ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => AN Issues => Topic started by: Joef on December 26, 2005, 10:37:55 am
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What do you think caused your AN ? .. this would be the place to look for a common thread !!
Reading about the golf ball to the head, made me think of the time I was 8 , I had a bad concussion from when I fell from a bike and hit my head on the street. :o *No helmets back then*. Gave my parents a good scare! as I was out cold and spent a few days in the hospital.
We seem to have a lot of teachers here! could noise be a factor? ... I've always been a metal head, music up loud as it could go my neighbors hated me as a teenager*. ;D During my long comute to work *40 miles* I would always have a music up loud !!!!
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I've been in martial arts for over 20 years. I've been hit in the head so many times it's not funny so there is no way to even guess if any trauma ever caused mine
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When I was finally diagnosed with my AN, one of the first questions my surgeon asked me was, "have you ever had any kind of head trauma?" My answer was yes, twice when I was a kid. Garage door slammed down on my head and a car ran a stop sign whille I was on my bike and I hit the ground head first. One of my questions to him was regarding loud music. During my teen years in the early 70's I never missed a rock concert and always had my stereo blasting. My surgeon did not think there was any link between loud music and my AN, otherwise alot more of the population would have one, but he did keep asking me about  the head trauma that I experienced as a kid.
Great question!
matti
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I did have head trauma as a child, when I was about 6 I split the back of my head wide open in a fall. Also about a year pre diagnoses I was hit while driving (side swiped) and although I already had symptoms they greatly and quickly increased after this. I often wonder if the car accident caused the already present A.N. to grow at an acelerated rate. I myself believe the use of aspertaine (the sweetener, I can't spell tonight) may play a part in this....I was a big user of diet products from about the age of 14 and there was a study done in England (I believe it was England) linking the connection between sweetener aspertaine and A.N.'s. I have never been continually exposed to loud noise.
Kathleen
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Aspartame is a nasty chemical, it's found in over 9,000 foods. There is a fairly wide belief that it can cause brain tumors.
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Hi Joe,
Are you refering to what I wrote in DeniseSmith's topic about the golfball? If you are I'm copying and pasting it here for easy access for others:
"Wnen I was five years old I was clocked on the left side of my head with a golf ball - on the ear
specifically. I started having short, profound dizzy spells at age 11 that would occur only once in a while up through the age of 30. I often wonder if those dizzy spells were a sign of what was to come? The hearing in my left ear was good until 2001 or so."
Now, I brought this to my doctor's attention during one of my visits and he didn't think it had anything to do with it.
Interestingly enough, my paternal grandfather, who was also a musician as I am died from a non-cancerous brain tumor in 1941. Is it that these things are inherited? Not according to what I've been reading on the net. Is it if we have fibrocystic tendencies that we're susceptable?
Paul
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Hey Crazycat ...
Yea, I was referring to your post about the golf ball !! ..
I know there are a lot of people that believe that Aspartame causes a huge list of issues, and I do think some people can have a allergic reaction to it, or cell phone use but in most cases in don't think the cause is a simple as that ..otherwise AN would be a common issue! It seems that the nerve gets irritated by getting pushed against the bone from some sort birth defect or head trauma ..causing bells palsy or AN .. depending on how bad the nerve is irritated ...
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Joef, This is a good topic.
I never had head trauma, never attended a rock concert.  In my past I have had very good health. The only connection I have ever pondered for my AN is estrogen use for HRT (6 years) This is probably bad logic.
I believe the deeper we look for a common cause of tumors in the body, the more varied our stories will be.
Since the advent and greater availability of the MRI, the head tumor is found and treated before mortal damage occurs. I think there have always been more ANs in the world than the statistics state.
I wish that ANs could be prevented. ÂÂ
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Cool thread!
I could spend hours (none of you are surprised, huh?) regaling you with tales of head trauma. Biking, falling, failing to duck, etc. - I've been blasted many times. Not sure if there's a connection there, but the stories are funny.
Figuring out the cause of tumors is tricky business. There are different causes for different tumors, but medicine doesn't know them all. (For example, there's a virus that seems to be the cause of cervical cancer - research is still being conducted, but confidence is high.) However, all tumors operate in basically the same way: they are cells that don't know when to stop dividing and growing. When you cut your skin, a scar forms - but it grows only enough to repair the wound site. Cells have a natural 'brake' that stops them from reproducing when they come in contact with surrounding, healthy cells. Tumor cells have, through some means, lost that ability - they keep reproducing, even into healthy surrounding tissue. One known cause of this is radiation damage to cellular DNA - but we've all been exposed to radiation at some level or another.
Basically, I think we could all find very common experiences we share, in addition to have AN. And it's fun to share the stories! ;D
As for many of us who are teachers - some students are a pain in the neck, some in the butt, and others (apparently) in the head. Not to mention parents, administrators, and people who verbally admire what you do but still think you are nothing more than a glorified babysitter and should be pain accordingly. (Bitter party, party of one, your table is now available!) ;)
Keep posting these stories!
Josh
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(For example, there's a virus that seems to be the cause of cervical cancer - research is still being conducted, but confidence is high.)ÂÂ
HPV is the virus, there's over 100 strains and it is believed 80% or more of sexually active people have had HPV at some time, most clear it from the body within a year or two and it doesn't cause genital warts, dysplasia, or any other symptoms, but the 1-2% of women who have one of the few strains that can cause cancer and whose immune system isn't able to irradicate go on to have an increased risk of cervical cancer if they do not get regular pap smears. Also smoking increases that risk. Pretty freaky though, 80% of us get it, but women have the most to worry about.
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Interesting thread and I agree with Boppie, in that we will receive varied and in some cases amusing stories. I never had any head trauma, did listen to loud music - still listen to Led Zep and Cream when i can, before my kids swing the sound to R&B, and used the mobile or for the "non-educated" cell phone (lol) as much as the next person.
My personal and tottaly uninformed verdict is that there is a combination of issues that would give rise to an AN. perhaps some weak gene or lack of a gene combined with execessive mobile phone use.
I know that there has been various studies of mobile phones and the rather inconclusive conclusion that they are safe doesn't convince me one bit. Look how long it took for the tobacco companies to own up (and they still fight). I think the dollars in the mobile phone and related industry is bigger than tobacco. Anyway, a great thread.
Larry
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Thought I'd add my thoughts to this interesting topic. I rarely use the cell phone. Don't think it could be that. Don't recall any big head trauma. Except maybe the time when I was 11 and fell off my bike going downhill too fast. Only remember hurting my chin and arms though. And the next day I got a bike for my birthday. :) Must be the students then. Some, although very few, have been a real pain (in my head??).
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Gotta weigh in on this one!
Rock concerts - check!
Cell phone - check!
Aspartame - check!
Saccharine - check!
Caffeine - check!
Salt - check! (Gotta cover all the vices while we are at it.)
Head trauma - maybe - I am not sure if it was on that side of my head, but I ran into a brick wall when I was a kid. Duh!
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Hmmm....
Concerts - check!
Cell Phone - check!
Head Trauma - check!
Smokin Tabacco - check!
Smokin (other!) - check! ;)
Caffeine - check!
Beer - check!
Whiskey - double check!
