by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Recently a man phoned me and explained,
My boss suddenly lost the hearing in one ear due to a virus. My question to you is—is he contagious? In other words, can I lose my hearing from being near him?
I’ve answered thousands of questions related to ears, but this is the first time this particular question has ever come up. Even though no one has asked it before, it is an excellent question.
There’s good news and bad news. First the bad news. Yes, he is contagious—in exactly the same way as if he had a cold or flu. If your immune system isn’t up to par, you could catch his cold or flu from being around him—because that is likely the kind of “bug” he has.
Now for the good news. The chances of your having the same reaction to his virus if you get it is minuscule. For example, I’ve heard of family members having sudden hearing loss from a virus, but I’ve never heard of another family member also getting the virus and having a sudden hearing loss. I’m sure it is possible, but it must be extremely rare if it does occur.
The virus that causes sudden deafness is not some strange, esoteric virus, but just the regular viruses that are around us like cold viruses, flu viruses, Chicken Pox (Varicella) viruses, etc. Normally they cause all the symptoms you know well, but sometimes, for whatever reason, they get into the inner ear and wreak havoc there resulting in sudden hearing loss and/or balance problems.
Personally, I wouldn’t be at all worried about “catching” sudden hearing loss from your boss.
Hi,
Can you please tell me if the sudden loss of hearing due to a virus is permanant? Will any of my hearing come back and is there anything one can do? It is driving me crazy! Many thanks Chris
Hello sir, last night my right ear hearing is not balance but my left ear was good, but when I’m using cotton buds always my ways of getting dirt. But right now my left ear is not balance what should I do sir?
Hi Mark:
It sounds like you are using cotton swabs (what we call Q-tips) to clean out your ears. One problem with them is that unless you begin with clean ears, you just push the dirt and wax down deeper. This wax and stuff eventually fills the ear canal and blocks your hearing to some degree–hence your ears don’t sound balanced anymore.
The answer is to go to a qualified health care person (doctor or audiologist) and have your ear canals cleaned out. Don’t try to do it yourself if your ear canal is already blocked. Using cotton swabs isn’t going to help and will just pack the wax in harder.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Chris:
Some people recover most of their hearing, and others are left with permanent severe hearing loss. So you can’t generalize and predict what will happen.
If you see an ear specialist in the next few days after you notice a hearing loss, he may prescribe Prednisone and sometimes an anti-viral, and these can stop further hearing loss and put you on the road to recovering some or most of your lost hearing.
However, this has to be done quickly. By the time 30 days have passed, it is unlikely that any treatment will help and the hearing you have at the end of 30 days or so is a good indication of what you will likely have permanently.
The same thing happened to me in March of last year and I lost most of the hearing in my left ear. It unfortunately has not returned
i had a debilitating virus about 6 weeks ago and started lossing hearing shortly thereafter. over the past few weeks there has been considerable loss in both ears. the first doctor i saw said it was due to cochlear degeneration and there was nothing to do about the loss (which was still ongoing). a second wonderful doctor put me on prednisone and the first two days my hearing improved enormously. by the end of the 2nd day, however, my hearing again started to diminish. now he wants to put me on a more intense prednisone regiment. what are the chances of my getting my hearing back? of tinnitus ending? is it likely that this hearing loss is due to the virus and not cochlear degeneration for which nothing can be done? i’m appreciative of any thoughts.
my partner recently had “vestibular neuronitis”. could this also be related to a virus? she is having occasional double vision now and other seemingly neurologically related symptoms.
Hi Amy:
Prednisone works for some people–obviously it worked well for you. However, when your hearing starts getting bad again after Prednisone treatments, I have to wonder what is going on.
One possibility is that the virus is still active–in which case your doctor might want to prescribe an anti-viral as well as the Prednisone.
If your hearing loss was not related to a virus, but for example, autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED), then Prednisone can recover hearing while you are taking it, but in some people the hearing loss returns as soon as they quit taking the Prednisone.
Since the Prednisone worked at the start, it may be worthwhile trying a more aggressive Prednisone therapy to see what happens. Just don’t stay on the Prednisone too long so you don’t get all the other side effects that Prednisone can cause.
If your hearing returns, there is a good chance that your resulting tinnitus will go away, but there are no guarantees.
As for your friend’s vestibular neuronitis, yes, it could be caused by a virus–for example, the herpes simplex Type 1 virus.
Coming back from a trip my ears plugged when the plane was landing, something that happens all the time. The next day my hearing had not returned and I came down with a severe case of the flu. Two weeks after I contacted our family doctor about my hearing loss and she advised to have my ears checked for wax. My ears were clean. Next I was put on a nose spray and still my hearing did not return. Last week I was seen by an audiologist who advised me I had about 50% hearing in both ears and that it would not return. She recommeded two hearing aids. Is there any chance that my hearing will return without the aid of hearing devices? At this stage my ears feel the same as they did when the plane was landing.
I just heard about this virus from a friend. i have the same thing… The flu and hearing loss in one hear.
My wife was taken Ill and bed ridden for 2 weeks. The family Doc gave he several prescriptions after man trips to correct her virus. One morning she wok up and said he ears felt like they where filled with fluid. Another trip to the Doc he placed her on a steroid and told her to see an ENT. It took 4 weeks to get the ENT appointment, once seen the ENT and audiologist talk her that she had suffered “sudden hearing loss†and there no longer any anything that can be done to correct the problem. We where also told that had we seen the ENT a month ago she could have been placed on steroids and she would have not lost her hearing. Wow – what a shock. My wife is now 100% death in the right and has a problem in the left. She is suffers from in-balance and is on a low sodium diet. Any ideas? Dan
MARCH 7/2010 I WENT ON 12 DAY SIX COUNTRY CRUISE IN EUROPE, GOT VERY SICK THE 3RD DAY. STAYED ON THE SICK SHIP UNTIL MY RETURN 12 DAYS LATER. WENT TO MY DOCTOR THE VERY NEXT DAY. HAD FEVER,BRONCHITIS, AND BOTH EARS STOP UP. OF COURSE I HAD RX’S FOR THE BRONC,I ALSO HAD HIGH DOSE OF PREDNISONE FOR THE EARS ALONG WITH 2 DIFFERENT NASAL SPRAYS AT THE SAME TIME. HAD SINUS XRAYS WHICH WERE FINE. I THOUGHT IT WAS FLUID IN EARS, WENT TO THE E.N.T. FRIDAY(4 MONTHS LATER) TO BE TOLD I LOSS MY HEARING AND I DID NOT HAVE FLUID IN THE EARS AND TO START THE NASAL SPRAY AGAIN,GO TO THE HEARING SPECIALIST FOR HEARING AIDS..I HEAR, BUT THE FEELING IN THE EARS HAVE NOT GONE AND WAS TOLD IT WILL NOT GO THIS IS WHAT LOSS OF HEARING IS. I AM DONE WITH THESE NAME BRAND CRUISE SHIPS.
Hi , My 10 year old son has recently been diagnosed with bilateral LVAS. He has almost complete hearing loss in one ear and the other ear is perfect.
Is this common in LVAS?
Is it likely that his other ear will lose hearing also?
What % of hearing do cochlear implants provide?
Regards Kerry
My story is just like 6. Ann’s. Ann – has your hearing come back? I saw an ENT yesterday, 15 days after the flight (had to wait a week for an appt). I’m taking prednisone, I’ve had 2 doses now and see no improvement yet, but I’m hopeful! It’s so depressing to not be able to communicate the way I’m used to!
Last Saturday my wife suddenly began to complain of ringing and hearing loss in her right ear. As it worsened, we went the hospital and Prednisone was prescribed. It did nothing but make her feel terrible for 5 days and she stopped taking it. She’s extremely concerned because her left ear has pressure and distorted sounds/ringing. If this was from a virus, could it have spread to the other ear? also, this is the first I’ve heard of anti-viral medication being prescribed . . . is that typically helpful? Thanks
Thank you for your honest and helpfull website, I lost my hearing two weeks age due to sensenural hearing loss in both ears, had the 5 day in patient treatment, steroids etc.. I am at home now waithng for another two weeks for the next appointment, feel like I am going totally insane,, one of the worst things I have ever had to and continue to endure,,, thanks for letting me write this,, maybe you may understand what this is like..
kind regards paula
Hello all…I lost all hearing in the right ear October 5, 2010–saw an audiologist, total deafness in the right ear, was told this probably viral? was given steroids–no help. Had a third audio test 1/28/11 to be told the same thing as before. The audiologist was giving me false hope that my hearing could still return; he had encountered a person who got their hearing back 9mos later? When I saw the ENT, she was frank and truthful…she said, ‘if the hearing didnt return within the first 9weeks, it would not return. Well, at least I am not hoping anymore…of course, if it should come back—oh happy day, but at least I still have 100% in the left ear!!!
Age 52 and in great health – never get sick and take vitamins, herbs, and eat right. My boss at work got some kind of flu, I did not seem to catch it, and went on a vacation about 1 1/2 weeks later. There in a museum, hearing in my right ear stopped. Felt like “swimmers ear” and thought it would “pop”. Nope, then I got the “drunk” feeling – light vertigo, then the right side of my face felt numb. This all happened over about a 2 1/2 hour span. Left the museum and right to an emergency room – thought it might be a stroke. Nope, a CT scan revealed sinusitus and I got a three day antibiotic and anti-vert. Three weeks later at home, went to and ENT. 90% hearing loss, put on prednisone for 3 weeks, and still no hearing. MRI scan was next, no tumors or mini-stroke. Hearing is just gone. My boss still is deaf in his ear as well and sought no treatment. Two co-workers each have a family/friend who is in the same boat, got sick and then hearing loss. Read a report on internet citing hearing loss from a virus in children in Afghanistan – sometimes it has flu like symptoms, and sometimes nothing at all, just the hearing loss. Could out returning war veterans be returning with this virus and passing it into the general population??? Seems to co-incidental, at least for me, to be one of four people who got this thing near the same time. Very frustrating not knowing, let alone find a fix.
I had a similar experience as Jim M except occured in the middle of the night. Woke up Christmas Eve morning 2007 and found the hearing gone in my left ear. Very disorienting. The next night, I woke in the middle of the night with an extreme vertigo. Could not sit or stand w/out extreme nausea. My wif etook me to the clinic–I was checked out for a stroke. No stroke so sent home. Stroke nuerologist thought Meniere’s. Doctor also set up an appointment for a week out to see ENT. When I saw th eENT, she placed me on the Prednisone and anti-viral regimine. Too late, however. She told me that to be truly effective, needs to be administered w/in 48 hours. Hearing loss is about 80%. The loss is tough to take–however, the real problem is the ringing, high pitched whine, etc. that filters through my left ear.
A week ago, had sudden, severe hearing loss in left ear over just 3-4 hours time. Noticed first the extreme roaring and ringing in left ear, and then, that I could near a dial tone at all in my left ear on the phone. Switched to right ear and could hear it. I actually thought at first that something was wrong with the phone. I experienced some vertigo, dizziness and imbalance and this continues now a week later, with no recovery of hearing in that ear.
I had no symptoms of any cold, cough, nothing, and had been fine all day last Saturday when this all began.
Last Saturday, my Husband rushed me to E.R. The doctor on call thought it was Meniere’s, but said to see ENT specialist asap on Monday. On Monday, I called the specialist’s office twice, no appt. was available. I called again Tues, two more times, and still could not get in to see him.
Finally, they called back and said to go to the audiologist first. Profound loss, near complete deafness in left ear, he confirmed, calling and faxing the ENT to get me in asap. Finally saw ENT specialist on Thurs. (five days after initial event) and now I read that 48 hours is critical to begin meds (steroids and anti viral!)
ENT specialist finally sent me for an MRI, which I had been asking for since Sat. at the E.R. and again on Monday. Also ordered the blood tests to check for the possibility of a virus.
Does anyone here know definitively if there is really a 48 hour window to make a real difference in regaining hearing in the affected ear? I’ve heard everything from 48 hours to ten days to thirty.
Prayers for everyone here, and thank you for this forum.
I can relate with Kay.
Thursday at little after 7pm I experienced severe LEFT ear pain. By 8pm, lost most of my hearing.
Friday PM, I began antibiotics (oral and otic).
No change by Monday.
Saw ENT on Thursday. Audiometry tests came back normal. Said it might be related to my TMJ. No convinced. Using night guard almost 24hrs each day to see if it makes a difference.
Friday afternoon, no difference yet.
Going to see another ENT on Monday. Will ask to try steroids to see if it clears this up.
Feels like pressure/as if my ear is plugged up from cold/infection. Can hear some ringing. Sounds are tinny, half pitch off from other ear.
I know this is an old thread…can you tell me what happened…ecperiencing this now
Ten days ago I experienced sudden hearing loss while talking on the phone. It began with crackling in my left ear and I thought, at first, that there was a problem with the phone. Then, within less than 10 minutes, I couldn’t hear. Within another 30 minutes, I felt the same crackling noise begin to affect my right ear! I didn’t know what was happening. I never lost the hearing in my right ear but I felt that it was possible for about a tense 15 minutes.
I went to sleep and when I woke up the next morning, I felt that the hearing in my left ear was slightly better.
Ten days after my initial hearing loss, I had an appointment with an ENT doctor. She said I had significant hearing loss in my left ear. She put me on Prednisone 10mg for 18 days, wants an MRI, blood work and to come back in a week to repeat the hearing test and be re-evaluated. She said she feels I have a virus and said that 30% get better on their own, about 50% get better or improve with Prednisone and another 30% see no improvement.
I thank those that have shared their own experience. I feel I have benefited from your information.
Hi I have a similar issue with hearing loss in my right ear- I have a MRI on Monday- I’m wondering what type of improvement you had?
At the end of August 2011 felt run down but no flu symptoms.Next day woke up and hearing loss in left ear,visited my GP who diagnosed ear infection and prescribed OTC medications
No improvement after 6weeks and GP sent me for MRI scan,thankfully came back normal and advised to see ENT specialist. Hearing loss was still evident but tinnitus had dissapated to tolerable level
ENT guy ran some tests and advised that I had permanent hearing loss and because I had good hearing in right ear to adjust my lifestyle.
I was so devastated with this,has any one any advise whether natural/medical treatment that may be useful
Wow. What a scary forum. My Mom ended up being TERRIBLY sick 3 wks ago; was admitted to the hospital-after seeing her doc who diagnosed her w/ vertigo and put her on Prednisone and antibiotic. She was SO deliriously sick from the dizziness and spinning and loss of hearing in her right ear. She seen the ENT finally after a week who put her on anti spinning and anti nausea meds. The symptoms subsided but still no hearing. She just called me after going back to the ENT and seeing an audiologist and they informed her she has permanently lost her hearing in her ear. What the heck?? I was shocked to see all of the same type of stories on here.#15 (Jim’s) comment scares me… Just praying that she doesn’t get this “virus” in the other ear or that anyone else I know ends up with it 🙁
I lost my low frequency in my left ear 4 years ago. I had a virus twice that year. I had sloshing in the ear the day before and woke up the next day and hearing was gone. Went to the doctor that day and was put on prednisone and then had a longer series of it. It didn’t help at all. All it did was make me swell and irritable. I hear it can help some, but not for me.
The ocean sound in my ear and ringing can be hard at times, but your body does adjust. I can not talk on the phone with the left ear anymore, but I can still hear high pitches and the birds singing.
I haven’t tried a hearing aid.
The doctor told me it happens alot more they we would think.This should be researched!
I had gotten a cold a little over a month ago and lost the hearing in my left ear right away, and my right ear would be clogged but if I lift my head it would drain and I can hear…after a couple of weeks and not getting any better, my boss(RN) advised me to see an ENT… I was placed on Amoxicillin but after 7 days there was no change…so almost 2 months later, my left ear has a permanent ringing and my right ear is the same until i pick my head up… I am a single mom of 6 with no health insurance and although I work in a hospital I can not afford to pay for the costly insurance, which made it impossible for me to get the right treatment needed to get my hearing back…Suprised to be one of many with the same medical issue…I guess I will be like this forever. So sad!
