ANA Discussion Forum
Treatment Options => Radiation / Radiosurgery => Topic started by: Sam on December 07, 2006, 01:47:10 am
-
With Radiosurgery, does the ringing in the ears ever go away?
-
As far as I know, it's unlikely. Tinnitus is here to stay, regardless of the treatment. Maybe there are cases when it vanished, but I haven't heard of one yet.
Anybody else have a view or different experience with tinnitus?
There are things one can do about tinnitus and American Tinnitus Association have a lot of details about it. For more information on tinnitus, the American Tinnitus Association has a good website.
Regards, Lorenzo
-
Hi Sam,
In my case (I had CK in April, '06), I found my tinnitus/ringing in ears to diminish substantially! Only when I am overly tired and stressed does it occur. As you know, each individual result will vary but in my case, my tinnitus is barely noticeable.
Best wishes to you!
Phyl
-
Mine gets worse with tiredness and stress too! I got used to it, even if it hasn't got quieter really. Some sounds are easier to get used to, others less so, depending on the pitch and type of sound. I was 'lucky', I have the rustling leaves type, with the occasional stream rushing past.
Indeed, we're all different, and maybe yours will react totally differently to mine.
All the best, Lorenzo
-
GK 4/2004 and the ringing appears to be the same, always and forever. The difference is if I am thinking about it or not. I would love to have a moment of quiet but the best I think I will ever have is time (and there are a lot of them) that I just don't think about it.
It is just a part of my environment now. I feel very fortunate, no other symptoms.
Good luck!
Michael
-
My ringing (or swooshing sound) is much louder lately. My guess is stress or fatigue related. I find that if I rest well, it's less. I am hoping the volume will diminish over time. It's kind of annoying. Since everyone is different, I wonder if there is any relationship between the volume pre and post CK?
Mary
-
The first time I had surgery on my left ear-17 years ago. The ringing is always with me-I just tuned it out. The 2nd time around with my 2nd AN I had FSR-25 sessions. Ringing is not so bad. I was told by doctors and I am sure that you know this already to stay away from chocolate-caffiene of any kind-smoking-or liquor of any kind. So you can have your pleasure or scrafice the goodies. I stay away from this and I know it does make a difference. It is not easy-especially during the holidays to turn down goodies-but I would rather do that then having screaming in my ear. Ron
-
Mary,
I found that my tinnitus went up in volume, and changed pitch on and off too, after CK. But only about 6 months post. It was due apparently to some swelling of the tumour that showed up at the time. Now, it just gets loud if I'm tired or stressed or exposed to noise. In fact, noise is now my problem number one. Avoid it, and all is fine, back to rustling leaves.
Ciao, Lorenzo
-
Lorenzo (and Phyl and others..),
Thanks. You are giving me hope. So only post CK 4 months, I should not be complaining. Waiting to report that my swooshing sound dying down.
Going to take that nap or snuggle up in bed to watch "Girl with a Pearl Earring" that my customer gave to me last week on my laptop...
Mary
-
does it go away? i haven't heard that from any of my An reading.... then again i don't read everything....
my own tinnitus changes all the time.... after writing that, I paused to listen.... the only thing i hear this moment in time is a stereo in another room, a couple of other normal household noises, and while writing this became aware, yes, that there is that faint bell ringing i hear....
my tinnitus has changed over time....
not knowing it but understanding it in hindsite, my most vicious tinnitus happened when i went to bed one night and while drifting off was assailed by the sound of what I thought was a fly in my ear?! the next half hour i spent dancing around my bedroom, shaking, slapping my ear, turning upside down in order to shake this "fly" out.....it has to be one of the first half hours of my life....
that was a long time before my An was discovered....
since, it has changed volume/pitch... it has been a train, a bell ringing, it has been a buzz, it has been all sorts of things.....
over time maybe i have become used to it all or maybe it has more "quiet" moments or maybe i have unconsciously adapted in some fashion out of a sense of preseravtion...
in any case, there are sound machines that i have heard help that... i have never tried one, instead avoid noisy or prolonged nosiy environments....
that is my experience....
hope yours does get better....
Windsong
ps. maybe only once since that first episode have i experienced that "fly " sound and it was a rather short duration.
-
I hope I never get to the "fly" issue, I might start sleeping with a bug light. But I have to say that since my treatment, I have not noticed a whole lot of change in my hearing, or the tinnitus. I can live with it if it stays like it currently is.
The strangest sound I have heard, is the sound of a soundsystem shorting out, or like an amplifier sounds as you unplug a guitar power cord from it. that was spooky. I was sitting on my laptop listening to my Bible DVD when this occured. I did not know whether to start praying, or call my precher to come bless my home.
Sam
-
Last night a awoke with a strange "beeping" in my AN ear which I could only hear when everything else was drowned out with my ear on my pillow. Since I recently had Gamma Knife, I was sure this was the worsening of my tinnitus. The sound was so strange, I wondered if I should call the Dr.
When I told my husband he started laughing...
HE HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WITH THE TELEPHONE IN BED WITH US.
...yeah...I think it's time to lighten up...
VJH
-
VJH, That was pretty good, we do need these humors to break the monotony from our issues. I just about fell off my couch after I read your whole comment.
Good luck to the both of us now being post-ops. I will have to make sure my wife does not fall asleep with the phone in her hand. I have heard enough weird noises, and had too many scares.
Sam
-
Sam, I am still laughing....
heaps of thanks.
W.
