Update

Its been a while since my last blog post. I would like to let everyone that my progress is doing good, my hearing has not returned 100% but it's the best its been since I was affected with SSHL.
Currently I dont use a hearing aid and maybe down the road I will consider one, but as of today I have been able to adjust my lifestyle to SSHL. When I go out to a loud place I have learned to sit on one end of the crowd facing to my good ear to them.  At the beginning it was difficult to converse with a group larger than 4-6 people but now this is not a big problem.  With my wife, I also always sit on the side with the good ear facing her.

I also stopped taking the lypoflavanoid pill which was quite expensive without seeing a big improvement in my hearing.  There might have been small improvements in my hearing with the pill but not big enough for me to notice them.

Hope to hear from others to see how they are progressing with their hearing loss.

Slow road to recovery

I just had my forth doctor's visit today. I took another audiogram to compare results with my last visit which was 4 weeks ago.  To my surprise my hearing is still recovering, at a slower pace than my previous test, which was expected from the last conversation I had with my doctor on my last visit.
My word recognition is at ~80% and my hearing is at 50dB which is pretty darn good.  I'm at a level that I can start wearing a hearing aid which was always my goal.  On the down side the hearing aid will only help me when I'm in loud environments, which I would consider 5% of my time.  The investment is really not worth it for such a small amount of time.
This is what my doctor said about considering a hearing aid: Since your hearing has recovered so much and can hear normal conversation frequencies, in a relatively quiet environment (office, house, car conversation) then there is not really a need for a hearing aid.  Ultimately its going to be up to me and what I want to do and how much I can afford.
Honestly at this point in my recovery, I dont really see the need of a hearing aid since I have been able to adapt very well.  

I will continue to monitor my hearing with some additional audiogram in 6 months time.  I'm intrigued to see if my hearing continues to improve, even if its still at a relatively slow pace.

Keeping my fingers crossed

My 4th doctors visit with Dr. Vrabec will be next Thursday 09/27/2012, hopefully there has been improvements in my hearing.  I can't say that I have improved, at least not to me.  That seems to be the issue since a persons max voice level is around 20dB and I'm at around 60dB, so unless you speak like a Harley Davidson exhaust pipe odds are I wont be able to notice the difference until it reaches 20dB.

I have learned to deal with my condition pretty darn good.  My quality of life has not changed that much.  At the beginning, I would have told you otherwise, but its pretty amazing how easy to adapt it has been.  Call me lucky, but the dizziness only lasted about a month, and after that most of the effect subsided.  There was some days were the dizziness was noticeable getting out of bed, but as the day would go by I could feel myself get better.
Also, my doctor mentioned to me the importance of exercising and can't disagree with him.  My bike ride have increased to about 18-20 miles without me feeling like a person with a hearing disability as have my weight lifting workouts.  During the first two weeks I didnt feel to well to go ahead and workout as much due to various reasons, but have fought against it.

Lets see what happens on Thursday, maybe this is the time I do get a hearing aid.

I also want to encourage others to post comments on this blog, so you can share your story with the rest of us.  Please feel free to interact with me and others.

Hope you guys get better soon and keep improving. 

3rd Doctors Visit

Great NEWS everyone!  My hearing has improved, obviously this is all relative.  From the level that I was at the beginning of my SSHL (110 dB profound hearing loss) to today ~60 dB.  Also my word recognition has improved to about 70%.  I'm happy as I'm getting closer to a level where a hearing aid will be beneficial.  The doctor does want to see me again in 4 more weeks to see if there is more improvement, even though he did mention that patients don't really improve past 6 weeks (where I'm at). 
Currently I'm considered a moderately severe hearing loss, and since my word recognition is at 70% there is a possibility that the hearing aid will cause more of a distraction that aid my hearing.  The doctor described it as my brain spending more time interpreting the words I cannot pick up and turning my attention away from the conversation.  If my word recognition improves to around 90%, then a hearing aid will be considered. I will have to keep my fingers crossed!

Lipo-Flavonoid plus

I found this product at Walmart, after my father mentioned he had seen an add on TV.  The add says it cures ringing of the inner ear. So I decided to look into it, looks like its a product designed to relieve the symptoms of Meniere's Disease.

People have claimed that this product has improved their hearing and reduced their tinnitus, lets see if this is true.  The main ingredients in this pill are Vitamin B complex and Lipotropic agents Clhorine, Inositol and Pantothenic acid, plus vitamin C and Bioflavanoids extracted from Lemon.

I'm begin my regimen tonight and will keep posting the progress, if any of this product (keeping fingers crossed).

