Colds lead to deafness and loss of other senses

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zephren

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Hello everyone,

Like some of you I have a progressive hearing loss which is now severe-profound. Most of the time it is unclear what causes a decline - just gradually over time I notice certain sounds are no longer there and/or I am struggling more.

Other times the cause is after a really bad cold/flu especially if there was a fever and an ear infection. When this first started about 20 years ago doctors seemed to think a cold/flu could only cause temporary deafness nothing permanent so my condition was odd. Only recently have I found that some are acknowledging that this is more common than first thought. Has anyone else experienced this?

Another thing that has been happening over the past 5 years or so is that as my hearing declines my sense of smell also drops. It seems odd in there is an expectation that when you lose one sense your other senses enhance to compensate.

I have always had a great sense of taste. I could go to a restaurant, taste a dish, and identify all of the ingredients so I can recreated it at home. Since a large part of taste comes from your smell receptors as my ability to smell reduces so does my sense of taste. Over the summer I caught a really bad virus with flu-like conditions that had me laid up for a few weeks. For about two months afterward nearly all food didn't have any taste at all. Most of the taste has come back as some of my smell sense returned but it is not the same as before. Has anyone else had other senses decline rather than enhance?

I realize there is a reason doctors are ENT because the ear, nose and throat work in tandem so a problem with one can also effect the others.
 
When I have a bad cold it effect my hearing and I can't taste food very good . Once my cold is gone I can taste food again and my hearing is back to the little I do have.
 
My wife actually gets very panicky about me getting colds. When my hearing drops it does not come back. The smell and taste come back but not to what it was before.

I was hard of hearing when I met my wife. I had said at the time I might be completely deaf eventually. She seemed ok with it and has been learning ASL. I am finding that she is really scared about it. I guess I should have known that.
 
zephren said:
My wife actually gets very panicky about me getting colds. When my hearing drops it does not come back. The smell and taste come back but not to what it was before.

I was hard of hearing when I met my wife. I had said at the time I might be completely deaf eventually. She seemed ok with it and has been learning ASL. I am finding that she is really scared about it. I guess I should have known that.
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WOW ! That is not very helpful to you her being panicky every time you get a cold. What is there to be scare of if you do go deaf ? You'll still be the same person you just won't be able to hear . This sound very stressful to live with to me. I know I am losing more hearing as I get older and I lost some hearing from an auto accident I was in . Did the doctor say why you hearing doesn't come back after you have a cold ?
 
I can understand why his wife is 'panicky' and scared. It's a normal feeling even though it may have happened over time or later. She might have figured that it would be a LONG time (as in when they're in their 80s or something) before he became totally deaf... not so much sooner.

You and I, wdys, know that being or becoming deaf doesn't change who we are( most of the time-- it seemed to have changed caz's husband...), so does Zeph but his wife is not used to the idea- she's afraid of how much drastically it may or may not change their lives.

All I can suggest Zeph is to reassure her that things will be okay- you have the ASL, and there are so many other ways as well. Maybe find out exactly why she feels that way- perhaps worrying about you in social situations when you get to the point of zero or unusable hearing...

I've heard of some folks becoming HOH or deaf from fevers but not from a cold- maybe repeated colds...with very small drops in loss...
 
The doctors don't know why it doesn't come back. I just know this is so from experience. In the cold I had over the summer back in June, I had a big hearing drop. The smell and taste came back mostly but the hearing loss is unchanged. This is the usual pattern where if the hearing drops it doesn't come back. My wife had the same cold at the same time and she didn't have any lasting effects.

During a sickness a few years ago where there was also an ear infection, there was a lot of swelling, pain, and some discharge from my ears. After everything cleared my regular doctor sent me to an ENT. I was think there was blockage or something going on. Nope, hearing had dropped. He even showed me the on the screen with an otoscope that everything was clear in the canal.

Yes, it does add some stress. I do try to reassure her that I am still me : ). Yes, I think you are dead on that it is the sudden and quickness of it that are the scary part for her. ASL does help yet is also adds some additional stress for her. She has some learning disabilities where her she has trouble with memory. She has been learning ASL for about 3 years but she needs a lot of repetition to retain new information and quickly forgets it. Some of her worry is in part concerned that she won't be able to learn enough to be fluent. She actually does better than she thinks so I am less worried about our ability to communicate. I tried to let her know she is doing well but it doesn't always bring calm.

