Totally deaf in one ear after virus

[Querlouse]

I had a virus very similar to coronavirus in February. I lost my sense of smell completely and also my hearing in my right ear. My sense of smell has returned (although not as sharp as it was) but I am still deaf. I am so deaf in my right ear that if I lay in bed on my left side, so my left ear is muffled by the pillow, I can't hear dh snoring, which is a blessing to be honest but demonstrates how deaf I am as he is a very loud snorer!

I have done the otex ear wax treatment twice and used a neti pot to rinse my sinuses. Neither helped.

I also have pulsing tinnitus in that ear.

For obvious reasons I don't want to contact my gp, but its been 2 months now.

[Querlouse]

Sorry meant to preview and posted instead!

It's started to get me down as i cannot hear what people are saying in noisy environments and I'm constantly having to ask my family to repeat things!

[woodencoffeetable]

see if you can get an appointment with an audiologist (some opticians also have audiology departments).

[Querlouse]

I'm not sure any of them are working atm

[2pointfourmonkeys]

Why re you reluctant to contact your gp? I've found mine very responsive in the last month, probably better than usual. They no longer insist on seeing you, will take photo and video info for the consult and have made a referral on for my daughter based on the info i provided by telephone. Worth making contact with them to at least have a chat?
Based on my daughter's recurrent hearing difficulties related to her chest infection; it's possibly a problem behind your eardrum, either inflammation or blockage. Have you able to try a regular course of anti inflammatories?

[2pointfourmonkeys]

Arrgh, then i posted too soon too!
Meant to say, i do feel for you. I still have tinnitus following a sinus infection 3 years ago. I've found white noise or music helps cancel it out so i can get to sleep. Hope you find something that helps soon x

[HyggeTygge]

Please get it looked at asap. My brother got fobbed off by a gp saying it just needed syringing. He's now permanently deaf in one ear but the audiologist said he might've had a chance at saving it if he'd been seen earlier. This was ages ago before covid but following a medical incident.

[PetCheetah]

Hi, I had an illness in mid March that with hindsight might have been corona virus. I was deaf in my right ear for about 5 weeks but can hear again now so hopefully yours might clear on it's own too. (Not convinced I have my full sense of smell back though). You could try phoning your GP, they'll probably be able to give advice over the phone

[MountainPeakGeek]

I think you should get it checked out as soon as possible. DH had sudden single sided hearing loss but because it coincided with a severe cold, it was wrongly assumed to be temporary. He was prescribed strong steroids once the GP realised that his hearing loss in that ear was total, rather than partial, as that has been proven to occasionally help with reducing the severity of sudden senorineural hearing loss, but by then it was already past the very short window of there being any chance of it helping.

An MRI ruled out anything like a tumour or vascular cause, so that leaves the most likely cause as being a viral infection that has permanently damaged his auditory nerve.

OP - can you try this quick test for me, please, and it should help work out whether you're experiencing a conductive hearing loss (hopefully the case!) or whether it could actually be sensorineural hearing loss:

Acute conductive hearing loss is generally not an emergency, but acute SNHL absolutely is. A simple test can often make this distinction. The patient who reports acute unilateral hearing loss is instructed to hum out loud and is then asked which side hears the voice better. Conductive hearing loss will lateralize sound (seem louder) to the blocked ear, while a sensorineural loss will lateralize sound to the good ear. Thus, one can remember that “hearing the humming in the bad ear is good and hearing it in the good ear is bad.”

[Querlouse]

Wow thank you! I can hear the humming louder in my head with the bad ear, but louder outside with the good ear, if that helps?!

[HyggeTygge]

Mountain that is sad, similar to what happened with my brother - interesting. Did it occur after anything in particular other than the cold? In our case it was following major surgery. There are some theories as to something to do with this surgery being the likely cause.

[Querlouse]

Certainly humming out loud the good ear can hear it better, I think

[Querlouse]

The other odd thing is that all around the bad ear feels slightly numb.

[MountainPeakGeek]

Sorry OP. I don't know how to interpret what you're describing because I only cut and pasted something I'd found online (reputable medical site) and bookmarked after DH had already totally lost hearing in his left ear, so I can't even get him to try and compare his answer. He literally has no hearing at all on one side, so will only hear anything on his right side. That said, I think that your initial comment that it sounded louder inside your head on the bad side is what they're looking for as a good result...?

[MountainPeakGeek]

HyggeTygge No, nothing else. Literally just had a cold. He started describing his hearing in the affected ear as sounding metallic/robotic and took a couple of days to bother going to the doctor. The doctor looked in his ear and unfortunately it did have some visible fluid, so the doctor assumed that was the (temporary) cause but referred him for a hearing test as a formality. He went for the test the next day and there was no sign of fluid/congestion and he had significant loss of hearing on the bad side. Then during the course of the 3.5hr drive back home from the hearing test place (we're very remote) he realised he couldn't hear anything from that ear. He went back to the local doctor who tried to say that he still had some hearing in that ear (based on the faxed report) but DH was adamant that he didn't, so he went back the following day (another 7hr return trip) to be told that his left side hearing loss was now total/profound. It was then that he was given the high dose steroids, but that was far too late.

[gandalf456]

I'd get seen asap . I had something similar as a child

[Proudnana3]

How are you doing now op, I’ve have been told I have unilateral hearing and am waiting for an mri scan. I haven’t noticed any loss of hearing but had a hearing test because of bppv and discomfort around ear.

[Goolies]

How are you now @Proudnana3?