I've been diagnosed with mild hearing loss :-( help please.

[geekgirl]

I've had problems with my ears since early December, when my hearing went 'funny' - impaired, echoey etc., on and off for a few days. It improved and then I got sinusitis at Christmas, which took 3 months to shift and really affected my left ear. I ended up with buzzing in my left ear, poor hearing on that side and so on, but eventually was just left with the buzzing, which also seems to have finally cleared up now.
Anyway, on Monday I finally went to see my GP about it all who said that my eardrums looked very healthy and referred me for a hearing test, which I nearly cancelled, thinking that everything was fine now anyway. Had the hearing test today and it's shown a mild loss in both ears across all frequencies. Apparently my hearing is like that of a 65 year old man

I am really quite gutted. I know I am fortunate in that the effect is restricted to making conversation in noisy places more difficult, but still... I'm only 32 Not sure what to do now. I suppose I need to make an appointment with my GP to discuss this further?

Poor you. I don't have any words of wisdom. I too am plucking up the courage to go for a hearing test as I'm sure that 2 years of ds3 screaming into my ears has damaged my hearing.
Good luck

Depends what the next step of the hearing test is. Did it show the type of loss (very often in NHS due to time constraints just the AC threshold is taken). If the loss shown is conductive then it may well improve or there may be a form of treatment.

If the loss is sensorineural, then it is permanant. The NHS will provide you with a hearing aid/pair of hearing aids. They are digital now and not rubbish or crap. However you will have no choice on the style/features. If you buy private you will have this choice.

I stil work in NHS and private sector. You do sound as if you need something, depending on your type of loss. Was the test in your GP surgery? If it was in the audiology dept of your hospital you should have been told what will happen next.

If it helps I have a mild hearing loss at all levels as well as almost total loss at high frequencies. This was discovered in my early 20's and I am now 30 (is genetic)
I was offered hearing aids but turned them down as it really doesn't affect my day to day life, my work (in a call centre) were aware and all knew to make sure I was sitting facing out to the room so people wouldn't speak to my back and think they were being ignored.
My friends who know understand that I ask them to repeat things occasionally if I haven;t caught them so that is not an issue.
DD1 doesn;t understand (or I think know) about it but will look at me if I need her to and we are out. Quite a few dont know about it though and find it weird that I hate phone calls as the constant 'say that again' if they mumble drives me nuts, but they live with it.
The biggest problems I have are if we are somewhere like soft play hell or the park and I can't hear one DD calling me so they need to be in my sight, but that's not too difficult.
I also have quite bad directional hearing, so if I am in teh car I can hear a siren but am never sure where it is and have to check all around to see where it is.
I can't hear doorbells, so we have a knocker, adn I can;t hear high pitched ringtones, so I don;t have one.

As a bonus, I cannot hear high pitched squealing from DD's so she got over that stage quite quickly

Sorry for waffle but I want you to know that this isn't the end of the world (and I mean that in the kindest 'I freaked out when I was diagnosed' way)

thanks folks. Feeling slightly less gutted & panicky today.
Carrielou, I had a pure tone audiogram done by the nurse at the GP surgery and she didn't do a bone conduction test or a tympanogram, so I am not sure whether it's conductive or sensorineural. Looking at the audiogram, it doesn't look like conductive, but then I'm no expert (I just have a dd with hearing loss).
I think I'll ask to be referred to audiology as the room wasn't soundproof etc.

geekgirl. i can relate to this. i still remember how upset and worried i was when i was diagnosed, aged 25. mine is one sided and i have tinitus the affected ear too. i tried a hearing aid for a year or so but found it more of a hassle so now i manage without.

I am like Jack - i make sure that people are not behind me, if i'm at a table or presentation, that my deaf ear is towards a wall and in class ( i'm a teacher) that the children are facing me when they talk. when i meet new people, eg at a wedding or something, i make sure they know so they dont think i'm ignoring them!

i hope you get a definite diagnosis from audiology and good luck.