I’m sick, have a cold and I went to bed one night. And I woke up and my ear feels like I have a cup over it. Some of my hearing went away but I can still hear fine. Just a little bit lower,when I go to sleep and wake up the feelings one one ear and they kinda trade off and I want to know if my ears are acting like this because I have a virus?
Hi Sandra:
It’s more likely your middle ears are a bit clogged up with “gunk” from your cold. That produces some degree of conductive hearing loss.
When your ears “trade off”, is it because you are sleeping on one side then the other. The ear that is “up” drains so you hear better from it when you get up. By the same token, the ear that was “down” clogs up so you hear worse.
After you have been up and around for a couple of hours, both ears should hear about the same until you lay down again.
Dec. 8, 2011 I was driving home from work and I experienced a popping sound in both ears. (I was not sick felt fine before this happened) I called my doctor and got an appt. the next day. He put me on 60mg of Prednisone right away said probably a deep sinus infection and I should be better by Monday. The next day my right ear returned to normal…. over the weekend my left ear was getting worse… lots of loud white noise and ringing and hearing getting worse. By Monday I was sent to ENT he sent me for hearing test and told me I had Sudden Hearing Loss. I was in shock. My left ear had moderate to severe hearing loss. The ENT praised my doctor and continued me on 60mg of Prednisone and added Valtrex (antiviral) for an additional 10 days. Prednisone is a wicked and wonderful medication. By the next day after seeing the ENT my left ear was completely numb and I was completely deaf in my left ear. I was very depressed, upset and overwhelmed. Within 17 days on these drugs my hearing was back 100% ( it happened to be Christmas Day) I wanted to post this because most post are not positive and wanted to let people know that you may get your hearing back. I hope this helps some of you. Oh and I also took extra vitamin E and B12… I had read this on some website…
Thank you for sharing this positive message! It gives me hope. I’m on Prednisone now and hoping to recover.
Tricia, thank you for your post. I was starting to panic. I am 33 years old, 21 weeks pregnant and have a 2 year old at home. 2 days ago I was driving back to work from my lunch break and started getting a ringing sound and muffling in my right ear. Within 2 hours my hearing was gone on that side and I developed mild vertigo. I was worried it was related to the pregnancy so I went to the ER. The doc had no explanation and said I needed to get to an ENT. I called the next day and pleaded to any ENT that would listen (because my husband is in the Air Force and was deploying the next day). They got me right in. He instilled a steroid injection into my hear and started me on 60mg Prednisone a day and Valacyclovir three times a day. I have complete hearing loss in my right ear and the vertigo comes and goes. I found this blog and have researched sudden hearing loss, and was starting to really panic. I am scared about losing my hearing permanently but I am terrified about the meds I am on and how they will affect my unborn child. I am too emotional right now to handle any of this and the constant ringing in my ear is just adding to the anxiety. I was happy to read a positive post and pray that I will have the same outcome.
Hi Jessica, I am so glad that my post calmed your nerves somewhat. I am so sorry your going through this. I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy! I dont know anything about how the Prednisone will effect your baby… but I’m sure the doctors took that into consideration when prescribing it. You did the right thing by insisting on seeing an ENT within 24 hours. I have heard that the injections work very well. The Valacyclovir I think is really important because they think this is caused by a virus. Just keep in mind that it can cause bad acid reflux and bad headaches. I also researched and was starting to panic because there is only doom and gloom on these blog. That is why I posted my positive outcome. My advise to you is to stop googling Sudden Hearing Loss because you will make yourself crazy and it wont be helpful. Its very important to try and relax and stay calm and focus on the positive. ( I was hysterical at times) Also keep in mind that it may take up to a month for your hearing to get back to normal. Please ask your doctor if taking Vitamin E and B12 is okay while your pregnant. I wish you the best!
I am glad I am not the only one. It has been one year, and my hearing in my left ear is getting progressively worse. I was first told that I got it from the flu shot (1-28-11), because the tinnitus started 2 days later. I had mild vertigo two weeks prior. Now, one year later, my hearing in my left ear is declining. I am having constant side/side vertigo. I have also been diagnosed with 4 herniated discs in my neck. I am told if I don’t get a hearing aid, that I will not be able to correct my hearing and will not understand speech. If I knew exactly what caused this, I could accept it. It’s the unknown…I never know if the “virus” is going to attack my other ear. The doctor told me my hearing would not get worse. He was wrong and I feel I am on my own.
I am sorry to hear so many are experiencing sudden hearing loss. Reading all the messages are helping me understand a little more and not feel so alone. I was feeling fine and happy the weekend of February 17th to 21st, 2012 but did have a 3 day cold the week prior. Anyhow over that particular weekend my ears felt full and very weird. By Monday the 21st I was deaf in my left ear. I went through many emergency appointments starting on February 22nd, was placed on prednisone which sent me to emergency with terrible side effects. I was taken off the prednisone after just one day of taking the 50 mg but the side effects remained for still another full day and night. I now have an MRI scheduled for February 28th. It has been one week since my hearing ordeal. My ears still feel full, noisy & weird BUT I can now hear the ring tone on my phone a little where last week I could only hear silence. Keeping my fingers crossed & praying here for better recovery as I will for everyone on this message site. Take Care!
Wow!!! My heart goes out to everone on this site! I have been dealing w the sudden hearing loss also and simple about to loos the last of my personality! Ive done the meds to treat it and nothing!!! But, If I lay down I feel fine, the feeling of stuffyness is gone! The aggrivation from noises is gone, but as soon as I sit up iM doomed! Esp if I get hot then it really flares up. I have recently notice alittle problem with my other ear now, Im ready to find a new docotr, I htink mine has written me since I have no insurance. ALthough I have paid outta pocket for everything and am a faithful patient.
I’m so glad to have found others who have experienced this. I caught a virus while on a tour. On May 25th I woke up with a hearing loss. The hearing in my left ear was just about all gone and the hearing in the right was about 50%. Like many of you, the antibiotic did nothing. The prednisone helped a little. I wish I knew about antivirals at that time. The ears have switched – hearing in the left is good (but not back to normal) and hearing in the right ear has deteriorated. Have an appointment with an audiologist next week. ENT says the loss is permanent. I’m still hoping for improvement.
Thank you for this website. One afternoon 3 weeks ago, I developed vertigo and tinnitus and a feeling of pressure and then complete hearing loss in my left ear over the course of 1 hour! No other symptoms – no cold or flu. Diagnosis was inner ear viral infection. I was put on prednisone oral steroid and Ceftin antibiotic and meclizine for motion sickness within 48 hours. The antibiotic was useless, but the prednisone was a good idea, and the meclizine was a life saver. ENT sent me for MRIs to rule out tumors and vascular problems, and gave me middle ear steroid injections – 1 a week for 3 weeks. Unfortunately nothing helped. For those of you who were not treated quickly, don’t be angry. This is just one of those weird things that hits you out of the blue. Hopefully some hearing will come back over time. And, your brain will learn how to deal with the vertigo, so you aren’t a sea sick sailor for the rest of your life.
On June 12, I started to feel a sensation like hearing the ocean in my head. No other symtoms, but I made an appointment just in case it was a sinus infection that would get worse.
My appointment was on Friday June 15. I woke up that morning with my left ear completely full of liquid and no hearing in it. The doctor gave me antibiotics, a shot of cortisone and nasal spray. By Monday it was no better and I went to an urgent health care. They gave me stronger medicine and ear drops.
On Thursday, I saw an ENT who started shots into the eardrum. I have had three shots now and very little improvement. I am getting hearing aids and they will be fitted on Monday. I had some hearing loss in my right ear for many years and occasionaly wore the hearing aid, but most of the time did not. The hearing in my left ear was completely normal when tested this February.
I am grateful for finding out here about anti-viral meds because no Dr. has ever mentioned them. If they could be helpful, I will go back to a Dr. and tell them what I saw here and suggest that I try some. This same thing started in my left ear about 2 months ago when I noticed a roaring sound after waking up, this led to hearing loss, then I went to my GP who gave me prednosolone in a low dose and a flonase type spray. She said it was an eustacian tube blockage and if I didn’t get better in a few days to call an ENT. It didn’t help, the ENT was uncertin and sent me to another Dr., MRI, hearing tests, 60 mg. prednisone. Hearing is better now, but the Dr. won’t suggest any more treatment to help it go away. I’m looking for a new ENT now and hope to find someone who isn’t so complacent about this and
maybe knows if some research is being done —this is a strange thing to happen!
Hello,
I am so glad i found this site because, i share most of the same experiences as everyboby else do on this site. I experience sever hearing loss this year and about 2 weekends ago my whole right ear is closed up, and what makes matters worse i cannot hardly understand my 3 year ond son whe he talks to me, it s very hard and fraustating. My left is is gone also but i can hear just a little. I am so tied of reading the words off the t.v. screen and watching the people on the t.v. at the same time, i am currently on pednisone, but my ENT tells me that i may have to get an cochlear at Shands Hospital in Gainseville,fl, all i hear all day is ringing, buzzing and like water is swoshing around in there like a stream ini both ears. How could this happened to me, i will never know!
could this be caused by the flu shot
Hello,
I’m happy to find this sit as well. I experienced sudden hearing loss in both ears last Sunday. The left is 100% and the right about 60% Of course I thought it was fluid behind the membrane and saw mt GP. Prescription for antibiotics,Flonase spray and Zyrtec.
Without results in four days I saw an ENT and have been placed on mega doses of Prednisone. To my knowledge, I have not had sinus infection or a virus – but I do have severe year round allergies.
I recently had my ‘flu shot with little reaction. I’m hoping for a miracle – but reading this page doesn’t give much hope. I’m too damned old to learn to sign!
Hi Paula:
Yes, a number of people have told me they have had sudden hearing loss in the days or week or so after getting a flu shot. So it does happen.
Regards
Neil
same thing has happened to me.I suggest we all pray and pray hard and most of all put your complete trust in GOD.
First of all, thanks dr Neil for the info n work.
I had flu shot on nov 3, loss hearing on rt ear on Nov 16, (Fri.) no any sign, found out when I switched phone from lt ear to Rt. later, high n low pitch ring n interval woozy sounds started happen. Called 811, was advised no need to go to emergency, could wait a week to see GP. Saw a walk in next day, got a referral to Ent. (Appointment in middle Dec). Saw my GP, was told caused my depression, return in 2 weeks. Had 2 acupuncture treatments, no improvement. By Tuesaday, went to emergency, put on 50 mg prednisone n appoinent with Ent on Friday. After 3 days on prednisone 50 mg, 1 day on prednisone 30 mg, hearing returned but noy 100%, stopped prednisone that day hoping it would continue improving. But it didn’t. So, took another 25 mg prednisone last night. Now, hearing seems 100% returned, still feel a bit of funning on both ears. Not sure if I should continue it. Unable to reach my Ent last 2 days. Scheduled an ear shot on Thursday, not sure if I should go if I still could not reach Ent by tomorrow.
I am breast feeding, and I had choked in my sleep on Saturday (not on prednisone that night). I keep on wonder if choking was caused by it.
The half life of prednisone is 3.5 hr, and I was told my 3 pharmacists its safe to breast feed. I wait 9 hours before breast feeding.
My question to Dr Neil are:
1. Should I stop taking prednisone now my hearing is totally back, no ringing but both ear feel pressured?
2. If I should continue, taper to how much?
3. If its caused by flu shots, could it mean the flu shit is a contaminated by other virus?
4. I have environmental and food allergies, and fybromaylgia which is inflammation of muscle tendons and nerves. I wonder if my hearing loss could be a result of autoimmune
Inner ear disease?
Thanks everyone’s sharing. My heart goes to you all
One more thing, the ringing sounds and pressure feeling reduces when I lie down. Now, only pressure feelings left.
Hi Helen:
Before I answer your questions, I suggest you read my article and comments at http://hearinglosshelp.com/weblog/can-swine-flu-shots-cause-sudden-hearing-loss.php#comments as these two threads are somewhat intermingled and you may get some insights from the comments there.
Second, let me reiterate that I am NOT a medical doctor (my doctorates are in other fields) and thus do NOT give medical advice–which is what you are asking me to do.
What I can do is help you understand what is going on (education) so you can make your own good informed decisions.
Once you read the comments in the above link, you will see that flu shots can cause allergy problems to flare up–and since you already have allergies, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if something like that happened in your case as well.
Prednisone is known to work in some people with immune system responses (such as allergies and other immune system problems) and causes their hearing to come back. For some people as long as they are on the Prednisone, their hearing stays up, but when they stop, more hearing loss results. For others, it brings back their hearing and they can go off the Prednisone without any problems.
I don’t know what group you fall into. I’d suggest talking it over with your doctor about whether to take more Prednisone, taper of it now, or stop now with the idea that if your hearing starts dropping again, you’ll go back on it.
Personally, if it was me and I was breast-feeding, I’d lean to the last option.
To answer your question No. 3–I’ve had enough reports of people losing hearing from taking the flu shots to believe that there are some live flu viruses in the vaccine (that weren’t supposed to be there) that are causing the problem and not some other (contaminating) virus.
And to answer your question 4–I think the flu shot stimulated your immune system such that your allergies flared up–which in turn could have also caused your hearing loss in addition to, or in spite of any immune system dysfunction causing the hearing loss.
Personally, I’d never take a flu (or any other) shot. I do not believe they are good for our bodies and are not necessary. If you want to avoid the flu, there are two things you can do that your doctor likely won’t tell you about.
First, you need to cut way down on sugars of all kinds (especially fructose). Sugars suppress your immune system so any virus floating around at the time can get a foothold that it otherwise wouldn’t be able to do.
Second, make sure your Vitamin D levels are optimized for good health. Make sure you are talking about Vitamin D3 (Calcitrol) which is the most active form of Vitamin D for good health. The optimal level of Vitamin D is between 50 and 70 ng/ml according to Dr. Mercola.
Regards
Neil
Thanks for your reply.
I had just recently accepting sweets into my diet. I’ll reverse it now. My ENT suggest me continue with med, cancelled the shot. I won’t continue though. I’ll report next Wednesday after hearing test at Ent office
Thanks for all comments. American living in Russia, just lost my hearing in right ear 2 weeks ago, they tell me from a virus. Have been doing massive steroid/anti-viral treatments intravenously but no luck so far. I have been really depressed. I had never even heard of such a thing till finding this forum. I suppose I should consider myself very lucky I am not experiencing vertigo, too. I am a teacher and loud lunchroom noises are like a screaming microphone sound. AGH! God bless you all.
Hi Elaine:
If no hearing is returning, it seems the steroids aren’t helping and your hearing loss may prove to be permanent, unfortunately.
Not only are you suffering from sudden hearing loss, you now also have hyperacusis (which is also quite commonly accompanies sudden hearing loss). That is why the lunchroom sounds are now MUCH too loud and distorted. Over time, hopefully, this will settle down and the sounds will become more normal. It may take a couple of months or more for this to happen.
Regards
Neil
I was so happy to find this site as I am dealing with sudden severe hearing loss
I did the prednisone treatment as well as the 3 steriod shots (one a week) with no improvement.
I did my third hearing test yesterday and I have actually gotten worse at some frequencies.
This has been the hardest thing I have ever dealt with and I am feeling extremely anxious and depressed.
ENT has now put me on a drug called Serc to see if improving blood flow may help as well as a diuretic.
I can’t imagine having to adjust to living this way with not only the hearing loss but the horrible ringing.
It has now been over three weeks – would love to hear some positive stories from those who have had improvement.
Glad i came across this forum as I didn’t realize others have suffered the same fate. I caught the flu in September 2012 & within a week, my right ear had filled with fluid & lost all hearing. My doctor didn’t end up prescribing prednisone & anti-viral medication until my 8th week. By then both my ears were plugged. After the dose of meds, the hearing came back in my left ear but never got the hearing back in my right ear. Its now been over 12 weeks. My ENT suggested I use a water nasal flush and hold nose to blow out ear. A few times I was hopeful as there was some crackling but I am doubtful now that anything will happen. I am to go back to ENT in a few weeks who suggested he put in an ear tube (small incision in ear drum)to restore hearing. Not sure what to do except keep praying for healing.
