Sudden Hearing Loss - Suggestions?

[Shared Joy]

Just some additional info one can use when confronted with hearing loss or tinnitus:

- in the Chinese medicine the ear problems are related to the kidneys (hearing problems, otitis, etc) and Liver (tinnitus with high pitched sound). But:
1. if the sound is more like water flowing is again the kidney's energy being obstructed
2. if the sound is like the wind blowing, then the lungs experience energy constrain.

For hearing problems iodine would be a good solution: kelp powder is the more natural form of administration.

Liver stores blood - in case that the blood is insufficient due to stress, bad digestion (stomach - spleen aspects), toxin accumulation, repressed anger, etc - the blood is overheated and produce that high pitched sound as the "Liver wind" is rising. This could interfere with sleep (it overheats the heart), or can damage the delicate tissue of the lungs (the wind like sound in the ears). If the kidneys are weak, then the tinnitus is like the flowing water's murmur and there will be associated problems with the lower part of the body - knee and lumbago pain, incontinence, other ailments bones and teeth and problems with CNS and peripheral nervous system.

Liver should always be protected!!! One can use turmeric, dandelion or milk thistle. However, liver makes pair with the gall bladder, which has to clear the "fire" of the liver. If gall bladder is clogged, as the bile tend to become thicker and sluggish, it has to be helped.

Here's a link with some useful info (not complete, of course)

_http://lifespa.com/gallbladder-health-food-and-recipes/

FWIW

 

[A Jay]

Did anyone else ever suffer such an episode? How is your hearing, LQB?

It was definitely an unnerving experience.

It does sound like an unnerving experience and I am so glad it went back to normal! We can't know if the DMSO made the difference, but it sounds like a good "just in case" idea in this situation. Some articles I just read through about it mention that the most popular treatment is the use of corticosteroids, either through oral administration or injection in the ear.

I only ever had what Pete describes

This does sound like quite the unnerving experience to say the least. Sometimes I'll have one ear get muffled all of a sudden but then clear up seconds later so nothing like what you guys are describing.

I don't know why it happens, it just comes and goes like that. In my case, there's also something like a faint ringing/white noise when it happens, but it only lasts some seconds or a couple of minutes tops, so it doesn't worry me and I never investigated it.

I've also had random occurrences where one ear (usually my left) will start to muffle sound while at the same time a high-pitched ringing can be heard in the same ear. No numbness, though. Also, it seems to happen more frequently if I'm in a completely silent environment, but it never lasts longer than a few minutes. I've also had wax build up block sound, so I know what that's like and yes it's very different from what you described, Data. What you described sounds very unnerving to say the least. Take care, brother!

 

[nature]

Re: Sudden Sensorineural hearing loss - Suggestions?

Glad you've recovered quickly, Data. And thank you for the info about DMSO; I'll keep it in mind.

I wonder if it's a side effect of the iodine therapy/protocol killing off some critters?

Well seen! it can. Probably reversible with detox products.
Among other culprits: Vit C is suspected to be cause of hearing loss at high dose: -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26354537

Carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate and risk of self-reported hearing loss in women.
Curhan SG1, Stankovic KM2, Eavey RD3, Wang M4, Stampfer MJ5, Curhan GC6.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:

Higher intake of certain vitamins may protect against cochlear damage from vascular compromise and oxidative stress, thereby reducing risk of acquired hearing loss, but data are limited.
OBJECTIVE:

We prospectively examined the relation between carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate intake and risk of self-reported hearing loss in women.
DESIGN:

This prospective cohort study followed 65,521 women in the Nurses' Health Study II from 1991 to 2009. Baseline and updated information obtained from validated biennial questionnaires was used in Cox proportional hazards regression models to examine independent associations between nutrient intake and self-reported hearing loss.
RESULTS:

After 1,084,598 person-years of follow-up, 12,789 cases of incident hearing loss were reported. After multivariable adjustment, we observed modest but statistically significant inverse associations between higher intake of β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin and risk of hearing loss. In comparison with women in the lowest quintile of intake, the multivariable-adjusted RR of hearing loss among women in the highest quintile was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81, 0.94; P-trend < 0.001) for β-carotene and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.96; P-trend < 0.001) for β-cryptoxanthin. In comparison with women with folate intake 200-399 μg/d, very low folate intake (<200 μg/d) was associated with higher risk (RR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.41), and higher intake tended to be associated with lower risk (P-trend = 0.04). No significant associations were observed for intakes of other carotenoids or vitamin A. Higher vitamin C intake was associated with higher risk; in comparison with women with intake <75 mg/d, the RR among women with vitamin C intake ≥1000 mg/d (mainly supplemental) was 1.22 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.42; P-trend = 0.02). There was no significant trend between intake of vitamin E intake and risk.
CONCLUSION:

Higher intakes of β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and folate, whether total or from diet, are associated with lower risk of hearing loss, whereas higher vitamin C intake is associated with higher risk.

About corticosteroids:

It does sound like an unnerving experience and I am so glad it went back to normal! We can't know if the DMSO made the difference, but it sounds like a good "just in case" idea in this situation. Some articles I just read through about it mention that the most popular treatment is the use of corticosteroids, either through oral administration or injection in the ear.

This is indeed the usual treatment, EVEN IF many other studies have shown NO difference beetween a group treated by corticosteroids and a group without any medication. That's why some ENT specialists give nothing to their patients, over than seeing them regularly to check their audiogram. In about 70% cases, patients recover spontaneously (same amount if corticosteroid given). In sudden hearing loss, other methods are considered available (even if no real evidence) such as hemodilution, vasodilatator medications, hyperbaric oxygenotherapy.
It's for sudden hearing loss. Chronic, ancient deafness remains without any possibility to recover.

Finally the causes of hearing loss are multiples. It's not allways easy for doctors to find the cause involved in a given patient. Cochlea is a so complex organ and impossible to examine directly in vivo (see picture). ENT specialists are still powerless in front of hearing impairements.

 

[Mikey]

And to clarify you drank the diluted DMSO and put nothing into the ear?

Correct. It felt like a nerve/brain problem rather a mechanical problem, so I took DMSO internally because I remembered info that DMSO mitigates stroke damage. I really was not sure what I was having.

In my case, I woke up one morn with no hearing in the right. I've had no recurrence of that magnitude but I have had shades of it sometimes if I stand up quickly after sitting for a while. For this reason, I tend to think that a low blood pressure event is involved.

This could be it. In case it happens again (hopefully not) I will measure blood pressure.

It could also be stress related -- I was frantically working on a project.

I wonder if it's a side effect of the iodine therapy/protocol killing off some critters?

I haven't taken Iodine for many months, so that can be ruled out in my case. I'm just taking basic minerals every day.

I don't know why it happens, it just comes and goes like that. In my case, there's also something like a faint ringing/white noise when it happens, but it only lasts some seconds or a couple of minutes tops, so it doesn't worry me and I never investigated it.

I had such short episodes that you describe several times, but since it goes away within seconds, I didn't worry either. This time was different, it lasted at least one hour.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[truth seeker]

In my case, I woke up one morn with no hearing in the right. I've had no recurrence of that magnitude but I have had shades of it sometimes if I stand up quickly after sitting for a while. For this reason, I tend to think that a low blood pressure event is involved.

This could be it. In case it happens again (hopefully not) I will measure blood pressure.

It could also be stress related -- I was frantically working on a project.

Just throwing this out there but I looked up ear(s) in the Louise Hayes book and it says "Represents the capacity to hear". Perhaps it was the body's way of trying to get you to 'listen' to stress signals if it was related? Fwiw.