Intense pressure in ear and hearing loss

[wendysig]

Apparently, at least for me, the intense pressure iin my ear was an indicator or a result of hearing loss.  When I went to the doctor last week, I discovered two things.  The first is that he thinks my AN has grown.  The second was another 30db in hearing loss, (this includes the 30db loss I told Steve about).  The doctor put me on a prednisolne taper for a two week period.  I think it has started to do something.  I feel like I am hearing slightly better with my AN ear during regular conversation and have a noted improvement (although it is far from what it was) on the phone.  For now, I am guessing as a result of the prednisone the numbness in my ear and cheek have gotten better too.  I will have another hearing test on June 5 and then he and I will sit down and decide what approach he should take with regard to my surgery which will hopefully be sometime in July.  In the meantime, life and doctor appointments go on.  Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Thanks,

Wendy

[JeWeL41]

yes but I don't have AN. I lost my hearing suddenly and it was accompanied by extreme pressure which has tailed off over the last 18 months to just pressure! My audiologist suggests that because the brain is no longer receiving sound signals it 'compensates' and we feel this as pressure though of course, just like the tinnitus which is only a perceived sound, the 'pressure' is also only perceived and not actual - clearly this makes us feel so much better lol.

[wendysig]

Hi JeWel41 -
Thanks for your reply.  Actually what you said makes a lot of sense to me.  It has now been almost the full two weeks since I began the prednisone taper.  I thought my hearing was returning to some extent for a couple of days, as I did have a temporary improvement.  It has since stopped and diminished,  and I'm not very hopeful that there is any useful hearing left in my AN ear, but I guess I willl know with absolute certainty when I have my next audiogram on Thursday. 

Wendy

[er]

Wendysig,
Sorry I just read this thread.
When I started having pressure in my ear is when I found out of the AN.
It didn't take the doctor long to decided to send me to a specialist and have it removed.
I had my MRI in Feb. and had surgery in March of 2005.
eve

[wendysig]

Eve -
Thanks for your reply.  The pressure I've been feeling in my ear is different from the initial pressure I had before I knew I had an AN.  When I first went to the doctor in March, I had some pressure but just thought my ear was clogged with a lot of wax.  The pressure I'm experiencing now is much more intense and, i believe is related to the recent additional  30db hearing loss I've had.  I'm going for another hearing test tomorrow so I'll ask the audiologist what she thinks is causing this.  I exchanged e-mails with my doc last night and he thinks my AN has had a sudden growth spurt and is possiblly growing into my cochlea.  I'll be going for another MRI shortly to see if he's right.

Wendy

[cynthianz]

I'm sched for 19 June surgery to remove my 3cm AN left.  In the past two weeks, seems my hearing in left ear has gone from "hmmm  what's causing this dim hearing" to almost nothing there.  Tinnitus. Pressure.  Worse is that I thought I was losing right ear hearing as well.  Went to Audiologist one 10 days ago, and she said right ear good (just me having panic attack), but now, I wonder....as the numbness in my face has altered.  I told my husband, and this group, when I was first diagnosed that I was having a hard time believing my luck...I'm going to live and just lose half my hearing.  I can do this....it took my 2 weeks to get to this point.  But the pressure and increased hearing loss and other changes (especially with my damn dry dry eyes.)  make me so tense. 
Appt on monday with ENT and Audiolog before surgery.  dreading it.  I knew before the mri something was wrong.  now have same feeling.  i really really really do not want to be a gloomy gus. 

anyone have suggestions on benefits of and/or how to meditate? 

[Tumbleweed]

Apparently, at least for me, the intense pressure iin my ear was an indicator or a result of hearing loss.  When I went to the doctor last week, I discovered two things.  The first is that he thinks my AN has grown.  The second was another 30db in hearing loss, (this includes the 30db loss I told Steve about)...  Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Wendy

Hi, Wendy:

I had random episodes of progressive hearing loss up until about 3 or 4 years ago (for the first 4 years after the initial and sudden onset of symptoms, which included hearing loss, fullness in the ear, intense vertigo, both ringing and pulsatile tinnitus, oscillopsia, nausea, etc.). Each recurring episode was exactly like you describe it.

I can't say whether or not the cessation of progressive hearing-loss attacks was due to lifestyle changes I made or pure luck, and I can't say whether my luck will continue in that regard. But it seemed to me that certain foods would bring on my attacks of ear pressure and hearing loss. For me, those foods were refined sugar, bread and (less so) raw nuts and seeds. I definitely noticed also that attacks would always follow my being constipated. So I made an effort to stay regular every single day. And I ate a heaping plateful of steamed, leafy green vegetables every day, typically with a cooked whole grain and some seafood or beans. My thinking was that the green vegetables would keep me regular and were high in Vitamin A (which research indicates may help preserve hearing). I also ate a lot of raw garlic whenever I had a fullness/hearing-loss attack, as garlic is also thought to have a stimulating effect on nerve regrowth. For whatever reason, I was able to get back perhaps 50-70% of the hearing I lost in each episode by eating a lot of raw garlic immediately after the onset of the attack. That still meant a net loss of hearing each time. And I don't know if I would've recovered without the garlic. But it made me more sane to be proactive about dealing with each attack.