Too much computer use - check! (my first computer was in 1982!)
etc .....  ;D
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HA HA, you are all so funny!!! Nice to see some humor in here today.
Head injury - check
cell phone - no
computer - check
artificial sweetner - always
loud music - no
smoking - no
Have a Happy New Year!!!
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All right I have to add to this ..yes..I haven't seen this one posted: When I was about 12 my family vacationed in Northern California (visited the Redwoods) well unbeknownst to me at the time I came home with a little something extra--a tick--really---it was in my head. And it was a couple days after being home I remember saying to my parents that my head felt like I banged it, though I couldn't remember on what I may have bumped it on. I asked my dad to check and see if there was a bump, and my mom said that I had very dark circles under my eyes. Well lo and behold, my dad looks and there is this the backside of this tick sticking out of my head! We rush to the emergency room, and several docs pop in to see this (unusually case for a Queens NY hospital; I felt like a freak) my dad looses his patience (not uncommon for him) and was yelling "Stop looking at the @#%^ thing and get it out." Well a shot, and few stitches later its out, I get to see this thing in a jar (yuck). It wasn't Rocky Mountain spotted whatever nor Lyme, but it was embedded in there nicely.
So head injury-check, concerts- check, alcohol-check, sugar (no sac, or asp)-check, no smoking, not much caffeine (not a regular soda or coffee consumer), and no weight control supplements. So I watch what I eat, I buy organic foods, I exercise, have healthy habits and tell everyone else in my family to do so and I end up with the tumor!
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I will add a little to this thread. Seems a good one.
I went to the neruousrgeon yesterday in preperation for my CK Treatment. Some of the questions she ask was:
(1) Are you right handed? Yes
(2) What part of the country does you family come from? Missouri (However, have lived in CA and OR growing up. OK now)
(3) Have you ever had blow to the head or an accident? Yes
(No questions about loud music).
(4) Has any one else in your family had a brain tumor? No
(5) Do you have any autoimmune diseases? Yes
(6)Which ear did you normally use for the phone. Left
(2)She said there are parts of the country where AN's happen more often (got interupted and didn't get to ask where)
(3) Two very serious auto accidents and a bad fall while ice skating in my 30's
(5) Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease
(6) Tumor is on the left side. Used cell phone since Late 80's. Long time Realtor, lots of cell phone use.
Just for kicks look at the Kansas City Acoustic Neuroma forum for a survey they took. Great thought provoking questions and yes, I do fit most of that catagory also.
If there is anyway to find some common threads for this I think all of us may have the answers.
There have always been AN's. There is a significant increase in the amount seen not and not all are due to better imiging. Or even Dr. Education. Mine would not have been found had I not lost 100% of my hearing in 3 days. Which I also found out yesterday is in all likelyhood not realated to the AN. More likely the AIED.
The Neurosurgeon I saw yesterday is one of the most open minded and willing to listen and share information that I have come across yet.
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hmmmmm.....my dad (acidentally) let me roll off the changing table when i was a baby once. could that be it? i also got a whopper of a concussion when i was 5, 6, 7 or 8 (can't really remember...) sledding down the hill at my grandparent's house using one of those evil red saucers...great fun, except for the headache! so, would my children be doomed to a tumor since all of them have fallen off the changing table one time or another (or couch, or bed, or what have you...accident, of course!) and they have all banged their heads while sledding? (but never one a saucer that i know about - i got them the even more evil "wacky carpet"!) :D
i figure the tumor was probably always there - instead of asking "why?", i've started to ask "why not?"!
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Has anyone suffered from inflammation of the nerves called neuritis? I had shingles at age 17 and have had flare-ups since. Since an acoustic neuroma is a tumor of the nerves, I wonder if there is any relationship. I also think that stress causes a flare-up of nerves.
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Hi Janet!
Can't say I've ever experienced neuritis. Anyway, how are you feeling since your surgery?
Paul
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Hi guys,
Sorry to get onto a more serious note but when the product Aspartame was mentioned, I looked it up and sure enough, it is certainly in just about everything that i eat and drink. I tried finding an official medical study that links this product and its dervitives to brain tumours but couldn't find one. the only in depth articles i found were by people trying to sell their book or aspartame de tox programs. Can anyone pioint me in the direction of any offical study or trial on this product. I'm not sure if i can live without my copious amounts of diet coke. Given the quantity of aspartame in that drink, I might be in trouble.
Oh, and a happy new year to all posters.
Larry
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In regards to the discussion about Aspartame, there is an article in the most recent issue ( January/ February 2006) of Men's Health magazine which is written by a Jeff Volek, PH.D, R.D. dealing with reducing the body's intake of sugar. On page 91 he separates fact from fiction on sugar substitutes
His comments on Aspartame are:
What it is: A combination of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
Flavor Profile: Distinctly chemical 180 times sweeter than sugar
Possible side effects: None- unless you have a rare genetic condition called phenylketonuria in which your body can't process phenylalanine.
He further comments that it causing Brain tumors in rats is a rumor. Saccharin was linked to cancer in rats, but not in humans.
I'm not sure I'll put men's Health up as an academic source but ususally their information is pretty good. FWIW
Mark
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no idea if this will help but a few yrs ago when i was wondering about aspartame i plugged in a search using words like aspartame and then side effects and who knows what... but i found an amazing number of articles some of which had to do with reports done and brought to congress...... i read enough to maike me stop drinking a diet soft drink with aspartame that very day..... i don't eat packaged foods and things like that so unless they feed aspartame to chickens and cows and put it in milk or eggs in the shell i figure i no longer am "intaking" aspartame......
the chemical compostion of diet drinks with asp is mind boggling and when these drinks are left at a temp that is higher than a cool room temp all sorts of things happen in it...... i wouldn't drink the stuff now......
maybe this will help your googling.....hope so.
Windsong
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When I was six or seven years old, I was running , ran into a clotheline strung across the sidewalk --forehead high-- and was thrown straight back flat on the concrete.I still remember my ears ( both) ringing for a while. My first AN was discovered when I was 30 years old, but they said I had had it since about age 16. There were no cell phones, no sugar substitutes, didn't ingest caffeine--none of the modern possible causes. I now have an AN on the other side. I've wondered over the years whether that shock to the hearing nerves caused the tumors.
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Just curious, why is everybody listing caffeine as a possible tumor cause? Caffeine actually has anti-tumor qualities.
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I wonder if stress has anything to do with tumors, my left has been extremely stressful the last 5 years. I also have the other possible causes that have been listed but truely believe stress plays a large roll in illnesses. Deb
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I have NF2 and bi-lateral ANs and I have nerve flare-ups all the time. I had a trans-lab removal 10 1/2 years ago and I was diagnosed with the second AN(still very small) and the NF2 in August of this year. Whenever I am stressed my hearing in my good ear goes away.
At one point the Dr. that performed my surgery 10 years ago said that when he closed back up my head cranial herpes was activated in my brain. He still says that that is why my hearing fluctuates. I am constantly searching for an answer or someone with similiar symptoms. I no longer go to this Dr. and have been at MD Anderson Cancer Center in their NF2 program but they have no idea why this happens to me.
I can go days and even weeks with wonderful hearing and then suddenly within minutes it is gone and there is also lots of tinnitus.
