Social Security Disability for 70db hearing loss in the 4k zone???????

The hearing is getting better after 2 months of steroids.

New ENT thinks it might be an allergy - had a $722 RAST blood test taken, awaiting results.

Bob

From the ultimate source of knowledge in the universe - Wikipedia <grin>:

A RAST test (short for radioallergosorbent test) is a blood test used to determine to what substances a person is allergic. This is different from a skin allergy test, which determines allergy by the reaction of a person's skin to different substances. ... A RAST test, using a person's extracted blood, detects the amount of IgE that reacts specifically with suspected or known allergens. IgE is the antibody associated with Type I allergic response: if a person exhibits a high level of IgE directed against pollen, the test may indicate the person is allergic to pollen (or pollen-like) proteins. A person who has outgrown an allergy may still have a positive IgE years after exposure. Because there are other tests that help with confirmation, results are best interpreted by a doctor.

Here is a follow up to my RAST test.

There are 20-some allergens that affect the inner ear, and the specific RAST test I took was for all of them. The tests showed that I am allergic to dust mites. Not the mites themselves but the discarded exoskeletons and their biological wastes.

My understanding of what the ENT told me is this; My body senses the presence of the foreign protein (dust mite debris) and thinks it is a foreign body invading me. It responds by activating my immune system and sending the "armies" out to defeat the perceived enemy. But the "enemy" is not alive and therefore can't be defeated. The result is quite a bit of inflammation in the area which in turn cuts of the blood supply to the tiny capillaries that feed the inner ear. Deprived of oxygen, some of the hair cells give up the ghost and go "belly up"

The ENT put me on an antihistamine Xyzal but I am in the 2% group that does not tolerate it well (somnolence and headaches) so I am on small does of Children's Dimetapp.

I've since had two instances where I think I was getting another "attack" (for lack of a better word). After three instances, I've learned to recognize the early symptoms as they affect me (YMMV). On waking, a loud two tone tinnitus in one ear with the lower tone changing volume with my pulse (my normal tinnitus is simply a soft to moderate hiss in both ears).

I waited about an hour to see if I could use biofeedback to make it go away and that didn't work. I didn't wait for the more extreme symptoms that follow, pressure in the ear, loss of high frequency hearing, and a kazoo like distortion. Instead I took an adult dose of Dimetapp and within a half hour the symptoms went away.

Now this could have been something other than a repeat of the SSHL, as I am not a doctor, I'm not qualified to make a diagnosis, and I didn't go in for a hearing test. But on the other hand, the only other three times in my life where I woke up with the two tone tinnitus, by 10 or 11 AM I had a case of SSHL that required lots of steroids to alleviate.

So I'm thinking that my new ENT is right on the money with his diagnosis while my old ENT (although he is world famous) missed the mark.

Time will tell.

It seems there is little I can do to repair the damage that the first 3 bouts of SSHL did to my ears, but I am happy to think that perhaps I can keep from having a return "attack".

Bob

Fortunately it now seems I won't have to make that decision.

However, during my darkest hour I was considering going on disability and using the income to support me while I wrote a book or two. I think I have the talent, and the income would have given me the time for study and writing.

I've been a musician most of my life, and I really don't want to give that up. I can still play, and I can still hear musical pitches. I cannot understand consonants all that well, but that isn't important while making music.

So I'm not thinking about disability anymore - I'd rather work and do what I do well.

Bob