article_snippet: One year after sudden hearing loss, a third of patients don’t recover any hearing, a third recover fully and the remainder have some hearing loss.
article_snippet: Steroids are currently the only treatment option to help patients regain some hearing — patients can improve the outcome, in some cases, if taken within two weeks and are thought to help by calming inflammation.
article_snippet: patients used to be given orally, but the latest thinking is to inject steroids directly into the eardrum.
article_snippet: A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found there is ‘less recovery of hearing when treatment is delayed’.
article_snippet: A study in the New England Journal of Medicine’s also less likely to return in under-15s and over-65s, although it’s not known why, as well as in people who suffer from vertigo or who had poor hearing beforehand.
article_snippet: When Leesa’s saw Mr Phillips, a week after Leesa’s symptoms appeared, Mr Phillips prescribed a three-week course of steroid tablets.
article_snippet: On the fifth day of a three-week course of steroid tablets I started to hear a muffled, squeaky noise through my right ear,’ Leesa’s says.
article_snippet: Leesa (pictured) was given a three week course of steroid tablets and Leesa (pictured) eventually regained 50 per cent of the hearing in Leesa (pictured) although Leesa (pictured) still needed to have a hearing aid fitted .
highlights_snippet: When Leesa Barrell still couldn't hear a week later Leesa Barrell was given steroid tablets .
  