Stacy
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Boppie: you are right that the stat.'s on A.N. only reflect the one's that are found in the living, they are often found in post-mortems and these are not included in the stat.'s of A.N. occurances. I am told by the morticians that they are found in very small states and very large states as well, nobody has told me the cause of death of someone is listed as an undiagnosed A.N. though, at least not yet.
Kathleen
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Good point.. I think we (doctors) assume when we are getting old that our balance and hearing is not as good as we were kids .. and we end up dieing from something else .. when all along we had a small AN ...
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Hi Stacy !!
Sounds like a lose connection! .. do you have tinnitus when the hearing is good? or just when the hearing is gone?
my
I can go days and even weeks with wonderful hearing and then suddenly within minutes it is gone and there is also lots of tinnitus.
Stacy
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Interesting topic...
I had an mri done about 5 years ago and no an was reported...after getting a cell phone and using it for business 5 years later an...hmmm does make one suspicious. No head injuries when i was a child, and no loud music.
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Joef,
The tinnitus is only bad when the hearing is off. It can go from a hummmm to a full blown roar. Also when there is not hearing at all there is no tinnitus just a feeling of fullness and pressure. Everyday is an adventure. I am a single mom and a pre- kindergarten teacher. All of my kids know that they must be looking at me for me to hear them.
Stacy
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Stecylee,
How old were you when you discovered the first tumor and does NF2 run in the family? Were there any symptoms as a teenager like cataracts and are there any other tumors present??
I think we should expand this topic to a two part question by adding the topic of late onsets of NF2 following treatment of the first. I know there are a handful of people on this very site that may be able to share their personal stories. I remember a few years back (while researching AN's) that most websites mentioned NF2 in summary while explaining symptoms and treatments for sporadic Acoustic Neuromas. I remember reading somewhere that most Acoustic Neuromas are a single one time event in 95% of patients presenting themselves with unilateral tumors and no family history of NF2. They usually appear rounded and encapsulated and bi-lateral tumors often present themselves together at once and in misformation. Occasionally we hear of someone developing another on the other side years after treatment of the first.
My initial questions are:
How accurate is that 5% NF2 & 95% sporadic ratio?? Also, would it be safe to say that out of that 5% that 2.5% had a family history and the other 2.5% were new first time genetic onsets?? Also, is it true that the later one may develop the "other" tumor and the older you are the more milder the case will be??
What caused your AN?
I used to believe that cell phones may be somewhat accountable but know I don't believe so despite not using a cell phone in two year. I don't think anymore that anything made for the masses like cell phones, aspartame and anything else is responsible. I guess it's all just gentics and destiny that some people get AN's while others do not just like some people get certain cancers while others do not. Everyone will encounter something in life sooner or larer after all we're not perfect and neither is the world we live in. I read once that possibly chemical exposure of some sort may be a contrbuting factor in causing AN's but not sold on that one either. I do believe more answers will arise hopefully over the next decade.
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??? Hi everyone
What caused my AN ? I am a lfelong user of sweeteners and diet drinks and at age 57 that must count for something .
I have not had any headtrauma but in the sixties I was in London right in the thick of the swinging sixties clubbing and
and constantly exposed to very loud music This continued right though the seventies and it was not at all unusual for
me to fall asleep with headphones on listening to Led Zeppelin full volume . I have stopped smoking 30 years ago and have not been a heavy cell phone user .
Best regards Kat
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I think (personally) that we all have set at birth a certain number of cell divisions, and can increase the number of needed of cell divisions by what we do. Take smoking for instance .. A non smoker can still get lung cancer .. but we can increase the number of cell divisions, because the body fixes hurt cells, we are increasing the number of cell divisions and making ourselves more susceptible to cancer (a growth where the cells have run out of correct divisions). Same for AN's ..because of head trauma or loud music, or chemical use ... we have increased the number of divisions .... there is no single answer
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I've never had a head trauma that I remember although I was found at the bottom of a swimming pool when I was 2. Don't remember anything about it, but I don't think it had anything to do with the AN. I've only been to one concert, and though I listen to music constantly I've never been into playing it real loud.
However, I worked at a college in 2 different offices that removed asbestos while we remained working in the offices. Another woman in my office was diagnosed with an AN a year before me & several men at the college had cancerous brain tumors & some ended up dying from them. It seemed like an awful lot of brain tumors for one small community college in California. Although I never suffered from earaches when I was young, I had a massive ear infection or something about one year before I had the first MRI showing the AN. I am also addicted to diet coke. When I was first diagnosed with the AN I received many emails from co-workers with attached articles about how aspertane causes brain tumors. I'm still getting phone calls & emails with the same articles.
There seem to be a lot of Kathleens (my real name) with AN's so I hope it has nothing to do with our name. I just wish I'd never heard the words acoustic neuroma - especially since I'll be going in shortly to have the tumor removed again.
Kathy
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Flyersfan,
I was 27 with my first AN. I was told it was larger than a golf ball and that surgery needed to be immediate.
I was diagnosed with the NF2 in August(10 years later). It does not run in my family and the only two symptoms I had were papilledema(diagnosed as pseudo-tumor cerebri for 4 years) and the sporatic hearing loss. My cerebral spinal fluid did not drain causing pressure around my brain and my optic nerve to swell.
As I have found out lately I have 10 tumors 7 in my head and 3 in my spine. Some are very small and my second acoustic is bi-lobed and still small.
I used to believe my first AN was artificial sweetener but in the last 10 years I haveonly eaten natural products, mostly organic. I do not do any caffeine, I exercise(yoga), I never have anything with hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. So with that said I have many more tumors......
I wish I had a better answer.
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It almost seems as though our immune systems need the everyday exposures and challenges to keep active and healthy. Maybe walking that straight careful line too long can possibly have a negative impact too since are bodies are designed to fight off most illnesses. I've tried to eat better and excercise too since surgery giving up soda, not using cell phones etc etc. but know I'm realizing that's probably all a wasted time.
StacyLee, When I looked up that condition you mentioned I found something inspiring I would like to share with everyone. Check It Out! http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/Garden/1297/geese.html
Take Care
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Kathy,
I'm not a doctor and am a heavy diet coke drinker. Re aspertame, to the best of my knowledge, there is no "official" research / conclusion that it is harmful. Most of the sites on the net are from vested interests that will want your $. My mother is now 74, has been taking sacharin since it was on the market and for the last 30 odd years, pumping nutra-sweet down her at an alarming rate of 40-50 tablets a day (heavy coffee drinker). She has not got any tumours and apart from being over weight is perfectly healthy. I am not endorsing the product, I am just saying, be careful in views about products that we still don't fully understand. Tell your work colleagues to provide one piece of research endorsed by the FDA or has been published by the british journal of medicine.
It's like the horrible AN's we have all had/have. They truly suck and have changed my life significantly and hopefully one day, some research will reveal that AN's are caused by ..... Till that day.
