PERSONAL STORY
When My Tinnitus Went Viral, Life Changed By Yvonne Sopp
Two and a half years ago, a virus completely changed my life. It wasn’t named or feared or tracked like Covid-19. It was a normal bug, a common-seeming affliction, especially for someone like me who works as a preschool teacher’s aide. In fact, the only reason I sought medical attention while I was sick was because I was also experiencing a hissing and a sense of fullness in my left ear. I was leaving for Christmas vacation in a few days and wanted to feel better before I left. The nurse practitioner I saw at Urgent Care told me there was fluid in my ear and prescribed antibiotics. No worries, just an ordinary thing. I had an enjoyable vacation, but once home — despite feeling better in general — the hissing noise in my ear persisted. When I finally saw an ENT after the holidays and my hearing was tested, I was told I had experienced sudden hearing loss in my left ear, most likely brought on by a virus. I honestly didn’t have any sense that my hearing had 36
TINNITUS TODAY SUMMER 2020
been damaged. Moreover, it was so out of the realm of my thoughts that my hearing loss would be permanent that I actually wasn’t particularly upset upon hearing the news. I thought I would be prescribed something to fix it, and I would be back to feeling normal soon. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. After several courses of steroids, antiviral medication, an MRI to rule out a tumor affecting my hearing, and finally an injection of steroids straight through my eardrum by a specialist, however, it was concluded that the virus had permanently damaged some of the hair cells in my inner ear. Nothing could be done to reverse my hearing loss and resulting tinnitus. I learned later that with sudden hearing loss, time is of the essence and it should be considered a medical emergency, similar to if you woke up one morning unable to see. If treated with steroids within the first month of sudden hearing loss, the hair cells have a reasonable chance of healing and hearing can often be restored.
Unfortunately, that window of time passed for me before I received the most aggressive steroid treatment, and my hearing loss and tinnitus are most likely a permanent part of my life. The tinnitus I experience is a constant hissing — like the whooshing sound you hear when you put your ear up to a large seashell or listen to a white noise machine. It never goes away, but it does get louder and more intense with stress, anxiety, fatigue, and exposure to loud environments. When the tinnitus gets more severe, I often experience an ache in my ear, which may be hyperacusis, although that hasn’t been diagnosed. When I first understood that my situation was most likely permanent, I felt tremendous regret and sadness. Because I might have been able to heal if I had been diagnosed properly in the beginning, I felt a level of responsibility for what I was going through. What if in the beginning I had seen my primary care doctor instead
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