Q. What should I do to overcome hearing loss caused by Cialis?

Hello doctor,

I am a 27 year old male. I have been taking 5 mg Cialis about once per week for the past three months to help with prostatitis. After every tablet, I would usually notice some mild symptoms such as hearing things differently and sometimes some pressure in the ears. I assumed those were temporary and they did usually subside over time. Two weeks ago I took a pill and had worse symptoms. I had pain and discomfort inside my ears. My hearing was a little affected until three days ago, where it started getting worse, and has gotten worse in the last three days. My hearing is about 80% of normal. I have some pain and feel fullness in my ears. It is very uncomfortable overall. I have started researching this two days ago and found out that Cialis can cause permanent hearing loss, which is very scary. I also read that two things could potentially prevent some of the permanent loss of hearing, Prednisone and hyperbaric oxygen. But, only if they are given within about a month of the problem occurring. Today I went to the hospital to get checked, the doctor checked my ears and said he could not see anything wrong. He gave me a referral to an ENT. I was however able to convince him to prescribe me Prednisone 60 mg a day due to the time-sensitivity of this issue. Other than that, what should I do now? I have seen places that do hyperbaric oxygen where you go in a room for 2 hours, but I am not sure if those are legitimate and would work in my case. Is this also something that can be done in a hospital and would then be given differently? Please let me know as I really want to avoid permanent hearing loss at my age.

Hi doctor,

As I said, though I will not have time to see an ENT on time before the damage is non-reversible, getting the audiometry first is not an option. What are your thoughts on hyperbaric oxygen in this case?