Larry
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Larry -
I raise my Diet Coke fountain drink to you and toast to your good health and to that of your mother. Who knows what caused our AN's? The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. One thing this whole experience has taught me is that I was worrying WAY too much about things that really didn't matter. I am going to put my consumption of Diet Coke, salt and artificial sweetners in that category and enjoy them - assuming they still taste good after surgery! :P
I've been wondering how I am going to get my fix and how soon after surgery.... :)
Sanddollar
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Bought 4 cases of diet coke soda today (it was on sale)..... they are switching to "Splenda" ;D ;)
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Joef,
in case you had any worries about your 4 cases of diet coke, from the same Men's health article as I quoted for the Aspartame
Sucralose ( splenda)
What it is:
sugar molecules blended with chlorine (chlorine?? Yuck :o) . Found in Arizona brand diet iced teas ( and apparently now DC)
Calories:
0
Flavor profile:
Slightly chemical, 600 times sweeter than sugar (pucker up on that one, aspartame is only 180 times sweeter ;))
Possible side effects:
None
Drink in good health :)
mark
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Kathy: Funny you should mention exposure to asbestos, I worked in an office with the stuff, every time I certain fan would cycle off we could see particles floating down from it.... just a few weeks ago a friend of mine with whom I worked in that office told me she has been "monitored" ofor a brain tumor her doctor has yet to name, sounds like A.N. to me by her symptoms and the slow growth rate????
I agree we shouldn't get bent outta shape to find the answer as to what caused us to get A.N. but it is
interesting. I learned within about a year post diagnoses that "why" can never be answered and I was burning a lot of energy on it so I stopped seriously looking for that answer.
Kathleen
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this asbestos angle is interesting....
I too worked in a building with it.. known to be in it and presumably sealed off with ceiling tiles....the
thing is I'd often come in and find a few had fallen down overnight and be scattered on the floor around my desk....
Shall i toss a coin between having been a diet coke addict for about seven years and working in a place with asbestos? (for even longer)..... I don't think I can blame the cell as I really didn't use it that much.....
I figure I will never know what caused my An....
Windsong
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IMO something starts it. I think Noise has something to do with it beings it grows off the inner ear. Trama or something changes the nature of the nerve to start the growth. Maybe it's what we eat, how much trama is induced, or or own body cell structure. I think if all thinks are in the right place at the wrong time "stuff happens". No one else in my family has this, so something started it. I suspect Noise due to being around Jet engines for 30 plus year. I can only remember once being severe tramatized by Noise and guess what showed up 13 years later? My vote is Prolonged and severe high pitched Noise Hz's. that's the only connection I can make. But, the experts say no, but they can't give you an answer either.
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Did anyone go into the Kansas City Acoustic Neuroma site and look at their poll? Very interesting reading. I fit into all of the catigories.
Also, something I have learned from talking to several ANers is that a lot have other autoimmune diseases. As several of you know I was tested positive for Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease. I know of another lady that has lupus and several more that have some other kind of autoimmune thing going on.
Also, I was a heavy anti oxident and supplement user. I hadn't had a cold or flu in years.
Sandy
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Well i'm a newbie here but I'm pretty sure that the most commonly excepted cause in the medical field from what I've read is there is a malfunction in the DNA trait that controls cell growth (the "brake" mentioned before) in the 22nd chromosome in the Schawn cells that normally form a sheath around the hearing nerve. From what I gather, modern genetics still doesnt know the cause of the DNA malfunction.
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After reading all the replies to this question that has no answer, I have decided in my own mind that my tumor was caused by working in a building full of asbestos & drinking too many diet cokes.
Kathy
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If you assume that the growth rate that my AN has exhibited recently has been constant throughout its existence, its formation would coincide perfectly with the date that I quit smoking pot. So remember kids, don't use drugs, but if you do use drugs, keep using them or you'll get a brain tumor. ;)
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Funny you should say that ...The timing is about right for me too !!!! ;)
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Interesting thought on "pot", I never touched the stuff but maybe I should have and kept going with it!!!
Joef - have you checked out the hits that this thread has received - over 1100 at last count.
Larry
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It seems like maybe someone should do a study! I might have thought twice about "choosing life" if I had known the risks.
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I would say I've had my 4 cm AN for 20 or 25 years. which puts the "birth" of my AN in my teen years
Lets see know... Smokin , Drinking , Head trauma ... could be anything I guess ... I vote is its a condition
I was born with ... not what I did or didn't do...
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Could someone provide me with a link to the Kansas City Acoustic Neuroma poll?
SKT
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Concerts - never liked concerts. Never liked loud noises
Cell Phone - not very often.
Head Trauma - yes
Smokin Tabacco - occasionally
Smokin (other!) - No
Caffeine - Yes, just in the mornings
Beer - Yes and red wine
Whiskey - Nope
computer - yes
artificial sweetner - never
chemical exposure - grew up on a vegetable farm with lots of pesticides.
autoimmune disease - both parents
birth control/hormonal changes - yes, within a month of going on the pill noticed hearing loss and within 2 weeks ringing started
Stress-major at the time of diagnoses
overall physical health - good
blood work - excellent
Darlene
5mm by 8mm
Middle Fossa
Left side deafness
House
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Joe,
I agree with you. It's just something that happens, something we're born with. Mine started when I was 11 or so and I had unaccountable spells of vertigo to prove it - I've written about them in other posts - up through the age of 30. Then they stopped. The left side deafness started to creep in around 1999 - 2000 - 42 or 43 years of age. Double vision started in 2002. It wasn't until last year, 2005 that my equilibrium went haywire that I sought treatment. By that time, the thing had grown to 5cm x 5cm. First had the shunt installed for
C.S.F. buildup and then the tumor resection a month later. Miraculously, I've never suffered from headaches, which goes to show, it's all how the cards fall in some respects.
Interestingly enough, as I've said before, my paternal grandfather died from a non-cancerous brain tumor in 1941. Of course, back then there was little or nothing that could be done for people with our condition.
Take care, Paul
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I too do not really fall into any of the "categories", other than I was a teen in the 70's. Two Dr.s are doing a study at U of M on the Schwan(sp?) cells. This seems to be the most likely culprit, but they still don't have all the answers.I gladly donated my tumor for the study!! :Dluv2teachsped
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dpericoni
You say you were under major stress at the time of diagnosis. I had just received some very bad news days before my symptoms began. Emotional trauma, I like to call it. The symptoms were sudden and severe (vertigo, headache, hearing loss and facial paralysis). Of course, I don't think the emotional trauma caused the AN, but I do wonder what goes on in our heads when we're under severe stress.
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minnkris
Women get ANs more often (but not by much) than men so there may be an estrogen connection. I have read that stress changes our hormone balance.
Dpericoni
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If I was ti blame my AN on anything it would be the 20 years working in chemicals.the cakes
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Genetics.......yes!!
Paul
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Whapped by evil AN fairy......Yes!
Capt Deb 8)
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Such interesting reading! I was at Woodstock................my first experience with the wacky weed. Just the smell...smoking made my mascara run. Then in the 70's I went to every Rod Stewart concert I could get to. The 90's I revisited the Stones. "Weed" wasn't illegal back then so we grew it and ground it up and put it in our brownies and spaghetti sauce. Even my Mom and Dad liked it! Yikes. None one else in the family has or had a tumor......................but then I've heard that the brothers are still users. Maybe it is stress related. A study or a good idea here would be the survey at the many doctor's we see.
???BrendaO
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Don't know what caused mine, only wish i had been smart enough to go to the dr. when my hearing started to go.
