Lost hearing in both ears about to lose my job, need advice

Hello Dizzy,

I'm sorry I have no advice to offer you, but I am in a very similar position as you are.

The people I work for have also been very accommodating. My position requires conference calls, I can not attend conference calls at our office, I have to go out to my car and call in on my cell phone because I can not hear anything on a conference speaker phone system or with other people talking around me. I can not attend administrative meetings so my Chief operating office and technical director hold weekly meetings and updates with just the 3 of us in a quite room. I run a field service department in the medical field, and over the past year have made a few mistakes due to finally giving up on what work needed to be completed because after asking my boss to repeat what was was told to do next on a project I just gave up and guessed what I heard, and it turned out to be the wrong project to send my engineers on. I do not think I am going to lose my job anytime soon, but the problems, forgetfulness and mistakes are causing me extra stress at work. I also have been dealing with MD for 15 years, non stop tinnitus, vertigo, and progressive hearing loss. What bothers me a lot is people who do not know what having MD is like all think hearing aids are a fix for everything. They do not work the same on people with MD as they do on people who just have normal hearing loss or age related hearing loss. They don't understand the frustration of something as simple as going to a breakfast meeting at a restaurant and only hearing, maybe, 10% of what was said in that meeting.

I don't know what country you are in or how old you are, but I do know a couple of people with MD that lost their job due to MD and received social security disability, but that money is no where close to what most people make on their jobs. I'm sorry to hear what your going through, but I can definitely understand how frustrating, depressing and scary it is. I wish you the best of luck and hope you can find something to remain employed till you can retire. I saw a MeMe drawing once, I printed it out on an 8x12 sheet of paper and hung it over my desk, it shows a woman pointing to a large blank white board with nothing written on it, and says "Here is a list of people that know what it is like to have Meniere's Disease."

I do clerical work and I'm in Florida. I specifically do data entry of criminal information. I don't make nearly the money that someone in marketing makes. I only make $(30,000), but it's a county job so I get a pension and very good and cheap health insurance. I feel like its the perfect job for me having MD because 1) I stay stationary so I dont have to walk too much and get dizzy 2) I can miss work and it doesnt really affect anyone and 3) its a quiet office setting which helps my hearing.

i thought i was the only one in this position. i don't have MD anymore but do have really bad tinnitus and am often in days of silence. It doesn't help that i can only hear in my right ear as i am completely deaf in my left ear and of course it is the right that is affected. I do have an hearing aid but don't find it really helps me much to be fair. I too find it very difficult at work as i work in an open plan office with a lot of background noise which makes things so much worse for me and i also have to duck out of meetings as i find that hard to handle with lots of people talking. I try to work a fair bit from home but something my boss is not that keen off. I was signed off sick for 4 1/2 months earlier this year went back for 4 and have currently been signed off again. My company are now sending me to occupational health to be assessed and am worried that they will say that i am no longer fit to do my job and i can't afford to give up work just yet so i feel your pain.

Hey DizzyDaddy,

I'm leaving a 20 year career as an Engineer for many of the same reasons you shared due to bilateral MD so I am following this thread for any advice, direction and resources. We don't have any family support in America so my wife and I will be relocating from America to the UK so we can be closer to her family that is willing to help out. It's exciting and scary but I need to find a job that will be less stressful and God willing a profession that does not require using the telephone... Conference calls are just a real pain when you can't hear half of what people are saying...I'd prefer having a job where I don't have to talk to people if possible. Most people don't understand that hearing aids do not make hearing normal, when MD symptoms are really bad they are useless for hearing conversation. I wear channelized hearing aids that help reduce tinnitus and work wonderfully at times but when people see them at work they don't realize that unless they are standing in front of me I can't hear them talking over a cube wall in a cube farm with 10 other people talking... frustrating to say the least. Good luck & best wishes DizzyDaddy

****> 1. dizzy, go to a EMT , you may need a cocklar inplant . good luck

Dear DizzyDaddy

OMG, you and Paul are describing exactly what I have gone through. More and more I have isolated myself in my little cocoon since I also can't hear in any situation where more than one person is speaking, or enjoying going to the movies, or hanging out with friends, family get togethers, speaking on the phone, why, my own husband doesn't understand what I'm going through and it's all frustrating and depressing.

As far as your jobs and disability, I think you should do whatever you can do get on disability. As far as becoming maybe unemployed in the near future, and depending on where you live, there's disability unemployment services that find jobs for people with all sorts of disabilities and that includes hearing or rather not hearing jobs. I have not pursued that myself since I just quit my job and have been lucky enough to have a husband who can financially support me.

I have been asking my doctor for options and it seems things aren't moving fast enough on the hearing front- stem cell research is being done on only a few cases, and gene therapy is just taking off but they will try it on people with diseases of the inner ear first....so not much to look forward to as far as bionic ears coming to your nearest ENT specialist's office. Lots of luck to you both. I wish I had some easy cure for us. Take care

So sorry to hear of your continued loss of hearing. I completely understand. I have MD and went through all those symptoms and gradual continued loss of hearing. Ultimately, I had to retire early as I lost complete hearing in one ear and less than 50% hearing in the other. Needless to say, I isolated myself from family and friends.

There were no more hearing aids that would make a difference. That's when the ENT, on my insistence, referred me to get tested to see if I was a candidate for a Cochlear implant.

I was and had the Cochlear surgery in one ear a little over a year ago. It is amazing!!!

I can hear now. Not perfectly yet but lots of improvement. I can now hear and understand music and hear some on the phone.

Saying this because it may be an option for you.

Lots of luck!!!