First, I wish all of us the strength and good hope to get through this horrible time! My problem started the beginning of February when in a split second and for no apparant reason I lost the hearing in my right ear. A few days later I was diagnosed with "Sudden Hearing Loss" and was near totaly deaf in that ear. Along with the constant loud noises in that ear (tinnitus) I felt like I was suffocating! The long and short of it is, I was put on a steroid (Prednisone) and at the end of the ten day prescription I noticed a little bit of hearing. Within a week or so after that it seemed as though a little more came back, but at the same time, I was noticing this distortion that was near the beginning of the hearing loss, becoming more and more prominant. When I talk, or people are talking around me at anything higher then a low volume, it sounds like my voice or the other voices are coming out of a cheap radio or like speaking through a comb covered with wax paper or tin foil! Very frustrating and annoying!! For the past Three weeks or more, I've noticed no additional improvement in the hearing and at times,, seems Worse!
I've been on Xanax (.5mg) to get me to sleep, just about from the beginning of this thing. However, it only puts me to sleep for a couple hours then I wake up and have to take a quarter of a tab to get back to sleep! I'm also afraid of taking other meds so I suffer all day with HORRIBLE ANXIETY attacks and NOW also very bad depression and don't take anything (with the exception of Valerian Root, which does'nt do hardly anything) to get me through a long GRUELING day for two months now!!!
My Horrible Anxiety stems from the fact that even though I've gotten some hearing back,, everything still sounds horribly muted, dull and low and is offset by the distortion (and the tinnitus is still there)! Every problem I've had prior to this or while during this period seems to be AMPLIFIED 50 times over!! Symptoms? Heres a few,,,,
Waking up with a horrible rushing, anxious feeling and jolting out of bed.
Chronic insomnia.
Nausea.
Tenderness in stomach under my chest.
No appetite,, I've lost FIFTEEN POUND in eight weeks!
Constant shortness of breath.
Constant feeling of horseness and the other ear stuffing up.
Cant FOCUS on anything else but this, can't Function!
Not wanting to do anything or go anywhere, yet feeling TRAPPED at home!
Very claustophobic in my vehicle,, hate driving.
Hate being around crowded or noisey places.
Constant crying spells.
Total feeling of HOPELESSNESS!
Constantly trying to remember how it was before this all happened.
Non stop complaining about it to my family (taking it's toll on my wife and though my sons don't live at home anymore and are also very sympathetic, they feel helpless and don't know how to help).
Memories of fun times we'd have now put me in a DEEP DEPRESSION because I don't know when or how I'll ever get through this!!
People are telling me it's not the hearing loss that's caused this horrible Anxiety, Insomnia, Depression and panic attack and I need to find the underlying cause.
Well, the Hearing problem IS what put me in this state. It's just that everything else I had on my "plate" before this is serving to MULTIPLY my symptoms and Heavily Aggrevate the problem! The only way I can see getting through this is if the hearing corrects itself, although my ENT Dr. seems to think there's a good chance but it'll just take time,, he's not a fortune teller and I don't know if I can last much longer feeling this way! In the mean time,, I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel!!
I WISH ALL OF US THE BEST!
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