Minimal wacky weed use
Love music, minimal concerts attended
was in military around jets (loud noise)
mild concussion around age of 13
minimal cell phone useage
I think basically, i have lived a quiet life (noise wise). I a single mother of two teenage boys, maybe the stress of raising them got to me! :o
I also work in the mortgage business, which is stressful enough to cause an AN if they are found to be caused by stress
Good Thread
Denise : 8)
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Its funny , looking back some things start to make sense .. Yea I played a little with "weed" but one of the reasons I stopped in my 20's was because what it did to my eye's! .. I would get terrible "dry" red eye .. an when I worked at a greenhouse during the summer,  I would have trouble with my eye's because dirt would bother them and would get bad "red" eye ... and guess what.. it was mainly on my right side... My AN side.... were these early signs of my AN, 20 years ago .. I think so!
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"Ganja" is a way of life in the Caribbean--can buy it along with the fruits and veggies at the roadside stand. It's been 18 years, but I definitely participated in de way o' life, mon! :o
Capt Deb 8)
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Great topic! How about chemicals? I don't know how'd that play back into history but it seems to me that more and more people are getting these things...
My mom had a beauty shop in the home growing up, lots of hairspray and perms :P And, I did a lot of silk sreen priniting in my youth exposed to inks, cleaning solutions and dark room stuff... :P
Also had
- trauma from car accidents
- loud music (disco and concerts)
- wacky weed (helps today with dizzyness)
- cell phone usage
- lots of computer usage (with headphones for editing audio) I was actually warned about this back in the 90's!
- lots of caffeine
I think something about my body is apt to growing things too, as I have no problem with lots of hair and fast growth with fingernails.
I now try to always eat organic if I can...
melinda
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WARNING BAD SPELLING
Nate post from another thread
well I have always been around RFs and the like all my life, but just about a year before my AN was found I started using the cell phone at a regular bases and I started working at a company that used cordless long range phones which I used 80% of the day. This could have somthing to do with mine, but ill never know I always talked on my right ear (my AN side). there has been many times in my life were it may have or may not have played a part, I have been exsposed to radiation, microwave transmissions, and even toxic waste when I was in the army and other endevors.
If only got the AN I feel lucky LOL
WARNING BAD SPELLING
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LOL .. and a beutifull weeks stay at the hospital of your choice
and a free $100,000 surgery!! all this and more at the price-is-right!
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WACKY WEEK CAUSE WONKEY HEAD????
Tried it but NEVER INHALED
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they all say that :P ;) :P
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truth be known, what we say we gave up in our youth, may be the best headache med available out there.
back to what caused the AN, In reading this thread,
I had a really bad head injury 25 yrs ago
did do the wacky stuff, never inhaled
went to many loud rock concerts
use a cell phone, never listen though
but what I find more interesting to explore that was brought up on this thread is that more woman than men get AN's, and a mention of HRT's I know of a gal who's 2nd AN grew back with a vengance (got huge took 26 hours to get out) during her pregnancy. The doc's said it was regrowth that from her first one and was fed off of the increased hormones in her body while being pregnant, and it grew rapidly during her pregnancy. When I went in for surgery I specifically asked them to biopsy the beast for hormones becasue I had a hysterectomy in 2001 and have been on low dose HRT. Made me wonder if the HRT fed the thing. They didn't elaborate much on the subject just told me it tested negative for hormones. In thinking about this again, I may go back and get a copy of the pathology report, along with my surgery report which I have never seen.
BTW Nate, very cute baby. and don't worry about the spelling, my type o's (dyslexic) are worse than yours
Patti UT
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I didn't read every post in this interesting (and probably inevitable) thread but as what we now call an Acoustic Neuroma tumor was noted and even operated on over 100 years ago (unsuccessfully in most cases, as using mallets and gouges for brain 'surgery' wasn't conducive to patient survival) I have to doubt that 'stress', cell phones, microwave ovens, youthful marijuana smoking, modern food additives, rock music (live or heard via headphones) or even exposure to asbestos really has anything to do with them. I suspect that ANs are genetic and not a manifestation of any environmental or emotional condition. They have likely been around for many, many centuries, before medicine moved from leeches and bleeding to 'cure' physical ailments. Now, with the MRI and increased physician and patient awareness of the somewhat rare AN tumor, we're seeing more of them and quite naturally, speculating on the cause, in the hope that by learning the cause, we can prevent AN tumors. That would be wonderful but as the cause of most cancers cannot be found or eliminated despite billions spent on that disease, I don't see a 'cure' for AN growth happening in our lifetime. Well, not in mine, anyway. I hope I'm mistaken. I really do.
Jim
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I wish every time I heard "my AN grew quickly while I was pregnant" I had another 1$ , it seems I've read it here a lot ...
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HI Jim,
Good to see this post.
I began to think: are there any research studies out there re "cell studies" from Ans? hopefully cells from the the "CORE" cells which began the An growth in the first place.... maybe an answer lies in that.
The An has to start somewhere right? And schwann cells are all over lots of nerves. SOOOO i figure something is in the schwann cells, their DNA, RNA,, nucleus stuff etc.......any history re schwannomas that go back more than 150 yrs ago?
maybe it's lead.
Thanks,
cheers
Windsong
I didn't read every single post in this interesting (and probably inevitable) thread but as what we now call an Acoustic Neuroma was noted and operated on over 100 years ago, albeit unsuccessfully in most cases, as using mallets and gouges for brain 'surgery' wasn't conducive to patient survival , I doubt cell phones, microwave ovens, youthful marijuana smoking, modern food additives, rock music in headphones or even exposure to asbestos has anything to do with them. I suspect that ANs are genetic-based and may have been around for many, many centuries, before medicine moved from leeches and bleeding to 'cure' physical ailments.  Frankly, although it would be great to find a way to prevent their growth, I don't see that happening in our lifetime. Well, not in mine, anyway.
Jim
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No to just about everything on your list, except that since I'm 60 (egad), 15-20 years ago I'm sliding into menopause. I never smoked anything, light drinker, no major head injuries, nobody in my family has this that I've ever heard of...."Just one of those things...just one of those crazy things...."
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Head trauma - no
Family AN history - no
Cell phone - heavy user for 10 years (talked so much that phone became hot at times; now I use speaker or ear piece)
Estrogen - 3 years estrogen patch use since hysterectomy (fibroids)
Stress - lots (but I am Type A)
Nuclear - worked in a nuclear fuel rod manufacturing facility (office only) for 6 years
Smoke - no
Diet coke - no
Healthy - always
Exercise - due to cholesterol check, I started regular exercise almost the same time when my first symptom was noticed a year ago
Diet - healthy food (my cholesterol went down 40 points through diet and exercise then bang! I got diagnosed with AN - go figure!)
FYI - My reputable high tech co-worker friends in my company which develops and sells wireless technologies all said the whole phone is an antenna and that the industry protects the issue heavily. And yes, they all said radiation comes out of the phone.
Bottom line: I believe our body's hormonal balance changes when you are stressed out. Then when exposed to undesirable environmental factors, abnormalities fester. My mom always said I don't eat balance diet and not cook nor eat enough herbal food. Back to the ying-yang cause.
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I posted a question about panarex images of the head in the General Category. I guess it belongs here.
