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.
Praying that your doctor's appointment goes well today! My appointment on Monday still showed a profound hearing loss, but I had slight improvements at certain frequencies. Since then I feel like there continue to be small improvements, like the dial tone on the phone seems slightly louder in my bad ear. It may be a slow recovery, but I do have faith that I can still be healed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog. I am a 27 year old mother of 3 who has my 2nd ENT appointment today to go over the MRI results. I think I am prepared to not get hearing back. I am not sure about getting a hearing aid...my babies cry hurts my ears now and I don't think I could handle amplifying that. I did see there is a hearing aid app on the iphone and have also considered getting an assisted listening device if I go to a restaurant with my husband.
ReplyDeleteRoberto, Hope this go well for you today. Please let us know. I have said a prayer. I had my 2nd steroid injection today. My hearing test after the 1st injection showed a small improvement across the board. I am starting to believe healing does occur over time. I don't think I'll get all my hearing back but a little bit is something we can be proud of.
ReplyDeleteLeah, Has the tinnitus improved at all for you? That seems to be my biggest challenge at the moment. Well, that and dealing with loud places with a lot of sounds. I'm not quite adept at handling that yet. Today is exactly 3 weeks since this happened.
Hope you both continue to see improvement!
Sari, we seem to keep finding each other! It's hard for me to say about the tinnitus, but it is definitely quieter at some times more than others. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's getting better or I'm just getting more used to it. I actually talked with my ENT doctor about acupuncture. He was all for trying it and referred me to another MD in their practice that also specializes in acupuncture. He thought it was more likely to help with the tinnitus than the hearing loss. I'll have an initial consultation next week, so we'll see how it goes!
DeleteThanks everyone for the support. My last appointment went well, my hearing is still recovering at a slower pace than in the previous month. Don't loose patience with the recovery, I'm at 2 months since my initial onset and I am still recovering.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I learned from my Achilles tendon rupture that I had a couple years ago was patience.
My recovery was about a year until all my muscles were back to normal. Not saying that the two (Achilles and SSHL) are similar. But what I'm trying to say, is that sometimes the recovery is at a rate where we can't really tell on a daily basis and that doesn't mean its not happening.
It looks like the SSHL might just be the same way, where I wont be able to see major changes in the daily recovery, but when I'm able to compare the audiogram result is where I will be able to see the strides in healing.
I will keep everyone in my prayers and don't loose hope. I have trust that we will all continue to get better. The human spirit is amazing and can overcome great challenges.