Im in a tough situation. I just went to an ent after 3 months of left ear hearing loss. The doctor didnt help me but I think an audiologist or a specialist was looking at the results and said i have permanent ear nerve hearing loss.
So this started when i came back from Guatemala. On January 20 in the middle of the airplane flight back i was using earbuds with anc. Suddenly my left ear got completely muffled. Couldn't hear anything. It also felt numb and full i think. Stayed like that for about a week then i went to urgent care. They said it was eustachian tube dysfunction and that my eardrum was retracted and there was fluid. They gave me prednisone steroids of 1 pill a day for 2 weeks i think. Along with others medications like antihistamines and amoxicilin. left ear hearing got better throughout the 2-4 weeks after and reached a 50% hearing level. Then for next month nothing improved. i visited my clinic 2 times throughout that time and they said the same and only gave me nose spray and Claritin. On 2nd visit ( 2 month mark) they didnt see anything in ear so they referred me to ent which i had to wait 3 weeks for appointment.
First ent visit the doctor didnt see anything and said i needed an audiogram. A week later on April 21, they did the audio gram with the audiologist or specialist helping me. The doctor wasnt there this time. They said it wasnt ETD and that it was permanent nerve damage and that steroids are most effective within a week of the indicent. Less effective within 6 weeks. And no effect after 4 months. In my case its been 3 total months so I just said yes to take prednisone even thought theres a small chance hearing gets better. Its a higher dosage this time so hopefully all goes well. I explained the whole story to her too, including that Ive gotten dizzy 2 times a week over the past month. Dizziness would last like 2 minutes. They also offered ear injected steroids but then later suggested i do it after the 2 weeks of oral prednisone to see results.
Not sure if i emphasized to the specialist that both my ears still pop a lot. My throat feels congested. I get runny noses when sweating a lot. Google says its likely ETD but not sure to trust it. Right ear hearing level has been fine the whole time except for the popping/scrunching. Left ear improved in first month but has been the same at a 50% hearing level ever since. Still have tinnitus in left ear at all times.
I have had a history of hearing loss/tinnitus. I had it twice in past 4 years. Both times were because of the flu which led to ear infection and ETD. The hearing loss only lasted for 2 weeks during those times though.
I know my post is very long. What im confused about is she didnt explain the popping noises and autophony (echoey inner voice) i have after swallowing and popping my ears. Which im assuming that means there must also be an issue with pressure in my eustachian tube. She didnt really ask too, she just heard the story of how it started. she also tested if id get dizzy after laying down on the reclined chair and quickly getting up. Which didnt get me dizzy. She Didnt explain why she was doing that. Also it was like 15 minutes after the audiogram when they gave me the results and diagnosis. I was emotional by the news and asking questions. She was rushing me bc the original appointment was 2 hours later after the test. but I was just shocked by the news and depressed. So bc of the rush I forgot some questions and comments and didnt get to all of them. Im guessing theyre saying this bc they see no visible issues ? also the pressure was at 0 or something at the time of the audiogram (dont fully understand the graphs). Ill probably visit another ent. After visiting the subredddit i notice everyones situation is different. Wondering if anyone has gone through this. Its been 4 days with my 2nd round of steroids. Taking 6 a day for 6 days and then gradually tapering to 5, 4 , 3 , 2, 1 a day The steroids seemed to have made my left ear sound more liquidy and more crackling noises.