I've got Cochlear hair cell damage and Delta 8 maybe helped me!

@danr I'm skeptical about the Delta 8 but would welcome a follow up once you get back in that routine.
Tony in Michigan

Thanks, Tony. I returned from that trip Sept 20 and have been back in my routine since. It didn’t improve my hearing. Then I started half a gummy every 12 hours and my hearing improved substantially in just 48 hours. It feels like 75% improved. Why are you skeptical of THC? I’m no expert about it but I thought it’s a good general anti inflammatory.

Thanks!
Dan

@danr I am skeptical because every persons hearing loss is unique and we all react differently to treatment. My loss is hereditary so I would think that stem cell research will be my cure. However, so much is unknown about hearing loss. Some people develop it suddenly. Some people pass an audiometric test but still cannot hear in background noise. And, as you mention, some may benefit from alternative treatment. Traditional doctors and insurances do not believe in alternative medicine so I feel that we all lose out on other possible treatments. Can you tell me about your hearing loss (age of onset, possible cause, severity, and shape of your audiogram)?
Tony in Michigan

Thanks, Tony. Yes, for those reasons, I totally agree with your skepticism. It's all super frustrating that something as important as hearing seems to be mostly a medical mystery: we all have different reasons and causes for our losses and we have varying responses to treatments, and most of us have lousy responses to treatments. None of my ENTs have any useful treatment to suggest. It makes me a little crazy. And all the things I've tried are dismissed by my ENTs who say, "Sure, it could be helping, but it's most likely coincidence and your hearing will most likely get bad again, and each time it'll get worse, and we have nothing to suggest." And so I've posted what I've tried that could be helping, but I agree with you that we're all different, so who the heck really knows.

I woke up July 28, 2020 at age 47 with sudden hearing loss in my left ear. No ENT could suggest a cause. I believe it happened because I had dramatically over-exerted and dehydrated myself which I believe upset the pressure balance in my cochlea. A steroids squirt into my inner ear fixed my hearing for two days, which gave me hope the hair cells aren't dead, just over-pressured. And that's why I went into extreme anti-inflammation and also cleaned up my diet, exercise, and sleep habits. My right ear went bad but only for a couple weeks and has since been ok. In June 2021, my left ear finally improved. The two attached audiograms show Dec 2020 when things were still bad, and also June 2021 when things improved. And then Sept 2021 it went bad again. And then two days ago, it got better, and the only difference over the last two days is half a Delta 8 gummy every 12 hours.

Have you found any alternative treatment that helps you? Have you found any researcher working on your situation?

Thanks,
Dan

@danr Wow! Whether it was the steroids or the improved lifestyle, that is a significant improvement. Wouldn't it be nice if a researcher was assigned to you to monitor and determine the real 'fix'? More bothersome is that when your left ear was bad, a hearing aid would mostly have been prescribed. When your hearing returned, the aid would have been over-amplifying. Your outcome would have been worse and a hearing aid in the future may not have been an option due to the physiological aspects from a bad experience.
To answer your questions, the Hearing Health Foundation, http://www.hhf.org is funding a lot of research that could benefit all of us with hearing loss. I support that organization as well as the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), http://www.hearingloss.org. There seems to be a lot of HLAA supporters on this Mayo group so the benefits are real.
As far as finding other alternative treatments? No, I haven't found anything that helps but I do give up too easily. If a treatment involves putting something man-made into my body, I don't give it a chance due to any possible side affects. I've tried CBD gummies but not the THC. The products that we find in the party stores are probably not that good so if I do try the THC, they will come from a dispensary.
Tony in Michigan

I am also very impressed by this story and documentation. Where on Earth did you find treatment allowing you to narrow down the cause to your cochlear hair cells and inflammation of the cochlea? How did they make that determination? Did the timing of the steroids injection (how soon after hearing loss) have anything to do with its success? And what were you reading that pointed toward Delta 8 gummies as a possible solution for it? It’s so refreshing to learn about a hearing loss sufferer who actively participated in their own care, and to such good effect. Many thanks for posting about this, I’m eager to learn more!

Excellent info, thank you, Tony. I'll look into supporting both those orgs. Stem cell, exozomes, IGA and IGF, all seem like hopeful avenues for the future.

Thanks, Ner. Answers to your good questions:

Q: Where on Earth did you find treatment allowing you to narrow down the cause to your cochlear hair cells and inflammation of the cochlea?
A: The attached vestibular tests were done (electrocochleography and otoacoustic emissions) about 6 weeks after my hearing loss started. The audiologist said everything tested normal except for outer hair cells in my left cochlea. That's how I narrowed it down to the hair cells. And since the transtympanic steroid squirt into my inner ear fixed my hearing temporarily, I assumed that meant that I have a pressure or inflammation problem in my cochlea and the hair cells aren't dead yet.

Q: How did they make that determination?
A: From the attached vestibular test results.

Q: Did the timing of the steroids injection (how soon after hearing loss) have anything to do with its success?
A: According to my ENT, the timing of the injection which was about 30 days after onset did not have anything to do with its success.

Q: And what were you reading that pointed toward Delta 8 gummies as a possible solution for it?
A: It is my guess that the perilymph fluid in my cochlea is over-pressured, just based on what I've read online, so I've been doing all things anti-inflammatory: healthy eating, low sodium, more cardio, better sleeping, and trying some anti-inflammatory supplements. And then I randomly remembered that THC is also a good anti-inflammatory so I just tried an ongoing low dose for a few days and then my hearing started improving.

Again, we're all different and nobody knows if my efforts are cause or coincidence, but since I tried a bunch of things, and my hearing is improving, I thought it would be worth sharing my experience.

All the best,
Dan

@danr

This is a fascinating discussion. Thank you all for contributing. I echo Tony's suggestion to check out the Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) since their focus is on research. They value personal experiences as well. It might be a place to share your experiences. They publish a free quarterly magazine that includes research information, along with personal stories.

Hearing loss was not much in the limelight prior to 1988 when NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness & other Communication Disorders was established within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). HLAA was actively involved in promoting the development of NIDCD. Once the term 'search for a cure' was actually being used by research bodies, HFF started doing a lot more outreach to people with hearing loss because their experiences matter! (Hate all the acronyms, but it's a reality today.)

Definitely connect with HHF, the research organization, and support HLAA, which is consumer based. HLAA is our advocate, educator, information sharer, and support system. Both organizations are doing excellent work. http://www.hearingloss.org (HLAA), and http://www.hhf.org (Hearing Health Foundation)

HHF has presented at many of the recent conventions of HLAA. Their presentations are among the 'not to miss' variety. I quote the founder of HLAA, Rocky Stone. "If you want to find solutions to a problem, you have to become part of the solution."

@danr Where do you get these gummies? It could be worth a try for many people. I don't think it would do any harm, and it possibly could help, plus I doubt that they are prohibitively expensive.
JK