My mother-in-law is mid-60's and has always been in good health. About five months ago she experienced a sudden and severe loss of hearing in both ears over a period of several days. The doctors ruled out everything they could come up with other than some type of inflammation. The drs put her on steroids and that gave some improvement. They told her there was nothing else they could do and had her fitted with a hearing aid. They swear it isn't an autoimmune disease.

Last month she realized that she was having difficulty seeing. Again, the loss was severe and sudden. The drs brought her in for IV steroids treatments over a few days and upped her steroid pill dosage. Her vision improved the first day. It never returned to what it was, but it seemed stable and the drs had weaned her down to a maintenance dosage of steroids (5 mg, I think). Last week she noticed her eyes had gotten worse again and the upped the steroids, but no one can tell us what might be causing this.

 She has always led an active lifestyle, ate a mostly Asian diet of rice, some lean meat, and lots of vegetables. She maintains a healthy weight and exercises regularly. The doctors have run numerous tests, but other than saying there is some type of inflammation, they can't pinpoint the cause. She has suffered from mild atopic dermatitis her entire life, but other than that, rarely even has a cold. I'm terrified she is going to end up deaf and blind.