ANA Discussion Forum

Northwestern Memorial Hospital is ranked #9 in the nation for Neurology & Neurosurgery

Many people would consider any facility in the top 50 to be outstanding.

https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/neurology-and-neurosurgeryhttps://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/neurology-and-neurosurgery

I've met with the doctor and discussed my options. He agrees I'm a perfect candidate for this procedure.

The cost of the surgery is 35k - this is with insurance coverage, but my plan with Cigna does not provide coverage for this due to it being out of network. They said around 40k with no insurance coverage at all which is weird to me.

I was referred to a specialist to attempt to get Cigna to pay but we'll see. 35-40k is a price to pay, but I feel it's almost worth it.

I appreciate the update. Just curious, do you know how percentage of symmetry improvement is it expected? I heard that the platisma is cut during this process. How long is needed to be completely recovered? Any therapy required after the surgery?. Sorry for so many questions.
-Gloria

For a number of years now, exercise has been a struggle.   Not because of motivation, age, or pain, but because I would get light-headed and dizzy (seeing stars) and that would eventually cut my work-out short.  Even when I am not feeling any balance issues while resting, once I start rigorous exercise or yard projects, my head goes wonky on me after about 10-15 minutes.  I wonder if anyone else has experienced this sensation, and if you also believe it might have something to do with the AN?  I was diagnosed just a few months ago, but I am starting to put some puzzle pieces together as to why working out may have been so disproportionately difficult in recent years.  Even a 1-2 mile walk gets more difficult toward the end.

MAb2018, when is your MRI? Until you have a definitive answer try to stay calm.  Easier said than done, I know. 

I apologize, this is long....

A little over a month ago I went to the walk in clinic due to my ear feeling odd, not pain, but plugged. I was also dizzy and having balance issues. The NP felt my issues were due to a little wax build up and cleaned my ear out. She stated it looked like I had some fluid in my ear, but that it didn't appear to be infected. She gave me a 5 day prescription of Prednisone.
After I was done taking that, my ear felt the same so I went to my regular doctor. She also stated she felt there was fluid in my ear still. She gave me a 7 day prescription of Prednisone and had be do nasal rinses, Flonase, Benedryl at night, Zyrtec in the morning.
After that 7 days, my ear was even worse. The pressure was worse and I had started to have a ringing in my ear. My doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic, which didn't do anything, but she wasn't sure what else to do.
I was able to get into an audiologist (ENT is months out) and had my hearing tested. My left ear is normal, but my right ear had moderate to severe hearing loss of both low and high frequency, the middle frequency was normal. My ability to discriminate words was also lower in my right ear. She said I have sudden sensorineural hearing loss. She stated she doesn't think there was ever fluid in my ear, but that both the previous doctors were seeing some scar tissue that can look like fluid. She stated she would speak with the ENT and he would decide if my appointment date for mid July was okay or if he wanted to see me sooner.
Within an hour the ENT office called and stated he wanted to see me the next morning. He also didn't feel that there was ever fluid in my ear as well. The ENT stated the hearing loss could have been caused by a virus, but he wanted to rule out a tumor. I am scheduled for an MRI with contrast next month. He seemed to imply it probably wasn't AN, but was doing an MRI just in case. The more I research, the more I wonder if he was downplaying the possibility. He gave me a 14 day prescription of much higher dose of Prednisone. I have 1 more day of that and it's done nothing. 

My symptoms:
Hearing loss of low and high frequency in the right ear, I suspsect it happened much earlier than the last month. For at least a year I've gotten irritated with my husband because I claim he's always mumbling. (I can't really find anything that talks about losing both low and high)
Tinnitus in the right ear (constant)
Pressure in the right ear (pressue is always there, severity changes)
Numbness in the right check, corner of my mouth, and along the jawline (Intermittent)
Balance issues/dizzy feeling (Intermittent)

I know these symptoms could be any number of things and the only way to know for sure is an MRI, but the wait is killing me. Am I being overly paranoid?Has anyone had these symptoms and it turned out to be something else?