hypothermia. During the flight home, the right ear was blocked. On the same day there was an alternating inflammation in the ears with very moderate pain on pressure. Both ears were partially blocked, as if something inside the outer ear was blocking the passage. There was little pain when pressed. The family doctor prescribed some drops, they helped in three days in each ear.
April 10
I began to hear whistling sound in the right ear. It annoys especially during the nights of course. Sometimes the sound changes in frequency and “is heard” in the head. Sometimes mild headache is felt. I check the blood pressure periodically. It is within 125/135 to 75/90 in my 48.
April 17-18
The sound has moved from the right ear to the back of the head and the frequency has grown now over 10GHz (compared with sounds at https://www.ural-auto.ru/services/tone-generator/)
April 19
Otolaryngologist Konings from Bergman clinic in Amsterdam made the visual survey or the ears, nose and mouth, checked the pressure inside the ears, checked hearing with a tuning fork. Dr. Konings prescriped Fluticasone propionate suspecting Eustachitis. She also sent me audiogram.
April 21
The audiogram has shown good hearing in both ears for 48 years.
April 22-23
the headache has nearly stopped, happens very rarely. Only the sound in the back of the head with the frequency over 10kHz is heard all the time. I noticed that with a certain inclination of the head to the left, with a wide opening of the mouth or pulling the lips forward, the noise practically disappears. When tilted to the right, on the contrary, it increases. There is a famous doctor Shishonin who offers the exercises against of osteochondrosis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR4Y4SuC3qk. When making his first exercise “Metronome” to the left side Tinnitus disappears completely and gets stronger when I tilt the head to the right.
Hi Dmitry:
You have developed tinnitus, obviously. Since your tinnitus changes depending on the position of your head, neck, etc. it is, at least to some extent, of the somatosensory variety.
It appears that your cervical spine and maybe other structures are pinching or otherwise hyperactivating certain sensory nerves. By turning your head/neck certain ways, you take the pressure off these nerves and your tinnitus stops.
Normally, I’d recommend going to a chiropractor that specializes in upper cervical treatment for this kind of tinnitus. See http://www.upcspine.com/ and click on “practitioners” to find these specialists in your country/area.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Mr. Bauman
I cams across this site when I did research on sudden hl. My left inner ear was damaged due to one-time event of exposure to sharp loud noises for over 1 hour long, which left me a mild-moderate hearing loss on high range since late February this year. (40-45 from 3k-8k). I was on late Prednisone one week before the closure of gold window. Not surprisingly, my ear did not come back much. My last day on Prednisone was 3/31.
I’ve been monitoring my hearing every two months until yesterday, I got my hearing test done, unexpectedly, 4 months after prednisone, and 5 months after the noise trauma, the result shows 5-10 DB improvement across all frequency. Note here all tests have been performed with the same equipment, same hospital and same aud. People/audiologists think there is nothing about it…. It may be due to human error/ or the different response to the perception of sounds… whatever the external excuse may be. I have my own opinion in this regard. If I was close to 100% deaf, this 10 DB improvement actually might not be considered statistically significant. The thing of it is that the hearing loss I have is just on the edge away from being normal. Even 5db up could fundamentally change the landscape to the opposite. You may think I’m too critical or overly positive, I just wanted to use my own brain to think this all through rather than just being simply accepting whatever the medical authority tells or rules of thumb are.
If you are open, I’d really love to share my two test results to get your perceptive. I tried to attach through the message box, it did not allow me to. My email address is changhyhaidy@gmail.com. I hope I can get a response for you so I can share.
Thank you for all the work that you have done so those who suffer from the loss of our hearing.
Karen
Hi Karen:
You can write to me privately any time you want. My email address is at the bottom of every page on my website. Feel free to attach your two audiograms so I can see the changes you are experiencing.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Bauman, I’m 71 years old and had a sudden loss of hearing in my left ear.
It occurred on a Tuesday and the next day I was put on 60mg of Steroids. I also opted for three (3) separate injections in my ear. After not hearing anything for almost two (2) weeks I gave up hope. However after two (2) full weeks my hearing has returned. I’d say I’m around 40-50% (prayers answered). Getting treated right away was the key. I wish I knew what caused it. Thank you, John.
Hi John:
I agree that timely treatment is best. If steroids are going to work, the sooner you begin to take them the better. However, in cases of sudden hearing loss, be aware that sometimes hearing comes back in spite of the steroids–so you don’t really know if that happened or if your hearing came back because of the steroids. And never discount the power of prayer of course.