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I had dengue fever in 1981, sort of like malaria, and is mosquito-borne. The natives call it "break-bone fever, cuz your joints hurt like he**!! Laid up for about 5 days with fever and delerium a month to recover. Had to quit my skipper job and everything! Hmmmmmm.
Capt Deb 8)
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Gosh, it has been a long time since I have looked at this thread. Way back in January someone ask about the Kansas City Acoustic Neruoma survey and what the web site was it it is: www.anakc.org these are very interesting surveys. I keep intending to drive North an go to one of thier meetings. I think they only meet quarterly. They have a very good web site. Worth goingi into.
Sandy
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In my case, Jeof, I strongly believe it was a car accident, rear ended while stopped at a crosswalk, projected 2 car length away sreaming.
All my symptoms stared then or shortly after, and off course, they were confused with the accident outcome so it took another 7 years to get an MRI aimed at the inner ear.
That was 1990, I had kept this AN so long, it was ok with me to keep it longer. it has never stopped growing, slowly, It is now in the CP angle, free to go and not restricted by the bone of the iac. Next year, I will have another MRI in August.
It gave me enough time to learn all there is, and to know where I wish to have it "done", HEC, off course!
antoinette
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I have been thinking if Chelsea ever had a head injury but can't think of any. What she did have was a very long period of strep throat and eventually her tonsils removed when she was 5. This is all in the ENT area. I have been wondering if there was a connection between this and mutated schwann (sp) cells. Her Doc believes that his tumor was very old. Probably older than 10 years. She hates artificial sugar, doesn't smoke, drink coffee, listen to music too loud (although she has gone to a few concerts), doesn't drink but does use the computer a lot and used to use my analog cell phone years ago. Who knows. If it turns out to be connected to cell or cordless phones or artificial sweeteners, this world is in big trouble.
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I have been thinking someone should do this, so I'm not surprised that one of you folks already had.
Head injury--yes--concussion snow skiing several years ago--out for awhile, then fine
nutrasweet--gracious plenty
cell phone--even more.
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This has to be one of the more interesting threads on this board. I am fascinated by the variations of "trauma" that we have all had and trying to link those with our AN's. There really isn't too common a theme that we could say - hey - 40 people have had this that the other but only one item is common. Be good if we could spot this but my reading of this thread doesn't really point to any one item - what a shame. haven't put it all in a database but maybe i will print all the threads and try an put a database together to see if something highlights. Something to do whilst on the plane to the U.S next week.
Laz
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I see this thread had been going for quite a while. I'm new here having been diagnosed with an intracanalicular acoustic neuroma, 3.5 mm. in size. I had an MRI in January '06 that was negative except for "mucosal thickening of the petrous apex", which is part of this area of the head. Anyways, my sore throat and earache symptoms have continued along with new burning and tingling of my face, so I asked for another MRI and that is where they think they see a possible acoustic neuroma.
I'd like to propose that acoustic neuromas could be caused by bouts of severe viral infections. In the last couple years I've developed very painful "canker" sores in the left side of my mouth back at the juncture where the upper and lower jaw meet. I call them canker sores, but I know they are probably aphthous ulcers or some type of herpetic ulcers. Nonetheless, they are viral-like. This started about a year and a half ago when I was under a great deal of stress because my husband was having colon cancer surgery (completely cured, thank God). Now I have an acoustic neuroma?
Please weigh in if you remember any recurrent viral episodes before the AN diagnosis. My symptoms include facial burning, sore throat feeling every few weeks, ear ache with sore throats, burning earlobe and full feeling in ear. No perceived hearing loss. I am just starting my journey, so I'll be posting one of those looong "I'm new here" posts soon that will include other symptoms in my shoulder and chest. I'll be asking if people ever had symptoms that far from their head with their acoustic neuromas. 'til then....
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Bump ... there has been some recent questions about habits that cause AN's ... this is an olde but a goodie thread ...
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The AN was my third wierd medical problem.
#1 - Guillian Barre - a rare nerve disease (side effect of the swine flu shot) I couldn't walk into the hospital but walked out a week later after mega doses of steroids.ÂÂ
#2 - Avascular Necrosis in my hips/shoulders (side effect of the steroids used to cure the Guillian Barre)  Total hips done Aug. and Oct. of '04 - shoulders on hold, don't want any more surgery!!! ÂÂ
#3 - The AN
??????? Good one to bump up joef - Kathy
ps: I think I mentioned on a earlier thread that I grew up very close to the Mpls./St. Paul International Airport. My brother is convinced that our wierd family medical problems could be from jet fuel being dumped on our neighborhood a few times a year.......it was nasty and it took days to dissipate. Brother, testicular cancer. Sister, ovarian cancer & thyroid tumor. Brother, pituitary tumor. My twin sisters are the only ones that have never had anything medically wrong.
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How long was Gillian Bare before the AN ? I wonder if you had the AN then ...
for me, I can trace back symptoms almost 20 years before my AN .. I had a very slight ringing in my ears I would notice only when trying to sleep ... of course got steady louder over the 20 years... about 15 years ago I noticed a loss of hearing .. no big deal for me then .. and the real clincher .. I would get a twitch in my forehead once it a blue moon lasting only a sec or 2. and that was 15 years ago!! about 5 years ago, I noticed my balance was not what it once was ... I thought it was the first sign of age ... I quit smoking ... and that helped a lot .. and then 2 years before .. I noticed numbness .. I tought it was a tooth problem ...FINALLY I went to my GP and he sent me for a MRI --- and now you know the rest of the story
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Hi Joe:
I had Guillian Barre in 1978 or 1979. The tinnitus I ignored started about 2001 or 2002. I never had any type of MRI or CT. They used EMG to diagnose the GB. I had not thought about this years but getting the diagnosis for GB was as hard as getting one for the AN. I could not walk without much effort and my arms, hands, legs and feet felt like they were on fire. Must be anemic they said, maybe MD they said, maybe it is in your head they said........well, we have ruled out everything else, on to a neurologist......two seconds after I tried to walk for him he said: I think you have Guillian Barre, lets do an EMG........man was I ever naive back then. Of course it was neurological.....
Kathy
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I am intrested in how long you took the steroids and how much taken to develop the hip problems. I have had heavy doses of steroids 6 times in less than two years for my autoimmune inner ear disease. Now I am on them at low dosage forever. Also how long after taking them did you develop the hip problem?
Sandy
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I got hit by a car at 7yrs old broke my jaw.. I have always had bad ear infections .in both ears. then i flew over to germany and my ear poped , and i had holes in the ears. then many,many many yrs later, I had ear surgery to repair the ear drumb on both ears.. Here i am today/Deaf...in left ear and wear a aide in rt,,, and thats my story and I am sticking to it..
oh, have to say i am sorry capt DEb I called you capt DEE.. any way you and pearl are the best..
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Sandy:
I was on an IV drip 12 hours on, 12 hours off for the week I was in the hospital. My understanding was that the drip was what was called a very heavy dose of steroids. Then I was sent home with oral steroids. I don't remember how long I took them. I don't think it was more than a month. I had that mega steroid puffy look and gained 30 lbs. The extra weight came right off after the steroids were out of my system. The necrosis of the joints (Avascular Necrosis) didn't start until about 3 or 4 years later.ÂÂ
You might want to ask your Dr. about low dose steroid use vs heavy dose. I would imagine low dose would not cause necrosis of the joints but it worth asking about. Unfortunately, steroids are one of those nasty drugs that work so well on so many things but can have side effects.ÂÂ
I was upset at first when I found out I had Avascular Necrosis from the steroids. Then I realized it was a small price to pay for the amazing recovery I had. The woman in the next room from me at the hospital had Guillian Barre too. She was paralyzed from the waist up and was on a breathing machine. The good with the bad so to say.
