Hi, my name is ET (Elizabeth). For all practical purposes, I am deaf in my left ear and have profound hearing loss in my right. What hearing I do have in the right has been hampered by nerve damage. This causes me to “live in Charlie Brown’s classroom”.
I have Meneire’s Disease (aka: Morbus Meniere or MM ). No, it is not contagious. There is no known cause, nor any known cure for this disease. It attacks your balance, your hearing (to some degree) or both. Vertigo (this is where the world is spinning out of control and you are standing still, it can be quite unsettling) is another aspect of MM.
People with MM that have major vertigo attacks often end up worshipping the "royal thrown". They have a hard time just walking and many of them spend days in bed (either with the actual vertigo attack or the aftermath). I have been lucky in that respect and my attacks last for only a few minutes, if that at all. I have not been able to walk a straight line in two years without concentrating and I have heard that some people think I am mad when I am walking. This is not the case at all, I am just trying to walk the best way that I know how, without looking like I have been drinking or bumping into walls. Stress is also a factor with MM and can bring on an attack.
As I have stated, hearing loss is common with MM, closely followed by Tinnitus (sounds in the ear that do not exist except in the brain). For me, I hear whines, hums, chirping, cicadas, etc. (one ear has had the sound of a weed eater that never runs out of gas) and lately, I hear heartbeats and planes taking off (before this happens, I can lose hearing altogether until departure time). Oh, and recently I have added a full mariachi band as well as sci-fi sound effects. The Tinnitus is 24/7 and for this reason I no longer sleep through the night. Through all the testing, they also found that I have a genetic link to early hearing loss, but no autoimmune problems that can be detected and no other known reason for my sudden hearing loss.
If my hearing continues to deteriorate, I have been told that I am a good candidate for a Cochlear Implant. So, who knows what the future holds? Being hard of hearing has so many levels that people with “normal” hearing just don’t seem to understand. If I said I was deaf, you would know that I heard nothing. If I said I was blind, you would know that I saw nothing. But, when I say I am hard of hearing, you have no clue as it differs from person to person.
Update:
Well, I am now at almost zero speech comprehension in my “good ear” so I am going to have a Cochlear Implant. I have done all the tests (and flunked them) and should find out my surgery date within the next few days. I will be out for a minimum of one week, then it will take 4 to 6 weeks for the swelling to go down and the healing to finish. Once that is done, I will be “activated” but it will take a while for me to be able to understand speech again, if it works.
I am so excited!!
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