tinnitus and hearing loss

ene

so i am 20 and when i was 18 i lost all hearing from my left ear. it happened suddenly i.e. i woke up one morning with extreme vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss. after going to the eye and ear and having many tests they decided that basically they have no idea what caused this.

since then the vertigo has gone away and i am left with constant tinnitus and hearing loss. i was wondering if anyone else is in the same boat. all this has hugely made me loose confidence as i find it really difficult to hear in pubs/nightclubs and i have to choose where i sit in social situations based on my hearing.

i don't have a hearing aid, although i was told i would be entitled to one. i suppose being in 6th year and coming up to exams and starting college made me too afraid to get one.

i am worried about the future, as i said i am only 20, but if i only have 50% hearing now, will i loose the rest as well. it scares me as they have no idea where this all came from.

sorry for the rant

looksee

You are not alone, this happens to significant numbers of people. While I have no idea what happened in your case, in my own and a good few others that I know of, it was a random infection. Again in my case there is no reason why it should get any worse, the same probably applies to you

If you have had all your check-ups, don't waste your life worrying about whether it will get worse. It probably will not, but there is nothing you can do about it either way. If a hearing aid will help, get one. As we have said to numerous other people on this forum, if you need glasses, you wear glasses. If you need a hearing aid, get one.

We all understand the whole business of not being able to hear conversation and difficulties in social settings, believe me, its much better being able to hear. A hearing aid is not magic, (though it is a miracle of miniature computerisation) you have to work at getting used to it, it will take about 6 months to be fully useful to you, but it is worth it in the long run.

honeymonsteruk

ene wrote: »

so i am 20 and when i was 18 i lost all hearing from my left ear. it happened suddenly i.e. i woke up one morning with extreme vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss. after going to the eye and ear and having many tests they decided that basically they have no idea what caused this.

since then the vertigo has gone away and i am left with constant tinnitus and hearing loss. i was wondering if anyone else is in the same boat. all this has hugely made me loose confidence as i find it really difficult to hear in pubs/nightclubs and i have to choose where i sit in social situations based on my hearing.

i don't have a hearing aid, although i was told i would be entitled to one. i suppose being in 6th year and coming up to exams and starting college made me too afraid to get one.

i am worried about the future, as i said i am only 20, but if i only have 50% hearing now, will i loose the rest as well. it scares me as they have no idea where this all came from.

sorry for the rant

yes it is scary at any age, but you have to learn to live with it and accept how it is for now - you are at the age where the med's might just come up with a treatment, there is talk of stem cell research possibly enabling the hearing cells which are damaged to reproduce and produce new healthy cells...but it might take many years to come into mainstream medicine yet. Good luck, and try to keep a positive perspective on your problem.

the_syco

ene wrote: »

so i am 20 and when i was 18 i lost all hearing from my left ear.

When you say all, do you mean all, or all without a hearing aid? If the latter, get a hearing aid.

They make a HUGE difference. As for being noticeable, I have shaved my head with a mach3 for the past couple of years, and someone I was working with took a year to notice it in my ear (the mould and cover of the hearing aid was done to the same colour as my ear), so in the ear (not the root canal) were not that noticeable, and my hearing is pretty bad.

=-=

My hearing loss is hereditary from my granddad, it would seem, which skips a generation. Maybe check your families history (go back a few generations if you can) to see if the hearing loss happened to anyone else.

=-=

If you're still in full-time education, and cos this happened recently, you may be eligible for a free hearing aid.

If not, and you have to buy one, get whoever pays the most tax to pay for it, so that they can claim the tax back, and as you're a full-time student, they should get an extra bit back. I think when my father got me my hearing aids, he was able to claim around 50% tax back as I was still in college.

michaelflynn61

If you have lost ALL hearing in your ear you wont be able to get a hearing aid. A hearing aid will only work if there is some activity in the ear to pic up something. A hearing aid is pretty much a miniature microphone and speaker system (A pretty nifty one all the same). If there is no hearing whatsoever in the ear then there is nothing that will be able to pick the speaker up. If there is even some small amount of hearing then the hearing aid may work and if this is the case then I would advise to definitely get one. You would be surprised how many people have hearing aids and you never even notice. Even moreso, it will make a big difference to you and you will really notice and appreciate it.

I had some hearing loss in my left ear since I was a child. Never anything major but it was somewhat noticable. Then almost two years ago I got bacterial meningitis when in Thailand and lost all hearing in my left ear so it is now a dead ear. A hearing aid wont work. It has taken some adjusting for me, despite the fact that I already had some loss and I still find I am adjusting to it. Like you say, bars and clubs can be a nightmare. Even places that are not loud but have a good bit of activity, a room with a couple of difference conversations. Every situation you are in you have to think "where is best for me to sit/stand to hear people", very often when meeting people in a group for the first time people think I'm rude because they think I'm ignoring them when really I just don't hear them. Now none of these things are particularly major in the grand scheme of things but they definitely are big inconveniences and if you have the chance to get rid of them I definitely would. You have a lot to gain from using a hearing aid, if I had the chance, I definitely would!

looksee

Mod: While its true in laymans terms that a hearing aid is no use if there is no hearing at all, the OP should not make a decision on whether he has any hearing without getting a professional opinion.

Reganio 2

I would advise you to get a hearing aid. I was in the same situation as you only I was 17 or so when I got mine, I was partially deaf for a while but never noticed or saw it as an issue really. But I was the quiet kid sat in the corner never talking to people. When I got the hearing aid my confidence started to grow and I felt just good about everything, its amazing the difference it can make to you. The difference is yours set on suddenly, but I would say you will feel will astound you, you probably haven't realised but I reckon you have withdrawn ever so slightly, getting the hearing aid will do wonders for you. Sure if it dosn't go the way you want I am sure you can just stop wearing it.

Oh and I have only noticed this forum now, expect more views from me in the future

thelastguyleft

Hi OP,

I lost some of my hearing in my right ear through a sports injury a couple of years ago and despite having surgery, the hearing loss and tinnitus persists. I'm fortunate enough in that the size of the loss is not so great that it affects me massively day to day, although I have to be very careful swimming and can never go diving. I would say to check out a hearing aid if you feel it will improve your quality of life.

My tinnitus can really piss me off when it acts up (alcohol and very strenuous exercise often do it for me) but I've actually gotten used to it and it's internalised to a large extent, so I can ignore it quite a lot of the time.

I hope things have picked up since your post!