How does hearing loss change you?

Beads up on Advil-they let you know of this too- too much use will impact hearing I live with bad back pain and learn to deal with it by being on the go ( no sitting down all day for me) . I assume all meds to be bad even though I have to take them. I check/recheck interactions . Aspirin is prescribed yet that and pink grapefruit ( one of the few healthy things I like) is bad for osteoporosis pill. I have a great pharmacist who knew I was new to mess - jumped from nothing to 5 meds ..made sure I knew the facts. CVS I knew how bad meds are from my mom who had a bad doc telling her to cut off her her meds at once- ended up in the hoslitical with convulsions and a broken back. I am very careful.

@bookysue You sound like me I hope everyone at this cyber table does there research on drugs and there disease back of whatever .we know our bodies better then Dr and we need to be our own advocate as you are

@nurseheadakes Do you find that you can hear better on Facetime than on regular phone calls? My son brought that to my attention and then he went further and discovered that if you change a setting on your phone it helps a lot too. It's explained here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203078
I have done that now and it does help.

You are very fortunate that you can control your migraines. I never could, they were hormonal. Certain foods did exacerbate them when I was at a vulnerable time -- chocolate, onions, vinegar -- so I avoided them. My daughter now has them and it is possible that some of these factors may contribute to hers, but she is quite diligent in trying to avoid them as best she can. She does use triptans and has had a hearing loss that I recognized when she was 3 years old (she is now in her 30s) but her hearing has not gotten worse using triptans. Her most recent hearing aids are Resound also, and she loves them. I have Oticon Opn1, when I got them were considered to be most advanced in helping with clarity, and they do help but I wish they helped more than they do.
JK

You know I do hear much better on FaceTime than regular...I did check my iPhone and saw that I do have the LTE on. But I bet my mom's iPhone is not on it. So, I sent out an email to the siblings telling them about this next step so we can all talk better on the phones with each other. (and not get interrupted and I can hear better with them!) YEA!
My daughter inherited the migraines from me - it runs in our family. There are a number of genes that we carry in the genone for the hearing loss and unfortunately she has them as well. We have the cluster type predominately. She also has the hormonal. I never had those kinds. Yes foods were my worse enemies for me but not for her. She is starting on medications now with a new neurologist. She is on Step 1 of the Three Steps to gaining control of one's migraines.
My daughter claims she doesn't have much hearing loss or tinnitus or anything like her mother...just the infertility and migraines. (she was our miracle baby - another long story for another day)
There are many hearing aids on the market now and they all work for the various hearing losses that are out there. The manufacturers make them to be customized to the consumer. The Audiologist help to do that when the consumer comes in for their hearing tests and when they ask for what they want the aids to do for them. These aids are computers and they can do many more things now than they use to....its amazing when you think of it. Mine are $6000 and add the $1000 iPhone and I have a mini computer working in my head so I can hear and talk.

@nurseheadakes My daughter also inherited migraines from me. When she has one she sometimes call, talking can actually be soothing at times. I always so bad because I know they are in the genes I gave her, and my mother gave to me.

Her hearing loss and mine are opposite though. My hearing was phenomenal when I was young, the loss started in my late 50s. I am wondering now, after reading some of these posts, if ibuprofen could have contributed to it. I had a doctor back then that had me on nine ibuprofen a day.
As I mentioned, I recognized that she had a hearing loss before her doctor did since she would peer at me and say "WHAT?". Her pediatrician said her mind was probably operating on a different level because she was very intelligent and had an active brain, but a mother knows. Fortunately, when she did get diagnosed at age 4 the speech and language tests came back well over age level -- I guess I must have been talking pretty loudly.
JK

As we age, we lose our hearing which is natural. This is called presbycusis. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Content%20Images/presbycusis.pdf

Our genes only are a part of the story. Hearing loss can be caused by so many factors for the young all the way up to the young at heart (elderly). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/symptoms-causes/syc-20373072 [Causes]
It would be good to familiaze yourself and your family with how your two ears deal with sounds/noises and how you can prevent any further destruction of what you have now. We can't grow any new hair cells but we can save what we have for now.
Today our kids have it much better than we did since the knowledge and technology is available to give kids tools to hear and understand speech. The cochlear implant, BAHAs implants and digital hearing aids give them realistic tools that help them learn language and sounds that their brains can detect and use. That was something I never had when growing up all those years ago in the 1950's. Back then, I was deaf...period.
Did you know they are implanting 6 month old children with the CI's now? Because it is so successful and because their brains advance so fast, the surgeons are conducting their research as they are implanting. THEY are approved by the FDA as they move along the continuum. Attending the HLAA national conventions - give you detailed information on how this progression is taking place and where we are heading in discovering the hows/whats of tinnitus, vertigo, types of hearing loss and ways to prevent these or even how to eliminate these afflictions.

These are exciting times and that is why everyone with hearing loss should be involved in any of the different organizations to keep up to date with what is happening on the national level. Learn about what type of instrument you wear in your ear. Join a chapter and organization. Seek out the blogs and online internet social websites to discover a world that is ever changing - for the good. Contribute to it because this is YOU. Your feedback and contributions will help not only you but your family, your children and our say in the matters that mean much to us.
Mountains aren't moved with a bulldozer but with a single stone. I have been working with one diamond at a time. How about you?

How does hearing loss change me? I have much more empathy for all people who are somehow 'different'.

Hearing loss has increased my isolation and depression. I’m still fretting (in the wee hours) over being out last night for dinner w 8 family members. Not being able to understand most of what was said in the noisy calliope of sounds got to me more than usual. No one except those of us with hearing loss understand... we can’t process more than one sound at a time. I’m tired of being assaulted with an arcade of sounds.

Judy, I would have to agree with you about the isolation and depression. Being a people person, the isolation is really tough, and it is actually horrible that sometimes I actually prefer it over the crowds, because of my profound hearing loss.
I, too, was with 8 family members last night. We were in at a restaurant. It is so difficult to understand the group. Talk about exhausting. Then on top of that I have got my Mother looking at me asking me several times, "Are you okay?" You know how intuitive a Mother can be. Well, I can't really truthfully answer her right then and there.
Even though it is so difficult for people like you and I to get out in restaurants or any type of crowd, I am glad we both went. I'm like you, it makes us so sad. But, we still have to do it. Thank God for family, and Thank God for groups like this. Take care. -JoAngela

Sorry to hear about your declining hearing (which I too have experienced though my hearing was normal until my 60's). Are you considering a cochlear implant?