Kim lost part of her hearing after catching COVID

April 13, 2023 8:56 PM

Kim lost part of her hearing after catching COVID. She hopes sharing her experience will raise awareness. Kim Gibson suffers tinnitus, vertigo and hearing loss after catching COVID-19. Her experience has been published in the British Medical Journal, with hopes it will lead to more research into post-illness symptoms.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (16 comments total)

I acquired tinnitus as a result of my first booster in October 2021. It was almost immediate and severe. I wasn't aware that tinnitus could be a side effect but I was complaining about it to my mother and she made the connection. I read that it can be treated with prednisone but only if you start it within the first few days. I went QuickCare, where the doctor on call refused to prescribe it because "it's a dirty drug." I then made an appointment with an ENT, who was booked a month out. When I finally saw him, he confirmed that it was too late to treat, and told me that he had seen two cases of total sudden hearing loss as a result of the vaccine. He said it can also happen with the shingles vaccine, because shingles, like covid, affects the nerves. I still have it and it's really bad.

Dr. Gregory Poland is a Mayo Clinic vaccine researcher who had this happen to him.

I don't regret having the vaccine because I assume that I have a susceptibility to tinnitus that would have been triggered by covid itself had I not gotten vaccinated. But I'm furious at the stupid fucking QuickCare doctor who deprived me of a chance to avoid the low-level torment of incessant screeching in my ears that will probably continue for the rest of my life.
posted by HotToddy at 9:40 PM on April 13, 2023 [15 favorites]

Can't forget this one: Texas Roadhouse Founder Kent Taylor Dies After Struggle With 'Post-COVID' Symptoms, explicitly stating severe tinnitus.
posted by meowzilla at 10:23 PM on April 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

I an sorry to hear about these experiences. I'm still in isolation myself because of the ongoing pandemics.

Without wanting to go off-topic, but regard to the tinnitus, I had a pretty severe case myself for about 3 years.

I was passed through various medical specialists, scans, tests, etc. and eventually was told they couldn't fix it (it was louder than standing next to a fast moving train).
But I was able to get total relief some specialist hypnotherapy & ongoing self-hypnosis techniques.
I can still tell you the matching pitch 10 years on, but I no longer hear it any time of the day nor night, unless I actively consciously tune into it temporarily, but can then just tune it out again.

I hope you're able to find some relief yourself one day!
posted by many-things at 12:20 AM on April 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

I put together a bunch of non-drug treatments for tinnitus here, one of which works well for me.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:28 AM on April 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Let's not forget the other horrible effects of COVID, the loss of smell and taste. I have had tinnitus for years but lost my sense of smell and taste in late 2019. It was not from COVID. It was from an ear-sinus infection. I would settle for just tinnitus. I am not trying to imply that tinnitus is not serious in itself.
posted by DJZouke at 5:16 AM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

When I posted on social media that my years-long, severe tinnitus had all but nearly disappeared after my first mRna vaccination, tons of my friends said they experienced the opposite.

After every dose and booster, my tinnitus disappeared. It always came back but those few days were glorious.

This is utterly fascinating to me, that I appear to be among a very small group of people who lost their tinnitus while many others got it for the first time.
posted by cooker girl at 6:27 AM on April 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Just in case my link above was too clickbaity, the thing that works for me is running my attention down a muscle on the side of my neck a number of times. My link gets into massage and some other possibilities.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:42 AM on April 14, 2023

Post-Covid tinnitus here too, along with neurological decline that the NHS is still looking into. Conversations with friends suffering similar symptoms indicates a possible correlation with ADHD. I didn't realise what the tinnitus was for a while, because the phrase 'ringing in the ears' is not accurate: 'incredibly high-pitched continual screech, akin to the just-audible sound that CRT TVs used to make when I was a kid' is more like it.
posted by Hogshead at 7:15 AM on April 14, 2023

I developed tinnitus, dizziness and related mild nausea shortly after my spouse had Covid-19 (I never tested positive). I couldn't drive, or think very well, for ten days. The symptoms diminished somewhat after that, but they still continue 9 months later, the dizziness ebbing and flowing from one day to the next. On good days I am relatively clear headed but weave a little when I walk down a long hallway. On bad days I am frustrated by brain fog (it's an apt description) and mental exhaustion, and I sometimes stumble into walls. I never go down stairs without holding onto a railing anymore. I still can't run, which used to be my primary source of exercise and emotional wellbeing. If I do, I get 36 hours of bad symptoms. In my case, the tinnitus is tolerable, but the other stuff has disrupted my life in minor but significant ways and affected my work. I am tired of it. A rehab therapist has given me exercises to try to retrain my vestibular system. but it hasn't really helped. She is the one who first mentioned an uptick of patients with dizziness after having Covid. The ENT doctor I saw didn't want to speculate. He bounced me back to her for more therapy. I think she is about ready to give up.
posted by baseballpajamas at 7:41 AM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Did they check you for POTS? Dizziness when you stand or sit up is a big thing. And it’s more prevalent after COVID. It’s really easy to test for too. Basically they lay you flat then rotate the table up to 90 degrees while taking your pulse.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:53 AM on April 14, 2023

the thing that works for me is running my attention down a muscle

What does "running my attention down a muscle " mean?
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:54 AM on April 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Running my attention down a muscle" means pay attention to the top of the muscle (it's a fairly vertical muscle), then move my attention down the muscle. It takes about a second. It's more like a friendly touch, not a serious effort to find out what's going on.

Let me know if this helps.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 8:02 AM on April 14, 2023

"then move my attention down the muscle. "

I gather you mean I run my finger down the muscle.

I've had some luck massaging the area just below the ear, where sternocleidomastoid begins. It's not a reliable method for me.

Stroking that muscle doesn't seem to change anything though. But thanks for the link, it's an interesting page.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:17 AM on April 14, 2023

"Did they check you for POTS? Dizziness when you stand or sit up is a big thing."

In my case, I don't recall them checking for POTS. My initial diagnosis was Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, based on motion-induced eye movements (nystagmus). Throughout this period I have never felt like I was going to faint (which I gather is how POTS often manifests), I felt dizzy or vertiginous--exacerbated by body position or movement but not solely caused by it, if that makes sense.
posted by baseballpajamas at 8:42 AM on April 14, 2023

Ayn Marx, no, I'm talking about something I do with my mind. Using my hand to stroke the muscle doesn't work as well.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 8:48 AM on April 14, 2023

A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can’t find care: Covid is causing a sharp rise in cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that causes rapid heart rate, fainting and dizziness
posted by MrVisible at 9:43 AM on April 14, 2023 [2 favorites]