How much hearing did you lose? What did your audiogram show. Typically the worse your hearing loss, the less hearing comes back. Since you have only gotten around 50% back, I assume you have a moderate sudden loss, correct?
Two common causes of sudden hearing loss are viral attacks in your inner ear, or a tiny blood clot. Did you have any active virus in your body in the previous two weeks before the hearing loss occurred?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor I started experiencing ringing in the right ear on October 15th and two days later my right ear was clogged and I could hear as well. I have never had hearing problems I only have seasonal allergies so I visited my ENT on the 18th and he prescribed prednisone for six days and a Z-Pak antibiotic. Today is my third day on the medication and I still have no change in hearing, my ear still feels clogged. Do you think there is a more serious issue?
Hi Maria:
Since only one ear is “clogged”, you can try the hum test to see whether it is simple congesting in your middle ear, or whether it is more serious such as sensorineural hearing loss in your inner ear.
You can read about the hum test in my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/the-hum-test-for-sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss/ . If you want more information about the hum test, read the corresponding article via the link at the bottom of this article.
Personally, I wouldn’t take the Z-pak as you don’t mention any indication of an infection, and Azithromycin is ototoxic and can damage your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I woke up with severe ear pain and total hearing loss 11 days ago. I was diagnosed with a middle ear infection. I was prescribed Azithromycin (5 days) and the pain went away within 3 days, however, the clogged feeling and loss of hearing remained. I was completely unaware of the possibility of permanent hearing loss when I received my initial diagnosis. I went to an ENT doctor yesterday and was prescribed prednisone 20mg twice a day for 5 days. I started my first dose last night on day 10 since infection/hearing loss. I have seen in your previous responses that there is a 2 week to 4 week window. I am wondering the likeliness of permanent hearing loss. I have a hearing test scheduled for next week the same day as my last dose of prednisone. I am afraid of the hearing loss being permanent as it is really affecting my life and it has not improved at all.
Addition: I did have covid-19 2 weeks and 3 days before the ear infection.
I appreciate your time in answering all these questions. Your explanations are very helpful and are easy to understand.
Thank you!
Hi Hope:
It’s entirely possible that Covid caused your ear pain and hearing loss. After all, it is a virus and viruses can attack the inner ear and cause hearing loss, tinnitus, ear pain and all sorts of balance problems.
If it was a virus, it is probably long gone now, so if hearing doesn’t come back, at least in part while you are taking the Prednisone, the hearing you will have at the end of 30 days or so will tell you whether it is going to come back or not. The worse the hearing loss, the less likely it will be to come back.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
I had sudden onset deafness in left ear (only high frequencies can be heard) and pressure in ear. I was put on Prednisolone 60mg for 7 days (no taper) my hearing came back . Then when I stopped the prednisolone after the 7 days my hearing disappeared again as before. I have now been put back on Prednisolone for 2 weeks and will see ENT specialist in 10 days. (that’s the earliest they would see me) Do you think my hearing will come back a second time?
Hi Alli:
If you had sudden low frequency hearing loss and a feeling of fullness/pressure in ONE ear, then the typical cause is some form of Meniere’s disease. Did you experience any tinnitus as well?
If you did not have any vertigo, dizziness or balance problems, then they call it cochlear hydrops–what I call “half Menieres”.
With Meniere’s, hearing drops down say two steps, then your recover 1 step until the next episode, where it is again 2 steps down and one back up–so your hearing drops stepwise over time.
Another possibility is Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED). AIED often responds to Prednisone and hearing returns, then when you get off the Prednisone, hearing can drop again, so you have to take more Prednisone.
So with either situation you may get hearing back–the former with or without Prednisone, the latter with Prednisone.
Do you have any immune system disease of any kind? If not, then it is unlikely you have AIED.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
I have no auto-immune issues and am in generally excellent health. I had the Pfizer vaccine and my last booster was January 2022, so well removed temporally. I had Covid last April for the 1st time. No issues.
2 days before Thanksgiving I started to get a sore throat, then a bit of congestion, etc. – negative for Covid (tested 3 times over 4 days). The night of Thanksgiving my left ear felt clogged & I couldn’t hear well, some pressure/light pain on & off the next 2 nights but I slept with my head elevated. The night after Thanksgiving, my right ear started to experience the same issue, but I took a hot shower and it cleared up the next day in my right ear. Left ear remained muffled but no more pain. Tried hot compresses on left ear & continued to sleep elevated.
11 days after the left ear hearing loss (yesterday) I went to my ENT who didn’t see fluid or anything visually concerning in my left ear but the tympanogram was irregular for the left (perfect for my right). He prescribed me 4 days of Prednisone (40mg, 30mg, 20mg, 10mg) which I started yesterday.
