Nov
19
My friend has some sudden hearing loss?
By
dementors_suck asked:
My friend Dave suddenly lost the hearing in his right ear last night. He said it felt like his ear was plugging up & then all of a sudden he couldn’t hear anything. A little blood came out, too. It wasn’t better by today so he put some kind of drops in his ear which he said made it a little worse. He refuses to go to the doctor because he doesn’t have insurance. I don’t know what to tell him! He doesn’t even seem willing to research probable causes of this on the net like on Web MD. He seems to just want to freak out about it w/o doing anything!! Does anyone know what could be wrong w/ his ears??
My friend Dave suddenly lost the hearing in his right ear last night. He said it felt like his ear was plugging up & then all of a sudden he couldn’t hear anything. A little blood came out, too. It wasn’t better by today so he put some kind of drops in his ear which he said made it a little worse. He refuses to go to the doctor because he doesn’t have insurance. I don’t know what to tell him! He doesn’t even seem willing to research probable causes of this on the net like on Web MD. He seems to just want to freak out about it w/o doing anything!! Does anyone know what could be wrong w/ his ears??
2 Comments
November 19th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
It is impossible to tell, but it could be something simple like a wax plug, but as the ear has bled and no detail of what he was doing at the time. It could be anything from an injury to an infection. However, putting drops in it when there has been no assessment of the condition or the current level of damage is dangerous and could cause a problem in the long term. I know you say he has no insurance but surely there is an emergency medical scheme that would at least give an assessment. without this you and he are stuck!! He is in danger of permanent damage without seeking help. I hope you are able to persuade him to take some line of action rather than tampering with the ear which in all probability will exacerbate the problem. best wishes
November 21st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
If you have sudden hearing loss go to the ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat Doc) RIGHT AWAY!!!!!
I am an audiologist. Patients who come to the ENT right away find out what’s going on. If it’s wax, it can be removed in the office. If it’s an ear infection, they can get antibiotics. If it’s a sudden sensorineural hearing loss, treatment with steroids (usually prednisone) ASAP improves patients’ chances of recovering their hearing. It is also true that delaying treatment increases your risk of not recovering hearing.
Most organizations will write-off a certain amount of care to patients who aren’t able to pay. Many will help patients enroll in benefits programs for the future. For example, my employer has a patient advocate who even enrolls people in heating subsidy programs to help. HINT: Ask the doctor who to talk to, but don’t expect him/her to be the one who walks you through the whole process.
If he cares about his hearing, tell him to GO NOW. If he’s willing to have hearing loss or worse in one ear rather than talk to a professional about his circumstance, you can’t help hom.