Hearing Loss Tinnitus

[caseymack]

Has anyone else experienced sudden hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears while on tx. I got it in week 43 of treatment.

Thanks,
Caseymack

[GrandmaA]

I get a little tinnitis after every shot on Fri. then it goes away by the following Wed. or Thurs. My hearing is worse now since I'm on 39 weeks tx. I have a 30% hearing loss. I sure hope it goes away after Sept. 7th. I hope your tinnitis isn't very bad. Hearing loss does run in my mother's family and I am 65.

[caseymack]

Thanks for the info. I sure hope it goes away also. Good luck on your treatment.

[purplecat]

here is a link to a thread I posted about my tinnitus. look for purplecat
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/hepatitis/messages/46111.html

I'm on week 41/48 now and still going to the audiologist monthly.  I've had the bad tinnitus throughout treatment.  total hearing loss is rare and most recover after treatment.  I hoping the ringing will subside after treatment ends.  

[caseymack]

Purplecat sounds like you have the same symtoms as I do. Sure hope this
**** clears up. I'll try the earplugs.

Thanks Caseymack

[heardok]

As a doctor of audiology, I don't recommend using earplugs for tinnitus, as they will only magnify the ringing in your head.  The best recommendation to help your brain ignore or reduce the sound of the tinnitus is to avoid silence.  Use a natural sound maker like Homedics (see Bed Bath and Beyond website).  Sounds of babbling brooks, waterfalls, etc, help to avoid the silence with relaxing sounds of nature.  Or you can use your favorite music playing pleasantly in your home or office.  

[jmjm530]

"Heardok" has a good point. And while not to minimize tinnitus -- you should be seen by an ENT -- a large part of management is ones attitude. I've had tinnitus for many years but haven't thought about it at  all for months,  until I read this post. Then, all of a sudden, I became aware of the ringing. What ear plugs may be good for is to protect your ears from loud sounds as you might experience for example at a rock concert, hunting, or riding a snowmobile, etc. Those kind of sounds can cause damage and make the tinnitus worse.

[gauf]

Had throughout treatment and it drove me nuts!  1 year post and it is gone.

[heardok]

Of course, always protect your hearing when exposed to loud equipment, music or machinery, especially while taking your tx.  Your ears may be more susceptible to noise induced hearing loss while on and for several months after your treatment.  Of course exposure to noise causes exacerbation or initiation of tinnitus in just about everyone.  

[MYS]

Hi, I think I know you from various Hep C forums.  Well, it is now 11 months since I woke up completely deaf in the left ear, about 4 months into HCV treatment.  I got in to see my doctor the day I woke up with the deafness, and he discovered I had pneumonia, so he put me on antibiotics for that.  I needed 2 courses of antibiotics to get rid of the pneumonia.  
I saw 2 ear doctors to try to get rid of the tinnitus, which started as my hearing gradually came back in that ear.  I regained most of my hearing, just have problems with higher frequencies, can't put the phone on the left, etc.  The second ear doctor said the partial deafness is 'nerve deafness' - nothing can be done about it (no hearing aid) and it will never improve any more than it already has.
The tinnitus is an ongoing problem/annoyance.  It never stops.  Sometimes I get busy doing things and don't think about it for a while, but it never goes away.  
Quite frankly, if I had known that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have done the hepatitis treatment - I think the interferon made me more suceptible to getting the pneumonia and the ear thing - and I would have just taken my chances with liver disease.  The tinnitus really is that much of a problem!!  
I did clear the virus, passed the 6 month post treatment test in September.  And, that was the goal at the time.  But, I don't know if it was worth it.
Madame Yu See

[wyntre9]

I had almost complete hearing loss in one ear after taking out half the drum with a q-tip about ten years ago.  It was very difficult!  I'm lucky the drum finally grew back 2 years after the initial injury.

While on TX, I've had a couple of whopper ear infections that required scoping and drainage by an ENT.

Knock wood, haven't had that sx for  a couple of months coz it really is miserable.

wyntre

[MYS]

...well, I wasn't going to mention the time the first ear doctor punctured my ear drum to drip cortisone in it, to clear up the lingering infection, then left me lying on his procedure table and told me to not move for 20 minutes.  When the stuff he used to partially numb the eardrum before he punched a hole in it wore off, it hurt so much I started crying, but was afraid to move - at that point I still thought I'd get all of my hearing back and the tinnitus hadn't started - so I reached into my pocket and got my cell phone and called the front desk of the doctor's office and they had to send a nurse in to sit with me and hold my hand.  If they hadn't sent someone in to be with me, I probably would have called 9-1-1.
Madame Yu See
P.S. - I've had female procedures that were worse than the ear procedure, but I won't go there here.

[wyntre9]

What?????

He deliberately punctured your eardrum?

Oh, jeeeeez.

wyn