Don't get me wrong, we are not living in a constant state of stress. We have a good relationship.
 
zephren said:
The doctors don't know why it doesn't come back. I just know this is so from experience. In the cold I had over the summer back in June, I had a big hearing drop. The smell and taste came back mostly but the hearing loss is unchanged. This is the usual pattern where if the hearing drops it doesn't come back. My wife had the same cold at the same time and she didn't have any lasting effects.

During a sickness a few years ago where there was also an ear infection, there was a lot of swelling, pain, and some discharge from my ears. After everything cleared my regular doctor sent me to an ENT. I was think there was blockage or something going on. Nope, hearing had dropped. He even showed me the on the screen with an otoscope that everything was clear in the canal.

Yes, it does add some stress. I do try to reassure her that I am still me : ). Yes, I think you are dead on that it is the sudden and quickness of it that are the scary part for her. ASL does help yet is also adds some additional stress for her. She has some learning disabilities where her she has trouble with memory. She has been learning ASL for about 3 years but she needs a lot of repetition to retain new information and quickly forgets it. Some of her worry is in part concerned that she won't be able to learn enough to be fluent. She actually does better than she thinks so I am less worried about our ability to communicate. I tried to let her know she is doing well but it doesn't always bring calm.

Don't get me wrong, we are not living in a constant state of stress. We have a good relationship.
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You can always write things down or text one another when you have having a hard time using ASL. I am getting forgetful from old age so I can relate to this. I am sure you both will be able to work something out .
I hope you can find out what going with your hearing . I don't use ASL, I did learn some but forget it b/c I had no one to use it with. Do you both use ASL when talking to one another? It sound like you have a very lovely marriage . :)
 
We use whatever works. Right now I can still catch some speech and lipread well but we switch to ASL or writing when I don't understand. I know we could avoid a lot of frustration with repeated speech by going to writing or ASL more quickly so that is something we need to work on.
 
I have read that sometimes chronic or other respiratory issues can lead to SN loss.

I'm wondering if you made some ASL flashcards and/or added visual reminders to any ASL-learning aids <assuming your wife can see> and just had those learning aids attached to household items, Zephren?

I also have learning disabilities, anything number-related in ASL is harder for me. Part of my LD relates to physical manipulatives and spatial orientation so <example - for you as a dog person> putting on a no-pull type harness is very hard for me to do, as I can be shown - and have been - numerous times - but don't process the information well and don't retain it. My girls have been using harnesses for years and I still get them mixed up when I put them on; each time it's like figuring it out anew. I'm a very visual learner and tend to think in pictures.

I know everyone is different, just a thought I had.

I <hoh>became aware my hearing had changed maybe about 7/8 years back; my hub < his background-Rubella Syndrome>oral deaf/hoh, raised Hearing. No sign. I sign more than he does though it's still very little and poorly. He also has been worried at times about my becoming more hoh or more" Deaf-minded", that it would change who I am and our relationship. I try to say that it could add to the relationship.

I'm wondering too if there's any mixed hearing/deaf socials or gatherings where there might be"mixed" <hearing/deaf> couples she could see having a good time and interacting - some way for her to find a peer in another female <?>spouse or half of a couple who is experiencing this?

Or you could have a little. more cozy "learning ASL party" at your own home with interested friends so it'd be more like "everyone learn together" kiinda thing?
 
dogmom said:
I have read that sometimes chronic or other respiratory issues can lead to SN loss.

I'm wondering if you made some ASL flashcards and/or added visual reminders to any ASL-learning aids <assuming your wife can see> and just had those learning aids attached to household items, Zephren?

I also have learning disabilities, anything number-related in ASL is harder for me. Part of my LD relates to physical manipulatives and spatial orientation so <example - for you as a dog person> putting on a no-pull type harness is very hard for me to do, as I can be shown - and have been - numerous times - but don't process the information well and don't retain it. My girls have been using harnesses for years and I still get them mixed up when I put them on; each time it's like figuring it out anew. I'm a very visual learner and tend to think in pictures.

I know everyone is different, just a thought I had.

I <hoh>became aware my hearing had changed maybe about 7/8 years back; my hub < his background-Rubella Syndrome>oral deaf/hoh, raised Hearing. No sign. I sign more than he does though it's still very little and poorly. He also has been worried at times about my becoming more hoh or more" Deaf-minded", that it would change who I am and our relationship. I try to say that it could add to the relationship.

