Woke Up with Full Feeling and Slight Hearing Loss Followed by Tinnitus

[Lurker345]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and am posting here to get a quick response. Yesterday morning I woke up with a full feeling and slight hearing loss in my left ear. I remember noticing it during my sleep a few times so it must have been throughout the night. Within an hour or two of waking up the full sensation was gone and my hearing was back to normal. What I am left with is a very quiet constant ringing and during certain sounds it can get fairly loud.

Many of the articles I have read online say that sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency and that I need to get to a doctor before 48 hrs and get steroids or I run the chance of permanent damage to my ear. Unfortunately the only access I have is to an urgent care.

Which I don't even know if they would be able to prescribe me oral steroids, they would most likely have to refer me to a specialist anyways and the wait is hours long.

Seeing as my hearing has returned fully and only slight ringing I thought maybe I would seek other's opinion online before I do anything else.

Does this seem like a situation where I should get to the doctor immediately? Do I run the risk of the tinnitus never going away?

 

[JurgenG]

Yes, no one here is qualified to give you any decent advice on the matter. And the only reasonable reaction is to not waste any more time and get to an ER or an ENT, but not within one week, now.

I want to stress the importance, even if it's nothing, or does not change anything, you have to be sure.
The hassle is nothing compared to the regret you might face if you didn't take any action. If you find an ER too scary, a emergency GP might be helpful, but please do not -minimalisme-.. your condition.
As you might have read, every hour is of grave importance in case of sudden hearing loss.

Better to be safe!

 

[GregCA]

Does this seem like a situation where I should get to the doctor immediately? Do I run the risk of the tinnitus never going away?

The sooner the better. If you can get help at urgent care, then it sounds like a reasonable option. If you fail to get help there, then you can always loop back into the "traditional" path.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Unfortunately the only access I have is to an urgent care.

Which I don't even know if they would be able to prescribe me oral steroids, they would most likely have to refer me to a specialist anyways and the wait is hours long.

I got a five-day supply of prednisone at urgent care (enough to last until my appointment with an ENT). I showed them printouts that explained that sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency requiring oral steroids.

Make sure they don't give you a dose that is too small. The rule of thumb is that you need X mg per day, where X is your weight in kilograms, and X is not to exceed 60.

The full course of steroids is 14 days + tapering.

If I were you, I Would take prednisone for about 5 days or so.

In any case, if your T is already quiet, there is a reasonably high chance that you will hear silence again. But you don't want to take any chances, when it comes to T...