are you on Neurontin by any chance?

Just out of left field, I had to stop Neurontin due to hearing issues.

I hope you get better regardless..!

Yes, I do take Neurontin. I've been on it since 1999. Did your hearing loss come on quickly, while you were taking Neurontin? All of the Drs that I've been dealing with and the tests that have been done, show that my hearing loss is due to nerve damage.

Thank you for your imput and your well wishes. I appreciate any ideas and thoughts that you all can give.

:hug: cjay

Hearing
 

I finally went to an ENT for a problem ear. Found out part of my ear pain is due to having NO ear wax.. probably a side effect of taking to many drying medications. LOL. I thought I would end up with tubes in my ears - but the doc fixed me up without going to that. I have had a painful ear that feels like it has fluid in it off and on for 20 years. (allergies etc)

Anyway.... they did a standard hearing test when I got there. I have RSD in my left shoulder, up my neck, and along my jaw. I didn't think it affected my hearing, or the ear on that side. That is not the side I was having ear problems with.. that is the right ear.

OH MAN!!! :yikes: did that hearing test hurt! :eek: It must have been the vibration, or just where the earphones were hitting my skin. Don't know. :Hum: I was almost hysterical by the time it was done, wanting to tear the earphones off my head. I told them do NOT go by anything in the last half of that test... it would not be accurate! AGONY!

He wanted MRI of my ear and sinus area. I refused. MRI's are just to painful for me since RSD due to the vibrations. So, then he said CAT scan was ok... which was painless. MRI vibration is just awful now. I hope I never have to have another one.

Good luck with your tests. Hopefully your results will be as good as mine. A few different meds, but finally one worked, no more ear problems after ALL these years. Whew!

Jules

Jules, Thanks for sharing your experience. I also take meds that are very drying to me but they haven't affected my ears. My ear canals are very moist...one of the many things that my Drs looked into, when I started having these problems. :rolleyes:

My ENT has done a pressure test on my ears every 2 weeks, to see if there is any change in them....not an ounce of change. He also at one point punctured my eardrum and cleaned out all of the fluid that was built up. He let it heal back up and did another pressure test...no change but the eardrum went back to the same way it was prior to him puncturing it ( it's concaved rather than straight up and down). :confused: :Dunno:

All of my Drs are convinced that if things continue as they are now, that I'll be completely deaf within a year. That's why they're running every type of tests that they can think of, to try and get a dx, so they can hopefully treat and at least stop the progression of the loss.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your experiences and taking the time to respond to my post. :circlelove: :hug:

:Thanx: cjay

Hearing changes are part of RSD
 

Hi there - I found 1 study showing that RSD affects hearing - I'm sure there are more studies out there, but this is the most recent one I could find.

Hyperacusis in patients with complex regional pain syndrome related dystonia, de Klaver,M.J.M.; van Rijn,M.A.; Marinus,J.; Soede,W.; de Laat,J.A.P.M.; van Hilten,J.J. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/abst....2006.111609v1 Published Online First: 30 April 2007. To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.j.van_hilten.neurology@lumc.nl.

This study describes how people with CRPS are acutely sensitive by loud noise. (frogga wears earmuffs so she's certainly an expert on hearing hyper-sensitivity!)

If RSD can affect hearing in one extreme, I wonder if it could affect it inthe other direction as well (hearing loss)? For example, RSD can make skin extremely sensitive, but after RSD has progressed past into a more severe phase it can make your skin so it doesn't feel anything... like something burning. I wonder if it can do that to the part of the brain that is supposed to register sound? :confused:
Maybe Somebody Brave could email the researcher and ask?!

I had bad tinnitus for the first 6 years. It was a strange and very annoying form. Rather than a ringing it sounded like a loud squeeky wheel and it went on much of the time.

I still get it a little but now it's a very loud, even painful, ringing in my left ear but very brief.

noise, ringing and loss
 

About a year after my neck injury I noticed if I lay on my left side watching tv in bed everyone complained about the blasting tv. I would lift my head and it was loud. I have diminished hearing in the right ear.

I also have 24/7 loud back ground noise, sounds like the white noise of low tv, or wind over an ocean, very low but consistant.
I have cervical nerve compression and Cerabal spinal fluid leak.

At times I can hear the noise of the fluid kid of whoosh as it moves loose.
Dianne

Hi
 

I a PNer and a old retired nurse. Usually when you have ringing in ears
it very well be a commom med. your taking. But i take so many pills
Neurotin 3600 mg. i think is the 1 causing my ringing. I remem ber my mom
use to complain about the same med. I plan on asking at the drughstore,
after all they seem to have more time to listen,than some of the Drs.
Asprin was the one that use to cause this problem and still does.
Well sorry for buting in and hope you all the best
:) :) Sue