I have always had a small amount of ringing in my ears, but from what I read it is common in most people. It has never really had any impact on me until about five months ago. I woke up one morning and could not hear a think in my left ear. A few minutes later it turned to a high-pitched ringing, and then changed to a constant whooshing sound. I am fortunate that the clinic I work in has several audiologists on staff, and they put me in the testing booth soon after I got to work that morning. The results of the test were not good and they told me I had very little hearing left. I know a little about SNHL, so I knew the prognosis was not promising. I immediately made an appointment with my PCP who then referred me to an ENT doc. By then some of my hearing had come back, and he put me on a 10-day regimen of Prednisone. To make a long story short, the Prednisone did nothing and I now have permanent hearing loss in my left ear. Luckily my right was not affected (knock on wood). Several follow-up visits and hearing tests later and my ENT told me I have 3 choices; a hearing aid, a BAHA, or nothing and just live with it. I'm only 47 and this is having a major impact on my life. My insurance won't cover either device, but they will cover a cochlear implant, but I am not a candidate for that. My one last hope is that if it can be connected to my fibromyalgia then I can can get a re-eval by the V.A. because I have a service connected diasability with the fibro. I need help to find a way to link the two together. Any information I can get my hands on would be a great help.