No AN, but I appreciate the information I get from these boards

[sangwidges]

I suffered some significant high frequency unilateral hearing loss about 8 years ago that I never sought treatment for.  It's been going very slowly downhill.  On our last vacation, my wife told me she'd had enough of me asking "wha?" and told me to get it checked.  The clinic cleaned massive amounts of wax out, did a puretone test and, voila! ... still diminished hearing in the left ear only.  My doc told me to get an MRI of my head to rule out ... you've heard it all before.   I went that day. 

Long story short, the MRI was clean.  Very relieved.  Before my follow-up, though, I did beau coup research on these boards and other resources to learn about AN. 

Thanks to everyone on these boards for sharing.  It has been a great comfort for me to read your stories.  God bless you all! 

Andy Welker
Lewiston, ID

[Windsong]

Hi sangwhich,

It's great to hear that you do not have an An and that your MRI was clean with nothing wrong but some wax in your ear. I can guess how relieved you were....

I would like to add, however, that "wax" in one's ears can signify all sorts of things. I remember reading some article a couple of decades ago (maybe time mag not sure) that the colour, frequency, consistency, etc. etc. could indicate different types of diseases. ....
 
Is there a thread on this site about wax in one's ears?  Haven't checked on that msyelf.

Blessings that you are cleared from an an.... am wondering how you got an MRI with only ear wax as a symptom though?

Windsong

Forgot to ask if you have an answer regarding your diminished hearing or was it the ear wax doing that? Do you have good hearing now?

[Battyp]

Did you have an MRI w/ contrast?

[msuscottie]

Glad your MRI was clean Andy!

[dieselducy]

Did you have an MRI w/ contrast?

i keep hearing MRI with contrast, what exactly is that??

[Labott]

Andy:

   Contrast means that during the MRI the technician slides you out of the cave, shoots a small volume of fluid into your vein, then slides you back in the cave and reimages you.  The fluid contains a chemical (gadolinium) that, as it flows through the water-rich areas of your brain, causes these areas to "brighten" on the image.  Since ANs have higher water content then the surrounding bone structure of the ear, they light up in the image and make it easy for you, the technician, and the physician to see in the image.  In my case, the AN wasn't detectable in the image until gadolinium arrived.  Another piece of good news is that this chemical is readily passed from the body (excreted in urine).  So you don't have to worry about it accumulating in you nor cause you to glow in the dark.

-Labott