Hi Lisa:
There are two kinds of hearing loss–conductive hearing loss, which occurs in the middle ear, and sensorineural hearing loss, which occurs in the inner ear.
Conductive hearing losses are typically caused by fluid (I call it “gunk”) in the air filled cavity of the middle ear. When this gunk drains down the Eustachian tube, the ear clears and hearing returns. This process can take a few days to a few weeks and up to three months, depending on several factors.
Thus, typically, conductive losses are temporary losses and once your ear clears hearing typically, but not always, returns to normal.
Inner ear hearing losses (sensorineural losses) are entirely different, and typically result in permanent hearing loss. Inner ear hearing losses can be caused by a virus that attacks the structures in the inner ear causing the hearing loss.
Often, what happens is that you have a sudden hearing loss, which may also be accompanied by a sense of inbalance, dizziness or vertigo. Standard treatment is Prednisone, sometimes accompanied by an antiviral.
For some people, their hearing comes back 100%. For other people, and this seems to be more common, some of their hearing comes back, but they are left with some degree of permanent sensorineural hearing loss. Unfortunately, for a few, no hearing returns and they are left with a permanent hearing loss.
If you have a sensorineural hearing loss caused by a virus, typically the hearing that you have after 30 days is what you will be left with.
In your case, Lisa, it appears that you have a middle ear infection (conductive loss) and you can expect your hearing to return when your ear clears.
For some reason, your middle ear infection seems to be persisting. That is why your doctor is suggesting putting a tube in your ears to let the fluid drain out through your ear canal because obviously it is not draining down through your Eustachian tube.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Neil! I will see ENT in a few weeks.
Dr Neil,
Reading these post are actually my therapy…In January of 2012 I had a ringing in my ear then immediately lost all hearing in the r ear. I had terrible problems with dizzyness and nausea. I felt deperate but ran from Dr to Dr begging for help. They all looked at me and said my ear was fine. Depression set in and I was a mess. I can relate to every article here and have tried it all. A neurootologist diagnosed sensorineural hearing-permanent loss. What I would like to say to everyone on this site is unfortunately much of it does not get better. The clicking noises, ocean noises, and frustration of not hearing stays the same. You can however do vestibular exercizes to help retrain the brain for balance problems. These have not cured me but so much better than 1 year ago. Good luck to each of you. I can say I understand you horror. I would like to ask how would a person know they are being attacked by a virus? I wasn’t sick or even had a cold. Are there tests to do that show you have the virus? Could you give me more info on how this happens? Thank you. Linda
Hi Linda:
Typically, the virus diagnosis is the result of not finding any other cause for the hearing loss, or seeing you have an active virus such as a cold or flu, or herpes sores, etc., etc. In any case it is basically just an educated guess. I’m not aware of doctors normally doing cultures to see what virus you may have.
If you don’t have any indications of a virus being active, and nothing else makes sense, the doctors just give the diagnosis of idiopathic sudden hearing loss. This is just doctor speak when they don’t have a clue what caused it.
Regards
Neil
What a relief to read all the previous comments. I was beginning to think I was unique !
I too have been left with partial deafness in my right ear, since being ill with a virus all over Xmas and into the new year. I did have anti-biotics which helped clear the mucus etc. What I am left with now is a cough, runny nose and worst of all not being able to hear properly.
My right ear has been syringed, as it was blocked. Everything just sounds muffled, like when landing on a plane. The strange thing is, if I tilt my head down on the right, something clears and I can hear ok, but then when I sit back up, it’s back to being ‘muffled’.
It’s driving me crazy. Am going back to docs next week, to see if I can have a hearing test…….
hi had tubes in ears three week ago hearing right down i wasthe one that did every thing in family cnt hear no people are getting annoyed with me will my hearing come back
Hi Dr Neil,
My husband was diagnosed with asymetrical hearing loss in his right ear which according to his doctor was caused by a virus. He had both an MRI and CAT scan and the only thing that turned up was fluid in right frontal sinus. The doctor tells him his hearing in his right ear is permanently gone and they now seem to be pushing him to get surgery to fix his sinus issue. He tells me that his right ear will pop through out the day and when this happens he gets his hearing back in this ear for a brief moment (a minute or two) and then it goes away. If he has been diagnosed with permanent hearing loss in this ear how can this happen? Is this normal? The MRI and CAT scan did not show any fluid in his ears, they were clean. I was curious if you had ever heard of this before? I’m beginning to think he may need a second opinion.
Thanks,
Linda
Have any of you had your adenoid checked because thats what happened to me.The ents kept telling me they didnt think it was my adenoid because I was an adult and that adenoids are usually gone by the time we reach adulthood, but thats not always the case. The adenoid can become so large that they block the eustachian tube which causes fluid to drain in the ears in stead of the throat and that fluid sometimes get infected causing ear infections such as otitis media with effusion. Now four months later after the doctors exausted all their theories .Im finally have my adenoid taken out along with my tonsils un two weeks.please insist on having them checked even if they tell you its unnecessary.Doctors dont know everything.
Oh goodie. This condition appears to be permanent for most. I lost hearing in my right ear last Thursday night. The left ear feels exactly like the ‘plugging’ when flying. Both ears are ringing. The right ear is chirping like a cricket from time to time.. Some vertigo.
My chiropractor is a genius. I went in on Tuesday for an adjustment, which was the earliest appointment available. I was hoping for just a pinched nerve. The doctor checked my ears; clear. He got out his tuning forks. When done he said I think you have a virus. He had seen three or four cases.
I have a doctor’s appointment in two weeks. ENT comes to our little town a month from now.
I was so glad to see your posts about Prdnisone. I am asthmatic and have some on hand. I did not have a flu shot, or the flu. Did not have a cold or bronchitis this winter. This was out of the blue.
Hi All,
I can relate to all of your comments here. I have been battling hearing loss issues now for 7 years. While being referred to many different ENT’s, CT Scans,and MRI’s, I have been finally diagnosed with autoimmune inner ear disease. I started having balance issues, then swelling of feet, x-rays that had shown sarcoidosis, and at first hearing loss in my left ear. Since that time, I have had many steroid injections in my left ear, and treatments of Prednisone..Some has helped, but not alot. I know have severe hearing loss in my left ear, with severe tinnitus. In December of 2012, I suddenly lost hearing in my right ear. Yesterday, April 7th, 2013, while in my vehicle, I lost about 90% of my hearing in my right ear..I have an appt. with my ENT on Wednesday, but things are NOT looking good. I am only in my early 40’s, and also suffer from severe depression. I can truly relate to how you are all feeling, and Pray that some cure will be found for us all, to restore hearing loss. It is quite frightening to be lost in a world on your own! Thank you all for sharing, I find it quite therapeutic knowing that others are going through the same issues!
Hi my name is Claudia and I suddenly loss my hearing on my left ear on 6/30/13.
After visiting many doctors the only feedback I have is that I have sudden hearing loss due to a virus.
Studies show that only 4000 people in the U.S experience this every year, however, within the last 2 weeks 1 co-worker+ 1 co-workerex husband , are reporting the exact conditions I have.
1 coworker brother in law is very sick on both ears, 1 coworker had a vertigo attack, at first we thought it was something within the company we work for, however, 2 of the guys are local from Shirley & center Moriches and they do not work for or company and 1 of the ladies is from Queens and only works here in Shirley, so I though
this was locals virus, but now, I have friends from overseas that are reporting weird conditions with their ears.(Tinnitus and vertigo)
We all got this within the last 3 months and we all have tinnitus. I’m really worry that the air or water are being attack some how.
Please help !
Thank you,
Claudia
Hi Claudia:
Sudden hearing loss due to a virus is the default diagnosis after they rule everything else out since they can’t see the virus or prove it was in your inner ear without destroying your ear in the process. The way I figure it, if you had a cold, flu, herpes, or other active virus in your body in the two weeks before the sudden hearing loss occurred, then it is likely viral in origin. If there was no sign of any active virus in your body, then it is unlikely to be viral. That’s my rule of thumb.
Like you say, the supposed incidence is only 4,000 people per year experiencing a sudden hearing loss, but the true figure may be much higher. For example, for years the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease in the US each year. Now, they suddenly just reported it is 10 TIMES that amount or 300,000 cases. And maybe they are still low. That’s quite a jump. I think the same is true with sudden hearing loss. The true figure is probably MUCH higher than the “official” figure, but no one has officially revised the figures upward yet.
I rather doubt that the air or water are being “infected” and that people are losing their hearing from that. However, viruses get a foothold when you compromise your immune system. Did you know that a good number of drugs do exactly that? In addition, antibiotics all mess up your immune system since something like 80% of your immune system stems from the “good guys” in your gut and antibiotics kill them off along with the “bad guys”. Furthermore, too much sugar in your diet compromises your immune system–and few people eat a diet that doesn’t include a lot of “sugar” under whatever name it is shown on the label (often high fructose corn syrup). And that is just three things that affect your immune system. There are lots more.
I hear from people all the time that have experienced sudden hearing loss. It definitely isn’t “rare”.
What can you do about it now? If you catch it right when it happens, you may be able to fight it and get your hearing back, but if some weeks have elapsed, there doesn’t seem to be any effective treatment. Thus you have to learn how to successfully live with the resulting hearing loss and accompanying tinnitus (and sometimes balance problems too).
I’ve written extensively about these things so you can read up on them for yourself on this blog and website.
Regards
Neil
Has any one tried acupucture for sudden hearing loss.i heard of some success stories and would like to someone that has done it. Any help would be greatly appreciative.
Hi Mona:
I’ve not heard of any success stories myself, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It may work. Just be aware that numbers of people experience their hearing coming back without any treatment. If such a person had gone to an acupuncturist, they would attribute their hearing coming back from the acupuncture, not from it naturally coming back.
Having said that, it’s possible that acupuncture does help in some cases. I don’t see any downside to trying acupuncture apart from the cost. I just wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. However, if it does work, be sure to let us know.
Regards
Neil
Hi Everyone,
The hearing in my left ear was totally gone when i awoke from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Still gone 4 days later. I went the next day to my family doctor who prescribed prednisone. 2 days after that I went to an ENT who tested my hearing and then prescribed a much higher 10-day dosage of prednisone. I will go back to have my hearing checked in 1 week. I have decided to try acupuncture as well. Should I ask my ENT for the antiviral medication? Or antibiotics? Niacin? I will do anything to help improve my hearing!
Thank you,
Carolyn
sepetmber off 2013 i woke with a deafness in both ear went to my doctor ewho told me it was infection was put on meds didnt work four month later went to ent told was fluid in ear got tubes and over that time till this2013 i never gort hearing back now got gommmets out still nothing have to wait till july to see my ent doctor to get a hearing test feel so alone with this
Hi Caroline:
Why do you have to wait for July to get a hearing test? You can go to an audiologist or hearing aid dispenser and get a hearing test today. You don’t have to go to an ENT for this.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr.Neil
I Lost my Rt hearing since last week, I started taken prednisone after few hour. But first 3 day my doctor prescription was 20 mg Bd. I start took QID first day and after that used Tds. Now ENT doctor give me 10 mg for 6 time(4 day) …Tapering till 1 tab for 1 day for last 4day. Almost near one month I should use it . In case if I don’t get result I should have injection inside my ear for 4 day.
Do have any side which I can get more result regarding progress or more information?
Thanks
Shiva
Dr Neil
I think you are doing Research in this case. I want to give some information which may help you. My pain started at 2 :00 am ,type of pain was trooping (like collecting pus) . It was inside ear and deviated to frontal mandible and maxilla ,even partial bone. By 11:00 am I went to doctor and started my AB (Amox-clav Bd) but after 3 hour pain reduce but not disappear . For only few hour pain radiated to sub maxilla and neck. The next day I had no pain. My Q is that , if it is virus how pain give respond to antibiotic, and if it is virus, why antivirus drug such as acyclovir not prescript.
After 1 day my ear block and next day I was hearing sound in my ear. Again I went to same doctor and he said your conviction is worse and he put me on broad levofloxacin and increased dose of prednisone . After 3 hour I hear ancho in my ear. The next day I went to other doctor . He had same opinion and he give me Meclizine for 3 days, and referred me to ENT for myringotomy. I visited two ENT . Both were saying no ear drum perforation and no fluid is back of ear.
I had ear test, and both believed nerve was involved. Direction of pain which I had first day it seem to me (7 nerve= facial and 5 nerve) is involved. At same time I know middle ear supply by 8th cranial nerve = vestibulocochlear.
At present I don’t have wheezing but I have echo to low pitch sound ,and block or reduced my hearing.
Thanks
Shiva
Halo Dr.
I am suffering from sever cold with past one week. Now am not hearing properly. What is the reason?
Hi Jen:
There are a couple of possibilities. One is that the cold has clogged up your Eustachian tubes and middle ears so the bones don’t vibrate freely–resulting in some hearing loss and hearing distortion. If this is the problem, when your cold goes away and the gunk in your middle ears and Eustachian tubes drains away, your hearing will return to normal.
Another possibility is that the cold virus has attacked your inner ear and caused a sensorineural hearing loss. Such damage to your inner ears is often permanent so won’t return to normal when your cold goes away, however, some hearing may return.
Regards
Neil
Hello
I have had bronchitis for about 2 weeks now with the usual symptoms. Been to the doctor for meds. I have had hearing loss all my life, and I have to go in often to get my ears cleaned out. My question is, should I check to see if there is wax build up preventing what hearing I do have, or wait until the virus has left?
Hi Nick:
I don’t think in really makes any difference. Go if you think wax is affecting your hearing.
Regards
Neil
I too lost hearing in my right ear and can’t stop obsessing. I think people who recover don’t post. They go on with life. I’m still trying to find answers. Anything natural and other conditions that could cause this. On my 3 ent and natual supplements after traditional approach. Any positive stories.
So glad I am not alone in trying to figure out my sudden hearing loss. Have had no head cold or flu for several years. Recognized several months ago that I was not able to hear on the phone with my right ear so started switching to my left ear. Also noticed unsteadiness as I walked so began PT. Had several nights when I couldn’t sleep because of loud pulse-beating sounds in my right ear as well. Saw two audiologists while waiting to get an appointment with an ENT. Had 60% loss in my right ear and that the problem appeared to be with my middle ear. The ENT sent me for an MRI. There were no tumors or neuromas but a suggestion(?) that I had had an infection. The ENT said to get a hearing aid and learn to live with the loud pulse and vertigo. My concerns are: do I still have an unknown virus in my system, is my remaining ear at risk, is there truly nothing that can be done for the sporadic loud pulse sounds in my ear and will the feeling of fullness (like my ear is full of water) ever dissipate? My best wishes to the many posters on this site who have the same confusion and condition.
Hi Kathy:
When you have hearing loss and balance problems too, and if you don’t have any active virus in your body, the next thing I suspect is some drug or medication. There are ever so many, and many of them are common. It could be birth control pills, Ibuprofen and its cousins, antibiotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, etc. etc. (Just because some of them are over-the-counter drugs doesn’t make them safe to take.) So think back over the past 6 months or so see if you took ANY drugs. That’s the first thing I’d do.
If you have a pulsating kind of tinnitus, then check and see if it gets worse when you exercise or otherwise push yourself physically. If so, your tinnitus is pulsatile tinnitus and is related to partially clogged arteries near your ear, or turbulent blood flow for the same reason.
The feeling of fulness could be because of fluid in your middle ear, OR it could be the result of your hearing loss (and just be a feeling–not actual fluid in your ear).
Regards
Neil
Hi, I had surgery on my ankle, about a week or two afterwards I had sudden hearing loss in my right ear, which over the next two months did improve so they think it was a virus (although was never sick), I got 40 or 50% back, the rest is gone for good, I have no lower register, and have white noise which may be improved by a hearing aid ( which I can’t afford) …I was just wondering of there would be any link of this virus to the surgery in any way? and if so how it could be shown to be linked..
