Hi,
I hope this is an appropriate post for this group. I have asked this
question over at alt.support.hearing-loss but have had no response there. My
question is "What can I do during or after a head cold to reduce the chances
that the cold will damage my hearing?". I have read on the a.s.h.l. ng that
many people, me included, have sustained hearing loss during a simple head
cold. I had a nasty head cold about a year ago, and developed tinnitus, and
ever since the head cold have had to turn up the tv louder, etc. Had my
hearing tested, have a 30 percent loss in upper freq.
I want to know what happens to some of us during head colds to damage our
hearing. The cold virus itself attacking the ear ? Congestion leading to
bacterial infection in the ear ? A cutoff of blood supply to the ear? An
auto-immune reaction to the cold virus (or allergen) that attacks the ear ?
There's got to be at least some professional speculation about this. Perhaps
we could be taking antibiotics, or steroids, or some other medicine during our
head colds to prevent or minimize hearing loss. My ENT dismisses the idea of a
head cold causing my hearing loss, even though I told him about the tinnitus
developing during the cold. He thinks it's just from noise exposure.
Thanks in advance for any answers, or referrals to other info sources !!
