Reading Todd’s thread and all the annoying (to say the least) problems people have with ears and hearing got me wondering…
If you have hearing loss, is it temporary? permanent?
Does your doctor attribute it to migraine? If so, by what mechanism?
Long before I diagnosed myself with MAV (but long AFTER I got dizzy), I suffered a sudden, severe, permanent, nonfluctuating hearing loss in my left ear–when I sneezed hard one day.
An otoneurologist provided the best (IMO) theory–that it was like a “stroke” or vascular spasm in the inner ear. I’m not sure, but I think he thought I was susceptible to this because I was a migraineur. (But oddly, he didn’t seem to think my dizziness was due to migraine and kept shrugging off that idea when I’d bring it up.)
What is your experience with hearing loss, and has any doctor related it to MAV, and how?
Nancy (who really doesn’t like contemplating a relationship between migraine and stroke… especially when I have a lot of the “white spots” in my brain)
That’s interesting. I had hearing loss in January and the ENT gave me a course of Prednisone to take for about 17 days. Most of my hearing came back, but not all of it. I had only low hearing tone loss at that time. I haven’t had any more issues with my ear other than it always feeling full, like you want to yawn and make it clear, but of course that doesn’t work. I was told by my ENT in Boston that your ear feels full because of the hearing loss. I know with Meniere’s you have sporadic hearing loss but not sure with MAV.
i had the same exact hearing loss (about 80% gone) in the same exact ear about 2 years ago. it lasted for about 2-3 months, and then came back to 100% !!!
this time, it has lasted for about 9 months and i see no signs of it coming back at all.
don’t know if it will ever come back, but it is interesting that it returned before???
Reading Todd’s thread and all the annoying (to say the least) problems people have with ears and hearing got me wondering…If you have hearing loss, is it temporary? permanent? Does your doctor attribute it to migraine? If so, by what mechanism?
— End quote
I seem to remember that the auditory nerve runs alongside the vestibular (ear balance) nerve. In fact I think they are together called the “vestibulocochlear nerve”. If the nerves aren’t working properly for some reason then you may have poor hearing and/or reduced balance.
In my case, I have some hearing loss in one ear and tests indicate this is due to nerve damage rather than damage to the mechanical parts of the ear such as the ear drum. I also have noticeable balance problems. In addition I experience some sort of non-painful migraine-like state during which I experience confusion, visual vertigo and feel truly unwell.
My docs and I are still trying to piece all this together.
Kathy: High-dose prednisone (oral) to treat sudden idiopathic hearing loss is pretty standard, though I think there has been very little in the way of studies, and any treatment for sudden hearing loss is pretty much a wild shot in the dark. I’m glad your hearing came back! I never heard the theory of hearing loss causing your ear to feel full. Mine sure doesn’t. Do you have Meniere’s, or to what did your ENT attribute your hearing loss?
Todd: Sorry to hear your hearing didn’t come back as before, or at least hasn’t to date. That is so weird. You have to wonder, what the heck is going on to cause hearing to go up and down like that? Some kind of swelling? Blood-vessel constriction? I really don’t understand it. I can understand short-term, mild or moderate hearing fluctuations, maybe, but not something like you’ve had. What does YOUR doc attribute it to? (Assuming he doesn’t agree with your final theory relating to God. Is it high-tone loss, low tones, or what?
Wexan: Yup, hearing loss and dizziness can go together like love & marriage, or a horse & carriage… uhhh… maybe those old song comparisons are a bit outdated now?? Nerve damage, yeah, apparently that’s the case for me too: they call it a “retrocochlear” problem, in other words somewhere beyond the cochlea, in other words the 8th nerve or the brain. I hope your docs get it pieced together soon… unfortunately it often never gets fully explained.
Todd–oh gosh, I just re-read your other thread and realized what all the heck you’ve had done to your ear… I would be astounded if you DIDN’T have hearing loss after all that!!
Why did they suspect a PLF in the first place, and why in both ears?? Was PLF the RESULT of the stapedectomies?–I mean, which did you have done first? If it all started with stapedectomies, did you have otosclerosis or what? You look too young…
And gentamicin–that can definitely cause hearing loss, can’t it? (It’s been a long time since I read about that stuff, and fortunately I wasn’t a victim…)
You definitely have my sympathy for all you’ve been through with the danged ears.
Nancy, a year ago, I couldn’t understand conversation in the one ear, and no bass from the other ear. I stayed at that level for about 9 months, and thought I had said good bye to my hearing. I actuallyh had to put my hand on the air conditioner to tell if it was on because I couldn’t here it standing next to it. Then I woke up one morning last summer and my hearing was almost normal, and has remained that way except for minor flare ups that last a few hours to a couple of days. I just wish I knew what it was that caused the sudden change.
Brian, how very strange… it’s amazing that hearing can come back after that long, even with Meniere’s.
I totally understand that feeling of wanting to know “what caused the sudden change”–in my case not with hearing, which has never fluctuated, but with dizziness, fatigue, and aching, which will go from terrible to tons better–or vice versa–in just a day, often with no apparent reason.
Our human nature makes us always want to figure out WHY… so we’ll know how to get back into the “good” category!Unfortunately that is often very hard or impossible.
I am deaf, but not from MAV…directly. I have bilateral advanced otosclerosis and had a stapedectomy on the right ear way back in 1998. Unfortunately the stapes prosthesis was too long and tore a big hole in my oval window when it disconnected (not uncommon with stapedectomies). I have decided that my brain and my vestibular system just do not like to have my ears tampered with.
I have had bad headaches (now I know they were migraines) and vestibular problems after every ear surgery: stapedectomy, PLF, gentomycin injection & labyrinthectomy. I have a few decibels of hearing in one frequency in my left ear but I can’t understand the TV without captions, no matter how loud it is. The good news: The labyrinthectomy got rid of the horrible vertigo I had. I don’t know about how others feel with hearing loss, but I would rather be Deaf than have that awful vertigo. My family & I have learned sign language and are doing well.
I have some hearing loss - it’s bilateral and in the high frequency range. The audiologist and neurologist say it is more than the usual range (i.e. not just age related) but high frequency loss doesn’t really sit with Meniere’s Disease (which is usually low) so, no-one seems to know what’s up.
In addition over the last few months I’ve experienced bilateral tinnitus (muffled, buzzing/humming), aural fullness and pain. At this point the blame for these recent symptoms is still migraine, but Meniere’s (or something, anything else) in addition is not off the table.
Is it high-tone loss, low tones, or what?