Day one

My doctor said from the beginning it was progressive. They don't obviously know how fast it will progress. I was hoping it would slow. According to the test his audiologist did my hearing went from borderline normal 3 weeks ago to 30db -50db in my left ear not one frequency in the normal range. Now I am starting to worry that I may go deaf. My doctor said it can table off and stop getting worse or slow down. The only positive is that my right ear has seen no change in the three weeks. I am thinking of taking your advice and changing the hearing aid to the BTE.....especially if I need to get the left ear. I went today to try to get answers. Things were better. I was hearing better but things were still muffled but I thought I was getting used to it or that like I was told it wouldn't 100% restore my hearing. The fact is that it got better because before I had gotten the aid my hearing had gotten worse.
 
Allow me to add that his audiologists test were always testing me with more hearing loss than the others. When I went for a second and third opinion last time the last two audiograms matched each other and hers was off
 
I would change to a BTE aid that has maximum power that allows your loss to fit in at the moment.

You don't know how fast or slow your loss will progress.

I believe LoveZebras loss progressed fast and now has stopped for now or completely.

She maxed out one HA within a year.

When you start to max HAs out, they start to sound awful as there isn't a lot of room for compression.

LoveZebras, sorry that I'm talking about your history, hope you don't mind :)
 
theatregrl said:
Allow me to add that his audiologists test were always testing me with more hearing loss than the others. When I went for a second and third opinion last time the last two audiograms matched each other and hers was off
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I know you were at ENT today but I would go by what your Audi test is and when you need another test, to go back to the one place, that way, you can compared equally as the test was done with the same machine.
 
theatregrl said:
My doctor said from the beginning it was progressive. They don't obviously know how fast it will progress. I was hoping it would slow. According to the test his audiologist did my hearing went from borderline normal 3 weeks ago to 30db -50db in my left ear not one frequency in the normal range. Now I am starting to worry that I may go deaf. My doctor said it can table off and stop getting worse or slow down. The only positive is that my right ear has seen no change in the three weeks. I am thinking of taking your advice and changing the hearing aid to the BTE.....especially if I need to get the left ear. I went today to try to get answers. Things were better. I was hearing better but things were still muffled but I thought I was getting used to it or that like I was told it wouldn't 100% restore my hearing. The fact is that it got better because before I had gotten the aid my hearing had gotten worse.
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I think the trade in would be a good idea. Progressive loss runs in my husband's family, and once his started, it went from moderate to severe in a big hurry.

At the moment, he has a Siemen's Pure RIC, and he loves that thing. It easily handles his severe loss.

He can't even feel that he has it in and no one can really see it. He has kind of a chestnut brown casing and camo Ear Gear, but that is just my doing for cuteness, as it is pretty much invisible.
 
That's what I said. I am going to my Audi in a week or so. My ent recommended another hearing exam especially when he was talking to me and i asked him to repeat twice. His audiologist did the test for his records. I don't trust her and I want it done on he same machine so when I go to my Audi next tues ill let her test it and see what she comes up with. Same machine as did it last time and I will keep going to her.
 
A week from Tuesday when I go back and have the second test I am going to ask her to change it. I just don't want to be without it. Especially if I have hearing loss on the left too. Right now things have gotten really muffled when I don't have it in. I thought that was just because I was getting used to having the HA in. Now I think it's because my left ear is staring to go. To be without at least one I think would be too hard to work. I was starting to have trouble at work that's why I went to begin with. I don't know what to do
 
Granted, I don't have the loss that you have but I do have mild/moderate on both sides. When I had to turn mine in over a week ago, I felt that I might miss out on the things that I was getting used to, especially since I had them in for a whole week.

But by the end of the day, I felt "normal" again - like I did BEFORE I even knew I had hearing loss.

It seems it was fast for my brain to go back to pre-HA mode.

Try not to worry about it too much because all it does is stress you out unnecessarily before you even have any answers. :)

You'll be okay.
 
In A Cloud seems to know how to ease your mind.

I don't know how to help you now coz altho I've lost hearing, I've always been in the profound range, I'm just very profound now.

Hope you get things sorted and to get a hearing aid/aids that has room for further loss.
 
My insurance covers $2000 per ear. Can u give me suggestions? My Audi has Siemens and phonak. Right now I am in the mild to moderate range on my right. Lets call the left TBD.
 
