u/MaybeProper7134

Hi everyone! I woke up fully deaf in my left ear at 11 years old, roughly 22 years ago. I’ve had constant tinnitus since. When it initially occurred my parents brought me to a specialist and I did rounds of steroids without any luck. At the time , a bone-anchored hearing aid was suggested as the only option. Since I was young , the ringing did not bother me after a week or so of dizziness and my speech was not impacted , we opted against this treatment.

I haven’t received any treatment since. I bring up my hearing loss when I change doctors but they just note it and move on. Sometimes I’m bummed out by my inability to hear well in rooms with a lot of background noise but my hearing ear works great and no one has ever noticed my hearing loss before I mention it.

My question is : have treatments changed? Is seeing an ENT or other specialist worth it? The new headlines about hearing loss and dementia are freaking me out but day to day I’m doing ok. That being said, if there is a treatment I’m missing out on I’d love to at least explore my options.

I’ve been cosleeping with my daughter since she was a few weeks old. She is 4.5 months now. I do this out of necessity as she simply does not transfer and once I settle in every time, everything is great. That being said, I have an hour or two of panic about safety/risk before I can fall asleep every night.

Here is how we sleep/some info about me:

- Baby was born full term and healthy. She is exclusively breastfed and is rolling from tummy to back
- I follow SS7 VERY closely (pregnancy pillow behind me and light blanket from hips down is only thing in bed with us)
- I am a healthy weight, take no medications, and never drink
- the cracks are packed
- Baby wears an owlet and I’ve watched full nights of us sleeping (on monitor) and we sleep “perfectly” in the cuddle curl. Baby just hangs out right under my boob all night and I immediately wake up when she nudges me to feed
- temperature in room in 70 , I have a fan and a fancy air purifier
- just me and her! No pets or partner

Am I ever going to trust myself enough to not feel like I’m doing something terrible by cosleeping? She sleeps so well! She’s such a healthy baby and I feel like she really benefits from my proximity. On the other hand, I can’t not think about worst case scenarios. I’m exhausted by the cycle