In the past couple years I've experienced significant sudden hearing loss episodes and the hearing has never returned to normal. This morning I woke up not being able to hear very well in my better ear. I had a higher than normal intake of sodium last night at dinner. I currently wear hearing aids. Has anyone had this occur to them and then have there hearing return to the level it was at before? I don't have typical Meniere's in that I don't get vertigo attacks. I get dizzy spells. Just trying to figure out what I should do next. It's scares the heck out of me when I have sudden hearing loss like this.
Yes, i have had my only hearing ear go to zero in a matter of a couple hours. In my case it correlated with my use of zyrtec and i have never used it again and never had such a severe loss again. Doctors dont buy the causation but you will never get another one down my gullet. My case seems similar to yours. Hearing loss, distortion, some oddball balance issues but no vertigo. I am one of those for whom antivirals were a miracle pill. I have had hearing in the normal range for five years now and no more scarry losses (knock on wood). Allergy treatment helped me too. Good luck.
Suddn hearing loss is considerd a medicql emergency. I think you should call the dr or go to an immedicate care facility. Often they will prscribe a steroid and for many they work. They didnt work for me, although i did not see the dr on that occasion i described. And yes, i think the doctors would think the sodium was a factor. Good luck. Keep us posted.
June, same thing happened to me when I tried to take Lyrica. Dr also put me on a short burst of prednisone.
I must echo June. If you have one, go see your OT. I had two occurrences of complete hearing loss last year. The first time, I had never experienced this and it took me a few days to get to the proper doctor and I got steroid injection and prednisone. It happened again and I saw him immediately and I probably save my hearing. From the first episode, my hearing did not recover fully. Although, i think over the last few months that I am close to what I was before with some low range frequency permanent loss. Good luck!!!
same thing happened to me just a few days ago. My good ear was totally full and the sound of my voice and other sounds was so horrible sounding and distorted, then my bad ear did the same thing. Some blood was in my nose too when I blew it. By the next day both ears were much improved, for my situation I believe it was my sinuses I am still not 100% uncongested (is this a word?) from the flu I had for 5 weeks and that day we were getting a lot of snow, sleet etc.
It could also be the high intake of sodium. When I overdo it, I drink a ton of water the next day and that will help me. That being said a trip to the Oto or the ER may be just the thing. I've had steroids at one time and they did help me then. Good luck to you!
Thank you everyone for the feedback and the support. I went to my ear doc today and I start steroid injections on Friday. My speech recognition was down from 94% to 44% in my affected left ear. I had steroid injections in my right ear two years ago and it helped stabilize my ear. Hoping for the same results in the left ear. Thank you again for all the support!!!!! I'll report back my results when I have my ear tested again in 6 weeks.
This disease is so flipping weird and unpredictable. I woke up this morning and my word recognition in my affected ear is getting better and I can hear a little better in it. I'm going to still follow through with the steroid injections. I'll let the doc make the call. Thanks again for the support! Talk about an emotional roller coaster ride!!!