What did you say? - one-sided hearing loss

[Auntie Helen]

Thanks for the response John Henry.

I went to bed at 7pm yesterday due to dizziness and generally feeling odd (flushed skin, a bit hard-of-concentrating) and this morning I feel a bit more the thing although still slightly weird balance issues when looking at the computer, for example. The problem with me is that I am very good at producing psychosomatic symptoms if I know about things - which usually disappear the instant I discover I don't have that thing. It's annoying but one can never be absolutely sure if it's a real symptom or a psychosomatic one. Prior to yesterday I had no dizziness at all and took some comfort from that that it wasn't an acoustic neuroma (which are, of course, very rare) but of course I am less sure now!

I have just got back from an exciting holiday to the drear of approaching winter and did a 56 mile ride on Sunday, half of which was in the rain, for which my average heart rate was 155, so may have overtaxed myself thus causing feeling a bit peaky. Who knows.

When lying in bed yesterday evening listening to the radio it was annoying as the radio is on my left hand side which is my bad ear side so it was hard to hear a lot of the time.

[Kim]

Ear-related dizziness can at least be tested by measuring the vestibulo-ocular reflex, assuming you've got eyes that move normally.

Barakta has permanent but inconsistent vestibular dizziness.  Sleep is good, but sitting around concentrating on how dizzy you feel isn't.  Walking through crowds (or anything else where the visual input isn't consistent with the horizon) is bad.  Interestingly, she has no dizziness at all when riding the trike - I think it's because when cycling, vestibular input doesn't really tell you anything useful balance-wise compared to torque through the handlebars.  I'm surprised that works on three wheels, though.

As for acoustic neuromas, barakta and I moderate a mailing list for BAHA users, which is full of acoustic neuroma patients who have lost all the hearing in one ear^[1] after surgery.  Most of them would probably agree with what John Henry says about 'can manage'.


_{[1] A bone conduction aid on the deaf side transmits sound through the skull to the working cochlea, filling in the dead zone on that side of the head in group conversations etc.  As it doesn't sit in the ear canal, it doesn't interfere with the natural hearing in the good ear.  As the sound coming from the hearing aid is 'electronic', people can eventually learn to discriminate direction to some degree, too.}

[barakta]

Unilateral 30dB loss in one ear explains a lot about loss of cocktail party effect and obviously not able to hear as well but is as they said borderline for hearing aids being useful - it's a learning curve for most people and IMO I think it's useful to have definite gain rather than borderline.

Hope the MRI date is soon and you're not left too worrying about it.  Dizziness could also be lurgy, several people I know are low level coldy at the moment and early symptoms are dizziness which is freaking those who've had labyrinthitis out quite a lot.

And yes acoustic neuromas suck but they are resolvable and I think tend not to be too fast growing or anything.

[John Henry]

And yes acoustic neuromas suck but they are resolvable and I think tend not to be too fast growing or anything.

That's right. They're very slow growing and they're invariably benign. I've chosen to take the view that I'm lucky it was nothing worse, which sounds a bit trite, but really there are a lot of people much worse off.

There's a lot they can do now to treat/manage the neuroma, but the damage that it's already done is irreversible, of course. Oh well.

It's probably something else anyway!

[Auntie Helen]

Yes, I kind of tend to the opinion that if I have permanent damage to my hearing then that's the way the mop flops and things could be much, much worse. I don't think any of the other options that might have caused this hearing loss allow me to get my hearing back anyway. I can live with what I've got, or worse, it's just annoying.

Having had a malignant tumour before (which could have been exceptionally bad - survival rate was 14% at the time - although fortunately mine was low-grade) I am very much of the opinion that benign is a much better word to deal with. However, whatever is wrong with a person, be it just a cold or a sore toenail, feels really awful for the person at the time. For me it's the not knowing that's worse than the knowing, sometimes.

I have resigned myself to the fact that it's an Acoustic Neuroma which means that I will either get the news I expect or some good news. Mind you, I did this before with my slightly stiff arm (what's the worst it could be - a bone tumour, but that's vanishingly unlikely...), not really expecting it to be the worst option!

I'm jumping the gun a bit but that's me. I just hope they get on with the appointment and I find out one way or another.

I have a hearing therapy appointment on 15 October and James (hubby) will be coming along to that which is useful. The previous hearing therapy I had five years ago was useful but I did feel that 90% of the information was actually for other people to know how to communicate effectively with me, so I'm glad he can come this time.

