Sudden hearing loss and relation to swelling?

[mk]

Hi Nancy,

I have gone through stages where hearing on the AN side seemed a bit "distorted". This made me feel "strange" in very noisy environments (for example very noisy classrooms). Very hard to describe the sensation though, just an odd feeling like being dizzy as you mentioned. I don't know if this is what you are experiencing. This sensation has disappeared recently though.

Marianna

[sgerrard]

It's like my AN ear is no longer my "good" ear. Maybe my ears are trying to battle it out!!!

That makes sense to me, you would be very lucky if the AN did nothing at all to your AN ear. I had more loss in my AN ear before treatment, but my right side was also down some at higher frequencies. With my hearing aid, I hear high frequency better in the left ear, and lower tones better in the right ear. The AN ear is also less clear for word recognition overall, but picks up more of the "s" and "k" sounds that you need for some words. So it was confusing at first, but I have gotten pretty used to it.

Steve

[Tumbleweed]

Hi Nancy,

I have gone through stages where hearing on the AN side seemed a bit "distorted". This made me feel "strange" in very noisy environments...This sensation has disappeared recently though.

Marianna

Over Thanksgiving holiday, I had hyperacusis for 4 or 5 days, but large doses of vitamin E seem to have cleared it up. I also lost a little bit of hearing, but I think I got about 75% of that recent loss back. I attribute the rebound to the vitamin E as well, but perhaps it would've rebounded on its own without the vitamin E. I'm currently taking 1200 IU daily, split up into 3 doses (taken before meals and at bedtime). I'll soon cut the dose down a bit, but want to give it more time at high strength to see if I can increase the benefit.

During my short-lived hyperacusis phase, sound at certain frequencies sounded very sharp and resonant (painfully so). I hope that doesn't return! Years ago, I also had downright distortion in the same ear, but it was self-limiting (correcting itself after a week or two).

Hopefully all of these hearing abberations will be short-lived. I don't expect to get hearing acuity completely back, however. Bummer.

Best wishes to all,
Tumbleweed

[Tisha]

Tumbleweed,

Did the slight loss in hearing just happen recently with the hyperacussis?  When I had it, it came back perfectly with steroids.  I would call to try that.  They hyperacusis is bizarre...rattling of the paper, ice cubes in the glass.  VEry loud and a certain sense of pain.  I'm still taking only 800 IU a day of vitamin E and nothing yet is happening.  How long did it take before it helped you.  I don't have hyperacusis, but distortion (can't hear perfectly on the phone, it sounds fuzzy, music on the radio I can't hear well, etc.)

Tisha

[Nancy Drew]

I take Vitamin E already so I am curious about the same question Tisha had about the amount of time it took to notice a difference.  I would have to increase the amt. of Vitamin E though since I take a low dose now.  I am not sure which letters I am having trouble with so I will try to pay more to this.  I remember hearing dog as dad once, and I knew the word didn't go with the rest of the sentence but couldn't figure it out.  I had to ask several times before I got the word right.  My husband talks in a soft voice, and I am forever hearing his words wrong.....mostly with "c's" as I am thinking about it now.  I also notice that when talking on the phone I am now listening with my AN ear because the nonAN ear is way too loud to the point of making my ear hurt.  I can't seem to find the happy medium....one ear is too loud and the other ear bothers me with word recognition.  Confusing, but if that is all I have at this point I can live with it.  Best wishes to all who are in the decision phase, adjustment phase and to those who help us find our way.  Thanks.  Nancy

[mk]

Quick question to you all: How do you tell if you have hyperacussis?

Thank you,
Marianna

[Tumbleweed]

Tumbleweed,

Did the slight loss in hearing just happen recently with the hyperacussis?   I'm still taking only 800 IU a day of vitamin E and nothing yet is happening.  How long did it take before it helped you. 

Tisha, my hearing loss began about 3 weeks ago, which was about 10 days prior to the onset of hyperacusis. The vitamin E helped me after a couple of days of taking it.

Marianna, I knew this is what I had because moderately loud midrange and high-frequency sounds became quite painful in my AN ear. It was not subtle.

Wikipedia excerpt: "Hyperacusis is a health condition characterized by an over-sensitivity to certain frequency ranges of sound (a collapsed tolerance to normal environmental sound). A person with severe hyperacusis has difficulty tolerating everyday sounds, some of which may seem unpleasantly loud to that person but not to others. The spelling as 'hyperacousis' is also common."

Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperacusis for more information.

Best wishes,
Tumbleweed

[Tisha]

Marianna,

What Tumbleweed said!  I would be sitting in the other room and someone would be getting ice outof the ice maker from the refrigerator.  The clinks of the ice in the glass were unbelievalby high pitched and LOUD.  Rustling paper has a 'lower' sound, but with hyperacusis, it's very high pitched and loud.  You know it when you are experiencing it.  FWIW, hyperacusis is the definition when you don't know why you have it.  I think I would almost rather be deaf than have that my whole life.

Tisha