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Hearing aids with reading glasses and a mask. How to not lose the aids?

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Aha! Thank you. I haven’t used N95 masks due to concerns about fitting, but that sounds quite reasonable, and doesn’t risk losing the ’s. Or compete for space on my ears.

In reply to @AttilaDaPun

Unfortunately, I’m not a candidate due to the autoimmune dry eye condition. But I may try scleral lenses, which are designed for dry eyes. But the issue there is will the progressives on them work for close vision without making maneuvering around with neurological issues worse? Quite possibly so.

Arghh, it is really challenging to deal with all of the competing issues! I’ve already had 13 serious falls in 13 years! The last 3 I got knocked out with no memory of the falls. It’s dumb luck that I haven’t had a brain bleed. But I can’t count on that luck maintaining. All the issues from Tick-Borne Diseases are not to be believed. And all of the autoimmune conditions that ensued. I’ve become an expert in all of it, unfortunately. And diagnosing and treating them accurately are an inconvenient truth that insurance and regular doctors won’t acknowledge or cover. That’s a whole other rabbit hole.

And guess what? I spent all this time last night trying to figure this issue out when I should have been sleeping. And this am I forgot to turn Do Not Disturb off my phone, so didn’t see a message from Costco canceling my appointment this am, because the provider couldn’t come in. And they have no appointment available for quite a while except ones that conflict with other appointments.

I spent a little over $100 in cab rides both ways, plus several hours of time. Lesson learned about always checking my phone. It didn’t occur to me that they might cancel same day. So a long wait again, after a long wait before since I paid a long time ago. Sigh. patience.

Yup, I couldn’t believe it. All that time and money for nothing. And now another long wait.

I swear my attempts to get hearing aids have been an incredibly long, frustrating experience. I went through 3 audiologists who were no help (and one who filed to get paid by insurance for thousands of dollars—and got paid thousands—when I had no aids. It’s too long of a story.

The other two were because our insurance was through a company that doesn’t pay audiologists much—I forget the name of the company. One of those audiologists yelled at me because she wanted me to pay her thousands in addition to the insurance money, which probably wasn’t much. But yelling at a patient?! I was a health care practitioner myself for decades, but couldn’t imagine yelling at a patient, regardless of the frustration.

I should have had aids years ago; I just hope that my brain can still adapt. But I’m much closer to getting them finally.

Btw, I love your handle! And the picture of your Saint Bernard nosing your glasses! That’s a big dog.

One other thing: Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that we can have people on the forum from the US, the UK, Australia, NZ, etc?! I’m so appreciative of everyone’s help. In these strange times that we’re going through in the US and beyond, it is good to be reminded of everything good in the world, and of people’s basic humanity and generosity.

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

I don’t know how long you’ve had your glasses, but if not long could you return them? I am 66, have one short sighted and one long sighted eye, with Presbyopia and Adies pupil thrown into the mix. My eyes don’t work together and because of the Adies pupil my focussing time with that eye is sluggish. I need prisms in my lenses and I have just the one pair of glasses. Varifocal glasses can definitely give distance, mid and near, but it’s up to you to specify your needs. A few years ago I saw an optician who refused point blank to put prisms in both lenses because “you might like them” that now is a family joke and the reaction from a subsequent optician was pure shock when I told him. Needless to say, I could not see out of those glasses, so I took them back, they made adjustments and said try them a bit longer, I still could not see so I took them back again and got my money back. My current glasses are close and mid as I am ill and mainly housebound - this sort of lens is generally referred to as work , inter-view or other similar names. I would suggest that you tell your optician what the issues are and request new lenses.

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

It can get really complicated with a mask, hearing aids, glasses and sunglasses (over the glasses) for me! I think the masks/respirators I use work better than the over the ear type, so I’m recommending them for what it’s worth:

3M 9210+ Aura N95 Particulate Respirator

I hope this helps!

Here are my experiences with this situation:

  • Use masks that have straps that go around the back of the head. As @birdcountry99 said, the 3M Aura are excellent and very reasonably priced N95/FFP2 masks that have all round straps.
  • Make sure the upper strap doesn’t go too far down the back of the head. I loop mine about three quarters up the back of my head so then I only have to worry about the lower strap entangling with my hearing aids
  • Try to avoid putting your glasses on or taking them off when you are wearing a mask. That is a sure-fire way to get everything tangled up, and when you take your mask off, your aids will come with it. Same goes for putting in or removing your aids while wearing a mask.
  • If you have to put glasses/aids on while wearing a mask, try to remember you’ve done so, and take your aids out again before removing the mask.

