Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Brush with Deaf
About four weeks ago I lost most of the hearing in my left ear. If I stuck my finger in my right ear, everything seemed to be coming down a bad telephone line. After ignoring this for about two weeks, as one does, I became aware that it was changing my life. I was avoiding crowded places and constantly shifting to get my right ear pointing in the direction of significant noise. I realised that I was becoming even more anti-social and was adjusting to a more locked in life, all on the basis of a loss of about a quarter of my hearing. Finally, I went to Bones. He gave me steroids which made me feel great but didn't work. Then, yesterday afternoon, came the consultant. In the morning I felt a strange movement accompanied by a kind of click in my left ear. I turned on Radio 4 and realised my hearing had returned. The consultant told me I was bloody lucky. What I had was Sudden Hearing Loss (I think I knew that). Nobody knows what causes it, though my man favoured a virus, and, in general, if it doesn't spontaneously remit within two weeks then you've got it for life. Mine remitted after almost four weeks. The good news was that it seldom returns. I'm telling you this for two reasons. First, I thought of that great headline. Secondly, the effect on my life of even such a minor handicap was so profound. Everything is so fragile - obvious I know but worth a reminder every now and then.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
"In the morning I felt a strange movement accompanied by a kind of click in my left ear."
ReplyDeleteWell I expect you are 'respecting' your particular machine a bit more today.
Bloody hell, Bryan, that's horrible and I'm very glad that you are no longer becoming a prisoner of the 'machine's' deficiencies. You're right: it is all so fragile, "like a thief in the night".
Very true, very true... Love that 'diagnosis' - what you had was clearly what afflicts so many of us off and on: One of Those Things. Damn good thing it went though.
ReplyDeleteGiven that we have so few senses, surely any sudden diminution would frighten the life out of one. Further, given that we all think of such loss as happening in much the same way as parental expectation, such drops change the angle of decent worryingly so.
ReplyDeleteNasty. I guess it would be really crap to lose music, but even worse to lose the ability to join in the general conversation. Hurry up, transhumanists, make us invincible you sods.
ReplyDeleteYup. Happened to me almost two years ago-- in my case, the hearing loss seems to be permanent, although I've lately regained a bit of sensitivity. The ENT I went to said he sees 20 to 30 cases a year. Also, confirmed my suspicion that "ideopathic" is doctor-ese for "WTF".
ReplyDeleteIndeed! And glad it worked out.
ReplyDeleteThe temptation is certainly to sneer, but it is probably helpful that the physicians have given it a name, even if they don't know what it is. At least there is a kind of witnessing, which, let us face it, is more helpful than 'no idea mate--you're on your own'. Perhaps they should go back to Latin names.
The sense of relief was palpable, it was felt up hear.
ReplyDeleteMutton Jeffness, for all of it's debilitating effect would, I suspect, have several not inconsequential benefits.
Not hearing the looming election twaddle, K.Wark, Clarkson, Sting etc. Yours at least, Bryan is a genuine malady unlike many with hearing difficulty, the one called selective deafness.
Horrible condition. My father was deaf in one ear all his life and I suppose it was accepted all too easily by people who didn’t understand what it meant for him. If he’d been totally deaf, they would have made more allowances. Because he was partially deaf, it was too readily assumed that he was being awkward or rude.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine's deaf in one ear. In company, he comes across as alternately day-dreamy and vehement. This disconcerts people but it's a direct product of his affliction: he's either on transmit or receive.
ReplyDeleteAll that Bryan reports fits with my experience, just add 'hissing' tinnitus. The right side of my hearing went suddenly 11 years ago and never returned. My consultant said "Hearing aid? Complete waste of time". I thought "bollocks!" and went for one anyway. Result: complete waste of time. One day, I'll listen. Then again, maybe not.
ReplyDelete