Adjustment to late onset deafness

Bottesini said:
You have never asked me. But I will tell you I have Ocular Histoplasmosis Syndrome as a cause of blindness.


And I don't ask anyone anywhere why they are blind. Or why they are deaf.

If they want to tell me it is ok.
Click to expand...

I don't really ask people either. The only time I might ask is if they have just asked me and I can't figure out what else to talk about. :laugh2:
 
It seems like only hearing people ask why a person is deaf/hoh. I'm not sure whether it's like asking someone how she broke her arm or whether they want to know so that they don't fall victim to the same fate. :scratch: Either way, I don't mind telling a person if I interact with her and have the time.
 
CJB said:
I don't really ask people either. The only time I might ask is if they have just asked me and I can't figure out what else to talk about. :laugh2:
Click to expand...

:lol: Good one! I might do that too!
 
sallylou said:
It seems like only hearing people ask why a person is deaf/hoh. I'm not sure whether it's like asking someone how she broke her arm or whether they want to know so that they don't fall victim to the same fate. :scratch: Either way, I don't mind telling a person if I interact with her and have the time.
Click to expand...

I have highly contagious deafness!!! :Ohno:

(Everyone can just ignore me. Sugar figures prominently this week and I get a little silly)
 
sallylou said:
It seems like only hearing people ask why a person is deaf/hoh. I'm not sure whether it's like asking someone how she broke her arm or whether they want to know so that they don't fall victim to the same fate. :scratch: Either way, I don't mind telling a person if I interact with her and have the time.
Click to expand...

I have had culturally Deaf people ask me how I became deaf. :dunno:
 
shel90 said:
I have had culturally Deaf people ask me how I became deaf. :dunno:
Click to expand...

Yeah... but it's not the first question.

In my experience, hearies ask how I became deaf and how I was able to have hearing girlfriends. After that, they would ask about everything else.

Deafies just ask where I grew up, what schools I went to, if I was born to hearing or deaf family... THEN they would ask about the deaf thing.
 
souggy said:
Yeah... but it's not the first question.

In my experience, hearies ask how I became deaf and how I was able to have hearing girlfriends. After that, they would ask about everything else.

Deafies just ask where I grew up, what schools I went to, if I was born to hearing or deaf family... THEN they would ask about the deaf thing.
Click to expand...

True.. that was basically the same for me.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
hearies also ask if you drive.
Click to expand...

When my hubby first met my former roommates (before he met me),it was his first time meeeting deaf people. He admitted that he was shocked that they were able to drive to a bar and that deaf people enjoy drinking at bars. I was like :roll: at him when he told me that.
 
shel90 said:
I have had culturally Deaf people ask me how I became deaf. :dunno:
Click to expand...

The main difference I noticed between hearies and deafies asking how someone went deaf is when they ask. In general, hearies tend to want to know how you went deaf first, and then other stuff later, whereas deafies tend to want to know other stuff first (like what school you went to) and then later ask how you went deaf.
 
Hi - I'm new here. I have been HOH since birth. I always had ear infections, and had tubes in both ears starting at age 5. The last surgery was exploratory, where my doctor told me the tubes would come out on their own. Well, my left tube didn't come out for six years... my eardrum had healed around the tube, so when it finally came out (I used to use a bobby pin to dig wax out against common sense), I had a hole in my ear drum. I wore the same pair of hearing aids from age 7 til they fell apart in high school. For some reason, my parents wouldn't replace them, so I finished high school unable to hear much of anything. I retreated into my own safe world, where I read a lot. In 2003 my first husband was concerned that I couldn't hear our toddlers so he got me hearing aids through his insurance. At that time my hearing was only moderate loss.

Well, I'm still wearing those same aids today. My last hearing test was a few months ago, and my hearing loss is severe in both ears, with my left being worse. I can only hear very loud noises with my aids out. My insurance through work doesn't kick in until April, at which point I'm getting BTE aids.

My doctor said that based on my past tests and this most recent test, that I have extensive nerve damage in my middle/inner ears, and that my hearing loss is hereditary nerve loss. He said that it is progressive and that I will be completely deaf fairly soon, given the speed at which my hearing is deteriorating. I also have Meniere's and severe tinnitus.

