Chiari and Asymmetrical Hearing Loss

[actressmouse]

Anyone else have asymmetrical hearing loss?  I've lost almost 70% of my hearing in the speech range on my left side.  I was just told last week by a NS at Columbia (NYC) that it IS NOT due to chiari....REALLY?  Then why is everything I'm reading in the liturature (from American Hearing Assoc. to National Institutes of Health) state that this IS related to chiari?  This doc also told me "ya know, eventually your brain will shrink as you age and you won't need surgery"(!!?!!?)  Someone PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT CRAZY!!

[selmaS]

  Please keep us posted on ur progress : )

[actressmouse]

No, no vocal loss.  I am classically trained and love to perform on stage and other venues.  The headaches are what is preventing me from doing the stage stuff now....too hard to remember speaking lines when my head hurts.  Seems, looking back, that I've had symptoms for a long time before the advent of MRI...20+ years ago.  Still, I'm very afraid of this progressing to the other ear.  I am going to keep advocating for myself...I do it professionally in my day job for others (social work) now I'm going to do it for me.  Thanks for your support.

[selmaS]

As a singer have u lost ur voice at all?....I did, when in church  I would open my mouth and nothing came out, and I had a strange sensation in my throat...this is not uncommon with chiari so if it does happen, u r aware of it...I had no idea what was going on and I did not have my dx then either.....

The waiting for the brain to shrink is like saying sit and wait for ur spine to shrink for those with spinal  issues...what a dumb thing to say,,,no one will degrade the  same rate as some one else...y suffer if u can get some relieve and if the issue is causing more problems health wise....

   "selma"

[actressmouse]

The hearing tests were done by a Audiology MD...as was my subsequent hearing aid fit.  My loss is right in the speech range.  I noticed the loss immediately after the headaches started....I couldn't hear the birds in the AM when my "good" ear was on the pillow and I couldn't get everything that people were saying...especially women and children.  This is especially troublesome to me as I'm a singer.  I am very concerned that no one seems to share my concern over the hearing loss and I am wondering if this is going to progress to my other ear.  On top of that, my real job is counseling...so I have to listen to others as a main part of my living.  This NS at Columbia referred me to a Neuro otologist...one that he knows...not sure I trust his recommendations as he says I should "wait for the brain to shrink"...(what's 15 to 20 years of headaches, right?).  

[selmaS]

Hi...I have not had ne actual hearing tests....but I know I do have hearing issues.....
May I ask what Dr u had so the testing to get this %.....

It just amazes me how many Drs will dismiss chiari and what it affects...

  I will tell u I do see improvement with many issues I had pre op ...now at 2 yrs post op...and I am seeing new  things all the time...even from 1 yr post op till now the changes keep coming...and since we r all diff it is possible that this is affecting u more with hearing than most of us....

  U R NOT CRAZY !!!! : )

  And u r not alone

  "selma"