-
Yeah! We have to laugh, to get through this, that is part of the healing process. and it leaves us with good memories. speaking of memories, I was talking to my supervisor the other day, (my wife has him convinced that I have bad memory loss with my AN) and he was asking me about something I had mentioned doing while out of office in the field a few hours prior. My supervisor ask me ,Do you remember what you mentioned earlier?, Do you want to follow through with it?, so I just look at him with a serious look , shook my head, and rubbed my AN ear and said "I don't know what your talking about, sir". Now, when he starts to ask me a question, he walks off saying "Never mind, I forgot, you don't remember", so we can have some fun with this, If we don't get set up for mental evaluations first.
-
Sam, VJH, I can't see the screen from the tears, haven't laughed lek this for a while. Thanks, good recovery strategy laughter.
My tinnitus is very poetic and romantic. Rustling leaves and gentle stream noises. All I need is birdsong and a few popping noises and it would be like a picnic in my head.
Ciao, Lorenzo
-
Oh you just wait, I'm sure we will eventually knock you out of your seat, I have found myself doing absolutely crazy things, and strange things happening to me since I found my AN. Just the other day my wife was sitting on my deaf side(my AN side), and asked if I would hand her the chex mix, I remember feeling total shock, thinking "my wife has never used profanity like this around me before" and you don't want to know what I thought she really said. Now,I really felt ashamed about that.
-
Being a clueless European and not being familiar with Chix Mix, I have to admit, sadly, that i don't get it. But I only blame myself of course and my AN for this lack of understanding. Maybe you can send me a personal message and clarify that one, please? I want to be knocked off the chair. That's of course if you're not too embarrassed to tell me...
;D
Ciao, Lorenzo
-
Hi everyone, Before my AN operation I had Tinnitus for about 15 yrs. I was told by my ENT to live with it. Sounds were moderate hissing to loud ringing over years. I has literally brought me to my knees. It's a disease with no known cure. After my AN operation on the left side the ringing noise has increased. It will have to take a U.S. Senator or a Congressman the missed fortune of contacting " The T " before there is any research done. I have not heard or read of any one who's tinnitus was cured. I am a member of ATA and get their newsletter every month or so. I do not want bring the forum down with my reply but this is the way I live my life. With the "T" and the "AN" it has been a struggle. Left side paralyzed with the droopy lip , hearing loss, and eye not closing or tearing. I thank my GOD that it wasn't worst. I thank this forum also.    BOB
-
Hi Bob;
I know, my tinnitus since surgery is louder, sometimes so loud I can't take it.
Once, & only once, it was GONE - only lasted about 5 minutes, but WHAT A RELIEF !!!!
I can sure empathize with everything you're going thru.
Take care, Nancy
-
Bob,
I am sorry to hear about how difficult your situation is. I keep thinking that someone will come up with a hearing aid that will be the opposite of our ringing and "white out" the noise so we can get some quiet time. With mine I think it is just back ground for the voices in my head. (kidding) I love music and love full orchestra, Celtic Woman is a new favorite, my children's chorus and I sing in the choir. When I am listening to the music I tend to forget about the ringing if only for a moment.
I have a friend that has tinnitus (no AN) and he used a noise machine for white noise at night, that helped for a few years and he eventually got use to the noise. He was depressed and nearly suicidal when it all began but was able to get help through counseling
and family support. Don't not ask for help when you need it!
I tell my kids that it is a signal from space aliens, I just haven't found a way to decode the signal yet.
I hope things will get better for you!
Michael
-
I am 3 years into a 30 day FSR treated AN. 1.5cm left side.
About 6 months ago the tinnitus began on a constant basis. I still have useful hearing in my affected side although impaired. I am an audio engineer of 20 years and have some knowledge of how sound is perceived.
About a month ago, out of the blue when I would hear certain frequencies (around 8 to 10 kHz) a resonating, tearing sound would rip into my middle ear on the left side. This was very painful both mentally & physically.
From what I know of tinnitus, it is believed to be caused by the inbalance of the reporting of sound from the left & right side to the brain. The brain fills in the missing frequencies to compensate on the affected side.
What I was told by my FSR surgeon is that I will always have hearing loss in that ear, but that it will be changing for a while due to the fact that the neuro fiber is more susceptible to the radiation than normal tissue and that it is inflamed. Well what do you do with an inflammation? You rest it. So I stuck an earplug in my affected ear for weeks. The tearing sensation went away but what was cool is that a certain amount (some fequencies) of hearing came back... well were better.
Reagurding my everyday tinnitus, on days when it is really bad, I have experimented with putting a plug in my good ear. This is not ideal since it does not target the frequnecy loss in the bad ear thus a balanced sound reporting to the brain. But it does offer some relief at times.
This makes technical sense to me, and I think is worth a try. Hell it only an ear plug.
Pat
-
Hi everyone
I am afraid that tinnitus seems to be something that most of us ANers just have to live with. Mine has not got any better or any worse from when I was first diagnosed. Sometimes at night I wake up and think think that I hear a burglar alarm in the street but nine times out of ten it turns out to be my tinnitus . Most of the time my mind seems to just edit it out but when I really start
to listen to it I am amazed that I can live with it without going grazy . The most annoying thing by far is the fact that I have lost
the ability to tell where most sounds are coming from which is a bit annoying when the phone rings and I have not got any idea where I left it . I am a bit grumpy to day since I still have not heard what the results of my MRI scan done on 15th of Dec are
I think that I must call them tomorrow and start kicking butt to find out how much longer I have to wait . That is the NHS for you I suppose .
Regards to all Kat