37/M I was diagnosed with SSHL 12 days ago in my right ear (severe) fullness and tinnitus, no vertigo. I saw an ENT about 5 days after symptoms. First went to urgent care they thought it was Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. But it got worse so I immediately booked an appointment with an ENT. I’ve been on prednisone 60mg (7 days) x 40mg (5 days) and 20mg (3 days). I’m almost done with the tapper, I did get hearing back on the 7th day (what I thought was normal, felt great). Then on the 8th day it started to decline again and now I think it’s even gotten worse from the original onset. I’ve been taking hearing tests online as I feel and it shows it’s dramatically declining. I was wondering if this is common with fluctuations in hearing loss or not? Also, about a week before sshl I got my Pfizer Covid vaccine 1st shot and had tinnitus for several days before the loss no other symptoms. I can certainly tell a noticeable difference in my hearing loss and the online tests show. Has anyone experienced this?
I had SSHL with vertigo. Right before the vertigo hit, I thought I just had impacted wax. Outside of that, I had thought it was an ear wax issue. The nausea from the vertigo was so bad that I wasn’t keeping any food down. I’m a type 1 diabetic so I went to the ER. They helped the vertigo, but thought I had an inner ear infection. While there, I lost the hearing in what was my better ear. I wasn’t diagnosed with SSHL until I was able to get into an ENT several weeks later.
The key is to get treatment from an ENT as soon as possible after you notice the decline in hearing. The sooner, the better chance at saving your hearing. It sounds like you have seen the ENT quickly, but sometimes the treatment won’t last. My ENT suggested hyperbaric chamber treatments after steroid therapy, but these aren’t guaranteed either. They must be done relatively quickly after diagnosis. You might want to look into that.
My left hear has had hearing loss since I was young, but I still have hearing in that ear and use a hearing aid. I totally lost the hearing in my right ear. I ended up having a cochlear implant in that ear. The implant works great and is amazing technology. You do have to qualify with the amount of hearing you have in your good ear. You can be totally deaf in one ear, but if you can hear better than 60% in noise with your remaining ear, you won’t qualify and you can’t be implanted in your bad ear.
There might be others that have experiences that are different, but I would inquire about hyperbaric chamber therapy for your SSHL ear. Also, you might want to ask your doctor if it’s possible that you may have Meniere’s disease or other health issue that could be part of the SSHL. Good luck!
I’ve also had a SSHL in 2017. I went from moderate loss to severe profound loss in my R) ear. My hearing didn’t improve with treatment over a 6 month period. I had a follow up appointment with my ENT at that time. All he said was “oh well, both ears are now equal in hearing loss” This ENT I don’t go and see anymore. He couldn’t care less that I couldn’t hear well.
My Aud sent a referral in for a CI assessment, which I qualified for. I now have one N7 CI & HA Resound Enzo 3D. As Debbie said this technology is amazing, I can now hear environmental sounds which I haven’t heard in years. I only have one situation where I now can’t hear and that’s when people are walking away from me and speaking at the same time. Good luck.