Insanity... At Wits End

sherlokianwisdom

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I don't even know why I'm on this site... I suppose I'm just at my wit's end and am looking for some kind of help from anyone.

I suppose a backstory will be needed...
For some reason, every since I was born my ears have been out of wack. My father was in the ARMY until I was 2 or 3 and we flew quite frequently. Every flight was marked with me having terrible ear infections, so bad that until I was 4 our so I am told it sounded like I was underwater. (I was 4, I don't remember)

That experience left me with a very hard speech impediment. 'Rhotacism', for anyone wanting to get technical. And, get this, rhotacism is the inability to pronounce the 'R' sound in the English alphabet. 'Car' sounds low 'caw' and 'ribbon' 'wibbon'. Or so I've been told, I can't even hear my speech impediment anymore. I am 16 now and it only gets worse.

3 years ago I flew to meet my penpal for the first time. When we came back, I got an ear infection. Since then, it's been constant ear pain on and off every single hour of every single day. I've been to 4 or so ENTs and diagnosed with TMJ because I hit my jaw a year ago in an accident. Two ENTIRELLY UNRELATED PREDICAMENTS. I was sent to someone who diagnosed my mother with TMJ, and he said it was most definitely not TMJ.

So I went to another doctor who said I did have some definite hearing loss, come back in a year and we'll check it out. I never went back. I can hear - but it's sketchy. If I'm in a story, you have to be in my ear to speak to me. If we're outside in a large spance, it's difficult. If the room is entirely quiet, then I can usually hear if you don't speak too lowly. (So, audiology tests are moot in my case, being in a soundproof with clear-speaking computers shoved into your ears)

I am wondering if, not only if anyone has an experience similar to the one above, if anyone knows what I can do. My mother has frequently told me to just get a hearing aid, but that would involve more doctors and I'm sick of them. One of them sat me down and showed me my audiology test, showing me why everything was just right and how everything looked to be working perfectly. He basically told me it was all in my head without saying the actual words, told me it was TMJ, and sent me to the SAME DOCTOR that told me, again, it was not and that it WAS my ears.

Can anyone relate/tell me what I should do? I am not crazy, it really is my ears, and while the pain is manageable does anyone really want to feel like their being stabbed in the ear a couple times an hour? Yes, I have tried allergy medications and decongestions. No, I do not have fluid in my ears.

I probably shouldn't be posting this, I'm such an idiot for doing this. I apologize in advance for my whining.
 
My car was T boned by a teenage driver and I was knock out cold , I hit my the right side of my head on smoothing in my car and had head pain and get earaches now. I been to a couple of ENT DR. and they can't find anything wrong with my ears and say it's my TMJ causing my earaches . I can no longer wear a HA in my right ear b/c of my TMJ. I can relate to what you posted . And it's not in your head , when a doctor tell you this it mean they do not know what is wrong and b/c of their damn egos they try to made the patient look 'crazy' by saying "it all in your head" .
 
I'm wondering...go to a university audiology department with an audi who's also familiar with CAPD?
I'M mild hoh with likely auditory processing problems <latter non-diagnosed since when I was diagnosed with LD <learning disability -college> I didn't know about CAPD and only an audi with current knowledge of it and who has seen in adults, can best diagnose an adult>

I have speech issues and was in special education for speech and language for some years, have noticeable speech difference. Wasn't able to pronounce 'R" and various consonant blends. When I'm tired my speech is worse. Sometimes it's hard for people to understand me.

I've read that it's possible for someone with mild to moderate HL to also have auditory processing issues. The brain doesn't process the sound, it's a neurological thing.

Even if it turns out that there's no APD <the pain doesn't quite "fit" - but I could be wrong...... APD= Auditory Processing Disorder> , if you go to a university setting they may have more range of experience and tools to determine anything.

hey...just realized I made a mistake - been working all day, my bad. But I think you write about being a high school student. Soooo, if you were going to look into CAPD, I'd still consider finding someone who has diagnosed adults AND teens, as opposed to only 7 -12 yr olds, for instance.
 
@dogmom

Thank you so much. I had no idea what CAPD was, so I did a quick research. I'm shaking right now - I think that's it. It's everything I just said written on a medical website. So I'm not crazy. Thank you so very much. I was suggest once Meriners Disease, (not sure on the spelling) as one of my mother's cousin's mother had it, but it didn't match me at all. Thank you so very much, I'll be looking into that now.

And thank you to whatdidyousay! for your help, as well.
 
@dogmom

Thank you so much. I had no idea what CAPD was, so I did a quick research. I'm shaking right now - I think that's it. It's everything I just said written on a medical website. So I'm not crazy. Thank you so very much. I was suggest once Meriners Disease, (not sure on the spelling) as one of my mother's cousin's mother had it, but it didn't match me at all. Thank you so very much, I'll be looking into that now.

And thank you to whatdidyousay! for your help, as well.

NO you're not crazy and if another doctor tell you it all in your head again
you should say "So you have no idea what is wrong and do not want to admit it."
 
No problem, sherlokianwisdom....CAPD is still something that most people, including medical people like audiologists, haven't heard of. Or they may have studied it in one or two paragraphs in a text but never seen anyone with it or diagnosed anyone...my hub's audi was one of those, and that's pretty much what he said when I asked him about it.
Sometimes it's classified in with learning disabilities and sometimes not.
Don't know if you saw this but here's a link: http://www.squidoo.com/capd with a lot of info., including links at the end to several first-person <including teen> accounts of living with CAPD.
Main article also mentions lots of ear infections as a common sign.

oh, also - if you're still here and interested< found this too: http://capdsupport.org/Resources/Audiologists.html
 
Very similar experience, except my audiogram is/was dreadful. And I had jaw problems. I hope you figure out what ails you and how to kick it's ass.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using AllDeaf App mobile app
 
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