[barakta]

*nods*  I hope you get some clear answers soon.  I don't think medics realise how the unknown is so stressful.

Hearing therapy when done well in my view is usually good, but yes it is about controlling other people.  Sometimes it is helping you have confidence to say "Look I'm a bit deaf, speak up/repeat" etc, and other times it can be helping you phrase things cleverly or engineer situations to your advantage.  Many people with hearing losses have a lot of shame and embarrassment issues so if that doesn't affect you it can be worth making that clear so they skip that assumption.

[Auntie Helen]

MRI scan is next Friday (5 October) in the afternoon. Very glad to have got my revised date and not have to await the post with trepidation (how ridiculous it all is!)

I am still feeling a bit odd today but it's not only wonky balance/vision but also general tiredness that comes and goes, and I assume this is the edge of a lurgy or general run-down-ness. The fact that it's not just the balance but I feel generally a bit weak and feeble suggests to me it's something lurgified.

I feel slightly disinclined to sugary foods (which is v unusual for me). I think it's possible I have a bit low blood pressure at the moment too. A day off the bike often does weird things to me (as I'm so used to riding) so am hoping to do a short trundle this afternoon to blow out the cobwebs.

[Auntie Helen]

Had my MRI scan today. Not fun but at least I'm not claustrophobic.

Have been poorly for a week and a half and felt fairly feeble. Today I also had the trots and was off my food but this was my traditional anything-medical-nerves and my appetite came back on the drive home. Looks like I may finally be reaching the end of the lurgy too as I have been less off-balance today, though still weak.

I have a two week or more wait for the results (by letter) so hopefully I can feel more relaxed for s bit. Then will start the Postbox Terror.

It's all massively over-the-top by me but having previously had cancer and kidney failure it's impossible for me to take these things phlegmatically.

[Wowbagger]

Have you treated yourself to a nice piece of cake?

[Auntie Helen]

A roast is in the oven. Not sure about dessert.

[John Henry]

It's all massively over-the-top by me but having previously had cancer and kidney failure it's impossible for me to take these things phlegmatically.

I think your reaction to this stuff is well within normal tolerances, AH. Fingers crossed for you.

I get my neuroma-zapping stereotactic radiosurgery on Thursday. Had a pre-treatment MRI last week. Can't wait to get it over and done with, frankly, though I don't suppose it will be a barrel of laughs on the day. The worst thing is that they've advised me to take at least a week off work afterwards; I'm not sure I can stand that much 'Bargain Hunt'.

[Paul]

...Then will start the Postbox Terror.

It's all massively over-the-top by me but having previously had cancer and kidney failure it's impossible for me to take these things phlegmatically.

Understood. Not over the top at all. Here at Rancho Pablo fingers are being crossed for you.

[peliroja]

Fingers crossed across the pond, too.

[Auntie Helen]

I get my neuroma-zapping stereotactic radiosurgery on Thursday. Had a pre-treatment MRI last week. Can't wait to get it over and done with, frankly, though I don't suppose it will be a barrel of laughs on the day. The worst thing is that they've advised me to take at least a week off work afterwards; I'm not sure I can stand that much 'Bargain Hunt'.

hope it goes well for you on Thursday.

I hope you have a stock of DVDs to watch whilst you are recuperating! Bargain Hunt would just be the worst...

[John Henry]

I get my neuroma-zapping stereotactic radiosurgery on Thursday. Had a pre-treatment MRI last week. Can't wait to get it over and done with, frankly, though I don't suppose it will be a barrel of laughs on the day. The worst thing is that they've advised me to take at least a week off work afterwards; I'm not sure I can stand that much 'Bargain Hunt'.

hope it goes well for you on Thursday.

I hope you have a stock of DVDs to watch whilst you are recuperating! Bargain Hunt would just be the worst...

Thanks Helen.  Yes... Frasier and Father Ted will get me through it.   

[Auntie Helen]

Good luck for tomorrow!

[John Henry]

Good luck for tomorrow!

Thanks AH. It's all over now. So far, so good... No ill effects other than four unsightly and rather sore wounds in my head where they fitted a frame to my skull to enable them to clamp me to the radiosurgery machine. But I've probably had worse cycle fettling injuries. I'm currently sitting here watching Frasier and feeling almost a fraud for not being at work.

A day sitting on the oncology ward while they did all the behind the scenes stuff calculating which bits of me to irradiate was bloody sobering. I really am not complaining.