Kathy
I am intrested in how long you took the steroids and how much taken to develop the hip problems. I have had heavy doses of steroids 6 times in less than two years for my autoimmune inner ear disease. Now I am on them at low dosage forever. Also how long after taking them did you develop the hip problem?
Sandy
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I found it interesting that in yesterday's news up here in the great white north, there was an article on aspartame. It reiterated what i found some years ago in searches including some congress reports.. that is to say, summarized the chemical composition and breakdown of aspartame in the body and the role played by methyl alcohol and formaldehyde ( two of the chemicals from the breakdown of aspartame in the body...there are others..) and also the finding that aspartame given to mice ended up with them having brain tumours.
I recall that diet drinks left in a place where the temperature was above a certain point also increased the nastier chemical components in the can. I can't pass on the sites of scientific reports i found some years ago, unfortunately, as i didn't keep them.
Maybe in our lifetime an asnwer for the cause(s) will be found.
Windsong
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This is very interesting. I have always been an accident waiting to happen! In 1970, a stake truck ran me off the road and I did a nose dive in a ditch in a 1969 Camaro, the following winter I was involved in a seven car pileup with the same car and I was the fourth car. I got hit on all four side and then hit in the rear. In 1997 I was hit head on by a drunk driver and in 2000 I was rear ended by a drunk driver at a red light. All caussed head injuries. My brain is scrambled. In 1997, the MRI showed a silver behind my right ear. My AN was on the right side and 3.5 in 2005. Hmmmmmmmmm.
BrendaO
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Geez louize, Brendalu!! :o You've had more than your share of problems. Hope the last half of your life is uneventful.
Sue in Vancouver
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Saw this one and HAD to jump in - i say mine was maybe not caused but atleast brought on by STRESS...my symptoms started when i went deaf in my right ear while talking (or crying, whatever LOL) on the phone with a friend of mine one night...i also thought i had anxiety or something cuz i was getting really bad dizzy spells, especially when in a grocery store or somewhere like that...
6 months before that i had split with my fiance (of 9 years)...had spent all my time since then taking over the mortgage (which dad had to co-sign), cancelling the wedding arrangements, switching all bills into my name, and praying that my job was stable enough to maintain all of this...its a long list of stuff i had to take care of...and being a 28 year old who had spent the last 6 years living with someone else, it was the scariest thing i had ever done. i have never in my life experienced such stress and i am so sure that it was the stress that gave my tumor the ticket to grow...fine maybe it was always there...but it was stress, i'm sure of it.
best part = i'm happier with a brain tumor than i was with my ex. LOL.
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the last few years have been stressful for me to ... just lots of work... I wonder if stress releases extra hormones or the extra blood pressure does something??!!
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I know there was past dicussions here in the past about possible estrogen levels, although doesn't explain for the men here?
As for me, heck... regardless... I was lucky getting this thing... it brought all of you into my life! :)
Phyl
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Since my diagnosis...I have questioned where this came from....and have heard as many answeres as their are people here.......
I have had three concussions in my lifetime, went to about a dozens concerts betrween 1969 and 1983 and lived most of my life with high anxiety...up until about 7 years ago........I have been told this is a very slow growing tumor....that mine could have been growing from about 7 to 15 years.....which then eliminates many supposed causes of AN.....
It's one of those mystery's I hope is uncovered in my lifetime....just out of curiosity.....
Thanks,
jan
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Sue and Bruce,
A cat...probably. Last half of my life. I really hate to think if it that way...but I guess it is. I was talking to my eighty year old aunt the other day and here we were making making plans for ten years from now! Nothing like planning ahead! Stress and head injuries...I have to agreed. I do agree with Phyl though..with the AN I wouldn't have found out about all the special people here.
BrendaO
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My wife snoring on my AN ear while sleeping on the other side for so many years (which is most of the time) ;D
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I suppose that there is nothing definitive yet about causes but I have listened to way to much LOUD music over the years and until recently loved headphones cranking souind right into my head. At work I would often spend several hours a day with radio headphones that fit tightly around the back of my head and clipped over my ears. These were, of course, turned way up loud. I would not be surprised to find out some day that this disregard for the health of my hearing had contributed to my AN.
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Someone mentioned this thread so I had to check it out. Very interesting. As for myself, I was injured as a child ending up with sutures in the forehead. Lots of loud music and multiple concerts while in college and since. Many NASCAR races over the years although the last few I used earplugs. New onset grand mal seizures at 21 (I'm 46 now). The second occurred at 23 and from the soreness afterward, I suppose my head bounced off the bathroom tile floor. I have used artificial sweeteners since age 13-14. And of course with soda comes loads of caffeine. I starting noticing the tinnitis within the past couple of years and although this may have nothing to do with it, the premenopausal hormone mess has been going on for about that long. I have a cell phone but rarely use it. Have had a desk job for years now which of course means almost constant exposure to a computer. Over the years, I've rarely listened to music via headphones. For my children's generation in particular, the use of headphones/earbuds is a chief concern for hearing loss in general. I feel certain the stats for that will rise sharply in years to come.
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When I was a kid at the swimming hole in a mud fight I got hit in my left ear. Two days later after serere ear pain the doctor pulled out a dead tad pole. :o Maybe that had something to do with it :D
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All my head issues have been on the AN side of my head. In high school had a bad ear infection and injured my ear drum. Had a lump in the back of my head on the AN side and for years asked my Dr's what they thought it was and they blew it off saying that was the shape of my head. On my AN side when I was a young child got a tic embedded behind my ear and when removed left a bad scar and eventually appeared to turn into a mole, had that removed in my early 20's. During my early 20's had foot surgery and was on heavy duty steriod shots for about 2 years to help with the healing process. Talked on a cell phone using my AN side ear for years now I try to to limit my conversations on my cell phone to a few minutes and use a speaker phone for the majority of my phone conversations. Working on a computer for over 25 years and a big consumer of diet drinks and sugar free sweetners. Bottom line, I think I had my AN way longer than 5-10 years like my Dr suggested. Looking back there were just too many situations that were associated with balance and foggy head problems over the years!
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I had a severe head injury at four and a lesser concussion at 12... I will be
46 in November...
I had a neck and back injury in April of 1996 and had MRIs and CAT scans of head
then... nothing showed up...
Started having severe migraines in July 1999... MRIs showed nothing then... my migraines
are to left side of head...
In July 2004 the left side of my face went numb and they thought mini stroke ... the AN showed
up in an MRI then... but it was on the right side... numbness was said to be due to migraine
complications and so the AN was found accidently... it just sat there from July 2004 til October
2006... no measurable growth...
