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Rush had a physical misery which, in consultation with a doctor, he parlayed into deafness and addiction.

I got to this thread late, and haven't read every single post yet. Did he admit that his deafness was caused by his addiction? Or is that your logical surmise, now that he has admitted the addiction? BTW, I am not a Rush basher. I wish him success in overcominghis addiction.

Alot of speculation going on.

Limbaugh Gets Hopeful Prognosis
By Steve Carney, Los Angeles Times
Thanks to experimental drugs and cutting-edge technology, Rush Limbaugh will likely not go deaf and will continue to host his talk-radio program, his doctors and a spokesman for his show said Thursday.

At the House Ear Clinic and Institute in Los Angeles, the specialists treating Limbaugh for the sudden and profound hearing loss he announced Monday explained the cause and treatment of his deafness, a rare condition called auto-immune inner ear disease, or AIED.

"It's something akin to arthritis of the inner ear," an inflammation that occurs in only about 1% of patients losing their hearing, said Dr. Jennifer Derebery, one of the House Institute specialists treating Limbaugh. Limbaugh broadcasts his show from New York and his home in Florida, but is being treated in L.A.

The doctors believe Limbaugh's own immune system is attacking the fine hairs in the inner ear that convert vibrations to electrical impulses, which the brain then deciphers as sounds. They're treating the problem with the same drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis or cancer.

"This is an active area of investigation right now," said Dr. Michael Weisman, director of the rheumatology department at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Researchers there and at the House Institute "are participating in a very large government-funded trial of medications for this disease. So your tax dollars are funding our efforts to be able to find out what causes this problem and how to treat it."

Limbaugh is not part of that trial, which was already in progress, but his doctors are using the medications being tested to treat his condition. They include prednisone, a powerful steroid, and methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug. Limbaugh announced on his show Monday that he first noticed his hearing loss May 29, and that it has worsened rapidly since then, to the point where he's deaf in his left ear, and has only 20% of his hearing remaining in his right.