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Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (1446)Comment receiving replies
Hi all, thank you for being out here. I am Lizzy and have tinnitus and profound hearing loss "corrected" by 2- Resound 3-D BTE HAs. I read lips proficiently. My hearing loss started in 1991 when I as given a drug designed to prevent my 1.5 year old kidney transplant from being rejected (it worked!). By 1996, I was constantly exhausted trying to hear my patients (psychotherapist). I got my hearing tested and they dx progressing nerve damage and I got my first HA. Several years later I went bilateral (which I should have done in the first place). Now my loss is quite profound - without HAs and a constantly hyper-alert state I have no idea whether anyone is behind me or talking to me. The sense of isolation, of being different/deficient/ab-normal are keen, I constantly remind myself that I am worthy, strong and capable to combat depression. Anxiety is another issue that comes from hyper-awareness and not knowing for sure what is going on around me at times. Phew, that's a mouthful. Glad to be here and offer my support and knowledge to the group and happy to be in a safe place where what I say will be understood by others.
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@lizzy102 Hi Lizzy, and welcome to Connect.
I have had a hearing loss and been wearing hearing aids since 2004. In the last couple of years my hearing of sounds has not diminished much at all, but my clarity has. I had a liver transplant in September, 2016, and I have been wondering if the immunosuppressants exacerbated the problem. From your post it sounds like you identified them as having affected yours.
It sounds as if your loss may be worse than mine, although mine is considered to be pretty profound. I drive my husband crazy because I don't hear him come into the room and am always startled. He says, "I do live here too, you know". I know he finds it annoying.
I find it terribly isolating when we have company, family here, or when we go out to dinner with others. It's very difficult to hear anyone with the background noise. My hearing aids are Oticon OPN1 and I do have the "Connect Clip" to go with them. It a little microphone that the person who is speaking to me can put around their neck or clip on their clothes and the sound goes directly into my hearing aids. It does help with some situations, but in a noisy room it also picks up the background noise. When I got the OPN1s a couple of years ago, they were supposed to be the best for clarity but now they have just come out with a new model with 15% better clarity. Unfortunately, due to the price of hearing aids, I don't think I will be getting them for a while, but if I needed aids now I would definitely check them out.
JK