Inner Ear Infection, medication and deafness

Question
Hi, Monday morning when I got my dog up, she couldn't stand, walk and continued to fall over. It took several minutes for her to gain the ability to hold herself up but when she tried to walk she would fall. I took her to the vet immediately. She was diagnosed with Inner Ear Infection. She had twitching eyes and the uncoordination/fall as her symptoms, which was why she was diagnosed this way. The vet looked into her ears and said that he could only see hair and wax, but he was sure that an inner ear infection was the problem. We were sent home with Baytril (1.5 pills per day# and Prednisone pills #twice per day# and Tri-Otic ear drops #twice per day, 5 drops#. She vomited several times that day and the next morning. She wasn't eating either. I took her back to the vet on Tuesday after work for the steroid in injectable form and for an anti-nausea shot #to hopefully help her hold down the Baytril pills#. She continued to be "disoriented", appeared dizzy and still didn't walk well. Her eye twitching continued as well. Wednesday she held down her meds, ate a little and seemed to be a little more coordinated, though she still fell over if she tried to walk too much or too fast. She started to seem like she was more disoriented and never seemed to notice us coming/going from the house until she actually saw us. It seemed to take a minute to "click" to her that we were home and who we were. Thursday she didn't take the medication as well, but eventually we got the Baytril in her and she held it down. All of these days she had about 5 drops #hard to actually see when the dropper is in the ear# twice per day of the Tri-Otic. Thursday after work, she again didn't notice anyone coming or going. I found this to be very odd, as she is a Shar Pei and they are known to be alert, attentive and "guard" dogs. I started to worry that she wasn't just disoriented and confused. I sat behind her and snapped my fingers close to her ears but she never turned. I then went to the door and bang on it really loud and she never turned. She now appears to be deaf. I called the vet and was told that Tri-Otic can cause deafness, though rare and to stop the drops. I was instructed to pick up a different type of ear drops the next morning. I researched Tri-Otic and found that it can cause deafness or partial hearing loss in a small number of sensitive dogs #eg. geriatric#. She is 11 years old. It says on the drug insert that "The hearing deficit is usually temporary."... I went Friday morning to pick up the new #Baytril brand# ear drops. I talked to the vet about the drug insert stating that you should "flush the ear canal thoroughly" and he said it would not hurt. He gave me some ear cleaning solution and told me to fill her ears with it, massage the base and let her shake. I looked on the new Baytril Ear drops and they also say that they could cause deafness. At this point, she may or may not regain her hearing. I'm afraid to use the new ear drops, in case she has a chance of regaining her hearing. So, would it be best to clean her ears with the solution and wait to see if she regains her hearing before using the new Baytril ear drops? If so, how likely will she regain her hearing and how long might this take? Or do I need to clean her ears and begin using the new drops immediately? I don't want to mess up the chance that she might regain her hearing. Today is Friday. She will continue the Baytril pills until Sunday. Even though she had a steroid shot, we have been instructed to begin giving her the prednisone pills again #as long as she can hold them down#. She has 15 of these pills to take #we are suppose to wean her off of them slowly#. The new Baytril ear drops are supposed to be used for 2 weeks. No testing was done. She was only observed and he did look in her ears. Thank you for any help and advice you can give.

Answer
I know that you have gone through a lot, but the truth is that most of these vestibular syndromes in older dogs are temporary and no matter what medicine is used, it will go away on its own.  Very few dogs actually get inner ear infections.  The steroids often help, though, so I would use the prednisone.  If the dog is having dizziness and eye movements (nystagmus), then a drug called meclizine is prescribed.