I'm wondering too if there's any mixed hearing/deaf socials or gatherings where there might be"mixed" <hearing/deaf> couples she could see having a good time and interacting - some way for her to find a peer in another female <?>spouse or half of a couple who is experiencing this?

Or you could have a little. more cozy "learning ASL party" at your own home with interested friends so it'd be more like "everyone learn together" kiinda thing?
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All great ideas. Thank you!

She doesn't have any vision issues. She does have a similar issue with numbers and spatial orientation. It has been interesting as we practice, I had not noticed how often numbers come up in regular conversation (time, counting, money, etc.) that I am much more conscious of now.

Many of the socials we attend there is a mixed group but not mixed couples. That kind of support could be helpful.

I ask her if the flashcards would be beneficial.
 
dogmom said:
I have read that sometimes chronic or other respiratory issues can lead to SN loss.

I'm wondering if you made some ASL flashcards and/or added visual reminders to any ASL-learning aids <assuming your wife can see> and just had those learning aids attached to household items, Zephren?

I also have learning disabilities, anything number-related in ASL is harder for me. Part of my LD relates to physical manipulatives and spatial orientation so <example - for you as a dog person> putting on a no-pull type harness is very hard for me to do, as I can be shown - and have been - numerous times - but don't process the information well and don't retain it. My girls have been using harnesses for years and I still get them mixed up when I put them on; each time it's like figuring it out anew. I'm a very visual learner and tend to think in pictures.

I know everyone is different, just a thought I had.

I <hoh>became aware my hearing had changed maybe about 7/8 years back; my hub < his background-Rubella Syndrome>oral deaf/hoh, raised Hearing. No sign. I sign more than he does though it's still very little and poorly. He also has been worried at times about my becoming more hoh or more" Deaf-minded", that it would change who I am and our relationship. I try to say that it could add to the relationship.

I'm wondering too if there's any mixed hearing/deaf socials or gatherings where there might be"mixed" <hearing/deaf> couples she could see having a good time and interacting - some way for her to find a peer in another female <?>spouse or half of a couple who is experiencing this?

Or you could have a little. more cozy "learning ASL party" at your own home with interested friends so it'd be more like "everyone learn together" kiinda thing?
Click to expand...

Dogmom I was going to suggest flashcards in my post , the OP could print ASL signs from his computer and paste the paper onto 3x5 index cards if they're big enough.
 
:) no problem, Zephren! Hope things go on well for you both...any questions as it relates to LD you can ask me outright here or PM, I'm open to either.

:wave:WDYS, yeah the index cards are good too!
 
My hearing looks like it's been getting worse (audiologist refused to get old audiograms to compare) and I have noticed colds seem to make it worse. I'm always unsure whether it fully recovers afterwards - a comparison of my audiograms looks to me like it has got worse (20dB difference between 2011 and 2015). But then, I so often have colds or allergies that I just can't tell.

I've never noticed it decrease at any other time, but maybe it's been creeping down.

I have been quite anxious about losing more hearing because I'm rubbish at making new friends and know from experience that trying to teach hearing friends to sign is futile. At least I'll have my wife, who is learning to sign in part because there's always the possibility my hearing will decrease but mostly because we agree that if our children are deaf/HoH we will teach them BSL/English bilingualism.
 
appleeater said:
My hearing looks like it's been getting worse (audiologist refused to get old audiograms to compare) and I have noticed colds seem to make it worse. I'm always unsure whether it fully recovers afterwards - a comparison of my audiograms looks to me like it has got worse (20dB difference between 2011 and 2015). But then, I so often have colds or allergies that I just can't tell.

I've never noticed it decrease at any other time, but maybe it's been creeping down.

I have been quite anxious about losing more hearing because I'm rubbish at making new friends and know from experience that trying to teach hearing friends to sign is futile. At least I'll have my wife, who is learning to sign in part because there's always the possibility my hearing will decrease but mostly because we agree that if our children are deaf/HoH we will teach them BSL/English bilingualism.
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You a right to see all of your medical records your audi can't refuse to let you see them, or does another audi have your old audiograms? If yes call them and see what you have to do get them send to your house or pick them up if possible.
 
Not that I wish this on others but it is reassuring to know others have experienced this. Many still think colds cannot cause permanent loss but it does in some.

Like WDYS said try to get your old audiogram yourself. Also, if your current Audi is not helpful get a copy of your current audiogram and your other one and try to find someone more helpful if you have the option to choose your own doctor or get a second opionion where you are.
 
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