To make things more interesting, I've worked call center jobs for the past 8 years. I'm finding that I can't understand 50% of the customers anymore. It's all garbled, especially the lower tones. I use an amplifier but that isn't helping much anymore. This might improve with my new hearing aids. My doctor also mentioned that I should get off the phones as quickly as possible, because I'm ruining what hearing I have left that much faster by having a headphone plastered to my right ear 8 hours a day.

I am really having a difficult time with all of this. I grew up being an outsider because I could never hear, so my social skills are shot. I'm getting better at lip reading - and I took a year of ASL back in college, but that was over a decade ago. A lot of people don't know I'm deaf because I don't really want to broadcast it. I can't hear someone unless they're yelling or I can look at their mouth while they're talking. My comprehension is horrible - but it always has been. Some days I wish I would wake up completely deaf just to get it over with. But then again, I'm terrified that all I will hear is the ringing in my head. My tinnitus is a symphony of high pitched rings in both ears, more like all over in my head. I get sharp shooting pains in the left side of my head that make me twitch. Whenever I get a fever, my hearing goes away completely, then when it comes back, it's decreased.

I have no idea what I'm going to do as far as a job, once my hearing is gone. I'm considering teaching English at the Deaf and Blind school here in CO, but I'd have to go to school for that. I wanted to be a nurse, but I don't know of any deaf nurses.

So, here I am. I'm so glad I found this site.
 
Last edited:
Your story is similar to mine and this site is already proving to be invaluable to me. Just knowing that you're not alone and many people have gone through similar experiences.

Thank you for your frank account, it certainly helps me to know that things like fearing the flu in case I lose what little hearing I have is not unique to me. :)

So thank you, take heart that others are battling through as you are, each in their own way but hopefully all will succeed. :)
 
Nice to meet you!

This has been a real genuine good thing to me to get to be here with this really awesome group of people. I hope that you enjoy it is well.
 
Colleen, glad that you're here. :welcome:

You're dealing with a lot and the support here will help. Good folk here. :cool2:

I have progressive genetic loss, too. I was so frightened at first, but I'm becoming more confident that I can cope with it. It takes time to adjust. I'm learning ASL. If you've taken a course you're ahead of me. :P

There are a couple of nurses here but I haven't seen them around lately. Things have been slow here because of the holidays. There are a couple of threads here about hoh/deaf nurses. Explore and you'll find helpful information.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts. :wave:
 
:wave:welcome, Colleen!
I am new hoh; husband congenitally deaf w/o HA's. Am new signer, re-learning much of what I had forgotten from some experiences years back, including one ASL college class taught by hearing man. Am now going to Deaf socials and re-learning with Deaf friends.

I know there's been some threads from people in medical fields or having some medical background on here, including nurse or two and someone who is a doctor.
 
just sharing.....last night hubby and I were attempting to watch a Harry Potter movie and we were both missing half of it, even with him wearing his headset that works with his HA's and me w/volume turned up - I remember watching other Potter films in previous years and not having so much difficulty. I guess I am just surprised by this change, not sad, just like, that's different-
 
Welcome to AD. There is alot of information here to help.

As for work my advice would be to work for yourself. Find a combination of your passion and talent and do something that involves those. It won't be easy but many positives can come from it.

For one alot of people that are late deaf have problems with self esteem. Running your own business will help with that once you start having some success. Also it helps you to focus on something and not dwell on losing your hearing. (not saying that you are.....speaking in general). Another benefit is you have job security. I know many people worry about how their co-workers see them and whether they are on thin ice because of their hearing loss (even though that is illegal). When you are your own boss you don't have those worries.

That's just my opinion of course, but it worked for me.

Good Luck
 
I have a question, if someone can give me a clue as to what it means, I have beenfor the last little bit (about a year) losing what seems to be complete hearing in my left ear. Hearing aid or no, and with my left ear being worse then my right, so my question is, should I be concerned?
 
Seagirl said:
I have a question, if someone can give me a clue as to what it means, I have beenfor the last little bit (about a year) losing what seems to be complete hearing in my left ear. Hearing aid or no, and with my left ear being worse then my right, so my question is, should I be concerned?
Click to expand...

I would say yes, if only to find out why you are experiencing the loss. It may be something as simple as wax impacted ears. (my hubby gets that a lot and so did my father's step-father). If you find it's a simple fix, then you may feel better, but if you find that you do have a loss, you have a few options. Either way - you know we will be there to help if we can through the adjustment.
 
Back
Top