I stumbled upon this forum because I was curious about AN incidence by age. I can appreciate its importance because I'm a member of a similar forum for prostate cancer.
My story.
I was diagnosed with an AN/VS in late summer 1995. Originally, I thought I'd developed swimmers ear. I swam five days a week and such things were not unknown. I saw a doctor, got treated, and went on my way. Approximately one month later, 3000 miles from home, I woke up with vertigo. The world heaved and rolled and I had serious concerns about being able to get back to my own doctors. The vertigo was gone the next day. As I understand it this was the death throes of my inner ear.
I returned home, was referred to an ENT who did some tests, scheduled an MRI, made a diagnoses, and scheduled surgery. An I recall, he was planning on a translateral approach since there was no hearing to save. I met with a neurosurgeon as a last step before surgery and he suggested I consider Gamma Knife treatment instead. First I heard there was an option to surgery. I jumped on it since we still had children at home and I could not afford to be out of work to recover from surgery. The neurosurgeon said he got paid either way so he didn't care.
I went in (under?) the GK in San Diego, missed two days of work, and sang in a Christmas concert three days later. I had tinnitus for the first year or three and was bothered by noisy rooms. That all seems to have passed. I was 41.
The biggest bother is when I'm forced to find something like a ringing cellphone if it's somewhere other than my pocket. Second is not being able to trust my balance and (related) getting off track if I let my attention wander when it's dark and I'm not getting the visual cues to keep me on a straight line. Handiest, when I sleep with my good ear down distracting noise disappears.
I'll probably only visit the forum occasionally. I'm long past where I have many questions and I suspect my answers are out of date.