Left ear still muffled but I THINK very very slightly better.
Question – does the above jive with Sudden Hearing Loss? Should I push my ENT to be more aggressive with the Prednisone treatment? What is the normal prescription you would do for a course of Prednisone? I see some saying 60mg for 7 days then 40 for 5, then 20 for 3, then zero….
Are there any other tests or exams my ENT should be performing to rule things out?
He seemed to NOT think I had SHL and wants to follow-up with me on Monday (day 18 since the issue and a few days after my Prednisone treatment ends) – and he said if we need to go more aggressive then, it’s still ok at that point…If I get slight improvement by Monday and then he continues w/ the Prednisone do you think the improvement can still continue since I got at least some initial steroid treatment?
Thank you so much!!!
Hi Glen:
I don’t think you have sudden sensorineural hearing loss. There is a quick test to determine that since one ear still hears normally. Just hum out loud a bit and see which ear the humming sound is louder. If you hear your voice louder in the blocked ear, the problem is congestion (“gunk” in your middle ear) and is probably temporary until your cold goes away and your ear clears.
However, if you hear your voice louder in your good ear, this probably indicates a viral attack from the cold virus causing permanent hearing loss if left untreated.
If your hum test reveals a viral attack, then you might want more aggressive Prednisone treatment. If not, I don’t think the Prednisone will do any good anyways.
Everything you have said leads me to believe you have a temporary conductive loss due to head cold congestion, and all you need to do is wait it out until your ear clears and your hearing returns to normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much – my ENT could tell I was very concerned when I called him today so I have a follow-up tomorrow along with a hearing test (I saw online a pure tone audiometry can help diagnose here) where we will dive a bit deeper into all of this.
When I hum, I can hear generally equally in both ears (and if I cover each ear when I hum, I can certainly hear in both) – hard to say if one is louder than the other, but very similar – so I’m hoping you are correct.
If this wasn’t the first time I’ve experienced hearing loss since I was like 10 years old, I wouldn’t be proceeding with an abundance of caution! Nip in the bud…
I’ll keep you posted on what it ends up being and appreciate your kindness here.
Hi Glenn:
The hum test only works if just one ear is blocked. If both ears are about the same, then it won’t help you determine whether the hearing loss is conductive or sensorineural.
Cordially,
Neil
Hearing test (just had it) was not indicative of sudden hearing loss, but of conductive. Prescribed me some more Prednisone (40, 40, 30, 30, 20, 20, 10, 10mg) starting today (I had already taken 40 and then 30 the past 2 days). Says this is very common and he sees everything return to normal in 95% of cases. Sometimes just takes a little longer. Will follow-up w/ another hearing test next Thursday but hopefully I’ll know the answer myself by then and the test will just simply confirm…
Hi Glenn:
I agree with your doctor then. A conductive loss from ear congestion is typically temporary and hearing will return when the “gunk” drains out in a few days to a couple of months.
Cordially,
Neil
I have had tinnitus since 2007. Initially it came on fairly strong but in a year or so, I adjusted to it and it became a minor/mild issue. On 12/13/2022 after taking the flu vaccine, the tinnitus immediately flared up. It intensified significantly after a week and is quite loud now (1/3). My hearing was tested on 12/28- and compared to results in 2014- there was hearing loss that could be age related. During both tests hearing is much better in my right than left ear. There is high frequency hearing loss. I did have my ears suctioned before the audiology tests- and removal of ceruman from one ear had no impact on the tinnitus. I did have TMJ issues 20 years ago- but they didn’t seem to cause tinnitus. My ears are not clogged per se- through I am not sure my Eustachian tube is functioning optimally.
The sound of the tinnitus does change if I bend down- but is considerable no matter what the position.
My primary doctor is willing to prescribe prednisone (at my urging) at a lower dose. I am fearful that the prednisone could make matters worse- as the tinnitus is already almost unbearable and resulting in sleep loss. I suggested the steroid since there appears to be a direct causal connection with vaccine and I suspect some of the hearing loss and tinnitus is the result of an inflammatory reaction to the vaccine.
My questions:
(1) Should I take the prednisone? Again, I am fearful of ototoxicity and a worsening of tinnitus. On the other hand- the aftermath of the vaccine could be having a long term effect on my hearing and tinnitus.
(2) Could this be TMJ related- even though I have no jaw pain?
(3) Could Eustachian tube dysfunction be a factor? If there is a blockage, it is partial.
(4) Do you have any other recommendations?