[Auntie Helen]

Glad to hear it all went OK for you John Henry, and I see you are using your time at home usefully by posting on YACF!

No results from my MRI scan yet (I am awaiting each day's post with trepidation) but today I had my Hearing Therapy appointment.

Today was the first day that I've felt like my lurgi is pretty much behind me (although I am still a bit low energy). Anyway, the hospital in Colchester is a nightmare for parking so it was good that I was well enough to cycle.

I expected a repeat of the hearing therapy that I'd had five years ago (i.e. suggesting I sit with my back to walls in pubs, make sure that when conversing with someone there is enough light to lipread, etc) and was glad that James was able to come with me in order to hear some of this stuff as well.

However, it wasn't like that at all. The lady handed me a couple of pages of A4 which had all this information on and instead talked to me about hearing aids. I said the ENT consultant had said it probably wasn't worth having one but she disagreed and talked a fair bit about them. We concluded it was definitely worth me giving it a go (a digital one) and she is setting things in motion for that. After all, I will eventually definitely need one so might as well start now.

She also told me that there's a lipreading course available at a local adult education centre so I will give that a go.

She was a very nice lady and spoke wonderfully clearly! She also explained more about my hearing test results (talking me through the diagrams) and said that my hearing loss is nothing to do with iPod usage and I shouldn't be afraid to use my iPod headphones again (I completely stopped using them five years ago).

So all in all it was a very worthwhile trip, although I still have the background nervousness about my MRI results.

[John Henry]

Glad to hear that you've had something to feel positive about. That all chimes with the useful help and advice I've had from the audiologists, so obviously things have come on in the last few years. The hearing aid I've got (as I've said above) is definitely beneficial, so I'm glad you're getting the chance to give it a go, at least.

Fingers still crossed for your MRI results.

The only bad news for me is that I'm going to struggle to drag this sick leave out beyond the middle of the week. I can feel my energy levels returning to normal... 

[Auntie Helen]

Just had a letter from the hospital.

Cue panic as I open it... to discover it's an appointment for my hearing aid fitting in a fortnight's time. And not the results of the MRI.

Still waiting...

[Auntie Helen]

Still no news of the MRI scan, although I have spoken to my doctors (they don't have a letter so it's not as if mine's got lost in the post) and I have phoned the consultant's secretary today and left an answering machine message although I'm not hopeful of a response as people don't tend to respond to that kind of thing, in my experience.

Today I had my hearing aid fitted at the shockingly early time of 8:15am in Colchester (I left home at 7:25am which is a trifle early!) So far it's going OK but everything seems loud and hissy. They have suggested I wear it around the house for a fair bit before I venture out into noisy environments. Just the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard as I write this seems noisy but I guess I'll get used to it. Hearing aid is a Siemens Impact Pro L - German engineering, clearly.

[Auntie Helen]

Just got through to ENT secretary...

THE SCAN WAS NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HTFB]

Hurrah. Starting to get just slightly nervous while I await the results of mine.

[Wowbagger]

Just got through to ENT secretary...

THE SCAN WAS NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent news, AH.

Does that make you abnormal in that you are the only normal person on YACF?

[barakta]

Still no news of the MRI scan, although I have spoken to my doctors (they don't have a letter so it's not as if mine's got lost in the post) and I have phoned the consultant's secretary today and left an answering machine message although I'm not hopeful of a response as people don't tend to respond to that kind of thing, in my experience.

Today I had my hearing aid fitted at the shockingly early time of 8:15am in Colchester (I left home at 7:25am which is a trifle early!) So far it's going OK but everything seems loud and hissy. They have suggested I wear it around the house for a fair bit before I venture out into noisy environments. Just the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard as I write this seems noisy but I guess I'll get used to it. Hearing aid is a Siemens Impact Pro L - German engineering, clearly.

It is worth documenting how you acclimatise to the hearing aid in case you need to go back to audiology for followup.  I believe from talking to people that it can take several weeks to acclimatise and sometimes people need things tweaking.  I know when I change models of hearing aid I find it takes a while to adjust.  I hear phasing up from 1 hr to a few more hours can work as can listening to familiar things like music and people you know talking to you to get your brain used to it.

Loud and hissy suggests that's high frequencies you're not accustomed to hearing being amplified - hopefully that will pass.   Have they given you one of those teeny ones inside your ear canal or is it a behind the ear jobbie? 

Do keep us updated with how you get on I'm sure there's people with expertise and ideas which might help too.