Author Topic: ? on sudden hearing gone  (Read 2735 times)

Rivergirl

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? on sudden hearing gone
« on: February 27, 2011, 10:23:05 am »
I have been loosing my hearing since my diagnosis and recently getting worse but the past few days markedly worse and now today it seems it is just about gone in my right ear.  My question is when this happens does one have to go on steroids? or is that just a temporary fix to an inevitable loss??
Diagnosed 6/2008
Right AN 2cmx8x9
Sub-Occipital at Mass General with Martusa and McKenna on 5/31/11
Right SSD, very little taste
I think I will make it!

leapyrtwins

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Re: ? on sudden hearing gone
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2011, 10:51:56 am »
Check with your doctor - because I am not one - but I think steroids, in most cases, are just a temporary fix.

Jan
Retrosig 5/31/07 Drs. Battista & Kazan (Hinsdale, Illinois)
Left AN 3.0 cm (1.5 cm @ diagnosis 6 wks prior) SSD. BAHA implant 3/4/08 (Dr. Battista) Divino 6/4/08  BP100 4/2010 BAHA 5 8/2015

I don't actually "make" trouble..just kind of attract it, fine tune it, and apply it in new and exciting ways

Jim Scott

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Re: ? on sudden hearing gone
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2011, 03:00:55 pm »
Cindy ~

Diminishing hearing in a diagnosed AN patient is usually a warning sign that the tumor is growing.  Steroids may help your hearing return but, as you surmised. the 'fix' is usually temporary.  An MRI may be a good idea at this point but these are issues for you and your doctor to discuss.

Jim
4.5 cm AN diagnosed 5/06.  Retrosigmoid surgery 6/06.  Follow-up FSR completed 10/06.  Tumor shrinkage & necrosis noted on last MRI.  Life is good. 

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way we cope with it is what makes the difference.

mk

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Re: ? on sudden hearing gone
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2011, 03:23:42 pm »
Hi Cindy,

sorry that you are experiencing hearing loss. I had my share of hearing loss episodes (3 overall, where hearing was lost overnight). Steroids helped recover it almost completely the first two times, and partially the third one. After that last round of steroids though, my hearing steadily declined, and my ENT didn't think that there is anything else that could be done. I don't know what would have happened if I had continued on steroids, but my guess is nothing much.  I am now at the point that I have pretty much lost all word recognition. I must say though that because this decline was so gradual I have adjusted very well to it.
I would say you should ask your doctor for his opinion, I hope that a course of steroids will help you.

Marianna
GK on April 23rd 2008 for 2.9 cm AN at Toronto Western Hospital. Subsequent MRIs showed darkening initially, then growth. Retrosigmoid surgery on April 26th, 2011 with Drs. Akagami and Westerberg at Vancouver General Hospital. Graduallly lost hearing after GK and now SSD but no other issues.

sunfish

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Re: ? on sudden hearing gone
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2011, 05:48:37 pm »
Hey, what happened with your hearing?  Did you check with the doctor yet?  I had a sudden decrease in my hearing last November, took steroids, and it came back a tiny bit.  Had another decrease in hearing in January, no steroids, but it did seem to improve on its own.  Two doctors have told me that steroids for me, at this point, are a waste of time.

Found out yesterday it looks like CK fried my tumor completely.  However, now comes the task of getting over/adjusting to the overall damage.
Rt. side 14mm x 11mm near brain stem
Severe higher frequency hearing loss
I use a hearing aid (Dot 20 by Resound)
Balance issues improving!!!!
Cyberknife March17, 2010
Roper Hospital Cancer Center, Charleston, SC