Hi Tracy:
It could have been a virus, but if you can’t put your finger on any active viral activity in your body such as a cold, flu, herpes, cold sores, shingles, etc., etc. then I personally don’t think it was a virus.
A more likely culprit could be the drugs you had during the surgery and the pain killers you took afterwards. Doctors don’t like to think that the drugs they give people can cost them their hearing and cause tinnitus like you now have.
When you say sudden–how sudden was that–you woke up one morning deaf in one ear, or did your hearing drop over a few days or what?
Regards
Neil
Thanks Neil, i was just lying on the couch (was laid up after surgery) it was about a week and a half after – and It just went weird, like it needed to pop, completely sudden. I went dizzy – sounds went really faint to almost completely gone, and if I did hear any high pitched sounds at all they had to be very loud, and they sounded kind of digital/robotic sounding if that makes sense and really far away as though at the end of a tunnel. It did improve though over the next month-ish after some nasal spray with steroids in it. The ENT specialist I saw says it wouldnt be related to surgery it would be a virus, and I am just wondering what to do as it’s a bit of a coincidence, and if he wont agree that it could be linked I miss out on any kind of help with costs so am just trying to find out if I should look into futher..
Hi Tracy:
The suddenness of your episode certainly looks like it could have been caused by a virus. If it was related to the surgery/drugs, I’d think the onset would have been a bit more gradual, but some drugs do cause sudden-onset episodes too.
I don’t think there is any sure way to tell what it was caused by.
Regards
Neil
hi to all, i was diagnosed acute otitis media stage 2, my hearing was really impaired on my left and right ear. i think 50% was lost. i dont know what to do, my hearing everyday is getting lower and lower. i was on my 1 week of antibiotic right now but my hearing still low. pain and inflammation was gone but my hearing still low. i have colds and flu before this happen. i have allergic rhinitis as well. i was prescribed of co amoxiclav and clarithromycin the second week and some decongestants. will my hearing get back again to normal?
Hi Jikko:
If you have otitis media, doctors typically prescribe antibiotics to fight any infection. The Amoxicillin/Clavanulate is only very mildly ototoxic, but the Clarithromycin does cause hearing loss in some people. That could account for your hearing continuing to drop. But more likely it is your clogged middle ears and Eustachian tubes.
Typically, your hearing will return (at least most of it) as the “gunk” drains out of your middle ear and Eustachian tubes. This can take up to 3 months. But if you continue to have colds and congestion it won’t happen. So you need to build up your immune system so you don’t get so many colds.
Regards
Neil
a week ago I had a colonoscopy. The next night I had moderate ear ringing after a week I know have tinging low hearing like a broken speaker in my right ear. I am now on prednisone and anti viral along with app for mri and hyperbaric 100 percent oxygen treatment beginning Monday. I hope I get my hearing back that was lost in my right ear as my left ear was 50 percent in the first place.
The anestic used was propofol I am not sure if that had something to do with it as I had no problems before the colonscopy in my right ear. I also have tinnitus in my right ear.
Hi Stan:
I can’t be sure whether the Propofol was involved or not–but you are right to be suspicious as Propofol can indeed cause tinnitus in some people. Perhaps you were one of the unlucky ones.
However, I do not have propofol listed as causing hearing loss and distorted hearing. So it may not be the Propofol at all.
The treatments your doctors are giving you are supposing it was caused by a viral attack on your ears, not a drug problem. Maybe you picked up a virus at the same time that is causing the problems.
Regards
Neil
I was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss due to a virus in my left ear. Before the loud sound and sudden deafness, I felt perfect. I received 60 mg of prednisone tapering to zero for 14 days, and a shot in inner ear of steroids, but in 23 days, still no hearing. After the prednisone, my sinuses are continually draining, I have no energy, a burning in my mouth, am still off balance, like walking on a moving ship, and I am nauceous. I am going to my internist tomorrow. Should I be tested for a virus at this point? Also, how long is a typical time for dizziness and nausea to go away? Too, does the ringing sound in my deaf ear ever get better? It is driving me mad. Thanks!
Hi Judy:
What is this “loud sound” that preceded your sudden deafness? Please explain.
Prednisone doesn’t always work, but you tried.
When did the dizziness/balance problems begin–right at the time of your sudden deafness, or?
Typically, viruses run their course in your body in a couple of weeks, so I don’t think they’ll find an active virus in your ears now–but I’m sure it’s possible.
I need to know more about your dizziness/balance problems before I can answer your questions on them.
Tinnitus typically accompanies hearing loss–so, since you have permanent hearing loss, your tinnitus may prove to be permanent too. But don’t despair, there are things you can do to help bring it under your control so it doesn’t bother you any more. This takes time, but it is worth it–better than letting it drive you mad! My ears are ringing away as I write this, but I do not let it bother me. You can choose to do the same.
Regards
Neil
Thank you for your encouragement, Neil. It helps a lot, as panic is one’s first feeling, especially the panic I might lose hearing in the other ear and be totally deaf, although docs say not. Age 68 if that helps.
The day my deafness occurred, I felt perfect, no symptoms of anything. I have always had a ton of energy and become ill infrequently. Sinus infections have been about my only illness, and ears do get clogged with colds and plane fights and altitudes.
Close to bedtime, I heard a loud jackhammer sound in my left year. I thought a tree had fallen on the house it was so loud. Lasted several minutes. I was dizzy, but I went straight to bed, thinking my ear was just clogged (plane flight 4 weeks prior).
When I woke up the next morning, if I moved my head even an inch, I spun. Closing my eyes did not stop it. Extreme vertigo and dizziness and nausea. Extreme over reaction in R ear, all sounds super loud(now gone). Of course, it was July 4th! I called my internist’s nurse line and they told me to go directly to the ER, which I did. IV, script for prednisone 10 MGS , 6,5,4,3,2,1, Meclizine (sp?) for dizzy, Dramadol 50 mg for pain. Next day, I called the nurse line again, so dizzy and weak. Valium 2 mg 2x daily.
Monday morning, called nurse line, and I was in the otologist’s office at 8:30. (Day of 4 prednisone). New script 14 day prednisone 9 days 5mg 6 2x, 1 day 4 2x, 3 2x, 2 2x, 2 days 1 2x. Shot steroids in ear drum. Valium 2 mg 2x day. Hearing test. Deaf L ear. R ear fine. Diagnosis sudden sensori-neural hearing loss caused by virus. 2nd visit after steroids finished in 14 days, no change. Same diagnosis. Remote chance hearing will return.
Yesterday I went to ENT. Mouth burning, glands swollen, burning and pressure in ears, tinnitus, vertigo (although not as bad as at first), and nausea, almost worse than in beginning, sinuses continual draining. Pain and pressure in face. Diagnosed mouth fungal infection due to prednisone was causing burning. Mouth liquid anti-fungal wash will zap that. Looks like no infection in ears, but he sent me down for CT scan of sinuses and blood work, assuming for infection. His thought is that my extreme exhaustion and body temp change from always cold to flushed and always warm is that the prednisone made my thyroid sluggish, but tests will show that. Did not get results today. Hopefully tomorrow. I did go to the Caribbean in June, but he says not a chance it could be chikungunya from mosquito. Burning pain, feeling of fluid and pressure in BOTH ears may be nerve damage. Sinus drainage and pain some better today. Steroids made me so jittery and dry, blurred vision (gone now), I am beginning to think they just ravaged my body and sinuses and they may be healing finally? Or, it has been almost a month, and perhaps the virus that has a grip on me is going away? Or, the pain is just getting from intolerable to tolerable. I have lost perspective and rational thinking on the whole deal.
Otologist has me scheduled for MRI on Friday to rule out serious cause like tumor, MS, although he says because I had no prior symptoms, he is almost 100% positive it is a virus. He said pain in R ear is sympathetic pain for L ear hearing loss.
Any tips on how to handle nausea? The otologist said 8- 10 weeks for vertigo to get better. Heaven help me if I have nausea for that long! I feel as though I am going to throw up with each breath. I don’t like how Valium makes me feel drugged, so I haven’t been taking it. Did today to see if would help. Almost worse and I think it only helps vertigo slightly.
Where can I find your tips on things I can do to help help tinnitus. Neither doc gave me those. The doc says it will get less. It has gone from buzz ring, to now occasional louder shrill ring and popping (like fluid is clearing) in addition to the buzz, which sounds like a slight air hose in my ear. So, in my opinion, it is getting worse rather than better. My only reprieve is sleep.
Thanks. You really are a savior providing a service many appreciate and get comfort from. Bless you for that!
Judy
Hi
About five weeks ago, I woke up on a Sunday morning with major hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear; I was also unsteady and nauseous but no spinning. I had been to a Ball the night before and suspected at that time it was because I spent too much time on the dance floor near the speakers of the band (it was a great night but a loud one). However, things didn’t get any better throughout the day and although I went to work the following morning, I really struggled and by the afternoon was in the doctor’s surgery. They suspected labrynthitis, gave me some anti-psychotic tablets (my friends said I probably needed these any way…!) and wanted to see me by Friday when they suspected an underlying sinus infection and I was given antibiotics which didn’t work and by week 2 I was on a second dose. By week 3 I was signed off sick – in over 40 years of working this was a first – on Prednisolone which put paid to the sinus infection but the hearing loss and crazy tinnitus remained in this ear accompanied by the continuous sound of my heart beat + footsteps. By week 4 I was an urgent referral to an ENT consultant but as this is the UK, the earliest appointment they could give me was mid-October so I opted to go private and saw a consultant this week. He told me I have suffered cochlear failure, probably caused by a virus and that I had a 50% chance of regaining my hearing. He also couldn’t rule out an acoustic neuroma and put me forward for an MRI (it’s Britain again – another long wait) but he said the wait would not make any difference to the outcome because if it is an acoustic neuroma, then they are slow-growing and almost always benign.
I am usually an outgoing, opinionated and positive individual but within the last few weeks, this has had such a major impact on my day-to-day life and I’m not sure anything will ever be the same again. Because no-one can see what is wrong with me (and it’s sometimes very hard to explain), work colleagues and friends have come across as pretty unsympathetic at times which has made me both angry and frustrated. My family have been my rock and everyone has rallied round but I feel as if I am now retreating from the person I was five weeks ago into a bit of a recluse. Public places are a nightmare, noises like the sound of a truck reversing or a baby crying in a supermarket drive me mad and although there is a part of me that wants to run away, I don’t think that I will be ever able to handle a train carriage or a plane full of passengers again. I am back at work but struggling with things like talking to my work colleagues around the lunch table – I am ok 1:1 but any more people in my office is a bit of a nightmare – I work in a school so it’s always busy, full of interruptions and, of course, noisy. Simple pleasures like listening to the radio in the car have become just an annoyance – but the thing is: since this has happened I have not had to turn up the TV once – how does that work….? Having said that, I can’t hear very much when I put the phone to my left ear.
My consultant says the profile of patients who suffer this kind of hearing loss is very healthy adults who have never had a problem with ears (I haven’t ever had an ear problem before though I have a long history of sinus infections due to a deviated septum and I have a program that works for me with the onset of these symptoms).
I now have a private hearing test in ten days time and in a way I hope this will give me a handle on just how much hearing I have lost as I need something tangible regarding this. I will then be fed through for a hearing aid (oh joy – mighty difficult when you are 59 years old but only feel 28 inside) – but I am resigned to this. My consultant was pretty sympathetic, knew he was giving me bad news but told me that in a few months time I will be in a much better place. Good, because for the first time in my entire life I am dreading Christmas!
Thanks for reading this.
Update. CT scan showed no sinus infection, and thyroid is fine. ENT thinks the pain I feel is the virus causing nerve damage. My sinuses, face, forehead, mouth and both ears hurt like the worst sinus infection I have ever had. He prescribed Gabapentin. 300 mg 3x a day. Hope it will help the pain. And exhaustion also due to virus.
Questions –
I would really appreciate your tips on coping with tinnitus.
Also, from posts you have read, what is the typical time that vertigo levels and balance returns after a hearing loss? The otologist said 8-10 weeks, but I wonder if this is realistic.
ENT says there is no test to see what virus I have. That is hard to believe. Do you know if there is one? The virus I have is truly vicious. I went from feeling perfectly healthy July 3 to lifeless ever since until now, a month!. How I would love to know what this virus is!
Although both docs told me a virus in the inner ear is not catching, I refuse to see our grandchildren until i feel well. Our daughter has a 4 and 1 year old. She was supposed to bring them to visit for a week last week. Our son has a 4 year old and 6 month old, and we were supposed to go there for a week Aug. 15. Do you think I am being too cautious? Because I don’t know what this virus is, I feel like even a minute chance to pass it on is a chance I can’t take.
Thanks much! Your answers are so appreciated!
Judy
My daughter, seemed to have normal hearing, no cold or anything, went scuba diving with a leadership camp group, that same day, right after diving, got a ringing in ear and could not hear out of it! No fluid or bleeding came out ear and no pain either! Took to ER room, said clear fluid in it, but did absolutely nothing, they told to take Sudafed, which she did, no change in hearing or ringing! Our doc on vaca, so called ENT, got us in within 13 day period of injury! The fluid cleared out, but still no hearing! They did hearin test, could not hear out of ear pretty much at all! They feel there is nerve damage! Started Prednizone, with no change so far, CT scan turned out normal, thank goodness! Go back to ENT , so now just a matter of seeing what is next for her, she is a 16 year old smart and athletic girl, holpe she is able to keep going the way she was before hearing loss! I wish the ER would have started on predinzone that night, might have been a different outcome! What is your input on this? Please respond!
Hi Regina:
It is not normal to lose hearing like that. One possibility is that she has enlarged vestibular aqueducts (EVA or LVAS) and the increase in pressure caused the hearing loss. If she had a CT scan, have the doctors specifically check the scans to see whether she has enlarged vestibular aqueducts. That’s one thing I’d do if it happened to me.
Another possibility would be a fistula–a tear in a membrane in the inner ear that essentially shorts out the inner ear “battery” and thus no hearing. Fistulas can heal and the “battery” recharge and hearing (in some degree) can return.
Sometimes Prednisone works and sometimes it doesn’t. There’s no way to know whether getting it sooner would have helped or not so don’t beat yourself up about it. You have done what you could do.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neal, thank you for responding so quickly! My daughter finished her prednisone meds, had ct, it turned out normal! We went back to ENT today, they did another hearing test and it improved a little! She still is having no word recognition with it! Having ringing in ear still! Another week of steroids for her, so will see if one more week will improve it more! They recommend for her to have choice seating in her classrooms, which is important, she is academically a great student and wants to keep it that way! I was just wondering if she doesn’t get word recognition,is she a candidate for a hearing aid? Have not really discussed this with her doctor yet! He did tell us if she would not have improve at all he was going to send her to a doctor in Pittsburgh! I feel badly for her she went to this leadership camp to come home deaf in an ear, I basically talked her into it that she needed to get out of her comfort zone! She did Love the camp and all the activities and the girls and the few guys she met there! But I really do think scuba diving did this, to coincidental test it happened right after by abfew hours! Thanks just need to vent I guess! This has had me so worried!
Hi Regina:
If her hearing doesn’t return after the second round of Prednisone, it is highly unlikely she is going to get any hearing back. If her word recognition scores stay zero or very low, then a hearing aid isn’t really going to help. All a hearing aid will do is amplify sounds and if she is hearing garble (low comprehension), then all she’s going to hear with a hearing aid is louder garble.
Not only that, the louder garble in her deaf ear is going to compete for resources in her brain with her right ear so that she will have even more trouble understanding than if she did not wear a hearing aid. You can readily understand this. For example, when you are in a very noisy room, you have much more trouble hearing , speech, then you do in a quiet room.
Some people find that a hearing aid can be useful for telling where sounds are coming from. For example, if she is outdoors and somebody calls to her, with only one ear . She won’t have a clue where the person is calling from. Wearing a hearing aid in this situation may allow her to have some directionality although it is not going to give her any intelligibility in speech.
