Long COVID-hearing loss and tinnitus

A "hug" emoji is not enough, @dloos - I get it. I wasn't that healthy to begin but covid itself had me down for 10 days b/c I had a horrible allergic reaction to paxlovid on the day I tested positive and my doc said stop. (My spouse who got covid first two days before I tested positive had great paxlovid results and no long covid.) Yet, as noted, I still worked - and could move about and HEAR. No tinnitus. No mouth or leg rashes. None of the other stuff.

And yes, the docs each treat ONE symptom and then refer. I read that many places are doing so much research and have to believe, because covid keeps morphing that they have to find something. Too many people who are unable to work or function leads to what the Surgeon General talks about as very damaging - isolation. AND it's not just here - this is world wide. I am fortunate to have a roof over my head and Medicare to at least see docs. Too many people don't.

So I'll continue to, on most days, believe they will find something to help.. if not for us, for the next gen.

Thanks for being supportive and sharing the stuff you suffer. It is only as we share and Mayo reads that help may come.

I pray you are correct, and some help is coming. As you say, probably for the future.
I fear for me, damaged nerves and neurological issues will have no “miracle cure”. Perhaps as with stroke victims, over time my brain will learn to compensate.
I feel that is my only hope.
Thanks for your kind replies. I wish you well.

My tinnitus started again after Covid last November

So you had it before, @patriciapardo , and COVID brought it back? What was the timing between it stopping (and how did it .. does it just stop? Did you ever learn the cause?) and starting again?

Thanks.

Sorry to hear that you've all been dealing with this terrible affliction. Though I can't personally attest to a true Long-COVID diagnosis for myself, I have read a great deal relating to reports of both COVID-19 infection and/or vaccine-related "hearing loss"/tinnitus. As an RN that worked ER all throughout COVID19, I was infected more times than I'd like to admit. I'm 35 and I've had intermittent (very light) tinnitus since I was young, but never bothersome enough to even talk about until about 1.5 years ago. To make a long story short, it's been horrific since it started to get worse and I really had no occupational or personal exposure to noises that I imagine could cause hearing loss. P.S. and short, I saw an ENT early 2023, and it turns out that I have partial sensorineural hearing loss (~8%) in, get this, only my left ear. I'm supposed to get an MRI to r/o an acoustic neuroma, though other than the SNHL, I do not have any other symptoms that would lead me to suspect that's the case. Of note, I have also never really used headphones or ear pods, don't listed to glaringly loud music, and as a righty, only use the phone on my right side. I'd like to consider myself relatively healthy and take absolutely no medication (haven't even taken an antibiotic in >20 years), so the only thing that's changed is COVID, go figure. I have also kind of used light white noise to sleep and really noticed the hearing loss when I realized on my pillow at night that when my right ear was exposed, I could hear the thunder and rain playing on Alexa, but with the left ear exposed, can only hear the thunder now. Praying somebody eventually figures something out because living with tinnitus is no pleasant. It has taken a lot of discipline to somewhat train my brain to forget that I'm living with it and I can only imagine how much worse it can potentially get as I get older, ugh!

It won’t necessarily get worse. I have tinnitus in the right ear only due to very mild hearing loss. The MRI was clear for any tumors.
I use hearing aids without amplification but they deliver sound therapy. I can use any type of sound that is less any but the volume most be just below the tinnitus sound. This is called TRT, tinnitus retraining therapy. I habituated hot it before but relapsed after Covid last November. Some days are better than others…
You will habituate…

WOW! Thanks, @patriciapardo ! This was not even mentioned to me. Is it possible here to tell me (us) what brand you settled on and if you wear in both ears or one? So grateful for your note.

Oh @pmrn16 , what you wrote - esp not being officially diagnosed with long COVID is my story too. The only specialist in my area actually said "Why do you want to know if it's long COVID?" - and that was why the appointment was made since the symptoms never experienced came with COVID in late March 2023! Three other specialists referred me to that one. I think they think we are trying to get disability payments! I'm not..I just want to know WHY all this that I never ever had since.

To me there is no doubt that you, a healthcare worker working through COVID, could've escaped. And that these symptoms resulted.

Some days I can manage it but it's literally never silent in my life. I'm surprised I can sleep - tho' it may be that the 'night tinnitus' is more of a hum than the day.

I'm 77 and had fine hearing and no tinnitus before. I never wore headsets even for Zoom during the first 3 years of COVID, never for music, never went to concerts, etc.

I do wonder and fear what's next. I bought, on the recommendation of someone who works in the disability field, Apple airpods to try which are said to improve moderate hearing loss -- with which an ENT diagnosed me. I need a new iphone to use them well (still cheaper than hearing aids) and am hopeful. But from all I've read tinnitus is just there and one needs to learn to manage it. It's annoying.

Here's to us and all who are like us for whom there is no help.

I use Signia Silettos. You must use them in both ears…

I had Covid in august. Prior to that my hearing loss was 40 something. A few weeks later one ear went down to 70% or worse, the ent wanted to,place tubes in the ears Then went to my pcp who recommended Flonase and Claritin to see if it helps.. it did take away the stuffy head and ear popping but there is still a hearing loss. To be tested again next month to compare.