Can you add a little to your insurance? I think the Siemens Pure RIC will run you a bit more unless you audi gives you a deal, and I have Phonak, but for profound loss, but I think the Phonak RIC will still run more than the Siemens.
 
theatregrl said:
I am entitled to a 25% discount with my insurance because she is a preferred provider.
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theatregrl said:
And if necessary I have like $800 in my health flex spending from work
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That's good luck for you! I would probably try to stick with the Siemen's brand as it is a bit cheaper and you can get more features for your money.

And Siemen's is a perfectly good and reliable hearing aid. That is the brand I had before my Phonak.
 
theatregrl said:
My insurance covers $2000 per ear. Can u give me suggestions? My Audi has Siemens and phonak. Right now I am in the mild to moderate range on my right. Lets call the left TBD.
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Wow, that's great coverage! A lot of insurances won't cover any of it at all!!

I went with the Phonaks Q. Being "new", they will be arriving in five days!

I understand that Costco has rebranded Siemens. They are less expensive as well. Maybe that's something that you can look into. I know that you get a discount because she's a provider but you may be able to still afford the Costco ones without even having the discount!
 
I went through my paperwork. And it looks like Audis initial recommendation was the intuis life BTE. She said that would last me a long time and it was $1875
 
It's actually the intuis s dir that she had initially wantd to order. I switched to the cic because I. Had concerns about noticablitiy and she said it might be better. In the paperwork she circled that the cic was only good for mild to moderate. I think I was kind of half listening at that point due to the shock. She had circled the intuis cic, the life, and s dir and put a star next to the s dir. The life was my firs choice because there was no earmold. Looking further she showed me some downsides to it. I see now how she had tried to steer me where you guys are and I kinda turned her away and she didn't want to push. The s dir is about $2200 I think. For two with my insurance and the discount I think we are looking at around $3600
 
theatregrl said:
It's actually the intuis s dir that she had initially wantd to order. I switched to the cic because I. Had concerns about noticablitiy and she said it might be better. In the paperwork she circled that the cic was only good for mild to moderate. I think I was kind of half listening at that point due to the shock. She had circled the intuis cic, the life, and s dir and put a star next to the s dir. The life was my firs choice because there was no earmold. Looking further she showed me some downsides to it. I see now how she had tried to steer me where you guys are and I kinda turned her away and she didn't want to push. The s dir is about $2200 I think. For two with my insurance and the discount I think we are looking at around $3600
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That's pretty great you can come in under your insurance.
 
My 2 cents, not knowing the cause of your loss, get something that has power head room, because you dont know how fast it will go. I lost my hearing in my left ear first, I have no idea how fast it progressed because I could still hear with my right. But when my right started to go, it was like Botts said, in a hurry. I never had an ITE, I went from normal hearing to severe in that ear in less than a year. I went through the VR to get aids. It's a long story but I didn't get them for another 8 months after that visit and by the time I got them the only way I could hear speech was if someone talked right into my ear. Less than year, probably more like 6 months! I got analog BTE for both ears, this must have in 2001. Those lasted me for the next 7 years?? something like that. I moved and went through the VR again to help me go back to school, they didn't end up paying for any of that but they did get me a new aid. I had more loss in my left ear and the audi recommended I not wear an aid in it, because the force of the sound waves slamming into my ear drum would make me dizzy. So we got a new digital for right ear, that lasted less 4, really I should have gotten a new one after 2 or 3 years. I had gone in to get a test, because I thought I lost more but the audi just tweaked my aid and told me that since my hearing had been stable for the last few years that I was probably done losing my hearing. He was wrong, I lost more, and probably had at that point already. I went in last January for a test, because I positive I'd lost more, and yep, profound loss in my right ear, profound to no response in my left, and had to get new aids. Got 2 this time, now I'm in Naida UP's.

I think it went in waves, it'd be stable for awhile and then I'd have period of loss. My ears make noises, all the time, but mostly it's a wooshy sound, like if you hold a conch shell up to your ear, that's constant, and I've been listening to that for like 18 years. But a ring sometimes too, but every now and then it will, I don't almost squeal, really loud for at least a minute.....I sometimes wonder if that noise is my hearing going. I told someone at the specialist office in Boston about that and she said, oh it probably is doing that all the time and you don't notice, but f it gets quite all of a sudden you notice. No! Why do people think they know what's going on in your ears? What you're hearing? I stg none of these audi's ever freaking listen to me. asshats
 
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