There is one type of hearing aid, however, that can help her. It is called a CROS aid. Basically what a CROS aid does is takes sound from the deaf side and pipes it to the good ear. That way if a person is sitting on her deaf side and speaks to her, she will be able to hear what they are saying much better than she would if she was not wearing a CROS aid. So that is something you might want to try. Some people love their CROS aids, and others don’t.
There are also some coping strategies for people with only one good ear that she should start practicing. For example, if she is sitting down talking to one person, she should either have the person sit beside her on her good side never her bad side or sit across from her.
In the classroom, or any meeting room, she should always sit on the side of the room of her deaf ear. That way, her good ear is facing into the room and she will hear much better than is she were sitting with her good ear to the wall and her deaf ear facing into the room. Just these two coping strategies can make quite a big difference in how well a person with hearing in one ear copes.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Dr. Neil for getting back to me! My daughter is now picking up some words, muffled and robotic sounding, but never the less, a good sign! She has 2 more days of prednisone and we go back to ENT on Monday afternoon! She is hoping he is going to release her to play soccer, she is upset she hasn’t been able to start mandatory practices since the 11th of august! I am thinking he won’t want to release yet! Possibly also want her to wear headgear, when he does release her to play! What do you think about this! She wants to play very much, she cried at docs when he told her, no soccer, rest while on the meds! She has been doing no activity, goes to practice and sits and cheers the players on at practice! This has been a very stressful few weeks, I am so thankful that some of her hearing is coming back, just feel for her, because she conditioned and worked her butt off running for soccer, to not be able to play! It wouldn’t matter to me if she played or not, it is a very rough sport, but she is the one who wants to play! What and how do you feel about prednisone, rest and physical activity, after an ear injury?
Dr. Neil,
Thank you for addressing the seating issue, being it is her right ear, she should sit in farthest front right seat to get the best hearing quality?! Correct? As far as the sitting beside her good ear, we already did this several times, I told her she may need to make her friends beware of this,,if her hearing does not come back 100 % or a little less then that!
I appreciate your input, not that I do not trust our ENT doctor, I do, but it is nice to have another Dr. Opinion. It isn’t so easy to just call his office with the questions or concerns or even when we are there for appointments, I have a list of questions, but has an extremely busy schedule! This week once they do another hearing screening, I will see how she has progressed and take my questions about her options for sports and if her hearing needs to be enhanced at all!
Thank you, Regina
Hi Regina:
Within reason, sitting in the front right corner would typically be the best. But she could sit up to half-way back on the right side and probably still hear fairly well. She needs to experiment and see where the best location is for her.
If you have other questions, I’d be glad to try to answer them.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil, On July 1st 2014, I awoke, blew my nose as usual and my ears became plugged like in an airplane the mountains or swimming. I have what the ENT specialist said was Sudden Hearing loss. I had a ct scan of the head and an MRI of my left ear. Everything looked normal. Five years ago I had surgery for a 90%+ blockage of my left caraoid artery. I have completely recovered. Could this have something to do with my hearing loss? Also, why do I still have the fullness feeling in my left ear and sometimes it muffles the sound in my right ear. Some days are worst then others. What do you think?
Hi Cynthia:
Why did you blow your nose? Did you have a cold, congestion or active virus at the time?
Often it is either congestion plugs up your Eustachian tubes and middle ear that causes a conductive hearing loss. Such losses typically go away as your middle ear and Eustachian tubes drain (which can take 2 or 3 months). During this time you have the plugged up feeling and don’t hear as well.
The other possibility, and they are not mutually exclusive, is that you had an active cold virus (or any other virus) that attacked your inner ear and resulted in sensorineural hearing loss.
The way to tell whether you have a conductive loss, a sensorineural loss or both (a mixed loss0 is to look at your audiogram. You mention CT and MRI scans, but no mention of a comprehensive audiological evaluation–which is the first thing I’d want to look at in such situations.
I don’t really think your previous surgery from 5 years ago has anything to do with your current hearing loss.
I think I’d need to see your audiogram before I can answer your questions with any modicum of accuracy. At this point it is all speculation.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil,
Sensorineural viral sudden totally deafness in left ear July 3rd . No hearing has returned. Sounds in my left ear vary from a continual air hose sound, then add intermittent popping as if my ear has fluid, to a louder shrill sound. Once a day to several times per week, a kind of shock feeling that begins in left ear and travels to right ear, although I did not lose hearing in my right ear. I feel as if I am underwater pressure wise.
Do you have tips to help make the sounds I hear less loud or bothersome? Doctors who do not have this problem do not seem to be of much help.
Thanks!
Judy
Hi Judy:
There are two tricks to making sounds seem less loud and less bothersome. One trick is to listen to real sounds–music, white/pink noise, fan, etc to partially mask the tinnitus sounds. The other trick is to focus your mind on the loves of your life so that you are basically ignoring your tinnitus. I’m not saying it is easy, but you need to do this to help yourself successfully cope with your tinnitus.
Over time, the feeling of pressure should go away–but it can take months as you and your brain get used to the new hearing situation you are now in.
Regards
Neil
Dr. Neil
My daughter had the skuba diving injury to her auditory nerve, her last hearing screening showed improvement for her ear, as far as sounds, but her word recognition was still not very clear or where they hope it would have improved to! She took 3 weeks of prednisone, which I am saying no to any more, because she got the side effects with last weeks dose! We go back on the 17 th of September for another screening, so we will see if there was any improvement!
Her doctor cleared her to play for her soccer team,,which she was thrilled, but he did tell her to try not to head the ball, which she has tried not to, but sometimes it unavoidable! So far she hasn’t had any complaints about playing! Do you feel it is okay to let her continue with her regular activities? We didn’t want her to feel she can’t do as she did before her hearing loss!
She still is having ringing in ears, sometimes more bothersome then other times! Her cafetteria in school is noisy, she said it was hard, but is adjusting to it! Plus with picking up sounds in her bad ear, it echoes for her now,,which makes it worse! I have let her take melatonin at night if it is bothersome at bedtime, but has only taken a few times, she has handled it quite well! But I do notice she gets more irratible easier, especially in noisy places! She tried ear plugs in cafeteria, but then when she chews it amplifies the chewing sound! Any suggestions? Also does his tinnitus ever go away or could she possibly have this the rest of her life, which is a long time because she is only 16?!
Also, she has not went swimming since this happened , which may not be a concern right now, but would it be safe to do so? Or would she be better off to wear the playdoh like plugs stuff in both ears or just injured ear? Or is not even necessary to wear at all?
Her next appointment we will discuss what is next for her, if anything at all can be done for her to improve word recognition in that ear!
Thanks for your website, it is helpful to myself and many others! I will check back in a few days! Thanks for taking the time to read mine and the other peoples post!
Thank you,
Regina
Thanks for your response, Neil. The pressure I feel of being underwater is just as bad as the tinnitus I think. It’s comforting to know that will get better in time.
Somehow I still hold out hope that I will regain hearing, even though the doctor said slim to no chance. So, two questions –
Have you ever heard of someone with sudden sensorineural total loss of hearing regaining the ability to hear at least somewhat after months of total deafness in that ear? It has been 21/2 months for me. It is the popping sound I hear which gives me hope, as it feels like water clearing.
Also, the sounds I hear are three – a constant air hose, not the worst of the three. Popping is the second worst, but the loud shrill sounds that occur 2-4 times a day are by far the loudest and worst. Do the sounds ever equalize into one more consistent sound, or do most people you have heard from hear multiple sounds?
Thanks for your time and efforts to respond. It doesn’t seem like this should be such a trauma, but it certainly is! Your answers help us who are newbies and in the worst adjustment phases to calm.
Judy
Hi Dr Neil,
Thank you for all of your advise on here – it’s been incredibly helpful.
I woke up a two weeks ago to find that I had gone completely deaf in one ear except for the very loud Tinnitus and the weird static noises that I was hearing instead of peoples voices. I was rushed through to ENT within 6 hours and prescribed Prednisolone immediately. I had a hearing test a 3 days later and, although I thought my hearing had almost returned to normal, it still showed a 30db difference over 3 frequencies between both ears.
Nearly two weeks later and my hearing seems to have fully returned and I only hear the Tinnitus when I’m somewhere quiet e.g. once I’ve just woken up or when I go to bed, or for a few minutes after being exposed to loud noises.
I have a follow up appointment with ENT in a couple of days and I’m confident they’ll give me the all clear. However I was wondering if you could help with a couple queries that I have.
Does someone who has had SSHL but then recovered, have the same chance of getting it again as someone who hasn’t had it before? Or does suffering from it previously mean it’s likely to return at some point in the future?
If someone has made a full recovery within 2 weeks do you think it’s likely that the issue has been resolved? I’m just about finished my Prednisolone so I’m worried that the SSHL might return within the next few days!
I’m back at work again now where we have Forklifts and other loud machinery, should I be avoiding these situations or does the fact that the oral steroids worked mean my issue wasn’t related to noise around me but most likely some kind of infection? Obviously I don’t want to put myself in a situation at work that can cause the SSHL to come back but I don’t want to go the other way and be over cautious and potentially start missing days from work for no reason.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Bob:
Interesting question. Previous ear damage may indicate that the ear is less robust than the average and therefore may be more easily damaged in the future. However, the difference may not be significant. I don’t expect the SSHL to return again unless whatever caused the SSHL is active again–for example, if it was caused by a virus, if you get the virus again and the same conditions apply that allowed the virus to attack your inner ear, then you may get the SSHL again. The good news is that I’ve not heard of people getting SSHL twice in the same ear. It may occur, but I’ve not heard of it.
You don’t have to avoid the noisy places at work, but if the sound is over 80 dB, and definitely if it is over 90 dB, you should be wearing ear protectors during the noisy times. That is only wise and prudent–and is the law according to OSHA.
Regards
Neil
On the morning of 2 Nov 2013, I received the quadrivalent flu mist…four live viruses…mandatory vaccination for all military personnel. I started having a mild fever that afternoon, but since I normally don’t feel great after any military vaccination, I assumed this to be normal. I continued to feel out of sorts on 3 Nov 2013, but since it was a duty weekend, I dismissed it due to long, stressful classroom training hours after a vaccination. 4 Nov 2013, I continued to feel out of sorts, but dismissed it as the after effects of a long duty weekend. By evening, I started feeling feverish and cranky. By morning of 5 Nov 2013, I realized I lost my hearing in my left ear. After 30 minutes, tinnitus started. By evening, vertigo hit me. On Wednesday, 6 Nov 2013, I was feverish with severe vertigo and non-stop vomiting and nausea. I was unable to keep even water down. By afternoon, my husband had to carry me out to the car to take me to the emergency room for help. I was severely dehydrated and had to be given fluids by IV along with anti-nausea meds. I blacked out on the drive home from the ER. My husband had to carry me back inside the house. I didn’t wake again until Friday, 8 Nov 2013, and severely dehydrated again. My husband took me to my family physician for help, and she told him I needed to go to the ER for IV’s since her office didn’t stock those. So back to the ER for more IV’s and IV medication. Through the ER, I was able to secure an EENT appointment for the following Monday. I had only 20% hearing in my left ear while my right ear was able to still hear the CFL in the ceiling light fixtures…both ears used to have better than average hearing. The EENT placed my on a Prednisone regimen during which I lost a lot of sleep but got the house amazingly cleared and cleaned. I had to walk with a cane because the vertigo affected my balance. The nausea did go away sometime after the second ER visit, but I couldn’t walk without the cane. The Prednisone caused my vision to fish bowl which didn’t help my balance either. My hearing improved to 60% after the Prednisone treatment, and my EENT shared that is most likely the best it will ever be now and recommended the hearing aid. No one at the ER or the EENT office wants to admit this infection was a direct result of the quadrivalent flu mist vaccine. I was able to get the EENT doctor to admit that viruses were known to cause hearing loss, but he won’t put himself on the line to say that quadrivalent flu mist was the number one culprit in my hearing loss. Mind you, I was healthy and fine BEFORE that vaccination. And I do have a mild MSG sensitivity I noticed on my own over the past 2 decades due to headaches after consuming foods with high quantities of MSG. However, this is not medically documented as an allergy. I just read that MSG is one of the ingredients used in the flu mist vaccine. I don’t know if this ingredient and the live viruses combination may have been the brew combination that would put a percentage of the population at risk for contracting the full blown flu and resulting hearing loss from this vaccination process. As my father, a former MD and Vietnam Vet stated, all live virus vaccinations were found before and during the Vietnam War era to be a bad way to vaccinate because too many military members became sick. And here we are today in 2014 pushing live virus vaccinations on the general population. What is worse is the even the Veterans Administration will not cover the cost of the hearing aid for most of the vets needing them despite combat exposure related hearing loss. As for my case, because I’m a reservist, my hearing loss isn’t recognized as a direct result of the flu mist vaccination provided by the military since I didn’t succumb until the second day past the weekend duty. And therefore, I do not qualify for hearing aid assistance. That’s just adding insult to injury. So, yes, viruses DO CAUSE HEARING LOSS. How you acquire the virus matters not…the hearing loss is still caused by the invasive virus if your body for whatever the reason is in the right state to succumb to it. Get the Prednisone treatment asap if you want any percentage of hearing recovery. If my ER docs would have started me on Prednisone the first visit, I might have more than 60% of my hearing back today.
Hi Dai:
Thanks for the report. Sorry it happened to you. This is one reason I’m opposed to vaccines in general. You are not alone. Numbers of people have similar experiences, yet the doctors see no problem.
Note, getting Prednisone MAY help, or it may not make any difference. So getting quick medical attention is no guarantee you will get your hearing back. It may, or may not. But since you don’t know which group you fall in, getting to the Prednisone fast will ensure that if you are in the class it will help, you’ll get much/most of your hearing back.
Regards
Neil
Hi everyone..
I’m 24 years old now and from age of 16 I lost my hearing capacity on my right year of upto70db due to chickenpox.doctors said it cannot be recovered..so I lost my confidence up to 70db..
With lonely feeling
Ann.
Hey, I just came down with a bad sinus infection that went into my middle ear while visiting Germany. Couldn’t get to decent doctor for 4 days, then started 10 day course of diminishing prednisone 150mg day 1, 75mg day 2, 50 day 3-5 then 25 days 5-7, 15 day 8, 10 day 9, 5 day 10, 2.5 day 11, then done. Hearing tests went from sudden hearing loss in right ear to normal hearing now. However, tinnitus which began with the sinus infection has not disappeared. It’s been 3 weeks since everything started. I’m not sure whether I should start Prednisone again for another week or not. Finally got an ENT doctor appointment next week but I have enough prednisone left over to start up again, say 20mg a day until then.. thoughts?
Hi Seth:
Prednisone is given to reduce the inflammation in cases of sudden hearing loss. I’ve never heard of it being given for tinnitus. Personally, I doubt taking it would make any difference to your tinnitus, but I don’t really know.
Often, tinnitus accompanies hearing loss, so when your hearing returns, you’d expect your tinnitus to go away too. It may be that your hearing returned in the frequencies below 8 kHz (that’s all they test), but you could still have significant hearing loss in the frequencies between 8 and 20 kHz and your tinnitus could reflect that.
Regards
Neil
Hello, a few days ago I got the flu mist and that night I started having popping sounds in my ear and then I could barely hear out of it and since then my hearing has gotten a little worse. I also have sharp pains in my ear every once in a while. I would like to know if it sounds like a permanent loss or just for a short period of time? And is it possibly related to the mist?
Hi Kyle:
I’ve heard from others having the same kinds of problems with their ears after taking the flu mist. Thus, I believe that there is a definite association. Probably you got a middle ear infection from the flu mist. Given time (up to 3 months) it should clear itself and your hearing (and ears) return to normal–assuming the infection stays in your middle ear. If it gets into your inner ear, it can cause permanent hearing loss.