That all sounds a bit complicated, but you get used to it all. The key is to get those masks with straps that go around the back of your head, rather than around the back of your ears. After that everything will slot into place.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

In reply to @birdcountry99

That’s the mask type I had to wear in the radiology department during mandatory COVID masking - because I have a beard. We had to do a mask fit test with a special hood that goes over your entire head and a foul-smelling liquid on gauze. If you could smell the stank, that was a failed mask fit. :skunk:

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

I’m so sorry you’ve had such challenges just to have a professional and personable audiologist and get a dang pair of functional hearing aids! The only time I’ve raised my voice to a patient was if they were hard of hearing or lapsing into unconsciousness - and that’s not abusive, just necessary. When a patient in the radiology department may need CPR, you gotta shout at them!

Thanks for the handle compliment. The handle fits my fondness for messing with words - probably due to misheard words since childhood.

Yeah, Saint Bernards can be huuuuge. Our guy is a bit smaller than many of them, weighing 105 to 125 lbs depending on activity, time of year, and appetite. He saved my life less than a month after we got him. I was not exhaling CO2 effectively and was in respiratory acidosis, which can be fatal because there are diminishing oxygen receptors due to CO2 hogging them all. He was smelling my breath and barking, and I didn’t react at all. That alerted my wife to the need to call 911. Our Saint Bernard was 3 and 1/2 years old when we got him, and he took to us right away. He does reserve the right to smudge our glasses, though! .He’s very sweet.

I take the plastic off the temples. I buy glasses from zennis and make sure they are thin wire. I also tie a piece of elastic from an old mask on the new mask to make it fit around my head instead of behind my ears.

image

In reply to @AttilaDaPun

Ditto on the retention tails (I think they may also be called concha locks). The tubes on my Signia hearing aids came with them and I’ve had the same experience with knocking the over my ear; the plastic strip held the aids on both times.

In reply to @Tealover

Yes, I was thinking about that myself, that is asking the optician to make new lenses. But he was indicating that I needed different glasses for different purposes, due, I think, to the level of magnification I need, not only for reading in general, but also for computer use, which I do propped up on the couch, so it not that far away.

I also have problems with the frames sliding down my nose. He put little things on the part that goes around my ears that sound similar to what you guys are recommending to keep the on.

In reply to @HalfEar

I mean the issues from Tick-Born Diseases are quite beyond most people’s imagination unless they’ve either had them themselves, or live with someone with them. For most of us, we’ve had them for many years or decades before diagnosis, so it’s really hard to get rid of them. Plus, there is so much damage to the nervous system, the joints, etc. There seems to be no part of the body that isn’t affected by them. And each pathogen requires a different treatment. I could go on, but that’s enough. I hope you don’t know by experience. Our doggies also are very much affected, too.

In reply to @AlexKA

Thank you to all of you, I will definitely be getting the retention tail, or whatever the other names for them are. And will get the N95 masks that several of you mentioned. I am still going to have to practice managing them all without getting all tangled up. At least the N95s and the retention tails should help a lot.

I do hate constantly on, off with my glasses, so I may look into the scleral lenses.

I’m still wearing masks, which not too many people do anymore, but I’m high risk and have avoided getting Covid so far. But my husband went out to several concerts in the spring with friends without masking (which we usually do). He got really sick, so then I got it, and it became pneumonia—arghh. 2 urgent care visits. But my husband still hasn’t gotten his sense of smell back! And all the tests were negative for Covid. Masks work.

I routinely wear a mask with glasses and hearing aids when going to Costco on the weekends. I simply utilize a very careful removal process with my mask where I use my fingers to expand the loop over the hearing aids first, and then remove it. This eliminates the possibility of issues happening. Every once in a while my mask will get caught on my left unit due to simple removal without thinking, and I have to put it back in and that’s kind of unavoidable, but I don’t worry about it.

The other thing driving my not losing the aids is that, I cannot functionally hear if I lose them.

Your description of expanding the mask loop seems to be very similar to what I do. I put on the mask last, but the elastic has a way of settling into small spaces amongst my glasses and hearing aids.

My hearing loss is less severe than many forum users, I’m sure - but I don’t want to be without my either! It’s so much better to hear the best I can than to have to drive my wife nuts by asking for repetition.

In reply to @codergeek2015

Ahh, that sounds quite simple actually. Thank you. The main thing would be developing the habit.

I can sort of hear without the (which I don’t have yet—argh), but not well at all. It’s incredibly frustrating. I am constantly asking my husband, and others to repeat themselves. And I still don’t hear well on the repeat either. I can’t hear consonants, so have to work hard to try and figure out the word—often getting it wrong.

I’m bummed that the provider didn’t come in for our appointment this week. They are quite booked up at Costco. And we’re going away for a while, too.

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