Last fall I started having hormone problems that cause long , heavy menstrual cycles that were
pretty much taking over my life... I was losing more blood than my body could replace and had
to have a hysterectomy in march... in April I had to go to neuro because my hearing dropped
and I was having increased dizzyness... I was not suppose to go back for a scan til October but
the AN had hit a growth spurt and doubled in size in those 6 month... my surgeon thinks the
hormonal problems may have triggered growth...
As to what caused it ...who knows
People I know keep telling me this is the type tumor caused by cell phones... since my doctors are
2 hours away and I usually went by myself I got a cell phone for safety reasons and to let people
down here if I was running late so someone could be here to get my two little girls
off school bus... so for me the cell phone came after tumor... didn't have one before
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I believe I had the tumor for 20 years... but I had bad poison IVY a couple of years ago ... got a steroid shot.. cleared it up .. but I think it kicked the tumor growth into high gear!! (at least it was about the time I started to notice things) :(
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There was a great presentation at the symposium regarding research that's been done to determine a cause. The presenter was at a conference in Barcelona recently where neurosurgeons compared their findings. They found no correlation/causation with smoking, cell phone use, computer use, drinking. Some correlation with loud noise and maybe with estrogen, but those have not been confirmed definitely.
I rarely use a cell phone, have never been a smoker, drink in moderation and don't go to rock concerts (God, do I sound boring!) When music was too loud as a young person, I'd stuff Kleenex in my ears. Yet here I am with an AN. Go figure.
So lets not beat ourselves up. Right now it appears to be a crap shoot.
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They found no correlation/causation with smoking, cell phone use, computer use, drinking.
Good thing ! ;D If you added fishing to the list, you just described me ;)
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My last 8 or so years have been every night eating marijuanda on olive oil and editing audio on the computer all night with headphones. No trauma, no cell phone heavy use, no drougs or alcohol, no artificial sweeteners.Also Im vegetarian.
I wonder if the oil or the headphone abuse made my AN grow.
Also I had a cold with sinusitis when traveled by plane and felt my head was going to explode on take off and landing about 15 years ago.
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What a neat old thread you found, Pablo.
I never had a head injury. Closest thing was a hit and run driver smashed into the back of my car and I bumped my head last year, but that was well after the dizziness started and the single sided hearing loss, so not likely a cause.
I drink lots of aspartame,
Listened to lots of loud music as a teenager / 20-something,
Lots of cell phone and cordless phone use as a teenager / 20-something
Lots of computer use since a teenager,
Tobacco user for 20 years
Very brief (maybe like 17 years old to 22 years old) "other" smoker
2 pregnancies
Have taken steroids on occasion for acute episodes of asthma.
I've had sinus / ear / nose / throat problems for most of my life... I lose my voice almost every winter, trouble with fluid draining from the Eustachian tubes, asthma, used to get bad bronchitis when I was a smoker.
No known family history of tumors
I was a vegetarian from the age of 13 until the age of 30,
My sinuses were always horrible on planes.
I would love to know what caused this.
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Could it be high fever over105.1
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Don't drink, don't smoke, never did any drugs, listen to loud music sometimes, bumped my head lots of times, concussions yep, worked with a radar gun for a number of years, put cordless phones and cell phones, to my AN side - yep, spin the bottle round and round, no body where it will land right now. it is any bodies guess, but would love to read any new studies.
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I am 66 and I had radiation treatments when I was about 4 years old for swollen adnoids. I remember the fear. The doctor taped lead shields over my eyes. He lowered an x-ray machine to the side of my head, and I was treated that way at least twice. That was a routine treatment back in 1950s.
I believe a study at Yale, might be wrong, suggested that this might have been ONE of the causes of ANs. The stats for kids that were treated that way are staggering.
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I raised teenagers and had rental properties. The combination of the two must have messed up my head. ;D
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Hi james e .....
I, also, had high doses of radium to my nasopharyngeal area following a tonsillectomy in the 1950s ..... apparently standard protocol with some ENTs back then. I was old enough to still remember the burning rods inserted far into my nostrils!!
Several doctors since my AN diagnosis have told me that almost certainly my AN was caused by the huge doses of ionizing radiation I had decades earlier.
So glad my parents never knew about my AN as they would have been devastated that they allowed the doctor to do this.
We cannot undo the past, but we can be cautious regarding drug and/or treatment use in the future.
Clarice
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I recently saw a video going around on Facebook about BHA in dog treats causing tumors and looked it up and see it used to be added to lots of human foods, too. So, that's the newest culprit I'm blaming in my head. Grad school is a close second, though.
Mine aren't teenagers yet, so I guess I can't blame that.
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Looks like this thread hasn't been active. I think mainly loud music, possible too much banging my head against the wall and falling on pavement. Aspartame I also suspect. Cell phone maybe, but ive been using it mostly ony left ear since I'm left handed.
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This is an interesting topic for me because I will beat myself up until the day I die wondering what caused this tumor.
I have been meaning to start a post asking people if they have or currently are still drinking diet soda.
I did drink diet soda in my teens and 20's and stopped after I got pregnant because I knew how many bad chemicals are in diet soda.
Then after I stopped drinking it, I heard that diet soda causes brain tumors. When I heard that, I started warning people about diet soda causing brain tumors.
Then in 2013, almost 20 years after I stopped drinking diet soda, I was diagnosed with my brain tumor.
I used to also get a very deep painful stabbing feeling in my head during the years I drank diet soda.
Please respond if you have drank a lot of diet soda. Is this the common link with us?
Sandy
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This is an interesting topic for me because I will beat myself up until the day I die wondering what caused this tumor.
I have been meaning to start a post asking people if they have or currently are still drinking diet soda.
I did drink diet soda in my teens and 20's and stopped after I got pregnant because I knew how many bad chemicals are in diet soda.
Then after I stopped drinking it, I heard that diet soda causes brain tumors. When I heard that, I started warning people about diet soda causing brain tumors.
Then in 2013, almost 20 years after I stopped drinking diet soda, I was diagnosed with my brain tumor.
I used to also get a very deep painful stabbing feeling in my head during the years I drank diet soda.
Please respond if you have drank a lot of diet soda. Is this the common link with us?
Sandy
I was drinking diet soda as I grew older (early teens) until now. I greatly reduced my intake as it started having an effect on me when working out. I believe this could be a possible link, however you would think that more people would be diagnosed with it. My mom who has diabetes has been drinking diet soda for years and doesn't have the same type of condition, however she did have growths on her thyroids. I'm strictly drinking kombucha and water from now on.
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I'm not a smoker or drinker and didn't go to many loud concerts. Never had artificial sweeteners (would tell everyone they cause cancer in laboratory animals:) ) Light mobile phone user.
Two things of note:
1) Several decades ago, when I was 7, I got a barium meal and abdominal X-ray
2) Hit my head hard on the corner of a bathtub tiled surround about 5 years ago (fainted when going to the toilet in the middle of the night). Impact point was just behind my right ear. AN is in right ear.
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Good Question
no one ever asked me that (I mean the Doctors i saw)
my AN was very small about 7mm X 4mm X 6mm discovered 2015. The only severe trauma to my head was when i hit a wooden shed while skiing back in 1982. (Doctors approximate speed over 60 miles/hours.)
i have over 80 stitches and 2 plastic surgeries to my face.(but thats another story)
Thats the physical trauma,
On the physchological side alot of stresses, and MRIs taken to my head
regards
Guss