Regards
Neil
Dear Dr. Neil, my tinnitus got much better and then after a place I was having a drink suddenly cranked up the music, worse again. I did a little hearing test on my own using this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k and found that I can’t hear anything above 11,000 and that my tinnitus’ ringing is around 9-10,000. Is there any test or treatment for hearing loss at these ranges?
Hi Seth:
If you can’t hear over 11 kHz, then it is not surprising that your tinnitus is just below that frequency in the 9 – 10 kHz range. Quite often tinnitus is at a frequency just below the frequency of your greatest loss.
You can have your hearing tested up to 20 kHz if you find an audiologist with the right audiometer. Typically, they only test to 8 kHz. Some audiometers go to 12 or even 16 kHz but the real McCoys go up to 20 kHz.
If your hearing loss is caused by dead hair cells/supporting cells, then there is no treatment since dead is dead. Typically, this is the case with sensorineural hearing loss which you almost certainly have.
Regards
Neil
correction, I redid it with headphones and can hear up to 15,000 in both ears though I have to double or tripe the volume above 11,000. So I guess the answer is that is where the hearing loss is. Thing is, the tinnitus seems to get better or worse or sometimes be inaudible. Who knows?
Kyle, maybe you should get yourself to a good ENT doc immediately and get on some prednisone, if appropriate…
it doesn’t make the hearing loss any better but your site at least affirms that this is a real ailment, that we are not loosing our minds and that maybe we have hope!
I am a cancer survivor and I would be concerned about having had chemo and radiation well over 5 years ago! Also still take an anti hormonal ! My incident did start with a cold that was typical of my husbands he brought it home from a trip complaining of his ears I get it too! He’s fine I’m left with deaf in right ear depressed hopeless confused MRI shows nothing remarkable . Been on anti b prednisone nasal sprays decongestants . Turning to acupuncture . So very hard having to learn to live with this sensory loss. Just Thanks for being here for all of us and please keep up your research
Please rsvp also with all the research and the comments from 2 years ago has anyone got hearing back? Is there any hope?
Hi Leslie (and everybody else out there, including Neil),
I seem to be one of the lucky ones.
Started out with a near-fainting fit on Oct. 9. Saturday night (Oct. 11) I suddenly realized that my right ear was completely deaf, apart from a very disturbing tinnitus. I was also feeling kind of wobbly, like walking on a ship’s deck.
Of course I googled the phenomenon and understood that something should be done very soon. However, I had to postpone since leaving for Bangkok the following Tuesday. Upon arrival, I got an ENT appointment for Oct. 16 at a private hospital. Audiometry revealed complete sensorineural hearing loss. The ENT doctor recommended 3 hours of I/V prednisolone, on 3 consecutive days, but when I did not go along with that, he prescribed an 8-day “package solution” instead: 30mg prednisolone a day, plus Vit. B12, Gingko, an antacid and Xanax (to allow me to sleep away despite the tinnitus).
On my next appointment, Oct. 25, my hearing was back at 77%.
Meanwhile I’m back and have an appointment for Nov. 20, about a month after the whole thing started. I believe my hearing would be close to 85% now, and I’m feeling OK, though I sometimes still get a feeling like I’m going to capsize when I walk.
Just wanted to say: Don’t be too quick to lose hope – and thanks a lot for this site!
Hi Kirsten:
It looks like the virus attacked your inner ears and affected your hearing (resulting in tinnitus as well as hearing loss) and your balance system.
Your hearing has mostly come back, but I think your balance system has been damaged to some degree, hence your problems with walking. If balance problems persist, you may want to take physical therapy designed to strengthen your balance system.
Regards
Neil
Dear dr. Neal and company,
I am having a rough go of it like many others here. I was diagnosed yesterday with snhl after complaining of clogged ears and performing miserably on my auditory test. This all happened after a recent sinus infection. An mri is scheduled but this exact same thing happened to me last spring. Sinus infection, clogged ears, flunked audio gram and diagnosis of snhl. Last year I took prednisone and my hearing returned 100%. Now I’m back in the same boat almost 2 years later. This time around my audiogram was worse than the last one 2 years ago. Is it possible that I’m predisposed to this or that I just have a weak nerve that needs to be jump started? Please let me know your thoughts. I am very nervous about my MRI and just looking for some hope
J
Hi Jason:
It seems that you get viral infections that affect your hearing. Fortunately, in your case, it appears your hearing loss is temporary. I doubt that the MRI will show anything unusual. Seems a waste of time to me since the hearing loss is related to sinus infections.
Any time you get a sinus or middle ear infection, the virus can “jump” to your inner ear and cause hearing loss (with tinnitus) and balance problems. Sometimes your body fights this off and your hearing returns, and sometimes it doesn’t and you end up with permanent hearing loss.
I don’t think you are “predisposed” to these infections and hearing loss as such, but that you have a weak immune system. The obvious thing to do is to change your diet and lifestyle in order to build up your immune system so you don’t get sinus infections in the future. That’s what I’d do.
Regards
Neil
Thank you Dr. Neil for writing back. I do have a weak immune system. I am a survivor of both Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (2010) and thyroid cancer (2011). These diseases took a physical and mental toll on me and that’s probably why I’m so stressed about MRI’s. In any event both of those previous illnesses are in remission so I need to stay strong through this hiccup as well
Hi Jason:
Sorry to hear about your health problems. You really need to build up your health in general and your immune system in particular so you don’t have such problems in the future. I really like Dr. Mercola’s website as it has a wealth of information on what you need to do to improve your health and the health of your immune system. There are hundreds and hundreds of articles on all aspects of this. The website is http://www.mercola.com.
Regards
Neil
WE SHOULD STAND UP TOGETHER AND DECLARE WAR TO THIS ISSUE??. …
. . ..
Dr. Neil,
Just saw the ENT today for latest follow up. MRI was normal, and hearing has improved significantly since prednisone according to my latest audiogram. Hearing is not all the way back but I’ll take it. He suggested Meniere’s Disease since this has happened more than once and suggested a low salt diet which I will do as a precaution for general health. Now that my prednisone is tapering off, I wanted to know if it still can help bring hearing back in the days/weeks after ingesting it.
Thanks
Jason
Hi Jason:
Good question. I don’t know the answer to that one. Basically, the Prednisone is supposed to reduce the inflammation and if your body continues to do that, you might get all your hearing back, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. My rule of thumb is that the worse the hearing loss, the less comes back. So if you had a sudden hearing loss of say 35 dB, you might expect to get almost all of it back. However, if your hearing loss was 90 dB, you’d be lucky to even get half of it back. You might go from 90 dB to maybe 80 or 75 dB loss.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neal,
What is the longest stretch of time you have ever heard of someone regaining the ability to hear at least somewhat after a sudden sensorineural total hearing loss?
Thanks!
Bill
My ent wants me to have cochlear implant. Has anyone had this? Had a virus attack August 2014!!! Was in hospital 5 days , couldn’t,walk was nauseous. Thought I had had stroke etc scans mris . Have been seeing physio since then. This has helped me lots. If I miss a day I am not as good. I was off work for 2 months. It is very hard whilst at work to hear but I will not give up. Driving is a bot scary I can,t distinguish where sound comes from.i am not a person who gets sick or my husband,I don,t understand it.
Hi Bernadotte:
I know many hundreds of people that have cochlear implants (CI). A good number of them got them after having viral infections just like you did that cost you your hearing. Generally, they hear quite well now, so I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t as well. The sooner you do it, the better (on the average) your results will be as you brain still has a good memory for sounds. This slowly deteriorates with time.
Cordially,
Neil
Have just been diagnosed with SSNHL in one ear and have had a course of Prednisone. My hearing had not improved, I am a primary school teacher and was wondering if anyone has had any luck in returning to work with a hearing loss and what sort of iume frame am I looking at.
Thanks
Julie
Hi Julie, I was also a teacher. Four years ago I had a bad virus. After it was over by 11 days, I woke up suddenly deaf in my left ear. Called the doctors in the morning, saw the doctor at lunchtime and had steroids by the afternoon followed by an MRI scan and a full hearing test. I was left with severe vertigo and severe hearing loss in the left ear with no improvement. I learnt to control the vertigo over the next twelve months by getting to know what I could and could not do (gave up playing the piano, gave up reading, gave up embroidery). I found it very hard to keep teaching but got used to it and carried on using my right ear to compensate and getting my pupils to talk clearly as I learnt to lip read as much as possible. I dropped to part time to give myself time to recover and found a 4 day week as much as I could manage. I’ve just had another virus and have lost hearing now in my right ear so I don’t know whether I can now teach again. What I have learnt though is 1) determination goes a long way, 2) our bodies are fascinating as they learn to compensate and cope with whatever is thrown at them 3) when I feel depressed I give myself the choice of a terminal illness or this and I won’t pretend that this is easy – it isn’t – but I am grateful for this and not something terminal. Sometimes life comes down to a real base line and death is as low as you get – anything above that is do-able 4)I can blame everyone for ‘infecting’ me with the virus but that will only make me resentful and life is too short for that. Nobody is to blame it is just my body and that is it. Surround yourself with people who love you, learn that eating in loud restaurants is never worth the hassle and as a teacher, work with the pupils and teachers that you have as it will get better. I find forums a life-line when I’m having a bad day and I have learnt to be grateful for the tiny things that I never noticed before. Every day when you don’t vomit with vertigo is a great day. Every moment when the tinnitus feels less obtrusive is a special moment and when someone who I am trying to communicate with rolls their eyes at me and treats me like I have serious special needs, I remember that my disorder effects me – their rudeness and lack of compassion effects everyone else and who wants to be such a vile leech on society? Lots of love to everyone out there who is suffering.
Hello Dr Neil
My husband was diagnosed in December with SSHL due to the shingles virus. His right ear was completely deaf. The specialist consultant was very confident his hearing would return, but could take up to a year. Over the last three months, he has improved to profoundly deaf and now severely deaf, so seems to be following this diagnosis. He has seen the head of the ENT department since, who basically said you are deaf, get over it.
Have you any experience with shingles in the ear?
Thanks
Mary
Hi Mary:
No, I haven’t specifically run across shingles in the ear, but shingles is just a virus, and viruses are much the same in how they damage our ears.
I have some rules of thumb regarding viral attacks on our ears. Generally, this is what you can expect.
1. The greater the hearing loss, the less the chances of all your hearing coming back. This means that since your husband lost all his hearing, you would only expect a small amount to come back–and he is up to severe now. I wouldn’t be surprised is this is as good as he gets.
2. The longer the hearing takes to come back, the less chance there is of much coming back. Thus, if in the week following his loss, much of his hearing returned, you could expect more to come back. But if it took 2 or 3 weeks before any hearing began coming back, then probably not much will come back.
3. The hearing you have 30 days after the episode of sudden hearing loss is probably what you will be left with. Don’t expect more to come back (unless it has been coming back more each day, then it may continue).
Since it is three months now, I wouldn’t expect his hearing to change significantly. It’s more like what hearing he has now is all he’s going to have in the future. That is a realistic expectation. However, miracles can happen–so it does not have to be written in stone, but those are my rules of thumb and how they work out in practice.
Cordially,
Neil
My right ear been hurting and stop up over a year now… and I can barely touch it and it hurt.. plus when ppl talk to me I barely csn hear them… What’s wrong with me
Hi KT:
Probably you have an outer/middle ear infection. If it’s been a year now, it unlikely it will ever get better on its own. You need to see your doctor or ear specialist and get it attended to.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
Last Thursday I started to feel unconfotable with my left ear when I heard loud sound. It lasted for two days, then I started to feel something was blocking inside of my left ear and I couldn’t hear clearly. Sunday was the worst, I felt l lost my hearing. Then, it started Monday to Wednesday, my hearing came back little by little. But I still could feel windy sound sometimes on my left ear. I started to have a cold after two days when I had hearing loss. I WAS NOT IN PAIN ALL THE TIME! A week after, I went to see the doctor, she said it might be virus and she perscribed me prednisone 10 MG for two weeks, also suggested me to do MRI test. She wanted me to go back to do hearing test again after medication. My question is since my hearing is coming back, do I still need to I take the mediation and do MRI test?
Hi Nana:
Whether you take and tests or drugs proposed by your doctor is ALWAYS up to you. You can choose to follow your doctor’s directions, or you can choose to NOT follow your doctors directions.
Since you know your body the best, do your own “due diligence” and then decide what you want to do.
In your case, personally, if I was you, I’d not take the MRI because I don’t think anything will show up anyway. In this case, you need to ask your doctor exactly what she expects to show on the MRI. I think she is just ordering it on the off chance it might show something–in other words a “fishing trip” that you pay for.
Since hearing loss returns sometimes without any medications, and sometimes returns with medications, and sometimes never returns in spite of medications, the Prednisone may or may not help. You already know your hearing is coming back (which is a very good sign) so maybe you don’t need the Prednisone to help it come back.
Again, it is your decision. Personally, if it was me, I’d hang tough and see how much hearing comes back. This just happened to my wife in the last two weeks. She got a bad cold and lost much of her hearing in one ear. She took nothing, and when I asked her yesterday how her ear was hearing she said she thought it was back to her normal again.
If I were you, I’d probably do nothing and just wait–and if you still have a problem in two weeks, then I’d re-evaluate the situation, but it is likely that in two weeks you’ll be back to normal.
Now it is up to you to decide what you want to do and whether you want to risk doing nothing and just wait, or follow your doctor’s suggestions.
Cordially,
Neil
My husband and I are both dealing with this. We both got sick (seemed just like a bad cold) and the next thing we knew, we could not hear. We were both placed on antibiotics (that did nothing) and steroids. No one suggested anti-virals. I did not even know they existed. Weeks later and we both still cannot hear. I have hearing loss in both ears and he has it in only one. So he is experiencing more vertigo than I am. He is a painter, and has to be up and down ladders. I am a high school teacher, so I have to be able to communicate with my students. We are finished with our prescribed medications and still have hearing issues. We will be contacting an ENT this week. These posts are discouraging b/c I think that this causes one to be mildly depressed. I was assuming that over time, we would recover the hearing loss but perhaps not. It is tough to work and also tough to be social when you cannot hear. btw — neither one of us have had flu shots in several years. It is strange to me that we both acquired this (virus?) at the same time. From what I am reading, middle ear infections are generally not contagious. Neither one of us have ever been through anything like this before. (We are 48 and 50 years old.) I have not lost hope, but I am worried. This is quite debilitating.
Just want to let people know that I read this post last night and was frightened. I had a cold for a month that ended with a bad sinus infection. I got better for three or four days and then I got sick again. Seems like something viral, I’m not sure. Yesterday morning it felt like I lost hearing in my right ear and my left one felt like I needed to pop. The right one was ringing and felt completely blocked but when I held the phone up to my ear I could still hear the dialtone pretty well. But it didn’t feel like it would pop it felt way more intense. Last night I used a Neti pot hoping that if I cleared out my sinuses my ear blockage would drain. I still went to bed with the same blocked feeling. Waking up this morning my right ear is markedly better and my left ear is perfect. So I don’t know if that helps anyone but maybe it would. I’m hoping it continues to improve.
Dear Dr Neil, I have also lost hearing in my left ear. It happened about week ago. I went to Dr and he gave me antibiotics. They did not help. I went to see an ear specialist and said it is probably virus. He gave me steroids. That day when that happened I have cleaned my ears with cotton buds. I never do that. Do you think that is just a coincidence?
Thank you
Lucie
Hi Lucie:
The typical way you get sudden hearing loss from using a cotton bud in your ears is if you push a chunk of wax back and block the ear canal. If you had done that, your doctor should have seen the wax blocking your ear canal and cleaned it out. Then your hearing would have come back instantly.
I assume the doctor DID look in your ears, didn’t he, before he prescribed the antibiotic?
Did you have any active virus in the week or two before the sudden hearing loss–cold, flu, herpes, varicella, etc. If you did, then it could be a virus. If not, then it unlikely it was a virus.
If you had a cold and the mucous got sucked up into your Eustachian tube, this could have also caused some degree of temporary hearing loss until the gunk drains out.
