ANA Discussion Forum
Post-Treatment => Cognitive/Emotional Issues => Topic started by: jazzfunkanne on November 04, 2008, 03:21:48 am
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I have heard that something major that happens in our life can maybe start AN to grow, i have lost both my parents in the past , and had a miscarriage i am now beginning to wonder if this is true, can you all think back to something major in your life that has maybe tiggered this to happen? i may be wrong but its worth thinking about.
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That is really something to look into. I have had some major things go on in my life, but no one ever suggested that the AN was caused by them! It gives us something else to think about. Thanks for sharing.
Brenda
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I had heard something like that but if it were true I would think that ANs would be more common
not saying it doesn't have some truth to it ... I had a severe concussion followed with almost two weeks
in the hospital due to uncontrolled vomiting and amnesia ...after I came home I had ringing in my ears
that at four was dismissed by most until I was around 11 or 12 and read an article on tinnitus ... new
doctors said the knock to head could have started the ringing and now my mom thinks it started or
predisposed me for an AN ...
my doctor thought that stress and or hormone rushes may have contributed to the fast growth spurt mine
took after sitting there being watched for 3 years without growing then growing rapid enough to be
scary over a six month period... I had started having 10 or 12 day long periods with heavy flow stopping
for maybe a week then starting again...hormones were high then would drop ... I was losing blood volume
because my body couldn't replace what I was losing...as the surgeon put it I was bleeding to death a
month at a time... hormone therapy didn't help and had to have hysterectomy a month before the MRI that
showed the super growth spurt of my AN
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I have heard that hormones play a part in growth as welll, esp with expecting mothers, i suppose we could debate all day on this.
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Wow, that is an interesting theory - and IMO it makes a lot more sense than the cell phone or the fish hatchery theories :-\
I can think of many major events in my life prior to my AN diagnosis (I'll spare you the details), and I'm sure others could do the same.
I've never heard this theory, but like Soundy, I think if there was any truth to it ANs wouldn't be as rare as they are.
Jan
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could be we all relate to stress in different ways, i dont know if we will ever know the answer
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I think that if AN's were caused by major stressful events, we'd all have one! Or more! I know I'd probably be dead by now!
I blame mine on a combination of genetics, bad luck, pregnancy hormones and having radioactive iodine treatment for an overactive thyroid. And maybe growing up in NJ didn't help either. Hmmm....maybe that pet goldfish I had once added to the list too, but for fear of this thread being relocated, I'll leave that alone.
Lori
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Anne:
Thanks for the conversation-starter but I find this hypothesis difficult to accept, although it beats the cell-phones-cause-ANs theory. Everyone experiences stress of some kind and as others have stated, if stress were a 'trigger', ANs would be ubiquitous. During my 65 years, I've experienced many life events that were definitely stressful; including job loss and resultant financial problems that threatened our lifestyle (none too luxurious to begin with), a sick baby that had to be hospitalized and undergo surgery (he recovered nicely) a wife with ongoing medical problems, a near-fatal auto accident (in 1989) and so on. I've lost both parents and so has my wife. Friends have died unexpectedly and I still miss them. Yada, yada, yada. I'm certain most of the folks on this board could list similar stressful events in their lives. Despite all this, my AN didn't manifest itself until I was 63, after I had retired and yes, I was very much enjoying my retirement, as was my wife. No boredom or tension at home and a full life in every way that matters to us. My surgeon commented that my AN was 'probably' growing for close to 15 years. It finally grew large enough to manifest symptoms and motivate me to seek treatment. I see no real connection to 'stress' and the unchecked growth of the Schwann cells of the vestibulocochlear nerve. This is obviously a case of blaming 'stress' for whatever can't be adequately explained by medical science. Happens all the time. It is human nature to want concrete answers to vexing problems and someone is always around to offer one, often sans real evidence. Hence, the dubious cellphone-AN theory, fish hatchery-AN theory and now, that old stand-by: 'stress'.
I'm not a doctor or scientist , just another AN patient - and I'll stipulate that this theory may yet prove to have some validity - but I have my doubts. 'Stress' is real, as we all know, but while it's a fact that stress has negative effects on our health, I suspect it is becoming a catchall culprit for problems (such as acoustic neuromas) for which the medical community can't accurately pinpoint a cause.
Jim
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If AN's are stress related then my husband must have a basketball size one by now after being my support person/caretaker the last 15 months. Maybe an MRI should be ordered STAT~
Angie
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Even though it is an interesting theory, I can honestly say that I had no MAJOR trauma before my AN - I guess you could say I have had my fair share now!! ;) Truly, I was just the happy go lucky high school, college, first job & then marriage kid...so nope, really nothing too stressful even (unless you count some of those honors classes I took!).
K ;D
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A "medical intuitive" wrote that VS's develop because our lives are not in balance and we somehow are not wanting to "listen"!?
Now that's gotta beat all for "why" some of us are "blessed". I for one will not believe such jibberish, that "I" caused my tumor by not wanting to listen or that stress in my life somehow caused my DNA to "burp". Like Lori, I too should be dead as I've been in some really bad situations that quite honestly I'm not sure how I survived them!
It doesn't pay to look for the excuse or the reason why difficult things in our lives happen or to blame someone or something. Stuff happens folks, it's how we deal with this stuff that truly matters. With the good comes the bad, up has a down, left has a right, night has a day and our lives have good and bad in them, love and hate, it's the balance of life and one doesn't go without the other. How in the world would we know happiness if we didn't know sadness? What would our lives be like if we never ever experienced sadness? Would we really understand what happiness even is? I don't think so, that is why you must be greatful for the bad, the sad, the down, the night, etc. The negatives in life have nothing to do with punishment.
Okay, I'm leaving the podium.....for now.