Hi Lowell:
I have received more reports from people getting sudden hearing loss and to a lesser extent, tinnitus, in the days after getting the flu-shot that for almost any other drug or vaccine. This alone shows that the flu-shot causes a lot of ear problems. So you are certainly not alone in your experience.
1. Although some doctors give prednisone for tinnitus, I haven’t seen much evidence it works–and of course, it has it’s own side effects you have to deal with.
2. I doubt it is TMJ related because your tinnitus was closely associated with the flu-shot and not with any TMJ trauma at that time.
3. If your ears are congested, you could also expect your Eustachian tubes to be congested. If your ears are clear, then sudden hearing loss can give you the feeling that your ears are blocked because you can’t hear as well as you previously did.
4. Well, for one, personally I wouldn’t get the flu-shot in the future. It’s up to you, of course. If it were me, I wouldn’t use one drug (prednisone) to try to counteract the effects of another drug (vaccine). That’s just adding fuel to the fire.
Instead, I’d build up my immune system and also give my ears the things they need. To combat the free radicals present in your inner ears, I’d take N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) around 1,800 mg a day for a couple of weeks. I’d also take zinc piconolate (30 to 50 mg per day) and magnesium threonate, plus be sure your vitamin D3 levels are optimal (between 60 and 80 ng/ml). Most people are way down in the 20 to 30 range and many are below 20. This is critically low.
Note: I practice what I preach. I stay awy from drugs and vaccines. Instead, I take NAC, Vitamin D3. zinc, magnesium, Vitamin C and a number of other herbals and supplements to keep my immune system robust and ward off any bugs going around so I don’t need to take any drugs.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your reply.
I plan to take your supplement recommendations. On the question of steroids- I am wondering if the vaccine has long term inflammatory effects and that I may run into more hearing loss if I delay any longer (I picked up my prescription yesterday)? I have more hearing loss in one ear- but a similar difference between the ears existed in 2014 (just worsened now for both ears). My working assumption is that the tinnitus is tied to hearing loss related to the vaccine- but the hearing tests are ambiguous on this- since the loss may be age related.
If the vaccine hasn’t caused hearing loss, than it has caused a major worsening of the tinnitus. In this case steroids wouldn’t be helpful- unless they help in another area that hasn’t been diagnosed yet.
However, there is a lot going on in my ears right now- and there may be a natural healing process that steroids would interfere with.
I wish the medical profession had clearer protocols regarding how to diagnose and treat vaccine related tinnitus and hearing loss.
So if you can offer any additional thoughts based on your clinical experience, I would appreciate it. I am requesting that I bee seen by an ENT- but this far the referral hasn’t been made yet.
Other pieces of information…
I have Hashimoto’s disease, though it is mild and has been under control for years. Actually, my dosage was upped to 65 from 50 mcg 2 months ago. However, before this my TSH levels where around 6. They came down to 2 with the increased dosage- and I am even wondering if this affected the tinnitus in some way.
I also have GERD, which is somewhat under control- and I know this can worsen hearing loss from Eustachian tube dysfunction (which I had in the past). I agree, that the slightly clogged sensation in my right ear may be the result of hearing loss- perhaps even related to when they suctioned that ear. The noise was loud! However, that slight sensation of fullness is relatively new and didn’t occur right after the suctioning.
Finally, I wanted to add- perhaps totally irrelevant is that the tinnitus sound changes when I bend down when seated or standing- increases somewhat.
Hi Lowell:
If you take the steroids and your hearing starts returning in 2 or 3 days, that is a good sign and worthwhile to keep on taking them. If there is no difference, then maybe they won’t help much or at all.
Sometimes hearing returns in spite of steroids so I don’t think they really interfere with the natural healing process.
What drug are you taking for your Hashimoto’s–levethyroxine? If so, there are thousands of reports of tinnitus, hearing loss and other ear problems from taking this drug. Increasing the dose may have caused your tinnitus, whereas before it was below the “radar”. So that is another possibility.
Are you taking any drugs for your GERD. All the proton pump inhibitors can also cause tinnitus–some moreso than others.
There’s always so many complicating factors, and you never know when two or more team up to cause the tinnitus, or make existing tinnitus worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Neil. It’s not easy navigating the health care system today. I’ll keep you updated if things change.
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I had sudden hearing loss in one ear few weeks ago and came across this website. I was prescribed prednisone within a week of reporting my hearing loss and my hearing slowly returned in about 2-3 weeks. I was lucky since I was well versed in hearing loss since my sisters son was born with hearing impairment and i was able to get treatment quickly. I came back to comment since i wanted to know your thoughts on my nephews hearing loss.