So there’s some scenarios that could have caused your hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi,
9 months ago I drove home in my car. I just had a severe work out and when I stepped out of the car I had a buzz in my ear. Some low-ringing noise. Two days later, I woke up in the middle of the night with a complete hearing loss in my right ear and a very loud tinnitus.
The next day I started searching in the internet, made an appointment with my GP and asked her to please sent me to an ENT asap.
Next day I was in the hospital and got a high dose Prednison prescription.
The first week i couldn’t sleep from the tinnitus, and all sounds I could hear with my good ear were terribly loud. I locked myself up for days.
Between 7 and 10 days, I noticed that the sound of voices slowly came through my deaf ear. Like robotic, digital drop outs. And with every few days the ‘hearing circle’ around my ear became bigger. 2,5 months later my hearing was fully recovered. My ENT was surprised to learn that, because my loss had been very high (around 70db).
In addition to Prednison I massaged the inner ear pressure point of my right ear and treated the pressure points of both feet. Few times a day for the first week. I took additional vitamine E – tablets. Don’t know what did what, but the result was positive.
I still have a sensitive right ear, a bit of hyper acusis, and sometimes I have balance problems. The ENT couldn’t make the connection sinus (middle ear) and inner ear problems but for some reason I feel a connection. And I feel a connection between my sinuses and my bowel. So I put myself on a stric diet without weeds, sugar and diary.
After 9 months I will have my usual hearing check and I will discuss this again with my ENT.
Wish everyone the best here.
Hello dr. neil
My worse of my Approx 10 year battle with vertigo and some ear issues, this past March I got a bad cold, people in my office are always sick and I have been to be the lucky one that catches every thing under the sun, I guess my ammune system is ok as I have been to my drs a lot and been checked for anemia ascthat was one of my concerns, negative on that but always felt so run down with simplist colds that hang in there for more than a week, this March was horrible, got sick and noticed it really plugged up my ears, one ear first, later the other…finally went again to my ent and was put on prednisone…bad idea as I’m sensitive to all drugs and this gave me side effects, felt just bad and gained 5 lbs in 10 day course, which when getting off this drug, I wadn’t told to ween off and even just 10 days I felt sick from going off drastically, at any event prednisone did nothing for my allergies and ears. Now today about half year later i’m still strugglling to hear and the plugged feeling , cracking noises but no relief, feels worse some days, even on days I feel less dizzy, My ears feel horrible, lately loud noises hurt my ears too, I have no support except my mom, that has been there all the way, my doctors has refused to test me for meniere’s disease, all 3 ent’s because they say I don’t have that! Now I’m convinced I do ! Actually in 2014 after my baby girl was born, I noticed more vertigo and ear problems, my 2 guestions I have, eill my second time of pregnancy make my ears go deaf for sure or better chance and if prednisone didn’t help will my ears always be this way snd get worse ? I am so very upset with our upstate n.y. Doctors that really fon’t care to even just humor me, and test me for meniere’s but they said they did not think this was the case, well I say they all are wrong, my sympyoms all lead to that I now do, if I didn’t a year ago, shame on them, I struggle every day to stay balanced on my feet snd for my ears to give me some relief. I don’t drink ever, I feel drunk with out alcohol, I don’t take any form of drugs, I most always do motrin if neccessary but never motion pills as I tried them, nothing ! Prednisone was bad for me ! Help please ! I need answers to save my hearing and maybe then my vertigo will get better too ! Thank you for taking time and please answer
Hi Riitta:
First of all, you need to get your immune system healthy. The fact that you catch everything going shows that your immune system is sick. You want it to be robust. Consider going to a naturopathic doctor (ND) to build up your immune system.
Tell me something of your history with vertigo. How did it start out? How often do you have vertigo? How long does it last? etc.
It sounds like your Eustachian tubes are plugged up–the plugged crackley sounds.
From what you describe, I don’t think future pregnancies will have any effect on your ears. If you have otosclerosis, then that would be different.
Motrin (Ibuprofen) can cause tinnitus and dizziness among other things. You would do well to keep your Motrin use to a minimum.
Why do you think you have Meniere’s. Meniere’s has 4 classic symptoms–a fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and a feeling of fullness in the affected ear. Meniere’s is fundamentally caused by the top two vertebrae in your neck being out. The cure is simple–go to an upper cervical chiropractor and have your neck properly aligned. That should instantly get rid of any vertigo.
If you haven’t already done so, read my article (it’s long) on Meniere’s disease and how to get rid of it. You can read this article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
Thanks so much for replying, my vertigo started back in high school, off and on. The white board seemed side ways as I use to look at it from a distance, and the room would be spinning, as it seemed real. I struggle with veryigo on a daily basis and have had few tests done by sitting in a chair and they spin you around and side ways every which way, with wster in my ears, never again, I was dumb enough to go for seconds, there has to be a humanity way to check vertigo but yes I will check on a upper cervical chiropractor, much appreciated 😊 and now just finding a caring understanding Dr to care gor my plugged stuffy ears with 20% relief at times, losing my hope as my last Dr gave up on me and said good luck, thank you again and any info on my ears is very much appreciated.
I failed to mention in high school I was around 16 and today I’m 33 so all these years of most of my days I suffer with vertigo, been to many ENT’s and no one bas put their finger on it, I have learned to lean on the Lord as it’s hard to care for a 2 year old
Hi Riitta:
What went on in high school before your vertigo started. Were you ever in a car accident, or had an accident in PE class or in sports where your head or neck was hurt? Any of these could have put your C1 vertebra out of proper alignment which can result in vertigo.
In all the balance tests you have had what did the ENTs conclude about your vertigo?
I still think that you need to go to an upper cervical chiropractor and have your neck checked out. There is a good possibility that one treatment could fix your vertigo just like that.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Neil,
I wanted to share my thanks for this resource! My story is like so many shared. In August (2months Ago) I lost my hearing briefly and there was redness and swelling so my Family Doctor put me on antibiotics and steroids. After a week or so one ear was about normal but the other didn’t fully recover but O was able to work and function.
Three weeks ago now however my ear issues came back with a vengeance with severe ringing that reminded me of a wail of a police car siren in both ears, minor vertigo, and degrading hearing.
Over the past 2-3 weeks my hearing keeps getting worse but the tone of the ringing is getting less severe. The vertigo seems a little less severe but working at the computer or reading a lot of printed text is a challenge.
I have had blood work done and this is not getting better with high doses of steroids. I am still waiting on my own MRI – it is on Tuesday so I am hoping for the best but not knowing has been real tough!
It is amazing how life can be so normal one day and a few weeks later you can’t work, can’t hear and yet be so sensitive to loud noises, movement, etc.
My husband has lost 50% of his hearing in both ears in the ringing and still unbearable extremely high-pitched ringing we have seen one ENT specialist and being on prednisone and methylprednisone . I am at a loss I do know not know what to do next can someone please point me in the right direction .?
Hi Priscilla:
Since tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss, I’m not surprised your husband has bad tinnitus. I’m assuming that he had sudden hearing loss since he is on steroids. If his hearing comes back, you could expect that his tinnitus would calm down also.
There are many treatments for tinnitus. Your husband would do well to learn about them and work on reducing his tinnitus. I explain numerous treatments in the 7th edition of my book on tinnitus, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”. You can get a copy at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
One important treatment is one he can do himself and that is for him to learn to take control of his tinnitus. He can do this while doing any of the various tinnitus treatments. It is all explained in Chapter 16 in the above tinnitus book. In fact, I named the title of this book after the title of this chapter because it is so important and it works.
Cordially,
Neil
I had the flu in February 2016 which left me feeling dizzy my balance was all over the place a lot of visits to the doctors different medication none that helped. January 2017 was referred to ENT. I have slight loss of hearing in my left ear the vestibular cochlear nerve had been attacked by a virus. I had an mri scan which came back normal I got the result today. This has taken about eighteen months. Pat
I had what seemed like a head cold back in July of 2017. Near the end of July I took my hearing aid out to get a shower to get ready for work, came back afterward to put my hearing aid back in, that’s when I noticed everything sounded like it was in a drum! Had a round of prednisone and my hearing was better. Two days after, it was just as before, except now it sounded like everything was under water! I went to an ENT who referred me to a specialist dealing with Meniers disease and such. He thinks my hearing was attacked by a virus. I am completely deaf in my left ear. I had about 35-40% hearing in my right ear before this. I am now down to 12% and am in evaluation for a Cochlear Implant. I also have an endolympatic shunt in my right inner ear for the Meniers disease I developed back in the 90’s. I also have the tinnitus that develped with this sudden loss, sounds like crickets in my ear all the time, and it’s very annoying! Even after mega-doses of prednisone, my hearing has not improved. Life is about to change in a major way.
Glad I came across this site albeit too late in some respects. I had a niggling sore throat for a few weeks in varying degrees and put it down to a minor flu/throat infection due to the high air pollution. Later I felt a very slight congestion feeling in right ear. I assumed my eustachian tube may have been a bit blocked from a cold.
I felt well enough otherwise to go to the gym and was actually training vigorously 5 times a week with heavy weights and cardio. I think I woke up after one of these sessions with a weird sensation in my right ear. The hearing had diminished and the best way to describe it is like a transistor radio with only the treble and no bass halfway down a hallway that only picks up high frequency noises like kids, women and other HP noises. It causes irritation and slight pain to the ear so I wore an earplug thinking it was just a blockage in the ear causing a sound distortion. I put up with it for a couple of days before I went to a GP who examined my ear and saw nothing wrong from external exam so put me on antibiotics and an antihistamine. I put up with that for 2 days and then realised something was far more serious. I went to the ENT specialist at the hospital. His audiologist was not there till the next day. So I came back and a test score revealed I had suffered from Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. He put me on Prednisilone immediately 20mg x 4 times a day and Betahistine as well as Mix Vit B. I also have had raging tinnitus when it is quiet. Quite severe until it eventually settles down a bit.
I then discovered literature on the potential benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HOT) which may help in combination with the corticosteroid I am on. So I went the next day to a hospital and had a 2 hour session in a chamber. I missed a day and just had my second treatment. I am booked for 3 more 2 hour sessions. The doctor here said the best results come from 15-20 sessions so I am prepared to do all sessions. I have a second audiology test in a few days as well. 2 Sessions of HOT later and I cannot feel any difference and the unbearable tinny treble sound in my right ear is driving me crazy. I cannot listen to TV and am staying inside mostly to keep away from sounds. I need to wear an earplug outside but even then it cannot stop a lot of the noises irritating my ear.
I am pretty much on the 2nd week time frame now so I now the odds are working against me. I don’t have any vertigo (did not have it before the Betahistine but the ENT said it is for tinnitus as well). I was concerned that the SSHL may have been caused from straining at the gym but that was not considered at this stage. I will ask about getting an MRI as well when I go back in for the test. I am just shy of 50 so this is a shock as I was feeling like I was beginning to get right back into fitness and this has just floored me and put me into considerable depression.
HI. My husband was shaving on Monday and suddenly went deaf in his right ear and started to get dizziness and unstable…it got progressively worse…..it got really bad the next day , vomiting all day and lasted two days…not spinning…but dizzy and disoriented….. I have heard of sudden SSHL. I knew somebody who had it and my sister is a RN for ENT. I know the importance of getting seen ASAP. He had hearing test and failed completely in the right ear. He got steroid injection in the ear, started oral steroids and anti viral…just to try anything that might help regain hearing. We do scuba dive, last trip was Dec… and he was sick with sinus the whole month of January.. but this came out of nowhere…he has been feeling fine . Normal noises are killing him in his healthy ear..I am a loud talker…so really trying to be aware and speak softer…and minimize the noise I am making…today is friday and he said he was feeling a pulse in his neck ear last night…(possibly pulsatile tinnitus?!!? just saw that while reading on here and googled it…sounds like his symptoms… I was already wondering if blockage or lack of blood flow could have caused the sudden hearing loss….then I read about this? over the last few months he has had excessively cold feet and we were already wondering about his circulation.. (prior the the sudden hearing loss) he did say he feels some neck tenderness since the hearing loss….some things keep pointing to the possibility of blockage or blood flow….he goes back to ENT for follow up and I will check with Dr. but wanted to see what y’all thought?! Thank goodness the extreme nausea has dissipated…the second day he couldn’t stand up and was vomiting all day…he is still getting dizzy and unbalanced some…and from all the reading…it seems like the symptoms he is having…(unstable/dizzy, hyperacusis, pulsatile tinnitus, aren’t going to get better or go away? or you just have to learn to live with it? does it improve some? also does any of this affect him continuing to scuba dive in the future?? do you get more motion sickness on planes/boats etc? is it possible the pulsatile tinnitus is just from the hearing loss alone or could be blockage…cause lack of blood flow can cause the hearing loss too…so many questions…still hoping and praying for some type of miracle for him..to regain some if not all…not a lot of positive recoveries… 🙁
what about Meniere’s Disease? can be fluctuating hearing loss.
Hi Kimber:
What your husband experienced sounds like a viral attack to his inner ear that affected both the cochlear (hearing) and vestibular (balance) systems. He has had timely, appropriate treatment if that was the case.
However, it could also be a tiny blood clot that affected just the one ear.
So you have two strong possibilities.
The pulsatile tinnitus indicates turbulent blood flow which is typically caused by clogged arteries near the ear. It is possible that a clot broke away from the artery wall and blocked his inner ear. I think an MRI could have shown that. If that was the case, then a clot-busting drug would have been appropriate.
As you know, “normal” tinnitus (not pulsatile tinnitus) almost always accompanies significant hearing loss. So does recruitment and sometimes hyperacusis. That would account for him hearing your voice and other sounds as much too loud.
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions that the balance problems won’t go away. Often you brain learns to disregard the bad balance signals from the one ear and then balance returns to “normal”–but it will not be as robust as before.
Once things have stabilized, I don’t see that it has to affect his scuba diving. I also don’t think it will give him more or less motion sickness than he would have gotten before.
As far as I know, pulsatile tinnitus does not result in hearing loss as such. It is just an indicator of turbulent blood flow, or new arteries forming close to the inner ear. Depending on the degree and kind of hearing loss, a person may or may not be able to hear pulsatile tinnitus.
At this point, I wouldn’t put Meniere’s disease at the top of the list.I’ve never heard of pulsatile tinnitus being associated with Meniere’s. What did the audiogram show for hearing loss. If it was the typical high-frequency loss rather than a low-frequency loss, that would be unlikely to be Meniere’s.
There’s still time for improvement. Has any hearing come back in the past week or not? If some has come back , that is a very good sign. If not hearing has come back, not a good sign, but there are still a couple of weeks for that to still happen if it is going to.
Cordially,
Neil
Yeah the hearing has not changed….the balance and nausea has improved significantly ..thank goodness that was rough..the audiogram…showed he wasn’t hearing much of anything….and he will get another one in a week…thoughts on doing another steroid shot in the ear at follow up?!? Yeah I don’t think Meniere’s as it comes and goes and his was sudden and gone…I was feeling discouraged for him yesterday…..cause I was hoping the body would adjust more to the side effects(these seem to be more of the issues/challenges than actual hearing loss)…loud noises…hard to know where sounds come from…and background noise challenges etc..but the more I read…seems like not…still keeping some hope things miraculously change . He did say he notices feeling his heartbeat when laying on his left side (the good ear) not any other time…so not sure if that would be pulsatile or actually just his heartbeat…just we have been wondering about his circulation in his feet for a month or two..and then read about blockage causing this…worries me a bit…the dr said he would like an MRI to rule out tumor…but I know that is a small percentage…and it would not change our situation right now…and we don’t have ins..but might have to do just to make sure. wanted him to feel better first..and the balance is still getting better.
there is just not a lot to determine cause…or much treatment options…so strange of a thing…this blog is good to read others dealing with it too..and your knowledge is helpful…we really want him to be able to dive and do what he loves…
Another question..what about wearing a ear plug on the good ear…to help with hyperacusis ..is that a good idea…. I have read that it is good to subject yourself to noises to help the body learn to adapt to hearing out of one ear. but I could also see that sometimes you might need a break it if is too overwhelming, especially in the beginning. My sister is an ENT nurse and her audiologist rec some air cushioned one for some relief…what are your thoughts on this. cause my husband asked about using one too to help with the loudness.
