Expert: Dina Q Goldin, Ph.D. - 9/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: My name is Lyle on 8/7/08 I woke up and could not hear in my right ear I went to my Doctors office he cleaned some wax out of the ear I told him I still could not hear, he said to go home and if cant hear tomorrow come back, so I tried to see him but he didn't call me back, so I had to wait until the next day to see my regular Doctor she made some orders for test on 8/24/08 ,on 8/25/08 I seen my specialist and he said hes sorry but it took me to long to get in for the specialist to treat me,he said its treatable in the first three days not a month later,hes trying to treat me with PREDNISONE 20MG TABS THREE A DAY 60mg PER DAY.Did my Doctor make a mistake by sending me straight home and what should i do to prevent this catastrophic incident from happening to somebody else. Please give me any data concerning this incident. thank you!!!          My e-mail address is lylemaisenbach@att.net

ANSWER: It is true that sudden hearing loss (SHL) has the best chance of being reversed if treated with steroids (such as Prednisone) right away.  Your doctor should have sent you to an ENT right away, had they realized it.  However, general practitioners cannot know everything. Patients can only be grateful that nowadays, they can become proactive partners in their treatment, with help of the information that they can find through the internet.

Note that sudden hearing loss is most likely a symptom rather than a discrete disease.  If your ENT cannot determine its cause, I suggest to see a neurologist.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: You helped me on my condition but you didn't help me on what I should do or say to somebody because if I only tell my Doctor some of the other Doctors wont ever no about sudden hearing loss Intell its to late and there patient goes deaf in one ear and its to late for treatment (Please tell me the right person to talk to) Thank you:"

Answer
What happened to you is very common.  We expect our doctors to know everything, but they are only human, and often cannot keep up with all the new medical treatments and protocols that have developed since they graduated from medical school, for whatever reason.  That is why, for serious conditions, the patient has always been advised to "seek a second opinion". Patients can make sure to inform their doctors when they find something out that the doctor did not know. Just last week, I told my ENT about a new hearing device for one-sided hearing loss that he did not know about (TransEar). For wider impact, patients can write letters to professional journals that your doctor and his colleagues are likely to read; I've done that too. Or they can contact professional medical organizations directly, to see if the organization is interested in taking up this cause, perhaps in the form of revising its informational pamphlets or creating new ones.  Let me know at allexperts@dina.endjunk.com what you decide to do and if it works.