He was born with mild-moderate high frequency sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. He started wearing hearing aids at around 6 months and was meeting his speech milestones until 18 months. During this time, every 3-4 months he would get an ABR test and his loss was stable. From 18 months to 24 months, my sister started to notice he was not picking up new words and not hearing as well. During this time, behaviour test was difficult, as it is for a toddler. Finally, an ABR was conducted and showed the loss now at a profound level, but the tympanometry showed no eardrum movement, a type b tympanometry. Fluids were suspected and the ENT said there was fluid but no ear infection. During this time, he also started daycare and was sick on and off, so having fluid behind the ears was suspected of causing the worsening hearing.
ENT suggested to put in tubes, during the surgery fluid was drained and tubes put in. Since he was already sedated, an ABR was run, but the hearing level was still the same, profound. The ENT suggested that the hearing had progressed and he was a good candidate for cochlear implants. In about a month after, an MRI was done and sister was in process of scheduling the implant surgery. During this time, we noticed nephew started to turn to sounds and we thought we were going crazy as we tested him to make sure. We told the audiologist of our observations and they conducted another ABR test, and behold, his hearing had returned to his baseline, which was mild-moderate high frequency hearing loss. The ENT was in shock that hearing returned as this is not normal behaviour from his experience. He suspected maybe the eardrum was still healing and it took a few weeks for eardrum movement to come back to fully functional. What could be some of the reasons why his hearing returned to his baseline when right after surgery the ABR showed a profound loss. To this date, his hearing is still at mild-moderate level and has not progressed.
Thanks!
Hi Andy:
I suspect your nephew was born with a mild/moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Then he developed middle ear problems that resulted in profound conductive hearing loss. Now, for whatever reason, the conductive component has cleared up so he is back to his permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
The main clue is the type B tympanogram. I’ll bet a new tympanogram will show a type A now.
I take it that BOTH his ears had the same profound hearing loss–correct? And now BOTH ears hear the same–mild/moderate–correct? It does sound like fluid build-up in his middle ears/Eustachian tubes was the problem, but you’d think hearing would improve right away after the fluid pressure was relieved so the middle ear bones could move properly again.
There could have been some other factors coming into play–but what?. Thinking outside the box, it is possible that his neck was out of proper alignment thus pinching the trigeminal nerve which controls both the Eustachian tube and the eardrum. If it aligned itself again, the trigeminal nerve would begin working properly and all returned to normal. This seems a bit far-fetched, but it is a possibility. I don’t have other ideas at the moment.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
Thanks for replying. Yes, both ears had the same profound hearing loss and now both ears are back to his baseline, which is mild/moderate hearing loss.
The ENT was thinking the same, after the surgery it should have cleared up any conductive causes for the hearing loss, therefore, the ABR test while sedated would be accurate. Only thing i can think of us, when he was an infant and i would accompany him for the ABR test, there were times when the Audiologist was not able to get any response at all frequencies. They would suspect profound loss, and we would come back for repeat testing in 1-2 weeks, and his loss would record as a mild-moderate. This happened 2 times as far as i can remember. Do you know why ABR test would show no result then after few weeks we get a result, its odd for sure.
Another thing they suspected was auditory neuropathy, which the Audiologist ran the protocol and it was negative, so he does not have that.
The tympanogram was done and since there is a tube in the ear now, they said they would see larger volume, which was the case. I questioned but does mean the eardrum is moving well now? They could not confirm that 100%.
Hi Andy:
To answer your question, the first thing I’d want to know is in those previous 2 times when the ABR showed a profound loss, was this true of his hearing? Do you notice he didn’t hear well at those times? If that’s the case, then the ABRs were correct and something else was going wrong with his hearing–a conductive loss from gunk in his middle ears and Eustachian tubes could be the culprit, but I think there was another factor at play there–don’t know what it was, but it’s something to watch for in the future and if it occurs again, have him in for immediate testing for other problems with his hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Yes, we did not notice he was not hearing as well, so your right, the ABR was probably accurate and something else was going on. I think it had something to do with the eardrum or middle ear as you say but ENT did not seemed interested in that being the cause. Anyways, we had an MRI scheduled before his hearing returned and we are going to keep that just to rule out anything else going on. MRI is in 2 weeks so will report back if they find anything. Thanks!
