Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL)
Quote | Reply
Does anyone have any experience with this?

My experience: ten days ago I woke up with one of my ears feeling clogged as if landing on an airplane and needed it to "pop" or clear. After a couple of days, went to an in store clinic and was diagnosed with eustachian tube dysfunction. I was given a regimin of anti-allergy meds and was told it would clear up in 1 -2 weeks. After a week of no change and developing tinnitus, I went to an ENT. The hearing test showed loss of hearing in the ear and he put me on a 13 day dexamethasone pak. I am to go back in one week. After spending the night on the internet, I feel that I am in a race against time to salvage some to the hearing in my one ear. I have a second opinion appointment scheduled Sat.

No one has told me not to workout so I have continued to do so. However, I would like to get confirmation that I am not doing more damage. If any one successfully recovered from this, what treatment did you follow?
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Understand that I am an Audiology student so take what I say lightly compared to a licensed Audiologist or ENT. At my last placement, the ENTs treated SSNHL with steroids immediately via transtympanic injection into the middle ear space. Some regained hearing, some did not. It is CRITICAL to have these steroids IMMEDIATLY for best results (within 2 weeks). For a medical professional to treat you with anti-allergy meds and diagnose you with ETD, without an audiologic exam, is irresponsible in my opinion and cost you precious treatment time. Of course the cause of your SSNHL might be something that steroids cannot fix, such as a perilymph fistula. Nonetheless, I can't imagine a case where physical activity would make it worse. Best of luck.


________________________________________________________________________
"That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth." - Reese Bobby, Taladega nights
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Treatment for SSNHL involves high does steroid therapy, either oral or as an intratympanic injection (behind ear drum), as proximate to the onset of hearings loss as possible. The rule of 1/3’s prevails, with 1/3 recovering heading completely, 1/3 recovering some, and 1/3 not recovering. So you are doing what you need to be doing right now, with consideration for an
intratympanic injection depending on the philosophy of your ENT, although you may be a bit late for them to add much benefit.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
The response of rmg is pretty much spot on. Early treatment is key. Those without any vestibular issues seem to have a higher rate of improvement. Word recognition is usually pretty poor when associated with SSNHL, so a lot of times a hearing aid is not an option.

We recently had a patient that came in telling us that his hearing aid wasn't working. His hearing aid was fine. Tested him and saw a significant drop in hearing with a drop in word recognition from 84% down to 16%. Saw the ENT that afternoon and started steroid treatment. He initially noticed improvement in hearing and word recognition, documented by audiogical, with word recognition improving to 76%. Unfortunately it didn't last and when tested the next week back down to 24%. Very interesting.

I wish you luck, hope your second opinion gives some hope

sorry I didn't notice the date on the thread. hope things turned out ok
Last edited by: alittleslow: Jun 20, 18 14:53
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Acoustic neuroma comes to mind. Benign and rare but causes sudden SNHL.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [adktriguy46] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
adktriguy46 wrote:
Acoustic neuroma comes to mind. Benign and rare but causes sudden SNHL.

I would disagree as this issue is normally a slow growing tumor.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Sorry for bumping, but it would be great to find out the updates. How are you doing? What was the real reason? My brother is currently experiencing a similar issue.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [BessYa] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Fortunately, I received a dose of steroids within 2 weeks of the symptoms and my hearing recovered. I had never heard of this SSNHL until it happened to me and did not know that it could have resulted in permanent hearing loss. Hard to believe this is occurred 9 years ago.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Great news! Curious to know the reasons of such a sudden hearing loss. I honestly never had any issues with my hearing, but just in case i need a good doctor, i can always go to Staten Island audiology where one of my best friends from the childhood works. He frequently tells me some cool stories about happy customers and also has a very high opinion about all his colleagues.
Last edited by: MitchMcCrown: Apr 29, 23 12:52
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [MitchMcCrown] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
As I recall, there is no known cause. On theory, is that it is caused by a virus.
Quote Reply
Re: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) [TriPJA] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Same thing happened to me 5 years ago. I thought my ear was clogged, so I went to my primary care doc. After seeing that my ear canal was clear, she put me on steroids immediately while personally seeing to it that I saw an ENT the next day.

Testing showed that the internal ear was clear, but I had significant hearing loss. The ENT continued the steroids for two weeks with no guarantee that the hearing would return. Thankfully, my hearing came back in about 10 days. It was a scary experinece.

I tell this story whenever I can to let people know that getting to the doctor immediately when experience hearing loss is critical. I have met people who have told me they waited too long to get on steroids, and their hearing never recovered.
Quote Reply