I'm lucky that I haven't had an attack like you describe in 3 or 4 years. I attribute it to a healthy diet (virtually no processed food, and eating lots of fruits and vegies and salmon) and frequent aerobic exercise. And also, getting a lot of sleep seems to be very important -- perhaps the most important -- in preserving my hearing (and balance).

Hope that helps...

Tumbleweed

[Tumbleweed]

I exchanged e-mails with my doc last night and he thinks my AN has had a sudden growth spurt and is possiblly growing into my cochlea.

Wendy

Hi, Wendy:

What is the basis for your doctor's assumption about the cochlea's possible involvement? And how big is your AN?

My understanding is that AN's usually don't grow into the cochlea, which is in the inner ear or labyrinth. That's because a bony partition called the fundus separates the labyrinth from the internal auditory canal (IAC), blocking growth in that direction (i.e., laterally, or towards the outside). As the tumor grows, it will seek the path of least resistance. Typically, that means it will grow medially (towards the brain) and balloon out into the cerebello-pontine angle (CPA). The CPA is the triangular space bounded by the cranium, pons (part of the brainstem) and cerebellum. My understanding is that for tumors that originate in the IAC and not the CPA, the size would usually have to approach almost 1 cm in oblique transverse measurement to bulge out into the CPA, because the average IAC is roughly that long. (If I remember correctly, the range of IAC length is about 0.6 to 1.2 cm; but take that with a grain of salt, as it's been six months since I read up on that.)

So unless your doctor has good cause to suspect encroachment on your cochlea, I wouldn't let yourself get too worried about that unless and until an MRI confirms this is really happening.

Best wishes,
Tumbleweed

[wendysig]

Hi Tumbleweed,
Thanks for your replies.  Your idea of eating more healthfully may or may not help me but is still a great idea, and raw garlic is known to have many benefits, so I don't see why it couldn't help with this too. My AN is 1.3cm.   Rather than try to explain the basis off my doctor's theory, I have pasted part of the e-mail he sent me (we have been e-mailing each other a lot over the past couple of months.  He is really great this way) he sent me when I e-mailed him about my most recent hearing loss.  This loss took place after about a week and a half of being on a tapering dose of prednisone (the full length of the prednisone taper was 2 weeks) that had, for a couple of days, retruned some of the hearing I had lost just prior to beginning the prednisone taper.

"Now if you're having a decline of hearing again, we should revisit the topic of the surgical approaches.  The likelihood of us preserving hearing with the middle fossa approach is now quite low (20ish%), even if we brought the hearing back up with a steroid taper.  The rapid decline is telling us that the tumor is really pushing on the cochlear nerve.  So I would recommend the translabyrinthine approach.  We should also consider getting a repeat MRI -- I know I said no before, but given the recurrent hearing loss, we should make sure that the AN isn't going into your cochlea.  Not a huge deal, since it's easy to get out even if it is going into your cochlea, but we do need to know that up front before surgery. .We should chat again after the audiogram.  I will plan on giving you a phone call then."

When I was first diagnosed back in the beginning of April, he told me my tumor, while in the IAC was very close to my cochlea, and it is growing laterally.  I don't know if that is unusual or not as it is the one question I keep forgetting to ask. so there it is.  Having now had the audiogram he is talking abourt yesterday,  it showed that I now only have 24% speech discrimination.  I started this thing at 80% speech discrimination on March 26, and obviously I have had huge losses since then.  I am not very hopeful that this point that anything will help, but your ideas are certainly worth a try.  I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  When he called today he again told me he is recommending translab, so at least I have some hope that I will not have any, or much facial nerve dysfuncition after surgery.

Wendy

[Tumbleweed]

Hi, Wendy:

I think that your doctor is trying to be very diligent in leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of delivering you the best care he can. The followup MRI should tell him and you what is going on.

My tumor has also grown laterally, albeit only by 1 mm, in the past six months. It is my understanding that it is not unusual for a tumor to grow laterally or medially (or both) until it completely fills the IAC. I've just never heard of an AN busting through the fundus to grow into the labyrinth (where the cochlea is). It would tend to take a path of lesser resistance -- into the CPA, where there is no immediate bony barrier to contend with. But your doctor no doubt knows a lot more about this than me, a mere layperson.

In summary, I'd follow the doctor's advice but not worry too much about the cochlea's possible involvement unless and until you find out from an MRI that this is truly the case. Because I think it would be unusual if the cochlea was involved. Especially for a relatively small tumor measuring 1.3 cm. But again, I'm certainly no expert.

You are probably right that the leafy greens may not help your hearing at this point, as it has deteriorated so much. But the vitamin A content might help get your mucous membranes in tip top shape for a quicker recovery from surgery. It never hurts to be as healthy as possible.

Best wishes for a positive outcome along your path.

Tumbleweed