Sudden hearing loss

[Margo]

Last Monday i woke up and could barely hear, my left side the worse. I am already a bit dear, but this has frightened me, a week on and I still have it? Anybody have this, did it go?

[bantam12]

Have you been to the GP ? might be something easily fixed.

[Margo]

Not yet bantam12 , I am going to try and see one of the decent G.P.'s however, that isn't easy, I will probably have to wait weeks. There again I don't have much faith in any medical professionals, I prefer the advice on this site. Thank you

[Hidden]

Perhaps this is a symptom of thyroid issues. I have had several bouts of excess wax which had that effect. See your GP or perhaps even your local pharmacy.

[Margo]

Thank you Hidden , whenever I think I have issues with my ears when I go to the G.P. there is never anything to see.

[MaryMary]

You can have an annual free hearing check at many pharmacies and some opticians now. If there is too much wax that'll be sorted first. It looks like the NHS have contracted out hearing care!

[Margo]

Thanks MaryMary I have had a Boots hearing test several times, and they have decided I need a hearing aid. But this sudden hearing loss is something different....I have an appointment at 5 p.m. with my G.P. and am hoping my ears are blocked and it isn't anything sinister. Thank you

[wellness1]

I hope your appointment went well, Margo. By now you will have some idea of what is going on. I hope it is something straightforward and easy to resolve. Your post reminded me that there is a member here called overnighthearingloss , who may have some insights.

[Margo in reply to wellness1]

Thanks for remembering wellness1 . I saw the best G.P. In the practice this evening. He did a few hearing test, and looked quite serious. He gave me a prescription and told me to take 6 steroid tablets immediately and wait for a call from the hospital. Was quite a shock! Really don't know what to think, but feeling pretty down. I guess I will just have to wait until I get to the hospital and find out what is to do. Yes I have seen somebody called overnighthearingloss on this site, would be nice to ask her if she has had the same symptoms as me.

[wellness1]

It's understandable that you're worried, but you've got a referral to someone with expertise in this field now. I hope you receive excellent care and they're able to help you.

[Margo in reply to wellness1]

Thank you wellness1

[wellness1]

You're welcome. Take care.

[overnighthearingloss]

Where to start. I lost my hearing overnight in one ear. In my case I never regained it. It was total. I now rely on one working ear.

Firstly let me say that unfortunately not all doctors see this as an emergency. In that losing hearing alone is not considered dangerous or life threatening.

There is also often an underlying assumption that people lose their hearing as they age and as such it is possibly just accepted as normal by many medical professionals who have not had in depth knowledge with affected patients.

There are additional factors to take into account. Whether there has been a slow progression over time or whether this has been a completely sudden event. Mine was completely sudden. Never even had ANY earaches or ear infections previously.

Then there is conductive hearing loss or sensorineural loss. Mine is the latter but I was initially treated for the former. You need referral to an audio unit if sensorineural might be involved.

Ear infections and wax will often be conductive. Conductive hearing loss can in many instances be helped by standard hearing aids and high street outlets may be able to help in this respect. But they can't help with sensorineural.

One of my lupus consultants tested me with a tuning fork and when it was obvious that I was not getting any vibration to the ear I was urgently given an audio referral.

Bottom line here is that the greatest chance of recovery is if you are treated urgently by the correct specialists.

High dose steroids given for some weeks can sometimes reverse some events. I didn't get this treatment for about 10 days or more. I don't know if earlier treatment would have produced a different outcome for me but you must push for this treatment QUICKLY. Not just a one off dose.

Lots of medical publications have been written on this subject. It should be possible for a gp to gain some direction.

But it might be a good idea to ask for an urgent appointment at a good audio clinic or failing that to go to A&E with these concerns.

They must get to grips with what is happening in your case to be able to rule out potential serious nasties such as a mini stroke or acoustic neuroma.

Dont fall apart, but insist on referral to those who are more specialist.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

I have just heard that I won't be seen till Tuesday next week at the Acute E.N.T. Department at the hospital . Seems this is the soonest I can be seen. There isn't much I can do about it, and will just have to wait.

In the meantime nothing has changed, I can't hear anything on my left side. I have had gradual hearing loss/tinnitus since the removal of my thyroid in 2003, but this loss is something different.

I have read up a bit about it, and it doesn't make jolly reading, and of course the information you have posted. I am just going to have to think about something else till Tuesday and hope that things are not as bad as they seem.

Thanks again for the info'.

[overnighthearingloss]

I did PM this to you, but have a look for a posting by lisa___s on the lupus forum. She lost her hearing but was lucky enough to regain it following treatment.

Lisa 3 underscores and s

Hope this is useful

About 8 months ago

[Margo]

Thanks overnight hearingloss, I did try to find lisa_s on the Lupus site, but didn't get anywhere.

