i’m f19 and i’m very worried about hearing loss. i’ve been really struggling to understand people speaking to me and it has progressively gotten worse. it is at a point where i am becoming extremely anxious talking to people as almost 50% of what they say, i can’t understand at all. with my partner and some family members its less anxiety inducing (mostly my partner) as i can just keep asking them to repeat but i get very anxious when asking people in my classes to repeat or people at restaurants, drive throughs, appointments, etc. i often will just nod or say “ahh yeah i guess” or “maybe” when i can’t hear someone because i get nervous to tell them i didn’t hear it but if they look at me weird i will then ask them to repeat it. it has gotten worse though. i get frustrated when talking with my partner as i have to have them repeat things over and over or i have to be facing them and looking at their lips to understand them. i get frustrated when i’m showing them something with my airpods and they tell me it’s too loud but it feels too quiet to me. its becoming stressful and since i am a musician, i am scared about losing my hearing. i do get overwhelmed when there’s a lot of sounds going on around me and i was looking into getting loop earplugs but remembered that it would only make understanding people harder. thats what led me to think more about the actual issue. i think i should go to see a doctor… i am already trying to go see one about a tourettes diagnosis (MAYBE). i don’t want to be a basket case and i already have a ton of unpaid medical bills since i am a dependent and my mom’s insurance isn’t recognizing that… i don’t want to keep racking up bills as i’ve been to the er and had 3 appointments just in the past 5 months already. i’m scared and unsure what to do.
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The sooner you go to an ENT doctor and check for something serious the better. And the sooner you get aids the better.
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i have made a free appointment at my college (i go to a community college in a city with a huge deaf community but only 2 ENTs) i submitted a form asking for a hearing exam and i have one next monday. i called the ENTs office and unfortunately they are fully booked until the end of january. i will see how to appointment monday goes and if there is a need for referal since i am really scared to keep accumulating medical bills
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