Does stress make hearing loss worse?

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stephaniep

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I hosted a little birthday party this weekend and found my hearing is worse. I have had hearing loss for some time now and soon I have to return to the Audio;ogist and then the ENT regarding cochlear implants, but for some reason she wanted me to lose all my hearing first. I'm almost there. My husband posed a good question today, asking why sometimes my hearing is a little better and other times it's worse and I can't make out anything. We text daily in order to communicate. . I can still hear sound coming from him but can't make out anything he says? I found the weekend quite distressing. Lots of noise, lots of feedback. People getting in my face thinking if they come right up to me and yell, I will hear what they are saying?. I asked someone to turn down the volume on the TV but they said the TV volume was turned right down? I felt like I was going crazy.; I traced the sound back to someone who was chattering and being noisy nearby. I heard a lot of what I didn't want to hear, voices and sounds I couldn't make out, they know I can't hear but go into a full conversation that I'm attempting to hear, and lots of texting between people because I could not hear voices clearly to communicate with them? I've become loud because I can barely hear my own voice when I'm trying to respond? I am familiar with some of this, but this weekend felt like I was losing it, because there were too many sounds, too many people talking, too much attempted communication? I was tired of hearing it all? Does anyone else get badly stressed with their hearing, like I did this weekend? Do you find you need quiet or am I losing it?
 
Don't know I don't stress, but sometimes I think I hear something I'm not suppose to hear, sometime it's just in my head, sometime I'm pretty sure I heard it like the ticking of a clock, that's not one of my tinnitus sounds, but yah my hearing (such as it is) has bad days and not so bad, whenever I go for my hearing test seems to be not so bad, my audiologist always says I did good, whatever that means? :hmm:
 
For me it's not that stress causes my hearing to get worse, it's that I rely on non-audio cues a lot. Such as reading lips, guessing from context, from gestures, facial expressions, etc. Sometimes I myself don't realize just how much I rely on these thing. For example, since everyone started wearing masks - my ears are same as before, but I "hear" a lot less, because I wasn't actually hearing, I was lip-reading. So all these non-auditory cues - of course they are harder to read at a party full of people, as opposed to in a quiet room one on one with a spouse. So to other people it would seem like my hearing fluctuates, sometimes it's better and other times it's worse. While in reality it's different environment, not fluctuating hearing. And of course when I can't figure out what people are saying to me - I get stressed out...
 
Thank you Old Anolog and manya-hoh I forgot to mention that I have tinnitus with my hearing loss as well, and I do know Stress makes that worse, for me anyways. . I think though with the weekend party, (children involved as well) it was too much noise and commotion and I was trying to hear everyone at the same time? Also since I can no longer hear my own voice like I use to, I raise my voice a lot to try to get a person's attention or be a part of something,, so between that and trying to listen, it's all tiring. I look for cues of hands and gestures and facial expressions, sometimes it feels like playing charades? I just hope no one walked away thinking I was losing it. Also manya, I definitely guess a lot or try to make it out, when a person says something, sometimes they look at me and know I didn't hear them? I never thought of it but I think we all read lips a little, even if we aren't trained in reading lips. I know I watch people's lips when they are talking and now with the masks that I and others wear out in public, that part is hidden to me? However it wasn't the cause the other day because the people who attended, were known to us, and weren't wearing masks? I really do better in a quiet room with one on one, and watch that person's lips and do seem to get more out of the conversation, little bits I even hear, but I do admit they text and write things down so that is so helpful. I should mention after everyone left and a good nights sleep I feel a lot better now.
 
Read through late onset deafness under Our World Our culture, might give you some? soloist, and don't know where it's at but, ? are you embarrassed by your deafness :hug:
 
Thank you Old Analog, I will do that. No, not embarrassed, just angry, frustrated, that I don't feel a part of things I enjoyed before. like people and communication. Still communicate by Text and paper, but it's not the same, Some days are worse than others. Guess I have to accept my new self for what I am?
 
Stress can do interesting things to people. And in my experience when stress is just too much at work, life or whatever I take a me day. No one is going to find me anytime soon. Not before I am ready to show up again. Might be a week.

Used to be a sailboat on the bay in a few places around the USA in ocean coastal waters. I would sometimes pay a rate for a day aboard learning what I can doing work on the ropes. The sheer need to follow the captian, crew and work on something that is foreign to me completely removes my stress. Horseboack in the mountains, Harpers Ferry had a small horse operation... comes to mind. When I am involved in something that is nothing whatsoever to do with the source of the stress long enough there is no more stress. It all goes away.

