RabidRat | 07-22-2024 06:01 AM | Quote:
Originally Posted by supafamous
(Post 9143289)
Speaking of health - here's an illness that's more common than people realise and which many of you (in your 40's and 50's) are prime targets for (and roughly 1 in a 1,000 get it each year): Sudden Onset Hearing Loss: https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/sudden-deafness
This happened to me about a month ago - I got a bout of food poisoning and next thing I know I've lost most of my hearing in my left ear. I already have hearing loss and this has left my left ear in pretty bad shape - I can barely hear out of it now without my hearing aids. I have to get my hearing aids adjusted before I know what my new quality of life is but so far it's made life considerably worse and has me looking to accelerate retirement (and I've shelved any plans to buy a sports car for now).
Hearing loss is irreversible (unless it's conductive loss where there's some hope) and 38% of Canadians have some kind of loss and half of those people don't realise it so take care of what you've got. If you think you might have hearing loss you can get your hearing tested for free at Costco or any private clinic. You can even download an app (Mimi) that lets you do an at home test. | There's a silver lining here in that you're conscious of it and making the most of it!
For years, my dad wouldn't admit there was anything going on with his hearing, and would pretend to himself that he could perfectly hear what we were saying. He would fill in the gaps and insist it's what we'd said, when it wasn't. This got really confusing for my 8 year old niece, when increasingly his responses to her didn't make any sense. Eventually she just stopped talking to him. This was hard on him because he and my mom had basically raised my niece in her younger years. After a ton of painstaking convincing that this was really no different to getting glasses, last year we got him -reluctantly - to try new hearing aids.
We got our dad back, and he got his granddaughter back.
My mother in law isn't far behind. She has it bad enough that if her right ear is turned to someone, she doesn't know when they're speaking, even if they're talking loudly in the same room. She also doesn't think she needs hearing aids, because she "still hears perfectly in the other ear" (she doesn't: she just pretends she does and makes stuff up as we talk).
My wife's insurance has some amount of hearing aid coverage and I'm sure my hearing isn't great anyway after years of power tool use without hearing protection: I figure I'll wear them a while and kinda normalize it around her so she'll have an easier time accepting these glasses for her ears. |