Hi Neil,
I was diagnosed with acoustic trauma about one month ago on my right ear due to noise exposure. I was prescribed a very low dose of prednisolone (25mg and tapering for 5 days). During the course i felt like my left ear was starting to make some low noises as well. On May 26th I went to another ENT who did oae tests and acoustic reflex, Audiogram showed no hearing loss either. 3 days later I developed a steady high pitch tone and hissing tone on my left ear that seems to fluctuate from barely there to very annoying. Right ear seems better. Should i ask for another course of prednisolone or is it possible that the hearing tests harmed my ears? Thank you
Hi Mary:
The hearing tests should not have harmed your ears. No drugs have been approved by the FDA for tinnitus. Personally, I wouldn’t take any steroids, but it’s up to you whether you want to try another course of Prednisolone.
Tinnitus can be delayed. It doesn’t have to occur right after an acoustic trauma. Since you tinnitus varies so much, I think that is a good sign that it can be going away. I’d just ignore it and focus on the loves of your life. If you think of it as a threat to your well-being, it can get worse. Conversely, if you think of it as a totally unimportant, useless, background sound that is safe to ignore (and then ignore it), it will likely continue to fade away.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thanks so much for your response!
It does seem to fluctuate a lot and the left ear’s hissing-static can be overwhelming at times. It seems to react to some noises like typing on keyboard or cutlery sounds. Its often accompanied with the classic eeeee sound coming from within the head. I’ll give some good thought on prednisolone today before I consider taking it. Thanks again!
Hi Mary:
Are you saying your tinnitus gets louder when in the presence of cutlery noises and keyboard sounds and then drops in volume when these sounds are no longer present? If so, this is called reactive tinnitus which is a marriage of tinnitus and loudness hyperacusis. Unfortunately, a lot of people are experiencing this, but are commonly not treated effectively.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you for your reply.
For example: the sound of the keyboard typing will gradually (usually not immediately) bring me discomfort which tends to stay for hours afterwards. It is more like a super metallic ringing/screeching sensation in the head which radiates in both ears (more prominent in my left ear I could say). Its super loud. Same if I take a shower, the effect is not immediate but the sound of water will eventually cause the same issue. I’m really trying to find a pattern of what’s causing these spikes, but that’s all I can think of.
If that’s hyperacusis, is it possible that I’m stuck with this forever or it will just take plenty of time to heal?
Hi Mary:
What you are describing sounds exactly like the “winding up” form of reactive tinnitus.
You can read about it in my article on reactive tinnitus found at
https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/reactive-tinnitus/
You do not have to be stuck with this all your life. With the right therapy, you can overcome it, but it typically takes time. Most of the therapy deals with your emotional reaction to these extraneous sounds so they fade away. The above article will give you a number of good tips.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll certainly have a look into the article and take it from there. It’s scary to feel that simple hearing tests could worsen the issue and to be honest, I’ve been constantly thinking about it since mt last visit to ENT. I hope things work out eventually.
Thanks again,
Mary
Hi Dr. Bauman,
Thank you so much for all you do on this forum. I recently found your site and am desperate for your guidance. I am a 36 y.o. female and noticed ringing in my ear ~2019, then started noticing I couldn’t hear high notes on appliances (e.g., a thermometer) at the end of 2019. I got pregnant in 2020 and had my first hearing test 2021 as my high tones/fricatives seemed to be getting worse. I was told I had “the ears of a 60 year old” and to go on my way. Hearing tests in 2021 showed a steep drop at 2k (50-90) with my right ear worse than my left. I got pregnant again in 2022 and In 2023 I got re-tested and there was worsening (drop off starts at 1500 and goes from 60-90 and both ears are even) and I just got my hearing aids and believe my hearing has gotten worse in the past 2 months since getting them. I don’t accept that this is just old age/familial (I am 36 and while my mom had not great hearing she was tested and hers is much better than mine with no other family history). Blood panels for lupus/MS were normal as was brain MRI. I don’t believe I have any autoimmune disease but I could be wrong. The only other relevant history I can think of is that I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy (a surprise as I am very active/eat very healthy). I saw a rheumatologist yesterday who thought my case was quite unique and wants to try prednisone. He also suggested going to the Mayo Clinic to investigate further. I am willing to try prednisone as long as it doesn’t make anything worse… it seems like you would advise against it after reading your responses to others but I would be forever grateful for your input or anything else I should be looking into.
Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Alexandra
Hi Alexandra:
You seem to have a progressive hearing loss. Often the ringing precedes your being aware you have lost some of your high frequency hearing. As the hearing loss progresses you finally become aware of it, but by that time you have lost a significant amount of your hearing.
Were you checked out for otosclerosis? It often causes more hearing loss with each pregnancy, but it seems you were losing hearing both before and after your pregnancies so I doubt that is the cause.