Hi Kimber:
With hyperacusis you have to be VERY careful not to overprotect your ears or you can make things much worse. So only wear ear protection when sounds seem so loud they hurt or are pretty uncomfortable.
Your brain needs to hear various sounds in order not to turn up its internal volume which just makes hyperacusis even worse.
You really want your brain to turn DOWN its internal volume so it needs to be stimulated with enough sounds in order to do this. At the same time, you need to work to get over your misophonia (aversion to certain sounds) so you can get your hyperacusis under control.
Cordially,
Neil
Cordially,
Neil
Yeah that is what I am reading…I was really wondering what he is hearing and found a video on youtube…OMG I cannot even imagine what it is like constantly having that going on with the hypersensitivity and tinnitus….. I have read some about noise training with pink noise…he really has subjected himself to noises…we are making some modifications…removing some decor that is super echoey..and adding a rug….still having some hope for some recovery…hearing test on friday…but don’t think much has changed with his hearing unfortunately….I just cannot believe the side effects that some from loss of hearing…his extreme dizziness /nausea and now the hyperacusis….so so crazy…I had no idea…and most people won’t even know what he is going through….it really sucks…I know he will over come it and not let it get him down….thank goodness..but I sure can see how it could…
Hi. My story is virtually identical to dans in 2010, howevery vision has gone bad along with my hearing. I’m completely deaf in both ears. Normal hearing aids don’t work. Is there any other aids or implants that will work
Hi Christina:
If you are “completely deaf” in both ears then hearing aids are not going to work. However, cochlear implants can be a viable choice. I’d go to a cochlear implant center and be evaluated for CIs. They will be able to tell you whether you are a good candidate or not.
Cordially,
Neil
Stumbling across this website has helped me so much to not feel so alone.
Last Friday I felt suddenly like I was getting an earache. I went in to a walk in clinic on sat morning and was diagnosed with both an inner and outer ear infection and given amoxicillin and antibiotic drops that had hydrocortisone in them. I have no idea why but every time I used those drops about 10 min later I was in EXCRUCIATING fist clenching screaming pain. And I have a high pain tolerance. My husband wanted me to go back in when he was my tears because he said I’ve never even seen you cry during natural childbirth…it was so so bad. I have never experienced pain like that. And I could not hear at all out of my right ear. I assumed this was just normal earache stuff that would go away once cleared.
Went in Sunday morning and saw the exact same nurse practitioner. She said my ear canal was significantly more swollen and she couldn’t even see into it. She changed my antibiotic to cefdinir and gave me ciprodex drops to replace the other ones. These drops did not cause any pain like the other ones had. Days went by and I STILL was in pain. It wasn’t until day 5 or 6 on antibiotics that my pain lessened. That is the day I was able to get into an ENT. He looked into my ears, suctioned them out and asked if that helped me hear better. I said no and he said let’s follow up in a week. I see him tomorrow, and while my pain is significantly improved (it comes back occasionally as overall achy pain) my hearing is the SAME. Any thoughts as to what could have caused this? Or what i can do to bring hearing back?
Hi Stephanie:
The standard treatment for sudden hearing loss is a course of Prednisone. To me it sounds like you had a viral attack in your inner ear that caused the sudden hearing loss. You’ve had the antibiotics to kill the middle ear infection. Your ENT may suggest intratympanic steroid injections, but that is about all they do.
Did you have any balance problems–dizziness, vertigo, etc?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi all! I am 38 y/o female I’m a registered nurse of 6 years and I had never heard of this till I got it 5 days ago and I was treated with a prednisone shot and oral steroids, the blocked ear and hearing loss persisted, so I went to a ENT yesterday on day 5 of the hearing loss and I am deaf in my left ear, he said it could be the usual, stroke, virus, tumor. He said I would more than likely be deaf in my ear but I asked him to be aggressive so he did the direct ear drum prednisone injection and oral antivirals and steroids. The noise is so bad and the fullness and nausea and vertigo. I am just hopeful I can get hearing aids because I can’t hear to use my stethoscope and I am praying my other ear is not affected! Lots of love to everyone going thru this I have so much anxiety and am so depressed. I hope we all get out hearing back!
Hi J:
You’d never heard of sudden hearing loss? You didn’t cover that in nurse’s training?
I wouldn’t expect a tumor to cause sudden hearing loss that fast, but a mini-stroke or virus sure could.
You ENT is doing everything he knows to do. So now you have to wait and see what happens.
Typically, your other ear won’t be affected, so you should still have one good ear.
The tinnitus you hear is probably the result of the hearing loss. Tinnitus almost always accompanies significant hearing losses.
Has any hearing begun to come back in your deaf ear? The sooner it begins to come back, the better the chance you have of getting much of it back.
Hang in there. Don’t give in to anxiety and depression. I know it is a shock, but you have one good ear, so count your blessings. I’m functionally deaf in both ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Sir,
Im 40 years and after catch cold then faced with ear SSNHL problem and I can not hear on left ear and also decrease in right ear.
What is the best remedy for SSNHL ?
Hi Peter:
If the hearing loss was very recent–like within 2 or3 days, then taking an anti-viral may help. Some doctors prescribe Methotrexate. Also, if taken in the first few days, Prednisone may help.
Personally, I’d also go the “natural” route and take supplements such as the minerals magnesium (which can help prevent ear damage) and zinc. I’d also take N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) so your body can build up its supplies of glutathione (a powerful anti-oxidant. If you don’t do the above in the first 1 – 3 days, it may be too late as the damage is already done. Prednisone can help if taken in the first two weeks, but sooner is always better.
Read my articles at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/vitamins-a-c-e-combined-with-magnesium-help-prevent-noise-induced-hearing-loss/ and the second half of the article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/loud-music-and-hearing-loss/ for some guidelines.
Cordially,
Neil
Last friday before going to bed around midnight i felt roaring in my right ear. When i woke up i had lost 70% of my hearing. I went to ent the next day and gave me 50mg cortisone for 7 days. She said its a virus probably. Did mri but nothing. The day after untill now wich is 8 days i lost almost 100$ hearing on my right ear. I red most of the comment on this forum. And appriviate the time Neil takes to answer. I had my first cortisone shot injected today and will have to do 2 more in 2 weeks. I had never seen such a scary thing. Is there any hope ill get better? He also gave me lorazepam 1mg for my stress cuz stress is bad for hearing loss. I need someone to give me a hope. I dont wanna loose my hearing. Im a normal guy 36 years .. my ear still roaring and 99% deaf 🙁
Hi Navid:
Hearing loud roaring tinnitus before their hearing suddenly drops is one way people describe their viral attacks resulting in sudden hearing loss.
Let me give you hope now. Life is still worth living (and can be just as exciting and fulfilling) whether you hear normally, or only hear with one ear, or don’t hear much at all (my case), BUT it will be different.
Of course you want your hearing back. This is normal. However, realistically, that may not happen. Here are three of my rules of thunb that will give you clues as to what may happen.
1. The more hearing you lose, the less the chances it will come back. So if you lost half your hearing you have a greater chance of much of it coming back as opposed to losing 95% of your hearing.
2. The sooner hearing begins returning, the greater your chances of getting more/most back. So if you notice hearing is returning by day 3, you have a good chance of getting your hearing back. If you still don’t detect any hearing returning by day 14, then the chances of it coming back are much slimmer.
3. The hearing you have at the end of 30 days is basically the hearing you will have going forward.
Sometimes hearing comes back with steroid treatment. Sometimes is comes back on its own. And sometimes it never comes back. That is just the way it is.
The good news is that you still have normal hearing in one ear so you aren’t functionally deaf like I am. It’s just that you no longer have directionality so can’t tell where sounds come from. There are a number of tricks you can learn to be the best one-eared guy you can be and thus still enjoy life to the fullest.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil. Im happy you answered my comment and want to do an update. Today is 1 month after my hearing loss. Iv done 3 injections and good news is that my hearing came back around 90 or 95%. Im very very happy. The only thing is that i still hear some buzzing not very loud but it’s there. Thanks god my hearing is back. The injections were very painfull but it did the job. My advise to anyone is that once u get sudden hearing loss, go to hospital immiditly so they can start the treatment asap. The sooner the better. I’d also like to thank ppl and this forum for sharing the good informations.
My daughter lost hearing in both ears (we think due to a virus). After 6 months of no hearing in right ear, it came back 40%. They keep fluctuating. Everyone is different. She is only 23, and some say it can regenrate.
Dear Dr. Neil,
I hope you are doing well.
Would you please inform that is there any treatment for Tinnitus ?
I have Tinnitus for 5 month.
Thank you.
Hi Peter:
Yes, there are a number of different treatments for tinnitus–depending on what form of tinnitus you have. My comprehensive book on tinnitus, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” explains the various kinds of tinnitus and outlines various treatments for each kind. It would be well worth the read. You can see it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
Cordially,
Neil
Hi my husband ,.. only age 59, has mild hearing issues. He blasts the TV! I can hear it from 2 floors above him! He also can’t hear the doorbell when he’s in the basement family room. He denies it, but he knows he has an issue. BTW he uses cotton swaps daily and other other products to get rid of wax in his ears. I suspect that may be his problem, but he’s very stubborn and won’t get it checked it out. What can I can I do? Thank You!
Hi Kathy:
I’m sure your husband’s hearing problems are more than just mild if he has to blast the TV, etc. He will have a very significant hearing loss. It’s not uncommon for men at his age to have a high frequency hearing loss. This means he here’s the low frequency component of speech very well so he denies he has a hearing loss, but he can’t hear the high-frequency component of speech much, and thus he can’t understand speech well. Thus, he turns the TV volume way up to try to hear those soft high-frequency sounds his ears no longer hear well.
He needs to go to an audiologist and have his hearing tested. Now changing the subject to the cotton swabs. If he claims his ears out every day that can keep your canals clean– I do that myself every day after I shower. However there is one caveat–he must start with clean ear canals.
If you already have wax in your ear canals and you try using Q-tips or equivalent, what you do is push most of the wax down your ear canal close to your eardrum and block sounds.
Sophie goes to an audiologist for a hearing test, the audiologist will also check to make sure that there’s not wax in his ear canals blocking sounds from reaching his eardrum.
If he totally refuses to do anything about his hearing problem, you should read my article on the subject at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/how-do-i-best-cope-with-my-spouse-who-wont-do-anything-about-his-hearing-loss/
Cordially,
Neil
Dr, Neil,
I’ve had problems with my left ear in which I have lost hearing. My ear canals are very small although I’m an adult. Sounds are very muffled, and high or loud pitches cannot be heard. I’ve been to several Drs. that have told me it’s swimmers ear, ear infection or a virus. All of these Drs are ENTS. This came on suddenly, but it was like an earache at first but still continue to have a shape pain and itch.
Please tell me if you know what has caused this or if my hearing will come back.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
Lori
Hi Lori:
From what you have told me, I can’t figure out what happened. Tell me more about what happened in the month or so before your ear started acting up. Had you exposed your ears to any loud sounds? Were you on any drugs? Did you have any active virus in your body anywhere. Did you have a cold or flu? What made one doctor think it was swimmer’s ear? Did you have any allergies or ear congestion?
Answers to these questions may help me figure it out.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello there, I have some autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia so my immune system is pretty weak. I also have chronic asthmatic bronchitis and 3+ years of sinusitis on the right side. Also I think I should mention for you I have has strep throat in excess of 25 times in my life. Two of those times were for 6months +, one of those two times it left me with an abscess. And basically the only antibiotic I’ve ever been given (bc I have allergies to other) is Azithromycin. MovIng on-Anyway my husband got me sick in the beginning of June. This left me with a cough. Two months passes until the beginning of August and I still have the cough and it’s super dry and bloody. Then he gets me sick again. Instead of a cough it’s a really sore dry swollen throat. Like so swollen I can’t really turn my neck. I take Advil for like three days but it gets so swollen my ear starts to hurt. Then I wake up and my ear is like intense pain. Like I’m like crying. So I take a crazy amount of Advil and sleep and I wake up and I can’t hear it’s still hurts but less and it’s ringing and making water noises. My left ear only. So I’m like ok take more Advil. But two days go by I still can’t hear and it’s ringing and painful. So I take an antibiotic that I had laying around. It’s was a five day course a Azithromycin that expired 11 months earlier. But I finished the whole pack. Now it’s two days later and the swelling/pain are mild or barely there but I can’t hear like anything out of my left ear period. Only ringing and far away water noises. Please help lol. I didn’t go to the doctor bc I don’t have insurance so I would appreciate any home remedy advice you have. But I understand this might be getting serious so idk. Thanks.
Hi Kinsey:
If you take high doses of Ibuprofen, don’t be surprised if you experience both hearing loss and tinnitus. Taking Ibuprofen inhibits cyclooxygenase and decreases prostaglandin activity, potentially reducing cochlear blood flow. Therefore, assuming Ibuprofen reduces blood flow to the inner ear, it seems logical that taking a vasodilator at the same time could help increase blood flow, and thus help prevent any ototoxic side effects. Natural vasodilators include the herbal, Ginkgo biloba, and Vitamin B3 (Nicotinic acid). (Niacin is the synthetic form of Nicotinic acid.) You want to take the form of Vitamin B3 that causes flushing such as Nicotinic acid. Niacinamide does NOT cause flushing so it won’t work to enhance blood flow.
Azithromycin causes tinnitus and hearing loss. In fact, hearing loss is reported about twice as often as is tinnitus from taking this drug.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
Around July, I had what I thought was a bad sinus infection/cold with a possible ear infection(My ear felt very full and I usually get them 1 to 2 times a year). I went into an ENT and he prescribed another allergy medication(I take Zertec daily) and nasal spray. I returned a week later with no improvements and he put me on prednisone. Around this time, I noticed that my ear not only felt full, but I was also having a hard time hearing. I have since been on 3 rounds of prednisone, one of which was a stronger dosage and have had 3 hearing test with my dictation improving with each test, but my hearing loss staying the same. I have around 50% hearing loss currently in my left ear and it can be annoying with my active lifestyle and job. My doctor is still holding out hope that my hearing will improve and has me on a low sodium diet and a water pill. Have you ever seen hearing repair itself after such a long time? When would you recommend looking into a hearing aid? Also, would the tinnitus subside with a hearing aid?
Hi Amanda:
If your hearing loss is sensorineural (and a complete audiological evaluation will tell you that), then no, I wouldn’t expect any hearing improvement in the future.
However, if your hearing loss is mostly or only conductive, then yes, I’d expect that when your ears and sinuses clear, that your hearing could/would come back.
If your hearing loss is sensorineural, then I’d suggest that a hearing aid could really help you.
Many people find that when they wear their hearing aids, they don’t hear their tinnitus as much or at all, but typically it comes back when they take their hearing aids off at night.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi are you still answering questions on this topic?
Hi Carole:
You betcha.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, I am 63 and had Sudden hearing loss. For me it’s hard to accept I didn’t get proper treatment soon enough How do you move on? The guilt overwhelms me.. have severe loss with ringing
How about CI implant will it help with tinnitus?
Hi Vicki:
Why didn’t you get proper treatment soon enough? Was it your fault–or your doctors? If it wasn’t your fault, why are you feeling guilty. You didn’t do anything wrong.
You have to forgive yourself and move on. Always dwelling in the past will not help you move on, and will just hurt you. What’s done is done. Now you need to look to the future and a different, yet still rewarding life as a hard of hearing person.
Is your hearing loss in both ears, or just one ear? If you are eligible for a CI, then you may find that while you are wearing it, you won’t have problems with your tinnitus, but it typically will come back at night when you take your CI(s) off.
Your tinnitus is a result of your hearing loss. You can learn how to habituate to it so it no longer bothers you. This is what I have done. You can do it too.
Cordially,
Neil