[overnighthearingloss in reply to Margo]

Not lisa_s

There are 3 underscores before the s

There is useful info contained in the postings (3 of them) if you can find them.

As it has already been a while for you it may be necessary to go to A&E rather than wait longer and further diminish any chance of recovery.

Try again to find the lisa___s postings to be armed with relevant info when you attend a&e.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

Thanks overnight hearing loss, will try to find the posts. Am thinking about A&E as well. Will let you know how it goes.

[humanbean in reply to Margo]

healthunlocked.com/user/lis...

The above link is to lisa___s's profile and posts.

[overnighthearingloss in reply to humanbean]

Thanks. I didn't know how to do that.

[humanbean in reply to overnighthearingloss]

Look at the web address of your own profile. Substitute your own forum name in the web address for the forum name of the person whose profile you want to view, then press enter.

[Margo in reply to humanbean]

Thank you so much humanbean , have been to the site and learnt a lot.

[overnighthearingloss]

If you are London based and could possibly attend Royal Free a&e, you could tell them that one of their consultants Dr Benjamin Schreiber, wrote a paper on sudden hearing loss with Professor Linda Luxon.

He now works as a cardiologist I believe but name dropping may help.

Info is contained in one of the links in the thread. Helpful if you could print it and take it with you.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

Just been on the Lupus site and read about Lisa. Incredible.! Will go to A&E. Watch this space! Thanks for everything.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

I am in Essex, would be a hell of a journey from here to there. Have noted the names you have given me.

I just want to say that the hearing loss in my left ear is not total, I can hear a bit, but less than before which was all very sudden. Was your hearing loss total? i wonder if it makes a difference.

[overnighthearingloss in reply to Margo]

Mine was total, but I think Lisa's started that way as well

Don't make excuses. Time is critical. Hopefully any a&e armed with the relevant information will be able to assist.

But just maybe, some are better than others.

Your best chance is to do what you can now as over a week has already elapsed.

Don't let yourself believe that there might have been something extra you could have done.

If you have a smartphone show them these threads.

[overnighthearingloss]

The professionals you have seen so far are unaware of the urgency required.

I will tell you that when I attended a&e I was brushed off there as well. That's why I want you to go fully armed. Mention things like possible stroke or acoustic neuroma to get their attention.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

Thank you. Isn't it awful that we have to know more than the consultants who treat us? This is becoming more the norm, which is very frightening.

[overnighthearingloss in reply to Margo]

It's not possible for every doctor to know everything about every case that presents. That's why you are going armed with extra info.

I didn't get to see a consultant and at the time I knew nothing about any of this so I didn't know how to push for better service.

Mine occured over the Christmas break. I managed to contact my lupus team in January who did progress things. But too late for me.

[Margo in reply to overnighthearingloss]

Thanks again overnighthearingloss, I think it a good idea regarding showing them this thread.

[digby1]

I’m sorry if I’m late to reply about this. Over the last 8 years or so I suffered from intermittent hearing loss. It was a very frightening experience as you can imagine. At the beginning I used to leave it and hope for it to get better. But it took days for my hearing to come back. After seeing an ENT specialist he treated these episodes as emergencies and immediately put me on high dose steroids. I was able to recover after a few days. I’m afraid I think the early episodes led to profound hearing lost in my left ear and now I wear aids. Right now I’m having an episode and am I instructed to take steroids immediately. If I leave it too long it takes more time for me to recover. I’m so sorry for what you went through but I absolutely endorse what others have said - have an appointment early and get to the stage you can be advised to control it yourself when symptoms arise. I know these symptoms well. Sometimes I have an aura that my hearing gets really clear as if everything is louder than normal just before and then it begins to drop until I just hear robotic voices and a Timny sound. I’ve been told it I’d told it is a rare an auto-immune disorder. I’ve now been diagnosed with GCA and am yet to find out if the two conditions are related. I do hope your problem was resolved.

[Margo in reply to digby1]

Thank you for your detailed response digby1 .

What happened to me was not the same as you, and I am still not sure quite what happened. Now and again my hearing diminishes but not to the degree that yours does/or mine did.

I had an 'Emergency' appointment a week later, was not seen by a consultant but one of the underlings, by this time I had regained some hearing, having only taken 2 days worth of steroids. I had a very comprehensive hearing test, and the result was that my hearing had made a slight improvement on the previous test 2 years ago. Which was very confusing indeed! I feel this is all part of not having a thyroid /auto-immune and feel loathe to take any more steroids, however that said I really don't know what I will do if the deafness comes back as severe as it did last month.

I am booked in for Tuesday to be fitted with hearing aids.

I am astonished at the list of ailments due to failing thyroid/no thyroid this has been quite an education.

Thanks again digby.