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Update

After taking this pill three times a day for about 5 days, I'm not noticing any significant improvements.  I did notice that I have some days that are better than others.  I can hear tones and some words very quietly when I wear headphones.  Now some might think I must be blasting the volume, but actually it's on the lowest setting.  I tend to work in a very quiet office environment and it helps me try to test my hearing.  Some songs are better than others and some I cant even detect anything.  I'm also noticing that while taking this pill the caffeine makes the pressure feeling in my ear more apparent.  I have tried to lay off my daily morning cup of coffee but it has been difficult.  The three days that I did not drink any coffee, I noticed more improvement in the aural pressure feeling.

On the down side, the dizziness feeling is more apparent while taking the pills.  Thankfully it's not so strong to make me sick, but enough to slow me down.  What I have read is that these pills tend to dilate the blood vessels in the inner ear, and it makes me wonder if that causes the fluid to move around more than normal causing the dizziness feeling. 

 I'm going to keep taking them and see if I can make any improvements until Thursday, when I get my third audiology test.

Progession?!

Just want to provide an update about how my progression regarding my hearing.  My third doctor's appointment is not until August 31st.  By then I will be in my sixth week of having SSHL, according to the doctor this will be most likely the level my hearing will remain for the end of my days.

So after my second doctor's visit, I was felt good to start working out again.  Surprisingly the exercise made me feel better.  My disequilibrium was gone during my workout, dont know if its my mind working harder to focus or a result of more oxygen in the blood.  Also, I started to notice that after my long bike rides, I could hear the really loud cars on the street.  Not saying that I could hear them perfectly, but some minor improvement was definitely noticeable.  The sound I can hear, is like having some cotton balls in your ear and then wearing some ear muff over it, the noise is extremely muffled.
I also tried to talk on the phone to see if I could hear, to my surprise I could!  I have to increase the volume all the way up and I can hear some stuff.  Most of the words are difficult to make out.  I dont know if its actually my ear interpreting the words that I'm hearing or if its a vibration that my inner can make out.  It weird that I can't make out most words as they sound like a Robot is talking.  My mind can still make out most of the words if the person on the other end talks slowly and clearly.
This is a big development as I haven't been able to hear anything for the past weeks. 
The more exercise I do, the better my hearing gets.  My exercise mostly consists on long bike rides.
I will take any improvement that is made and run with it.  My doctor did mention that most patients do continue to improve after they finish the medication regimen (Prednisone).
Hopefully my hearing can continue to improve to a level where I can wear a hearing aid.

I will post again if I get a major hearing improvement or after my third doctor's appointment.

2nd Doctor's Visit

Went to my second doctors visit was on 08/09/2012.  I got my MRI done, and a new audio-gram test to see if there is any improvements.
The MRI went a lot smoother than what I thought, I was only inside the tube for about 30 minutes.  The technicians did a great job muffling the noise from the machine.
Second audio-gram test was also performed right after the MRI.  There was some minor improvement in my hearing, going from a 100+dB loss to a 85-90dB loss (slight improvement but I will take anything).  The audiologist informed me that my hearing loss has gone from a profound to a moderate level.  The test results also showed that there is some slight  damage to the inner ear organ.  This grounds me, as from information that I have read the inner ear does not have the capability to heal itself as like other areas of the human body.  One area of major improvement has been in the word recognition test, I'm not sure what the equipment or test called.  But this is when they attach a band that sends vibration through the skull and its directly picked up by the inner ear.
On my first test I could hear the noise but I could not make out any words.  This time around I can actually identify 40% of the words.  These results give me hope that improvement is taking place, even if its slow.  I might not be able to recover 100% of my hearing back, but if I can get to a level where a hearing aid can help that would be awesome.

Now to the doctors visit, the MRI results were immediately sent to his office (got to love Houston's medical center!).  The imaging did not show any sign of a tumor/cancer growth, busted blood vessel, aneurysm or any abnormality of the inner ear.  This is great news, as its nothing major, but at the same time it sounds more and more like I will never find the root cause.  A part of me is relieved but at the same time disappointed there are no answers as to why this happens.
By this time the doctor has given me three options for continued treatment: 1) continue the oral steroids for two more weeks  even though there are no studies that suggest any benefit from steroid use past the initial two weeks.  2) steroid injection to the inner ear, again this method of treatment is more of a placebo than anything else.  3) no medications, as patients do continue to improve even after they are off the steroids.
I choose option 3, as I experienced several side effect from the prednisone (constipation and rise in body temperature at all times of the day).
I will go ahead and start my workout routine again after having a 3 week hiatus. Lets hope things go smoothly.