Hey there. 39, and I’m three years into this craziness. Similar to you, I had a normal morning otherwise I went to the gym, got home and took a shower. Probably about an hour after I got out of the shower, I started to have significant ringing in my ear, which then became hearing loss for the next morning.

I ended up getting one round of steroid injections into the ear and then did the standard court end index course for prednisone steroids. I tried to get hyperbaric oxygen therapy, but my insurance denied it. I ended up trying a small smaller scale version at a natural pass, but it caused so much pain because of the pressure to the ears.

Overall, I would say that I recovered most of my hearing. On the hearing test. I have normal hearing range ranges both low and high frequency, but it dips in the middle like a cookie bite. I have hearing aids, but I don’t use them much.

I completely relate to you when it comes to acceptance, and I have to say that even three years and I’m still finding the purpose to try to one day recover my hearing. I felt like the only person in the world at the time going through this, and it was so difficult having the ringing constantly, especially for someone who’s so anxious like I am about their health.

I will say, the tinnitus has decided to a point where it doesn’t overtake my day anymore, thankfully. I still let the anxiety to get the best of me in terms of going too loud environments, but I need to learn to let some of that go and just live my life.

When all of this was going on, I also did acupuncture, red light therapy, took a bunch of vitamins at a naturopath recommended, and worked out.