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Arushi~
Wonderfully stated!! I try to implant that in my children when they are so upset that something "bad" happens - I tell them we wouldn't know the good or the beautiful if we didn't have the bad or ugly!
K ;D
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Kaybo,
:-* Thanks for doing a great job raising our future!
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I don't know. THat is something to think about. They told me I have probably had mine 5-10 years. Ten years prior, my former husband and my son's father comitted suicide. It was a very rough period in our lives. Not the only tough time but definitely at the top of the list. It actually crossed my mind when he said 10 years that there might be a correlation.
That being said, I had no symptoms until sudden hearing loss last November ( a year ago). The previous October I had changed my land line phone service over to a mobile phone so I spent much more time on the cell phone the year prior to symptoms. That made me wonder if the tumor had been mostly dormant all these years and the cell phone made it start growing at an increased rate.
Susan
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Personally I go with the theory that ANs (like sh*t) just happen.
Maybe I should get that printed on a t-shirt or something. The AN part, not the sh*t part - that's already been done :D
Jan
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always looking for a way to make a buck...I'd buy one!
K
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Yeah, I bet Lori would too ;) :D
Feeling a little wacky tonight, for some reason. Must be overtired since my left eye (AN side) is feeling dry and is bugging me.
Some of the pleasures of an AN just never entirely leave you ::) An AN can be the gift that just keeps giving - even after it's gone ;D
Jan
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We could sell souvinir t-shirts to all our garage post-op patients. ;D
Jan, better run out and buy some eye drops - I think we've all purchased stock in every company that makes them - so someone should profit from your purchase!
Lori
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The only thing I wondered about is about 21 years before I was diagnosed with an AN, I had a miscarriage. It was my third one. I also had fibroid tumors (hmmmm) and I had a hysterectomy. It has passed through my thoughts to wonder about that, but I doubt, however, it had anything to do with causing me to have an AN. I really do believe it's a gene that goes insane. This is what HEI says:
The exact cause of acoustic neuroma is not currently known. There is ongoing research at House Ear Clinic and other centers to try to determine the genetic defects that occur in the tumor cells. However, no specific environmental agents have been identified which cause the development of acoustic neuroma.
Having said all of this, I do agree that stress can cause and contribute to many things. Which is why sometimes I want to crawl into bed, assume the fetal position, and turn the electric blanket up to 9! ( I think The Limlighters (an early Folk group) said that on the recording I have of them.)
Sue in Vancouver WA
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I guess it is not in my nature to analyze things too closely. I agree that s**t happens. I can't go looking for a doorstep at which to lay the blame. My MO is to just keep soldiering on the best I can, giving it up to God when I think I can't take another step. My faith has definitely been my source of comfort. I have friends and loved ones who just can't be at peace until they have things figured out. Maybe I should be more like that, but right now there are too many variable in the AN situation to make me decide that I think I know the answers! If someone else figures it out, could they just spell it out in simple terms for the simple folk like me? :D
Mags
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I have heard a lot of theories on what may cause an AN but this is new to me -- of course, anything is possible. One thing that keeps comng back to me is that I had a concussion when I was nine years old (got hit by a bike of all things - severe concussion from hitting my head when I fell). I've certainly considered the possiibility that this was the beginning of my AN since I've read injuries are a possible cause and I have been a klutz most of my life. I don't really remember when this started. I had another mild concussiuon when I was in my twenties, also from a fall -- I did say I was a klutz :). I have also read they do just seem to occur with no real explanasion -- just the luck of the draw.
Wendy
Jan - I love your idea -- there is a booth in the mall that makes tee shirts you design yourself -- I just may have to have one made! ;D
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could be we all relate to stress in different ways, i dont know if we will ever know the answer
Hey anne,
just my 2 cents/pence....... I believe in mind over body. I believe that what may happen with our emotional well-being can be a contributing factor to our physical well-being. For me, I've learned (for the many medical ailments I have... and trust me, there are many....) that the more I keep negative surrounding me in life, it will have a direct impact on my physical well-being. Did negative in my life (much has occured for me, just like so many other folks) cause me to grow my AN (and other lumpy-bumpies I have)? I have no clue. But, if I keep positive around me, I do know that my physical well-being is in better shape. Good question... wish I had the answer.
Good vibes... good vibes....
Phyl
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Hello! I’m new here :-)
My grandmother died in my arms exactly ten years ago. Then 4 years ago I had a breakup with my fiancée. We were supposed to get married, but I do not think this is the reason. Maybe something to do with my grandmother death. She was like a mother to me. She raised me...
I heard a theory that if you have the tumor on the right side you have lost a female loved one and on the left a male.. Strange huh???
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Dasanti,
My niece is in college taking medical office support and that's what she told me about my facial neuroma. Yes this is a very interesting theory isn't it! I lost my dad who I adored in 1993 and I held his hand as he passed. My neuroma is on my left side.
Anne Marie
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that is strange as i lost my mother just before my ist boy was born and i had a right sided AN.
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I have to say that sounds a bit silly to me. It's not that I don't believe the mind can do amazing thngs to the body but as others have said...if something like losing a loved one or other stressful event is going to cause a AN why aren't they as common as colds? I'd tend to believe its a combination of DNA and possibly environmental factors or any one of a number of other much more plausible causes before that would be of consideration.
I'm not sure what it matters anyway what the cause is unless its something that can be avoided, ie: environmental factors....we can hardly avoid losing loved ones.
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And of course, this just makes me say "fix it first and assign blame later", my mantra for most things. Who among us hasn't had stress or lost loved ones? The only link that concerns me is the genetic link. I am concerned for my son and keep telling him to ask his doc for an MRI to rule out an AN. He has hearing loss and tinnitus but he's a rock musician. He's also 20 and will do as he wishes.....Marci