Sorry I couldn’t find a medical advice community so I hope I can ask this here.
My hearing is getting worse in one ear. I made an internet search and it appears to be something called Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Problem is, right now it’s almost 9:30 PM where I live…
Should I go right now to the ER right now, or wait till tomorrow morning?
My mom is tired from having to take my dad to the hospital for some intestines infection, so I think she doesn’t want to be bothered to go again today. I already told her and she said she’ll take me to the ER tomorrow morning. Does a 12 hour delay matter? I don’t want to insist going right now because she and I aren’t really having good family relations. Also going to the ER in the middle of the night is a bit scary. I’m terrified of night time.
Also could my dad’s problems with the intenstines infection have somehow something to do with my hearing issues? I’m kinda afraid its some sort of airborne virus. 😟
ebits21@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Audiologist here.
We treat it like a medical emergency. Reason being if it is a sudden sensorineural loss then they would start you on Prednisone asap. It may help to preserve your hearing.
We think it needs started within a few weeks but earlier is probably better.
That being said, it might not be a sudden sensorineural loss. A hearing test would tell you.
In my experience having seen many actual sudden sensorineural losses over the years, the treatment doesn’t necessarily help in many cases. It’s a last ditch effort really to preserve what we can. Personally, I would probably just wait for morning but I would tell a patient to go immediately.