SSHL = Faith, Hope, and Lots of Prayers

IreneW

Member
Author
Nov 12, 2015
35
Tinnitus Since
10/2015
I joined this site some time ago but really was hesitant to post until I was ready to give people hope, today is the day.

On 10/17/15 I had a choking incident about 4 pm which required my husband to do the Heimlich maneuver or however you spell it.

Two hours later I was speaking to my mom on the phone on right ear and them moved it to my left ear and her voice was fading I moved phone to right ear and could Hear fine but moved to left ear and again could not hear well.

On Sunday 10/18 I woke up in the morning with the room spinning and complete hearing loss in left ear. I started to get a little worried, the hearing loss was one thing but the vertigo was more scary. I told my husband I was scared but noticed vertigo was more so when laying down. I drove myself to urgent care where the dr diagnosed me with sudden sensoneural hearing loss SSHL.

I had never heard of this, he immediately gave ne a steroid shot and a Medrol dose pack. He recommended I go to ER in the medical center, see Houston has the best medical care so surely I could get some answers.

After going to ER and getting CT scan I was told it was not due to stroke or tumor and was told told to followup with and ENT. I did just that and after MRI again was told it was SSHL, the dr explained to me that in some cases I had 50% chance of getting some hearing back but could take a year to know. Well I left the Drs office scared, hopeless and desperate. See with the SSHL came a loud hissing, high pitch tinnitus so loud that it over powered my ability to hear with my right ear had told me there was Nothing I could do for the T.

Well the days to follow became filled with the constant need to find out more, I was consumed with looking up treatment for T on the Internet. What I discovered is there was so much doom and gloom which filled me with anxiety, thoughts of feeling I was going to lose my mind and desperation.I could not focus on anything else but the ringing and it was on a scale of 1-10 a 10!!

I wouldn't leave my house . I could barely leave my room and I started to have panic attacks when daylight would come. I literally had a nervous breakdown . I have a huge support system in my husband, kids, family and friends but NO ONE could even come close to knowing what I was going through. Desperate times call for desperate faith I was in a pit and 3 weeks in found myself having a nervous breakdown, I prayed and prayed non stop I pleaded for some relief I put my sole focus on a scripture Isaiah 41:10.

I then made the decision to get on anxiety meds and depression meds. I promised myself to stay off the internet reading doom and gloom about T. Then on day my son told mom I found you a positive website and he loaded the TinnitusTalk site for me to read. I admit I was so afraid to get on the forum simply because I thought I was more of the same ol' stuff.

Well today I have to tell you that although I still have T but I am finally starting to habituate, all those times I heard the word habituate I never thought it could happen. I have regained some of my hearing in left ear but still have no high frequency hearing along with the Loud T. What has changed ? Well the tinnitus has not lessened but how I perceive the tinnitus and life has changed.

My motto has always been "live in the moment" I made the decision that not only would I stay off negative website, I refused to let T control me. I realize its a sound and although annoying as heck I love my family and life too much to stop living. As I sit here and type this I'm in my quiet bedroom and I can hear the T but I'M NOT FOCUSED ON IT.

What I want to say to all of you that have recently acquired T is Don't give up you have to have faith and hope you will get better. I have been in that dark pit feeling hopeless but take in one day at a time "live in the moment" don't think negative thoughts like "oh my gosh I have to live with this the rest of my life, or..... I go to bed every night and wake up every day thanking God for my heartbeat. Don't downplay what you are going through (example: it could be Cancer , or MS) although it is not Cancer it is still traumatic and you have to face it.

One thing I have learned is that this has made me stronger and I want to be the light for those that are new to this or going through what I went through.

One thing I notice about my T is for weeks it had been a relentless high frequency hissing, whistling sound but I notice lately sometimes it stops for a second or two and starts again.

I remain hopeful that one day it will go away completely but for now I'm gonna keep living and loving life.

I will never stop praying for a cure.. ️Hugs to all.
 
Hello@IreneW,
Your story is almost exactly like mine.....SSHL left ear, vertigo , loud tinnitus overpowering the hearing in my right ear. Steroids did not restore any hearing in my left ear though. Audiologist said I had hyperacusis so I spent hours scouring the internet doom and gloom like you did. It took me much longer to get to where you are emotionally though. I applaud you for your ability to rebound so quickly!
Welcome to Tinnitustalk! It sounds as if you have been able to find inspiration from this talk site and I am glad for that!
 
@Lorac what I did not include in my original post is that in 2003 I went to a theater and ended up with what at the time I thought was very loud T in the same left ear from slight high frequency hearing loss. That episode I went thru the depression, anxiety and although I still had most of my hearing it took me much longer to habitate maybe more like a year. This time although T is much louder and loss of hearing knowing I had been down that road and was able to live my normal life I just could not go a year trying to adjust. It takes lots of mental energy to habitate. Now that you mention hypercusis, I don't know exactly what that is but I may have that. I haven't wanted to search the Internet to find out. I am so thankful my son found thjs forum. Best of luck to you
 
IreneW, have you thought about getting your hearing aid to amplify the lost high frequencies? Sometimes hearing aids can get rid of ringing in the ears just by correcting the hearing loss or at least take some of the ringing away. Some even include a masker so if your ringing bothers you, you can turn on a masker to listen to something else. Most come with a trial period so after a certain amount of days, if you do not like it you can get a refund. Also, many places do free hearing checks so you can get an audiogram. Hearing aids have helped me a lot because I was having trouble listening to voices when watching TV with my family due to hearing loss and tinnitus, especially during background noise. Most can be pretty small and I wore one for 2 years and pointed it out and that person didn't even knew I wore on. I find the Reciever-In-Canal types are the best for me. They are really lightweight and your hair would probably hide them very well. At any rate, you know they are an option. I am glad you are habituating well.
 
Hi @JasonP yes I have thought about it but the ENT suggested I wait at least a year before getting one. The reason is due to my SSHL my hearing can improve, so after a year we should know how much hearing I have regained and then try hearing aid then. I have regained quite a bit of my hearing since the SSHL incident, of course it's not complete but when it first happened I was completely deaf in my left ear but again High frequency hearing is zero in left ear. I'm actually habitating well. I was able to Chrismas shopping and never even noticed it. Thank you for your post. Best wishes.
 
same here. woke up 5/14 with no hearing in my right ear. I am still deaf and go through dizzy spells throughout the day. especially bad when i lay down. I've tried everything i could find but nothing has helped yet. On the prayer train that anyone experiencing this is healed. I am taking tons of supplements and I will never give up hope that my hearing will come back and the dizziness will go away.
 
same here. woke up 5/14 with no hearing in my right ear. I am still deaf and go through dizzy spells throughout the day. especially bad when i lay down. I've tried everything i could find but nothing has helped yet. On the prayer train that anyone experiencing this is healed. I am taking tons of supplements and I will never give up hope that my hearing will come back and the dizziness will go away.
Have you seen a doctor? Did they give you a course of prednisone?

You might find this recent post to be helpful (and posts below it):
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...70-recover-3-studies.21441/page-2#post-260162
 

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