This post is meant to recap my personal experience with sudden hearing loss. This is not intended to be medical advice and I highly encourage you to always seek guidance from an appropriate healthcare professional. Healthcare is not one-size-fits-all and you should always talk to YOUR doctor about any medical questions or concerns.
Two months ago, I was diagnosed with unilateral severe sudden hearing loss. It’s been quite the journey since then, and I am finally sitting down to document it all. The good, the not-so-good, the funny, and the bad doctor’s office pics all rolled into one recap post. Buckle up and grab a cup of coffee, it’s a long one.
Backing up…the day this happened, I started Friday just like many other days. My alarm went off at 3:45am, I got ready to teach, and sat down on the couch to scroll through my playlist. As drove to class, I heard ringing in my ear, but thought nothing of it.
Halfway through class, I realized I was having trouble hearing myself cue my participants. No, not just cuing, hearing ANYTHING out of my left ear. Other than panic, I felt perfectly fine. I sat in my car in shock for a few minutes after class before making the drive home. As I drove, I was talking, rolling down windows, and turning music on and off as I tried to hear something (anything) out of my left ear and reality set in – I couldn’t.
I flew into the house and woke Tim up to explain what was going on. There were so many unanswered questions. Was this something that happened all the time and I just didn’t know about it? Was this an emergency? Was something just blocked and could wait?
“Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, commonly known as sudden deafness, occurs as an unexplained, rapid loss of hearing – usually in one ear– either at once or over several days. It should be considered a medical emergency. Anyone who experiences SSHL should visit a doctor immediately.”
(National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Awesome.
I called the same-day appointment line and was connected to see a physician later in the morning. Since this provider couldn’t see anything externally causing the issue, they scheduled me for an audiology appointment in three weeks and an MRI in two weeks. What the heck happened to “should be considered a medical emergency?” At the urging of my husband and mother-in-law (an RN), I called and was able to move my appointments up to the next week.
By Monday, I had secretly and selfishly hoped that something would just “pop” and my hearing would return to normal. Spoiler: it didn’t, so the weather matched my mood as I drove though the rain to my MRI appointment. After 45 minutes of laying in the machine with my thoughts, I left a little peppier knowing one test was done!
At my audiology appointment the next day, I took my first hearing test since childhood. My heart sank every time I went just a little too long between hearing beeps. I was prepared, but it still felt like a knife in my gut when the audiologist showed me the results and gently informed me that I had severe sudden hearing loss in my left ear. She shared that timing was critical, and that seeing the ENT provider and getting started on treatment as soon as possible was my best option.
I was relieved when I was able to be worked into the schedule the next day. As the ENT reviewed my test results (including a normal brain MRI, yay!), asked his own questions, and answered mine, I became much more relaxed feeling confident in the right care team. I learned sudden hearing loss happens for a variety of reasons and everyone responds differently. My ENT has seen patients respond quickly to treatment and has also had patients not. It all just depends.
I was told to not expect to ever recover fully, but there was a chance I’d get a significant amount of hearing back. I was prescribed a round of steroids, which helped improve my hearing a little bit, so we opted to continue with intratympanic injections to see if improvement would continue. Intratympanic injections = shots through the eardrum, which are the party you’d think they are. The shots made me so dizzy I couldn’t drive myself home and feel like I had a severe ear infection for the first few days after each one, but knowing they might help kept me motivated and positive. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Tim for going to those appointments with me.
After a series of injections, we are spending a few weeks on pause giving the medication time to work before doing another hearing test. I’m managing my expectations but keeping my fingers crossed! 🙂
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I am beyond grateful for the medical team, to my husband and family for their willingness to drop everything to help, to the CycleFam covering my classes, and everyone else helping me create space and time to practice what I preach – taking care of yourself! YOU are worth prioritizing and advocating for your health so you can be your best, for you and for those around you.
No matter where this journey takes me, I’m at peace with whatever is ahead. Whatever will be, will be…and it will all be just fine 🙂