One common cause of hearing loss that few including doctors think of is taking drugs/medications including vaccinations. Can you relate your tinnitus/hearing loss to drug use or vaccinations?
It is not due to old age. For women, that would become noticeable maybe beginning around age 60 or so.
Why would you suspect you might have an autoimmune disease? Do you have any immune system disorders?
I’m more against doctors saying, “Let’s try this and see what happens.” without any clear idea what the problem is and thus what the treatment should be. You are taking all the risk and there is no guaranteed benefit for taking this risk.
How long does your doctor want you to take the Prednisone? Also, are you talking about a short tapering dose, or a sustained dose?
I always like to go back to just before you began noticing the tinnitus or hearing loss, and determine what changed in your life. That often can give some clues.
Personally, I’d consider all this and answer my questions before taking any “let’s see what happens” drugs. Maybe something will pop out.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your response. There wasn’t a formal workup for otosclerosis (I suspected this could have been the cause!) because I was told the sensorineural loss/pattern of my audio tests with only the high notes being affected was not typical for otosclerosis. I took this to mean it was a hard rule out, but if this is something I should push further I would absolutely do so.
I can’t think of any vaccinations I got when I first noticed the hearing loss/tinnitus. The only thing I can think of is that I went off my oral birth control after being on it for 10+ years. There were also a few major life stressors but no other drugs or vaccinations (besides the normal flu). I have had some other “old age” or harsh conditions types of things pop up. For example, in my 20s I had a Pingueculae in one eye which mostly resolved (not sure thats relevant, just struck me as odd)
In terms of immune system disorders, I haven’t been diagnosed with any but may have had symptoms of PCOS (discovered while trying for baby # 1) and in the last year have been having some GERD like symptoms that I was told might be IBD but I am skeptical.
I did end up starting prednisone (I am desperate), and my dr had me start 5 pills for 4 days and taper down from there (4×4, 3×4, 2×1 week,1×2 weeks). I haven’t noticed anything drastic in my hearing but mayyybee my tinnitus is a bit better.
Thank you for saying this is not old age. If it isn’t old age, its not autoimmune, what else should I be looking for? Is otosclerosis the only other option? And is it even possible that this is the answer with my pattern of hearing loss?
Thank you so much!
Hi Alexandra:
Otosclerosis should show up on your audiogram as an “air-bone gap” in the lower frequencies. Since you only have a high-frequency loss, I’d say that is not the cause.
Birth control pills can cause hearing loss and/or tinnitus in some women. So that is one possibility. I don’t know how likely it would be in your case.
Another possibility is that you have a genetic (hereditary) hearing loss that only shows up after you are an adult. This would likely be a recessive genetic condition so it could skip generations so your parents or even grandparents might not have any symptoms.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
A few months ago I suffered from tinnitus due to noise exposure. My tinnitus was reacting as well to noises but had calmed down to an almost constant static noise and I went on with my life. Three days ago my right ear started an intermittent invasive ringing,not very high pitched but its very annoying and causes me anxiety. I went to the hospital and they said there is a bit of fluid in my ear. They prescribed flonase which is called flutinasal in my country so I’m not sure if its exactly the same medicine. I’m scared, I tried so hard to calm down my tinnitus and now its back scarier than ever. I don’t know what to do and I’m devastated, ia it possible that it will stay this loud forever? What should I do, will the nasal spray do anything at all, if this is related to ETD? thanks so much.
Hi Maria:
I doubt your tinnitus is due to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (ETD), and therefore the Flonase won’t help.
Have you had a cold or allergy or congested ears in the past couple of weeks. If so, then your Eustachian tubes could be clogged to some extent, but if not, I sure wouldn’t take any drugs for it.
What you need to do is calm down. Don’t stress over, or to be anxious over, your tinnitus or you will just make it worse.
What happened three days ago that might have caused your tinnitus to flare up? Anything you can think of? Did you take any drugs or medications? Expose your ears to louder sounds, or a sudden loud sound? Have excess stress or anxiety over something in your life? Etc.
Let’s see if there is any other cause for your tinnitus than ETD.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
There’s nothing else I can think of, except of the fact that I took a bath and didn’t use a hair dryer at all, which is what I do the past 6 months. I’m currently working from home as well so I wasn’t out or near noisy environments either these days. The new ringing gets better during the day but spikes late at night mostly. After all this time, I am unable to sleep without music or background noise. I called my ENT two days ago and they said if its intermittent its probably temporary or muscle spams of inner ear. Regardless, I visited my local hospital and thats where they found about the ear fluid. At this point I’m not sure of what else to do. Unfortunately I live in a very stressful environment, which is temporary however I don’t feel this could be related. Then again, how can we know with tinnitus.
