Other ear acting up, Im afraid...

[tatianne]

Im trying to reach my doctor, not an easy task these days. He speciallizes specifically in ANs and NF2 actually, only one in my area so hes always really busy.
Cheryl do you get the full feeling as well ??
 Thanks you both

[matti]

Tatianne - I do get a feeling of fullness in the ear, and when my ENT looks in with the scope can see some inflammation and redness, also some weeping.

hope the doc calls you back soon

Hugs,
Cheryl

[tatianne]

I saw my neurotolist this morning. The symptoms have gotten better over the past week.
He checked both my ears and told me they are both very dry and that is probably the cause of the itchyness..He also mentioned that the weather in my area has been the type of weahter that causes pressure in the ears and can be affecting me. He said that this is not another AN on the good side. He gave me some drops to help with the itching and he said this will also keep me from touching my ear or putting anything in it (like a Qtip), which only makes things worse and will cause inflammation, and more itchyness..he said its like a circle. He told me I had nothing to worry about so Im going to trust him on that for now. Whats the point of worrying about it anyway, either way Im having an MRI in January and nothing much will change between now and then.
Just wanted to post the update in case anyone else is experiencing the same situation.
Thanks

[Captain Deb]

I've been lurking this situation and I'm glad to see your post Tatianne--looks like the situation is resolving for you, dear---GOOD!!!!!


Capt Deb

[mema]

Tatianne,                                                                                                                                                                                 


Just this past week I had two things happen to me.  Both involved wearing  ear plugs.  It seems earplugs give me an earache.  I have have some noises on occasion in my good ear, but it seems that when I wear an earplug I have a slight earache in it.  Last night when I went to bed I layed  down on my good ear and actually got a stronger ace in it, almost pulsating then it stopped.  I go to my primary this month and I'll have him check it out and maybe get some  ciprodex drops.  My question to everyone is "does one bad ear cause things to go on with the good ear.  Gee the last time I had an earache was 40 some years ago when I was a kid.  It seems ANers have problems with earaches now too.                                                                                                                                                             


                                     mema

[Windsong]

you asked "does one bad ear cause things to go bad in other ear"... i'm interested in this too because of the things happening in my "good ear"....

there is a doctor at the harvard med school who is studying the phenomenon of  damage to the "good" side of the body after an injury to the other side.... one thing they found is that after an injury to one side of the body (for example... a sprain or a break or shingles or cut fingers etc) that there is a crossover effect re small fibre nerve damage..... skin biopsies of the opposite good side show physical proof that something happens  to cause this strange phenomenon so she is searching for the unknown as yet pathways neurally, the connections or the communication if you will between matching sensory areas on two sides of the body...

apparently this research came out initially with a study on why shingles on one side can cause half the nerve endings on the other side to go ie. biopsies show half are gone on the good side... that bit was done at MGH...

so she thinks now that conditions exist for normal co-ordination between both sides of the body for "good health"....and  finding out what it is might explain why the good side ends up damaged etc....

i find this all pertinent to me as rsd in one leg in me ended up with rsd in the other despite no injury there; having an An on one side led me to that AIED stuff going on my good ear;  i'm hoping her further research sheds light on this .... that the mechanism is found...

it might explain why a number of us have aches and pains and things happening on the "good" side of our heads/ears after An and whatever treatment we have.... even hearing loss in good ear etc.....or that crazy tin that i now have in my good ear too.....

[tatianne]

its interesting what you mention about falling asleep on your good ear and it resulting in earache. I can remember since before my AN that has happened to me where I was actually woken up by the pain. I cant remember which ear it was but recently it happened with my good ear. I really dont pay a lot of attention to whats going on in my AN ear because Ive decided that whatever happens its because of my AN and I just leave it at that, but I notice every little thing in my good ear. I think maybe because we have something wrong with one of our ears we are extra aware and sensitive to the sensations and noises we experience...does that make sense ?? I know when I focus on or pay attention to any part of my body with any level of anxiety about it whatever Im experiencing because worse. Im not trying to say that you and I dont experience these symptoms, we do, i just believe that we pay attention to what maybe others woudlnt.
Im definitly experiencing an increased symptoms in both my ears as of late but Im not sure if its AN related or maybe just something else.
Anyone else ever wake pain in the ear that they were sleeping on ??

[Windsong]

well after my post above, i got on the phone and spoke with that doctor's secretary so now I will be writing a mail to her and i will pose this question about our good ears acting up too......

[mema]

I put a phone  call in to the ENT.  Waiting on the nurse to call me back.  See what she has to say about my earache.  If I go see the ENT (gee that rhymes)lol I'll ask him about good ears going bad because of AN ear ssd.  Tatianne I hadn't fallen asleep yet, I just turned my head and the pain happened.  That was last night and my earache hurts   off and on.  I do have a slight sharp pain in front of my ear.  I don't seem to have fullness.  Yes windsong sure seems there could be some correlation between bad ears and good ears.                   



                                        mema

[Dana]

Well, this whole discussion is very timely and interesting.  My problem isn't my other ear, but my other jaw.  I see my family doctor tomorrow , and I'll post tomorrow evening.  Jaw pain on my non-AN side started before my GK, but has been getting worse and worse after GK surgery three weeks ago.  Now it's risen up to top of jaw bone, and I can't really fit a sandwich in my mouth and bite down.  It could be caused by lots of things, either related or unrelated to my AN or my GK procedure ...   we'll see.  I'll let you know.
Dana

[mema]

Has anyone heard of or tried oxafloxin.  It is supposed  to be safe for the inner ear  like ciprodex.                                                       



                                                        mema                           

[Dana]

It's Dana, reporting on doctor's appt this morning about increasing jaw pain on non-AN side.  She thinks that having the GK rack and procedure two weeks ago may have made it act up, that it's basically a TMJ jaw-joint problem.  So I'm going to a therapist who specializes in TMJ problems.  Like I always say, "we'll see"......