I got a phone call Wednesday morning asking me to come to see the consultant that evening. My email had done the trick. I was elated and hopeful that he would sort me out. When I arrived at the hospital I waited less than five minutes before being called in to see him. I love the NHS. Who doesn't? If you live in the UK it's unpatriotic to say anything else. You could get tarred and feathered for breathing a word of criticism against anything our wonderful National Health Service do. The sad truth is, paying gets you a better class of health care. If you can afford private health insurance, do yourself a favour and get some. It could save your life or at least cut the amount of time you spend waiting to see somebody who can help you.
My consultant was clearly intelligent, kind and knowledgable about his subject. All things ear. Unfortunately he didn't have great news. In a very nice way he revealed that we don't really know what causes SSHL and that roughly one third recover completely, one third recover some hearing and an unfortunate third learn to live with total deafness. There are a number of theories as to what causes SSHL, the leading contenders 1) a virus, 2) nerve damage and 3) obstructed blood flow are just a few but we don't really know what causes it. He said he could prescribe some drugs to help in the event that I had one or these but there was no real evidence to support this. On the other hand, they wouldn't do any harm. At that moment I would have pissed on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good so I said "yes please" One possible cause of nerve damage or restricted blood flow could be a tumour so he advised I should have some blood tests and a MRI scan too. Purely as a precaution. I agreed.
Angie and I drove around Oxford at night looking for a pharmacy that was open and had all three drugs in stock. They were, steroids, an anti-viral and something called Serc. Things were looking pretty bad. I had another night of kettles and waves crashing on the shore in my left ear.
I am saddened to hear of your ear troubles. Even though the one doctor said that inner ear is usually unaffected by pressure damage...it still seems as though whatever happened to your ear happened after that dive and that was how your ear was damaged. I have had some minor pressure problems in the past and fortunately they resolved themselves. The worst one was a week of hissing in my left ear. It was terrible and I am sorry that you are suffering with what you describe as much worse.
ReplyDeleteAs with the rest of the body, the ear has the capacity to heal and if it were me I would do everything I could to put myself into "healing mode". Rest, eating as "cleanly" as possible (whole grains, raw vegetables and fruits- eliminate everything processed, alcohol, etc- if possible eliminate animal products for a short time), stay hydrated, allow your body to concentrate on healing. I hope hope hope you will be one of the 1/3 that regain the hearing loss. Heal soon, Mark....
Val
Aslam-o-Alaikum,
ReplyDeleteRespected Sir,
Subject: SUDDEN HEARING LOSS:
It is stated that I had attack of mumps round about 1st April 2012. For mumps I took capsule Ribazole 400mg two times daily for 10 days.But after 3 days of attack of mumps I lost hearing from my left ear. There was lot of positional vertigo and tiniutis in my left ear. After removing wax Doctor diagnosed that it is profound degree sensorineural hearing loss. I took tablet Prednisilone 60mg per day for one week after 20 days of my hearing loss recommended by ent doctor.Now I am taking tablet Hydergine 1.5mg three times, tablet Cerebex Forte(Ginko Ban) three times, tablet Mecobal two times and tablet Bevidox two times daily. With the use of these medicines after 3 months based on new audiogram now doctor has suggested that this hearing loss is recovered only (10-15)% and it is not expected to improve. But Doctor has recommend me to use the above medicines for next 3 months more. Kindly help me and suggest me any treatment for the rehabiliation of my left ear hearing loss.
Yours sincerely
Sex Male
Age 20 yrs
Weight 53 kg
Dated: 8-8-2012