My next thought is to request clonazepam or anything that can help calm down the noise to some extent.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Maria:
If your tinnitus spikes late at night, that is probably a sign that you should knock it off for the day and get some sleep. Tinnitus can get much worse if you are overtired. It can be as simple as that.
I sure wouldn’t add drugs such as Clonazepam to the mix. This is just asking for more tinnitus, not less. And taking benzodiazepines can make it so your brain won’t habituate to your tinnitus.
Also, try to successfully deal with your stress. Remember, it is not the stress that is the real problem, but how you deal with it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I am so distressed. I am a 31 y/o female who recently lost hearing in my left ear Nov 29. The night before my ear felt a bit full but the day after it was completely gone. I went to the ER a couple hours later and was put on 60mg prednisone with a taper afterwards. I got one intratympanic shot 4 days ago and am starting HBOT tomorrow for twenty sessions. My hearing is at big loss, not sure the number but can only hear muffles. I am so scared, I can’t believe this is happening to me. I had no noticeable illness beforehand just some stress with life situations. Any words for me? I feel absolutely hopeless.
I also have horrible tinnitus which feels debilitating. Worse at night. So far I feel like I can hear a TEENY bit better than before but not much to be excited about. I just feel like my life is over. I cant imagine how life is going to be like this ,especially so young
Hi Kathy:
Did you have an audiogram taken to see exactly how bad your hearing was in your left ear and what the status was in your right ear? If so, I’d love to see it. You can attach it no an email and send it privately to neil at hearinglosshelp.com.
You did the right thing in getting the Prednisone started right away. And the HBOT could really help but no guarantees.
Did any doctor hazard a guess what might have caused this hearing loss?
Losing hearing suddenly is a shock to the system to be sure and it takes time to get your emotions under control. You have to go through the grieving process, but rest assured that when you come out the other side, you will be excited about living–even if you have to live life as a “one-eared” person.
Count your blessings–you have normal hearing in one ear. You still have all your faculties intact.
Learning to live with tinnitus is another challenge. If it prevents you from sleeping (or falling asleep) use some sounds to partially mask it. Some people find all they need is a fan in the bedroom. Others listen to white or pink noise. But one of the best things is to listen to water sounds–babbling brook sounds, waterfall sounds, rainfall sounds, waves lapping on the beach, water fountain sounds, etc. Not only are these sound good for habituating to your tinnitus, but they are also naturally soothing.
And to habituate to your tinnitus so it no longer bothers you, you must not think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being in any way. Think of it as a totally useless, meaningless sound that is safe to ignore–then ignore it and instead, focus on the loves of your life. In time you’ll find that hours go by without your even being aware you have tinnitus.
I know it is hard to believe, but if you do that, this is what will happen. So think positively. I’ve done it–and you can do it too.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
They didnt give me a copy of the audiogram. But I know the numbers were quite low on the left side on the diagram. I can try to ask for it tomorrow when I see them again.
The doctor doesn’t know, likely viral? I am not on any daily medications, but I take Zoplicone PRN, pantoprazole PRN and then sometimes ibuprofen or excedrin PRN for headache. I was on birth control for years but stopped taking it a couple weeks prior to this happening.
Does the tinnitus seem worse at first and or get enhanced with the prediosone?
I am a RN, and I haven’t heard about this really happening before. Are you able to briefly explain the pathophysiology? How can it become so inflamed if I didn’t even feel sick before? It just makes no sense to me 🙁
I don’t feel normal and I don’t feel like my life will ever be the same.
Hi Kathy:
You should be able to get a copy of your audiogram. It is your right.
When you get sudden hearing loss in one ear overnight, quite often it is viral. Did you have any balance issues–even just for a short time when this happened? Dizziness, imbalance, vertigo? Often with viral attacks, there are accompanying balance problems to some degree even if minor.
All the drugs you take can cause both tinnitus and hearing loss, but if I had to choose one, I’d think the Pantoprazole would be the most likely culprit.
I don’t think the worse tinnitus at first is from the Prednisone, but it could be. Tinnitus can start out loud and then drop down as time goes on. And the worse your hearing loss the louder your tinnitus can be, but so much depends on your emotional state.
Who said your ear was inflamed? That’s your doctor’s assumption wasn’t it, not based on any clear symptoms?
Sudden hearing loss is often diagnosed as idiopathic.
Cordially,
Neil