I've had MD in my left ear for 25 years and went bilateral about 3 years ago. It has been tough since then. I did get a low dose gent shot in my left ear about a year and a half ago and between that, a diuretic and low sodium diet it has stopped the vertigo, but didn't change the fact that the brain fog and malaise were constant companions. This will sound like an add, so I apologize, but it is my story. I started going to an upper cervical chiro a week and a half ago that practices the Blair/Palmer method and my results have been startling. The brain fog and malaise have cleared and my hearing has improved about 20-25 percent and this was after the chiro told me during my initial visit that while he has had patients who hearing have improved, to not expect it. Permanent hearing damage is obviously irreversible. I started noticing improvement after my 3rd visit and wrote it off to the placebo affect, but when I noticed my hearing improvement I couldn't deny it anymore. That was not subjective as I noticed the volume setting at which I listen to music in the car was now too loud and I listen to it 2-3 settings less. I have hearing aids in both ears and know I will need them forever so I'm not deluding myself, but it's made a world of difference. It's certainly not cheap, but my train of thought was if it doesn't work I'm out $, but I'm tired of my life. My diuretic causes me to take 7 potassium supplements a day! He wants to start weaning me off of the diuretic shortly and when I asked him how many of his MD patients regressed while doing that he answered "not one". I was extremely skeptical starting this, but pulled the trigger since I pre-paid upfront for 64 treatments over a 6 month period. That got me a 20% discount, but most importantly he always offers a signed agreement of a refund of any unused visits, less the 20% pre-pay, if I don'f feel I'm benefiting and want to stop seeing him. I wouldn't have pre-paid without that agreement. Best of luck to all. Obviously, this is my story only.
I hope it works out for you! As a side note, it's impossible to tell if hearing damage is permanent. I had several ENTs tell me mine was permanent, but after a year of antivirals, i got all my hearing back to normal in both ears. It's still normal after two years.
spencer, congratulations on finding relief! Hopefully it is just a beginning and the relief continues as we move on. I can relate on the chiro experience. As far as I have read success stories of others, we won't need to go to chiro too frequently. I can understand that they want constant revenue to keep the therapy going, and patients just need what they need and nothing more. I think once every two weeks or longer is just fine, and I won't ever bother with upfront package, either. Regarding the relief you've found a week and a half ago, I think we may have more opportunity to improve further. When I first saw clear improvement in hearing, the trend went on with fluctuation - like three forward steps, two backward steps, another three forward steps and so on to gradually improve over time to reach stable relief in six months. Regarding your hearing aid, maybe it is time to consider less frequent usage or lowering volume, as the aid can also become the source of permanent hearing loss. I would be especially cautious on acoustic feedback and explosive sounds like dropping cutlery which may kill already-weak hair cells that need more time for healing. Since you began to see clear improvement in hearing, your weakened hair cells can come back to life if the trend continues. We can always protect them if you wear high fidelity ear plugs. Regarding diuretic, I also think of getting rid of it. Diuretic has a mild, temporary relief property especially at the beginning of the treatment. It quickly becomes less effective or of little benefit, as the intake of diuretic causes to secrete anti-diuretic hormone vasopressin. Keep taking diuretic will cause the never-ending battle between diuretic and anti-diuretic hormone. It is nonsense. Therefore I have completely quit taking diuretic, and kept sipping water every hour so that the body won't secrete excessive vasopressin. That ended unwanted battle in the body.