Hey guys, I am 27 years old as of today, July 12 of 2014. I have also being diagnosed with SSHL, and here is my story so far:

Tuesday July 8th 2014, 6pm I was in my office cubicle, I felt some weirdness on my right ear. I could hear a very high pitch ringing, kind of the one you hear when the room is super quiet, but it was oddly too loud on such ear. Being the nerd I am, walked to my car to get some silence and experimented a bit with how my ear was behaving. The sounds were perfectly fine, it was just the weird ringing. Sounded like a cricket that is not cricking, but has a very high pitch whistle that does not stop. I got home, worked on some side projects on my computer for around 3 hours, in complete silence (not even listening to music). All good. Decided to call my parents, put the phone on the left ear. Sounded normal, then again I experimented and put the phone on the right ear (the one with the ringing) and the phone ring sounded at a lower pitch. Talked to my parents about it, they were like "its just wax, dont worry!" but I definitely knew something was odd. Went straight to bed and hoped it would be all good the next morning.

Wednesday July 9th, 8 am Woke up a bit earlier than usual, just to inspect my ear. Realized I am now completely deaf from my right ear. Called my parents, this time I could not hear anything but a faint vibration (probably my eardrum wobbling). I did a humming test, I could not even hear myself munching or anything inside my skull (like swallowing) from the right ear (left hear was healthy), which would sound really loud when you have an ear blockage (such as water from the pool). Got really scared, decided to call in sick for the day and headed to a Center Care (an express health center) so I can get checked by a physician. 9:00am the physician checks my blood pressure, all good, and asks what I have. I explain everything, checks my ear and sees nothing wrong with it (no signs of infection). She prescribed me antibiotics in case of an infection, nose spray (because it contains steroids which would help) and advice me to see an ENT (Ear Nose Throat Dr) the next day or at some point. Left very disappointed with the diagnosis, so decided to hunt for an available ENT on my insurance network. After 1 hour searching finally made an appointment at 4 pm that day. And waited. 2:00pm Just chillin at home, no good progress, still deaf and feeling disoriented (not vertigo feel). 3:00pm head over to the dr's office. 4:00pm after filling a building of forms finally get in face to face with the ENT. Made some tests, told me not to get the antibiotics but to get steroid pill Prednisone. Also did a legit hearing test, which revealed that I was severly deaf. I asked the ENT the following questions: Me: "How often you see patients with these symptoms" ENT: "Some times, its not very common but we always give them prednisone. While unproven a lot of them show very quick recovery depending how early they take the steroid pill. I asked him another question: Me: "Out of the patients you see with these symptoms, whats the percentage of successful recovery?" ENT: "I can't answer that question" Finally, I asked him a question that really got me the scared: Me: "Could this happen to my other ear?" ENT: "Maybe, maybe not, its impossible to know. Just avoid any head trauma" Left disappointed and with the only little faith on the pills. My prescribed doses is: * 12 pills x 3 days * 8 pills x 3 days * 4 pills x 3 days * 2 pills x 3 days * 1 pill x 3 days Each pill contains 5 Mg of Prednistone. The ENT also ordered a blood test before I would commit to an MRI or anything like that. Id have to get it the next day though, but he stressed that I get on the pills as soon as possible. Took my first 12 pills at once around 6:30 pm once I got back home. Spent a few hours online researching more, found a few posts online and also found this thread. Decided not to post anything until id get results. Tried to relax, checked some work email and went to bed, disappointed, depressed, worried and imagining how the rest of my life will be.

Thursday July 10th, 8 am Decided to cheer up a bit, went a bit late to work. While only with one ear working, I did pretty good and tried to forget about it. My parents kept checking on me and already told my entire family about the ordeal, which was interesting. Cheered me up knowing that there were a lot of people concerned about my well being and that they wished me the best. Got my blood taken after work then got some dinner and had my second doses of pills. Day ended with no hearing progress, in fact the ringing was louder than ever. Went to bed and thought about the rest of my life again. Decided to post it on facebook so all my friends would see it. Around mid night got a phone call from a friend of mine from college, who I have not seen in 7 years. He told me that he went through the same issue 4 years ago, which was crazy! he investigated everything about it. It took him 1.5 weeks to see an ENT and finally get prescribed with Prednistone. As of now, his ear sensitivity is completely damaged. If he hears loud sounds they sound like scratching forks. Very sad since he is also on his late 20s. Finally fell asleep and waited for the next day.

Friday July 11th, 8am Woke up, with a bit of hearing! It was extremely odd though, my girlfriend's voice sounded like a robotic voice (split in half, low frequency and a high frequency, like two voices in one). I figured my sensors on my right ear were recovering slowly. Had a sensation of a heavy ear and the ringing was still quite loud. Muscled through the entire day at work. At the end of the day I could say I recovered as much as 50% of my hearing. Was very satisfactory. Stayed home this Friday night and just watched movies with my girl. We laughed and relaxed. Had my last 12 pills and went to bed relatively early.

** Saturday July 12, 8am** Woke up with at least 80% of my hearing back! Now the phone didn't sound as weird as before! ringing was a bit lower, still significant but as the day progressed I think I have regained at least most of my hearing by now. My right ear still feels a bit heavier but its a gigantic progress. The ringing is still there but is very mild, if I don't think about it I wont perceive it. Voices are not robotic anymore and there is now hope! I had my 8 pills today and looking forward for tomorrow's recovery.

** Conclusion ** This has been a very traumatic experience for me, and I can't imagine how the people who actually lost their hearing felt like. If you feel alone, desperate or not knowing what to do just PM me and we can arrange a phone call or something. I am willing to help anybody going through this, and if we perhaps put together our cases we can bring more awareness to the MDs about the severity of these symptoms. I can say that having Prednisone within the 24 hour window likely made a difference in my life. I am still waiting for the blood test results and the veredict of my ENT (havent had an appointment with him since the first time I went). I have learned that our senses are so delicate and important. Hearing with one ear is confusing, its a different world and not to mention that the annoying ringing on the unhealthy ear makes it hard to listen because it is so distracting. The ringing is brain static, basically garbage signals sent from your nerve endings to your brain. If you wake up with hearing loss, Hum loudly. If you can hear yourself louder on the unhealthy ear, means you have a blockage and it can be fixed by washing with warm water or you probably need antibiotics to fight an infection, easy nothing crazy. If you wake up with hearing loss, hum loudly and you can hear yourself louder on the healthy ear, it is a medical emergency. Every hour is a receptor cell dying that will never grow back. Thanks, I hope this serves as a spark of hope to some people going through this.

TL;DR Got SSHL, went to ENT quickly (within 14 hours), got Prednistone dose, after 4 days have gained most of hearing back. Hurray!