ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => AN Issues => Topic started by: zeek on May 14, 2008, 07:48:20 pm
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My AN was in late Feb. Operation a success. My question is this: I have alot of ringing and buzzing in my ears. More now than early on. What really bothers me now is clanging of silverware, high pitch noise, people who talk loud ect. I lost the hearing in left ear.Is my ear trying to regenerate? My good ear seems to be hyper sensative now. What can I expect in the future? Doc says I have 18 months after surgery before I know what it will really be like. Small chance hearing could come back. They say some of there patients have regained hearing. Any success stories out there for encouragement? Or should I forget it.
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hello Zeek,
Sorry to hear about the noice problem.
I was told I had 40 % chance of my hearing coming back. I sometimes think I hear something out of my left ear but then later no response.
I myself have the noise problem, I just leave the room or plug my ears.
I have noticed that sometimes it is not as bad. Maybe that is a sign of the hearing coming back.
I did speak to a lady last week that mentioned that they caught her AN in time that she didn't lose all her hearing.
Good luck.
eve
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What you have is hyperacoustic tinnitus, which may be permanent, but the brain eventually learns to tune it out. No-one can explain how it can occur in a "dead ear". If you had trans-lab surgery the hearing won't come back.
Hopefully, you won't experience the dreaded complication of having delusions of being a pirate !!!
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Zeek:
I believe Dr. Sam explained the tinnitus in your 'dead' ear and gave you a factual prognosis regarding your hearing in that ear returning. As for the tinnitus in your 'AN ear', as Sam noted, the brain eventually learns to tune it out. Your sensitivity to loud noises could be due to the fact that, unlike when you heard out of two ears, everything you now hear is transmitted into one ear, which would intensify the overall sound, as it is no longer dispersed. As a survival mechanism to save my hearing, I've learned to avoid loud noises. That can sometimes mean actually clamping my hand over my 'good' ear to avoid a sudden, too-loud noise. Hey, we all do whatever we have to do. :)
Jim
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Sam -
quick question. You say that eventually your brain learns to tune out tinnitus. How long does this usually take? Does it differ from person to person?
I don't have tinnitus, but know of someone (without an AN) who does. She's been to several doctors looking for a "cure" and no one has been able to help her. It's driving her crazy. It would be nice if I could tell her that eventually she won't notice it. I'm sure she'll want to know when that might happen.
Thanks,
Jan
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I don't know how long it takes, took me about 1 1/2 yrs to notice that the tinnitus, although still there, doesn't bother me as much as it used to, and I usually forget that I have it.
When I first complained about the hyperacoustic tinnitus, Dr. Brackmann explained that he couldn't explain it or do anything about it, but if I just "hung in there" the brain would attenuate it and I wouldn't notice it so much, and he was right.
A trick I learned, and have posted before, was to plug the good ear in a loud clanging environment, and just use my BAHA for all my hearing.
How come no-one commented on my pirate joke??
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How come no-one commented on my pirate joke??
oh, trust me Sam... I was gonna... you scurvy scallawag! :)
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And, I represent that pirate comment, Sam! ;D
Debbi - sneeringly yours...
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Thanks for the response, Sam.
I was going to comment on your pirate comment, but I'm already in enough hot water with Phyl these days :o
Jan
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Thanks folks. I wish I could tell you which surgery I had. I know there are three different types. All I can say is they removed a chunk of skull or bone on the upper side of my head, and made an insicion about 4 " long along my hair line. Not a hair was removed, and I can't even find where they put back the "bone" or steel mesh. Beautiful job. I was told there is a small chance of my hearing coming back in the 18 months after surgery. They said it does happen. But it sounds like no one out there was that lucky? I was always faithful about protecting my hearing. And I still am, more than ever. Those clanging dishes and silverware drive me crazy!
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I have found relief by putting my custom molded ear plug in the good ear for a half hour and just listening through the much reduced filter that it gives. My good side hearing nerve gets a small nap. Some of the worst times are in the grocery store on demo day and in church when a big voiced clergyman is speaking on a sound system.
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Hi Zeek,
A lot of AN patients seem to have a sensitivity to loud or sudden noises. I do. Google "Auditory Recruitment" for some information on that.
Regards,
Rob
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l46/HeadCase2/thwalkingpenguins.gif)
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Zeek,
I totally understand. I too have the high pitch ping. Usually something on the TV triggers it. And every night while lying in bed I get the ping. Again it usually comes from a TV show noise.
mema
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Thanks once again. Do we who have lost hearing in one ear run any greater chance of damaging or loosing good hearing in our good ear? I always think, well this one ear now has to bear the load of hearing for two. Is this silly? I now keep a pair of ear plugs hanging under my shirt in case I'm in an unexpected noise situation.
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Hearing loss in the good ear can occur from normal aging, ear disease, or sudden loud burst of sound close to the head like explosion or trumpet blast. But loss from use is not any more likely for those of us with SSD than it is for folks with two ears.
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This question is for all of you who have lost the hearing on the AN side.
How many of you did BAHA surgery? I don't know too much about it, except they put it in sometimes during the AN surgery. I've heard that you can't hear very well with it, but is it better than not hearing anything at all??? Have some of you not had that, and just can't hear from the AN side?
Not sure yet which is better.
My surgery isn't until June 26th.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer me.
Lacey
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I wish the deaf ear had an "off" switch. The stupid noise in my head makes hearing difficult in the good ear!
The good ear does seem more sensitive to loud noises and/or maybe I'm more cautious now. Don't want to compromise the 1 that I have left.
Hopefully you don't experience the same "noise" weirdness...
- level and pitch change unpredictably
- tone/pitch increase if I look hard to the side where my AN was (is that trippy or what?!)
I got some kind of hearing aid that was recommended by the audiologist. At best, it sounds like a bad speaker on AM radio. I only use when it to get a hint of something on the bad side, i.e. someone talking. Can't figure out what they're saying, but atleast I will know to look that way rather than ignore them.