Doctor, I can't hear you!

[Ingy M]

Hello everyone, I am new here and this is my first post. I await diagnosis following my MRI on March 3rd. I have the general symptoms that seem very common with most people here.
I started with hearing loss in the L ear a few years back. I first noticed it by the difference in sound when on the phone.
I worked as a Flight Attendant for 18 yrs and felt that the reduction in hearing was due to that. Had several hearing tests over the years, however, severe vertigo appeared this past summer which brought me in to see my doctor. It lasted a few months and now has reduced in severity and happens occasionally. I always have the feeling of fullness and experience ear pain on a weekly basis, only in the left ear.  I suffer from severe headache attacks and range of motion isn't good when turning my neck towards the left. I often feel like my brain is too big for my skull.
I have some strange symptoms that I wonder if they are part of AN. I find this difficult to explain, but when I walk, I somethimes get this sound in my L ear and it feels/sounds like my tympanic membrame is fluttering. It's like a drum with some slack in the skin. It lasts for a bit and then disappears. The doctor was a bit puzzled by this one. He did a pressure test in that ear and there is NO movement at all.  The other is, I do experience some buzzing in my ear, but it is in the right ear.  That only last for a few seconds. I sometimes feel a tingle near my temple and left cheek, and I have a tickle in my ear..  It is pretty faint but sense a difference.
Having this potential AN removed isn't so scary, but the post surgery effects scare the crap out of me. 
Any chance that this isn't an AN?

Thanks for taking the time to read this...I really appreciate it.

ingy

[ppearl214]

Hi Ingy and welcome. Let's hope it's not an AN... please make sure you keep us updated if it is or not. Many symptoms can mimick an AN so here's hoping that you receive good news.

Phyl

[Dealy]

Ingy- I may be the wrong person to reply to your inquiry because I am an NF2 which means I have 2 of these things in my life time. One on my left 18 years ago-surgical removed and one found back in 2005 on right which I had treated with radiation to protect my only hearing ear. So-do you have an AN. The waiting for that answer is almost enough stress in itself. Some symptoms indicate a possibility but as you know only your MRI will tell the true answer. My wife has had symptoms of buzzing in her ears-what I call shooters of pain-ringing but she is on Thyroid meds and Vytorin. Some meds can mimic AN symptoms. She has never had an MRI but we hardly think it is two AN's. So hope you get a good response from your MRI. Thanks-Ron

[Jim Scott]

Ingy M:

Hello and welcome to the forum.  You're coming through loud and clear! 

While I'm not a physician and so, cannot offer medical advice, I'll simply comment, as a recent AN patient, that the symptoms you've described do sound a lot like an acoustic neuroma is the cause.  However, the MRI will either verify or eliminate that possibility.  I hope it's the latter.  Please stay in touch with us and let us know what happens.  We're here for you if you need us. 

Jim

[Ingy M]

Thanks all. You all seem very nice and understanding. I sit here and feel these sensations in my ear and feel grateful to talk with those who have been there.

ingy

[Ingy M]

As I read back to my original post, I failed to be more specific concerning tinnitus. I do not experience any noise in the effected L ear. I get the buzzing in the right ear. I can hear fine with the R ear. All the rest of the symptoms are on the left side. Is that normal?

Hope that doesn't make things more confusing.

ingy

[Battyp]

Ingy I started with tinnitus in both ears.  The L ear gradually got louder but since treatment still maintain the tinnitus in my R ear which has perfectly normal hearing.

How does flying affect your symtpoms? Once my ear got the fullness in it my doctor told me I was ok to fly and I wished I had crawled to where I was going instead  LOL

[Ingy M]

Hi battyprincess
I quit flying in October after 18 yrs. The pressure was always an irritant,but I never had problems clearing my ears.  Pain wasn't a problem either. It was the fullness that didn't go away.  I always thought the fullness was from not depressurizing properly.  I am now a student nurse, and my doc is very happy that I am not flying anymore.  Caused more problems than I thought.

I'll keep you posted.

ingy

[goinbatty]

I'm new to this site, but Ingy yours is the first that sounds just like what I've experienced.  My AN is small but back in Nov/Dec, I started noticing the increasing tinnitus.  Then that fluttering/pressure feeling you talked about.  When I experienced what I perceived as some hearing loss, I finally went to an ENT.  My hearing is on the low side of normal with low frequencies but otherwise all was OK.  The fluttering happened intermittently then went away.  Within the past 2 days, it's returned a bit worse than before or maybe I'm just paranoid.  Also some occasional mild pain.  Loud sounds are irritating (AN side only).  A foam earplug is helping some.  I sneezed a few times (pollen in the air) midweek and am not sure if I have some swelling or what from that.  Who knows.  I'm hoping it will be better tomorrow.