Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

@bunnybear, I'd just like to say, I admire you for going ahead and trying surgery! You surely are trying to help yourself.
I'm thinking that all aides, surgery, implants are so very individual for each one's needs. I'm sorry not much improvement after all you did. As for the tinnitus...try to hang in there. I've had it since I was in my 20's...I thought I would go crazy. I can tell you, it will fade in time, and you'll likely get so used to it, you won't know it's there. I'm aware, I have it 24/7, but it doesn't bother me at all. It does seem to be louder when I'm sick with a respiratory illness...probably has an effect on hearing. So the tinnitus kicks in, on the sounds I'm not hearing. This entire hearing loss thing is beyond complex, and I sincerely feel for all of us.
I'm kinda thinking, maybe your tinnitus will subside, because you say you didnt have it before surgery. Hopefully some nerves that may have been disturbed during surgery will/may heal. My very best to you!!

@dazlin Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. It was lovely! Sorry to say but my tinnitus only seems to be getting louder through the years and it has been 14 years since the surgeries! But since occasionally, my hearing gets clear as a bell (relatively speaking) and much clearer when I pop my ears, I am trying to work on clearing my eustachian tubes as was suggested by an audiologist I saw recently. So I am using, Zyrtek, saline nasal spray and Nasocort. It seems to have helped a moderate bit. Not 100% but any improvement is so welcome. Best wishes to you!

While I don't go through drive throughs I find that anyone speaking on a loud speaker or microphone I simply can't hear. I still go to our apartment events just to get out and see people but know in advance I won't hear much. Don't feel badly you are not alone! I have one hearing aid and a Cochlear Implant.

@bunnybear , I have eustachian tube disfunction too. I'm told mine stay closed. I do try popping every now and then...I dont think it helps me much.
I dont take my nasal sprays or allergy pills regularly either.

I am Karen Bramlett. I want to know if any one has experienced this. I have good hearing, but a week ago I was standing standing next to a friend who accidently discharged a firearm. It was unexpected so no hearing protection. My Rt ear was a couple feet away. In an instant I couldn’t hear. Gradually I could hear but am also hearing sounds like grinding, train horn, echos, my voice inside my head. Everyday sounds are very loud as well. Haven’t seen a doctor yet, it seems to be slowly getting better, but am concerned.

Boy do those pressurized cans of saline help with my conductive hearing loss. I am also using Nasocort and Zyrtek. But I can tell after irrigating a couple of times with the saline, how much better my hearing gets. You have to sniff it up into your sinuses till you get it clear. My daughter has pretty severe seasonal allergies and gets her sinuses painfully blocked. But she used just the saline sprays recently (in addition to her daily allergy medication which weren’t helping). She said it really helped a lot. Having it ready in the cans is such a help. I have the big bag of capsules of saline you were supposed to mix and I just never used them.

in reply to@bram7747 How interesting that you posted this comment, because I was just thinking a few days ago about an incident that happened to me as a kid. I had found an old rifle while out having fun with my friends, and I got this idea that I would put caps in the gun and "pretend" to fire it. Well, fire it I did, and from that moment I began having severe ringing in my left ear, hearing all kinds of strange sounds, which continue to this day. My left ear was severely damaged to the point now that a hearing aid would be of no use to me, so I only wear one on my right ear. Over time the noises I would often hear abated, but I struggled to sleep as a kid, always thinking I was hearing loud trucks and trains, even though we lived in a quiet neighborhood. I had thought about posting this experience, but was afraid to do so out of vanity, for lack of a better word.
Good luck. I still hear an occasional weird "noise" and sometimes this noise keeps me up at night, like tonight.
Have you seen a good audiologist yet? The "good" ones can be very helpful.
Best of luck.

I know what this can be like. You are in the healing process. It may take some weeks to stabilize. Most or all will not be permanent. I’m so sorry this happened. It is very scary to have this unknown factor to think about. I would let your doctor know about it now in case they would like to see you

Like you, frances007, the hearing in my left ear has diminished to the point a hearing aid will not help. I got hearing aids 10 yrs ago which helped in the beginning but in the last ten years my right ear, which has some hearing loss, stayed stable but the left ear continued to lose hearing abiliry. A month ago I got new Oticon cros hearing aids. I asked the audiologist about getting a hearing aid for just the right ear and she strongly discouraged me from making that decision. The hearing aid in my left ear is a transmitter so my my right ear is hearing for both the left and right sides. It seems to be working fine, my hearing is much better, especially in the car when I'm in the passenger seat. So far, so good. This technology is working for me.
suzanne

Extreme noise is often a factor in causing hearing loss and tinnitus. In fact, tinnitus is one of the most common health issues listed by veterans returning from combat zones. The extreme noise is the causative factor. That kind of damage can also be caused by a single incident like gunfire or other explosive sounds. I'm glad to hear that as time passed your hearing improved, but sorry to know you have tinnitus that remains. Hopefully that will improve too, but it may not.

Tinnitus is very common. In most cases it's accompanied by hearing loss, but not always. There is no cure, but there is research being done. Research does point out that noise is the most common cause whether it's a burst of noise like you experienced or noise that you're exposed to over a duration of time such as working in a noisy environment.

Have you seen an ENT specialist or an audiologist?