Grew up in a tavern, disco situation near Baltimore in my time. From the 70's into the 80's part of the family was involved in that livelhood. When the bar has 100 people talking and having a good social and drinking with the games and jukebox plus TV going and the dining room full of hammers going on the cooked crab from families enjoying their side of the place it gets to me.

I always seek out quiet without fail. I might be gone a while. But quiet I will find. There are places. Sometimes the forms of quiet in trucking takes a interesting situation and that completely removes me from the stressor. For example one night in McAlester Ok there was a local carnival and the people were particularly good there so I was part of that for a while. Played a few games and so on. Yes it was noisy with those engines roaring at the rides and screaming kids but its expected. The root stressor which happened to be a fuel filter issue earlier that day caused a dispatcher to abuse me when his schedule went out the window because of it. Took me a while to not be angry with him. Its important to get rid of that. (And fix the blessed filter, three big ones on that CAT.)

Once in a great while during Chemo with the ex when we endured her cancer years ago, I would have had to drive her. And its NOT welcome. What with the IV red devil and several other poisons they are about to inject into her. Talk about stress. It actually affected my driving one day and I pulled over and roared at her with profanity. At that moment we were not going to make it due to the stress of that day with the chemo. But in the end the chemo was done, I hauled her home and spent like the next week doing a whole stack of honey do work on purpose to make her somewhat happy once she healed from that poison. But she did good from that week on to complete the whole thing in a couple of months when it came to me driving her to and from. Cancer is a bad thing. Very destructive in many ways. She still works with me in real life as a team even though we have had many years since then.

Stress? HA. I laugh at stress. However with the loss in body situation or senses during times of bad stress? Thats never good. I usually go the opposite way and overload on all of it plus a slowdown in time itself where it's really hard to force yourself to do something physically. And to others I am moving quite fast. I hate that but recognize that as my own response to proper stressors that matter. When its all over I go find quiet. Or get into something completely unrelated to the problem that caused that bad time.

When I was a student in middle school they did not do well with stressors and required every little thing. I eventually reached a point that they can all go stuff it. Hearings and Deaf. All of it. And quit participating in group class stuff. Most of the regulars understood me and left me be, Ill be fine tomorrow. But the teachers and staff did not leave it and created more problems involving the parents in the whole mess. There was no way to eliminate the stress. It finally expressed itself in certain actions that provoked proper medicines and quiet from doctors who diagnosed the problem back then. I am awesome short term. But weeks and months of stress? Forget it. Hand me a bottle of whiskey and a cigar, we take care of that right quick. =)

The hearing? Well age takes care of that, for me I lose the high side over years. Hearing aids are still able to be matched to whats left. Its not all lost on the hearing chart. There will be a day in about 20 years or so give or take that the hearing probably will fail all together, that itself is not a problem. I can do both hearing or deaf. The problems begin when people do not work well with either/or.
 
Thank you for sharing. You are right, it is possible to remove yourself from stress. A few years ago, I was highly stressed and when I learned of a trip I was to take, it made it even worse. I went with a panic attack. During the course of being away for the 2 weeks, I totally relaxed, I don't think I thought more than briefly once or so of the stress I left behind? I totally shut it out. When it was time to return I didn't want to go home. Yes, it did give the mind a well needed break and the rest the mind needed to give me the strength to carry on. I graduated from Hearing Aids to a Cochlear implant. I'm just in the beginning stage learning how to hear again. All is well so far.
 
You're so brave! Keep moving on, Stephanie. When I started to lose hearing, I pulled myself away from social interactions. I just stopped talking as much as I used to because I felt embarrassed by constantly repeating what I said. I'm afraid this issue has lead to severe anxiety and depression. Although I've got a hearing device, social isolation didn't go away. However, I would really like to express my gratitude to Doctor B. from fherehab.com for teaching me how to control my anxiety and panic disorder. Even though I was hesitant to begin counseling, she helped me realize that I can train my mind to view things differently.
 
To me, When I instantly remove stress, I get Ocular vision. Kundulini documents claims a part of the mind becomes empty (empty mind) and you don't see things that are really there. Might want to bring some of that stress back.
 
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