A woman has recently shared a PSA on TikTok, warning about the severe health consequences she faced after ignoring sudden changes in her hearing. In her video, TikTok user @liuserville recounts how she initially noticed how her left ear sounded slightly muffled.
Despite this, she says she didn’t experience any pain or discomfort and assumed the issue would resolve itself. “I’m not proud to say this, but before I realized it, the days had turned into weeks. The weeks had turned into months, and three months… three months had gone by, that I still had this symptom, this muffling,” she says.
As time passed, the TikToker says she developed a mild case of tinnitus and continued to experience muffled hearing. “I just got used to it,” she notes. It wasn’t until she returned from a business trip and started feeling tenderness in her ear that she says she decided to finally seek medical help.
Her initial visit to a nurse practitioner led to a prescription for steroids, which had little effect, she recalls. However, she says a follow-up appointment with an ENT specialist revealed a far more serious issue.
“You can imagine my shock when this doctor came in with my results and told me that I had moderate to severe hearing loss in my left ear,” the TikToker reveals.
@liuserville Hank… I would name him Hank. 🫠@
♬ original sound – liuserville
What caused the muffled hearing?
The TikToker was diagnosed with sudden hearing loss, a condition that lacks an identifiable cause in about 90% of all cases, including hers.
According to the National Institute of Health, sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) can be caused by a variety of underlying conditions. Some of those include infections, head trauma, autoimmune diseases, or neurological disorders like MS. According to Healthline, while “some cases are minor and resolve quickly, … others require medical attention to protect your hearing.” Healthline recommends seek medical attention “for any sudden hearing loss or for muffled hearing that doesn’t improve with self-care.”
The TikToker says her hearing loss could have been partially reversed if she sought help sooner.
“There is a very small time window in which I could have been treated, and possibly this wouldn’t have happened to this degree,” she says. “And that time window is 10 to 14 days after I first experienced hearing loss.” Now, three months later, her hearing loss is permanent and may require hearing aids.
Commenters share their thoughts
Her video has since garnered over 75,800 views, with many users going to the comments section to speak about their own experiences with sudden hearing loss.
“I have severe hearing loss in both ears and tinnitus all from a concert” one user wrote.
“This happened to my best friend. Sinus infection and now she has a hearing aid,” a second added.
Some commenters linked the issue to Covid. One of them wrote, “This happened to me with covid!”
“Got this with covid both times during this infection and my last one,” another added.
The TikToker concludes the video with a message for her viewers.
“The biggest thing that I learned from this is no amount of hearing loss is normal. None ever,” she warns. “So if you wake up one day and all of a sudden, you have muffling in your ear, please go get it checked out within 10 to 14 days.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @liuserville via TikTok comment.
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