sudden hearing loss

[52ndtime]

Any advice would be great. One week ago, following stressful family news, I suddenly experienced a sensation of fullness and pressure in my ear, feeling as though there was liquid trapped inside. The sensation improved slightly when lying on my side but it continued to bother me a bit over the next few days.
Today, after receiving more stressful news, it has worsened significantly. I now have severe hearing loss in that ear and can barely hear anything on that side. It's bank holiday obviously tomorrow so no GP, has anyone experienced this before. What to do? Should I be worried my hearing won't come back on that ear?

how can I just ask for steroids - they'll say why? What do I tell them

Just go OP.

If you need more of a reason, imagine going tomorrow and them telling you we are sorry, nothing can be done now to reverse it. If you had only come in last night we could have helped you.
There are many reported cases of hearing loss remaining permanent. My friend is one of them. She caught a cold and thought her ears were just full from that, now she has permanent hearing loss in her left ear.

You say I've got acute sudden hearing loss and I'm worried it will be permanent. Please check it out and give me antibiotics and steroids

Could be wax or infection.. all treatable so get checked

Another saying sudden hearing loss is straight to A&E. I've got variable hearing due to medical condition and my consultant has been very firm that if I lose hearing suddenly it's an A&E job to get steroids as timing is critical to prevent permanent damage.

A and E now.
I didn't, and now have irreversible hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear.
Don't be me.

SSHL is scarily common, it was the same for DD (then aged 20). Went to bed completely fine and woke up the next morning with no hearing, tinnitus and a feeling of fullness in one ear. She described it as feeling like she had an AirPod stuck in her ear.

I arranged for her to see a private audiologist and GP on the same day - both fobbed her off and said it was just trauma from wax build up and would resolve on its own. I had a bad feeling however that something more was wrong and pushed for an ENT referral. The GP was reluctant and basically called DD and I overly anxious for asking. Said to stop consulting ‘doctor Google’..! Funnily enough doctor Google was indeed right - when we eventually got to see the ENT consultant (typically she lost hearing on a Friday so had to wait until Monday!) he confirmed the SSHL diagnosis and was furious that she hadn’t been sent to A&E to start steroids sooner.

It was a 3 day delay between losing hearing and starting the steroid course due to the GP/audiologist’s incompetence. I unfortunately do think this contributed to the fact that DD never regained full hearing and still struggles with higher frequency noise, alongside constant tinnitus. Wish I’d just trusted my gut and gone straight to A&E

@52ndtime Please go to A&E tomorrow!! You may need urgent referral to ENT.

A few years ago I had sudden hearing loss in one ear but I didn’t take it seriously and the GP just gave me antibiotics. Turns out I needed steroids but I didn’t realise how quick treatment is needed with hearing loss. 3 years later and I’m still deaf in one ear (permanently now obviously). Sudden hearing loss is serious and treatment is time sensitive. Quick treatment can recover hearing. I was lucky in the sense that steroids helped me go from being profoundly deaf to moderately deaf, but it was too late to recover all of my hearing and life has been an adjustment.

Wishing you all the best- hopefully it’s nothing but treat it very seriously just in case! X

My husband had this and it was a complete wax blockage of his ear easily fixed by wax removal.

Its either temporary (wax, infection), or sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

You can't tell without a hearing test and someone looking in your lug holes. Get to a doctor asap OP - this is one time where time can make a difference (with SSHL you need steroids asap). I have hearing loss and brutal tinnitus and it has really affected my life in a negative way.

Thank you everyone! I did go to A&E last night and the doctor on duty told me it was ear wax, lots of it. He very briefly attempted to remove some but didn't manage so suggested Earol. I'll pop to the pharmacy later, if they're open on bank holiday, and get some of that. What are views on professional ear wax removal, Specsavers offers this.

The only thing he thought was more unusual is the sudden onset of the symptoms. On the other hand, I had a similar sensation a few days ago and it got better after lying on my left side so maybe it wasn't that sudden? Is it best to make an appointment with private ENT specialist? I have Bupa.. or see the GP tomorrow if possible?

I'd definitely get the wax out asap and see if this helps things. If not, get in with an audiologist for a hearing test and ideally an ENT.

You need to have the wax removed before taking it further. Earol is olive oil and you should use it for a week or so before the appointment. Blocked ears can be painful and disorientating. Specsavers costs about £55 and you may find Bupa can offer microsuction with other providers.

I found Earex (from Boots) worked well. It was actually quite satisfying as after a couple of doses I could hear fizzing as the wax broke down.

Did the doctor on duty conduct a hearing test OP. I went suddenly deaf in one ear 5 years ago and the audiologist in Specsavers said it was wax and gave me drops. 5 days of drops and I still couldn't hear (& had awful reactive tinnitus - still do 😭) so I went to get the wax removed to be told I had no wax. Went to the GP who said it was congestion. Finally saw an ENT privately who said it was nerve damage and I had severe/profound loss in that ear. No idea why - possibly a viral infection though I had no pain. I got steroids but that was 3 wks laters so was too late. I think there are ways of testing your hearing with headphones, YouTube etc. It probably is wax but if you don't see any improvements I would see the GP.

Thank you, I will try and make a private appointment as soon as possible, hopefully this week. I'll start on the drop this evening. Is it a good idea or not to also have the wax removed perhaps before I see a specialist? I hope that Bupa will cover this for me, so I'll call the GP tomorrow get a referral asap.

The doctor on duty did not do a hearing test, other than clapping his hand next 2 my ear.

And very sorry @EatMoreChocolate44 to hear about the tinnitus and lasting damage.

The wax shouldn't make a big difference with a hearing test. I knew I couldn't hear anything through that ear whereas if you had wax you should still be able to hear a bit though muffled. If you feel like you can't hear anything go to your GP and ask for steroids to be on the safe side though GPs are a bit rubbish at knowing about sudden hearing loss. They might be able to conduct a basic hearing test or Specsavers might be able too. Don't want to worry you. My case was rare and in the vast majority of cases it is something simple like wax or congestion.

OP, you really need to push for a hearing test. It’s the only definitive answer - the GP & audiologist blamed DD’s hearing loss on wax. They were completely wrong. It took us a private ENT appointment and proper hearing tests for DD to get an actual diagnosis and appropriate treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

We have Bupa and they covered everything for DD - hearing tests, ENT consultant, specialised steroid injections into her eardrum, an MRI to check that nothing more sinister was going on etc (can rarely be a brain tumour symptom). If your cover is anything like ours then you can get a virtual GP appointment on the Bupa app and just ask them for a referral - they’re very good and it’ll be much quicker than going through your NHS GP. Time is really of the essence here

Thank you to everyone on this thread for your support.
I went to see the audiologist privately today (managed to email the clinic yesterday and got offered an appointment today). He confirmed it was wax and resolved it with microsuction and it feels completely fine now, I can hear again on that ear and that awful feeling of fulness is gone. The day and half of using Earol was enough to make it work and I was told to use Earol with my other ear for a few days and see him next week to get that sorted too.

He agreed that it was good I had my ear seen to as soon as possible on Sunday to rule out other causes.

Thank you especially to everyone suffering from diminished hearing for kindly sharing your experiences and urging me to deal with it.