Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

I hope that the fact you haven't had vertigo for two years is a positive sign that it has burned out. Do you plan to have the CI surgery soon?

My surgeon is considering deadening the balance center only because she feels I may be masking the vertigo with the prescription of valium my previous ENT recommended. I'm gradually decreasing the dosage to see what happens. If I don't get any vertigo she will leave it intact and conclude that I don't need the med. We'll see-- I'm not anxious to destroy anything if it's not absolutely necessary. I'm planing going to VRT post surgery because my balance is not great.
Thank you for your input. I admire your very active lifestyle. I, 74 and do a lot of walking but not to the extent you do. Good for you!

i'm also hoping that the meniere's has burned out, at least to the point where vertigo is no longer a big problem. My surgery is scheduled for October 4th. I had a 2-hour series of balance tests yesterday(to establish a baseline assessment) and had very little dizziness which the audiologist said was a good sign for success with the CI. Trying to not get my expectations too high-- rather to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed with the outcome.

So glad I heard about this website-- very helpful to hear from others about their hearing loss, and treatments. Thank you!

I've never been able to benefit from any of the drugs like Valium: while they make me fuzzy-headed, they do zip for the vomiting crises. It's no longer a secret that many women past their mid-40s can avoid serious vertigo and deafness by taking hormones. I'm pretty positive that I went bilateral because, over the more than 30 years after starting big hormones doses I had cut back to a tiny dose. I'm now taking less than half the dosage it took to get some hearing and balance back, less much of the recruitment and distortion, and I plan to cut what I'm taking now in half over the next several months, then stay at that level. Properly balanced, hormones don't cause cancer.
If you balance center is deadened, you will have to do VRT to compensate. Seems much better to me to use any residual balance function with VRT, as it gives you an advantage.
I also volunteer for Backpacks for Kids, which means driving over a hundred miles each way to pick up 400-500 loaves of donated bread every other week. That means I'm lifting around 800 pounds several times to pick bread off the trays and pack it into totes, load the totes into a van, and stack them in the van. Then, back in town, I unload it all and pack it into freezers. The other days of the week, I deliver bread to various local charities. All that lifting means that my bones are exceptionally strong, so it IS worth something! It also meant that I didn't need to call for appts. for Covid shots, as the local nurse in charge of clinics here is also one of the four of us who've kept Backpacks running the past year. All I had to do was stop stuffing freezers long enough to sit down so that she could give me a shot, which was an extra dose, delivered to her at our pantry. Slick!
VRT really works, both in overall balance and in eye-hand coordination. One thing you need to do is to walk in safe low-light conditions. I always turn out all the lights in the house at night and walk around. I also often walk around our hilly meadow or along our gravel road: no street lights here, no ambient light. Walking in low light situations makes you pay attention to proprioception: using vision is automatic when your inner ear doesn't provide balance info, but it's bad because you lose your focal point every time you move your head or drive around a sharp curve. Learning to use proprioception (your third balance system) really frees you up, makes you stable and confident.

I am writing with the exact same email address and name as I did six months ago. Are you a newer leader? What happened to my previous posts and the leader’s previous answers????? I had been writing from Arizona and am now in the Seattle WA area.

So happy to know you find this site helpful.

Peer support is a big plus. Learning that I was not alone with my hearing loss helped me a great deal. I encourage you to check out The Hearing Loss Assn. of America at their website. http://www.hearingloss.org There is a lot of information there. It's possible there might be a chapter of HLAA in your area. Most HLAA chapters have members with cochlear implants.

You will probably have to make a decision on which brand of CI you will be implanted with. They are all good, but there are some differences. Again, it helps to talk to others at the 'consumer' level.

I will be interested to hear more.

@coppermoon hello. If you would like to review your previous posts, you can log into the website, go to "Profile & Settings" by clicking on your username/handle (i.e. @coppermoon), then "Comments" to view your previously posted activity.

Does this help?

I did intend to see the ENT and yet have to go through the protocols of another hearing test, regimen of prednisone then another visit to the PA then an MRI and only then do I see the ENT. Seems to delay things if you ask me - but nobody did.

So sorry to hear about this delay. It is out of order. Speaking from experience, this is very serious. Action Plan should be : (1) See ENT immediately; (2) Start oral steroid pills immediately after receiving steroid prescription from ENT; (3) Begin series of 3 to four injections of steroids into middle ear if hearing is not improved by oral steroids within a week; (4) Obtain MRI.

Also, continue to avoid loud environments and do not add sodium (salt) to your food.