Sudden Hearing Loss Is A Medical Emergency

In December of 2006, my wife had a funny sensation in her left ear. It began around noon with a dullness and then began to ring loudly and within 15 minutes she was deaf. We rushed her to the doctor and he said there was nothing that could be done and sent her home. By 4 pm she had extreme vertigo and vomiting. I called an ambulance and rushed her to the hospital. It took about 2 hours to get her checked in and tests began. By midnight, the doctor said she had a mild heart attack and said there was nothing that could be done and sent her home while she was still suffering from vertigo reactions. I asked the Doctor to let her stay overnight for further observations. Because we did not have insurance he refused. It was all that the nurses could do to get my wife into the car. We saw an ENT a few days later and he said that there was nothing that could be done and stated that "we could not afford what it would cost for more extensive evaluation". Those were his exact words.

We have done a lot of research. One of the things that should have happened is treatment with steroids could have been and should have been administered within the first 3 days. After 3 days - you can just forget about any treatments - it's too late.

I post this information in hopes that if anyone of you should suffer from "Sudden Hearing Loss", you should see an ENT Specialist. The window of opportunity is only 3 days. You might be able to redeem your hearing loss or at least save some of your hearing so that you may be able to to use a hearing aid.

John W Dudley RHAS (I've always wanted initials after my name.)

http://www.rayovacbattery.net

Rayovac Cochlear Implant Batteries

update 07/27/2010  - my wife just reminded me that it was December 2006 when all this happened.  I thought it was 2008.