Lost 100% hearing in one ear....

[Grayling813]

Good news TAM!

[thelurker]

TAM, just now learning about this. Very sorry and prayers are being sent right away!

[eieio1]

Prayer offered up.

[puma guy]

I have a progress report.

The day before yesterday, I noticed a couple of times that when one of my grandkids' voices hit a certain volume and pitch, I could detect it as a thin buzzing noise in my left ear. There was no speech recognition, just a buzzing, but I could hear the noise....faintly. And then yesterday, while driving to my ENT doc's office to have my hearing retested, I found that I could hear some of the bass notes from my car stereo in that ear. They still sound muted and buzzy, but I can hear them!

On the hearing re-test, I could actually hear some of the tones in my left ear .... again, not clearly, but I could hear them. I've shown some improvement at the bottom and upper registers, but only a little bit in the middle registers....which is where most human speech occurs. My doctor called it a "marked improvement" so that’s good news. I’ve been up-rated from "profoundly" deaf, to "moderately to severely" deaf in that ear. It was enough of an improvement to warrant another injection of steroids and further retesting, so that was good news.

Going forward, I have an appointment for a 3rd hearing test in 2 weeks. At that point—if there has been further improvement—he’ll give me a final third steroid injection and then a 4th hearing test a week or two following that. He said that 3 times is about the limit of how many times he can administer a large dose of steroids like that without beginning to play hobb with the rest of my hormonal system. So, whatever I can get back by the end of the final retesting period, that’s what I’ll be living with going forward—assuming that there’s additional improvement between now and two weeks from now. If there isn’t any, well.....

Hearing aids.... My doctor said that for a hearing aid to be applicable, there has to be some speech recognition in that ear. As of right now, I don’t have any speech recognition on that side. I can hear indistinct buzzing and thumping noises if they’re in the right register and they’re loud enough. So that will have to improve to a point where I can at least vaguely understand some speech in that ear before he'll prescribe a hearing aid for me.

I so appreciate your prayers, and thank you to all of you for your generosity in that regard. My prayer going forward is for continued improvement; and if not a for complete recovery, then at least for enough recovery to the point where a hearing aid makes sense.

Thanks again to everybody.

PM'd you.

[The Annoyed Man]

Excellent.

I was completely deaf in my left ear for 2 weeks after someone touched off a .357 THV about 3 feet from me (I was still getting my muffs on when the range was declared hot). It was a huge relief when the hearing started to slowly return to the point where I considered it normal, so I'm really hoping it'll be the same for you.

I did that to myself back in '96 or '97, when I had a ND with my Model 29 and shot a round into my bedroom ceiling, right next to my left ear. It took about 2-3 weeks for my hearing to return to normal that time. That time was different then. I still had some small amount of hearing in that ear afterwards, it was just very reduced and distorted sounding for a couple of weeks, and then it came all the way back. This time, I was 100% deaf in that ear, although like I said above, I’ve gotten a little bit of it back just in the last couple of days, but it’s still almost nothing and it’s very distorted, so I have no speech recognition at all on that side. And that’s all I’ve regained in 3 weeks now. I’m trying to be patient about it, and accept that it’s a process, but also trying to be philosophical about it and recognize that I may never get much of it back this time.

[powerboatr]

TAM, a few years ago this very thing happened to my wife. We both had a very bad illness we acquired from south texas? 8 weeks of horse pill antibiotics, shots etc. she lost all hearing in the left ear. makes driving fun as she cant hear me. any who, fast fwd a a year after and she could hear as described clicks and such what i called pressure sounds. No ringing.
we went to a good hearing place and they determined the sound was not gone, just so bad it was like she had a complete dead spot on the left side. they prescribed a hearing aid that didn't amplify the ambient noise, but only amplified or cleared up the sound she could not hear while minimally amplifying the other clicks and pressure sounds. i wear one from my navy time and 400hz motor controllers and jet engines.


it works very well for her and she wears it every day. PM me and i will tell you the name of the place

prayers yours come back

[Lynyrd]

FYI, I highly recommend Dr. Bob Peters at Dallas Ear Institute. I have a rare degenerative ear disease and he is the only doctor that has been able to help me. I too am deaf in one ear. It's a handicap, but life goes on pretty well with just one ear.

[imkopaka]

Glad to hear the progress report TAM. Praying for your continued recovery and healing!

[RPBrown]

Good to hear of the progress. We will continue to pray for complete recovery

[The Annoyed Man]

UPDATE.....

I had my final hearing test on July 7th, and the results were not good. There was no improvement from the previous test. I’m still mostly deaf in my left ear, and it is likely to remain that way.

The audiologist will be phoning me in the next week or two to set up a demonstration appointment to try out some different hearing aids. They’re ambivalent about whether or not I’ll be able to tolerate them, but I guess it’s worth a try. But even if they will work for me, I’m doubtful that I can afford them right now. We'll see.

[SewTexas]

UPDATE.....

I had my final hearing test on July 7th, and the results were not good. There was no improvement from the previous test. I’m still mostly deaf in my left ear, and it is likely to remain that way.

The audiologist will be phoning me in the next week or two to set up a demonstration appointment to try out some different hearing aids. They’re ambivalent about whether or not I’ll be able to tolerate them, but I guess it’s worth a try. But even if they will work for me, I’m doubtful that I can afford them right now. We'll see.

well, shoot, I was really hoping that after that initial improvement it would continue. (sigh)
keep us informed re. the hearing aids.

[TreyHouston]

Keep thinking positive and continue to ask Jesus to heal you. He preforms Miracles EVERYDAY. I will continue to pray for you.

[carlson1]

You are in my prayers my friend. We serve the Great Physician. These guys down here are just practicing physicians so just keep going forward.