Hi guys

Something happened and I cannot open the topic OTOSCLEROSIS POLL. Could your please reply here? I missed the last reply of today.

Thanks

OK

I opened the topic now. I am wondering what is wrong with my computer.
I read your reply Roger. You are right I did miss the 45 Db improvement in the 500Hz. That was quite amazing!
Another thing I want to add. They say that pregnancy speeds up the process of oto. I did not notice that as I was pregnant last year (gave birth 10 months ago)and my condition was not influenced by pregnancy.
Another thing a doctor told me is that if you study the audiogram of the person from which you inhereted the oto you can predict what will happen to you. In my case that is not possible as I inhereted it from my father who has passed away.

My father's loss came on fast (by 40) and then STOPPED getting worse...he died young at 66. Blissfully I have a while to get there but I'm reasonably certain that the hearing I have oto-wise will be the hearing I take to the grave....
The super highs are bad and are likelty to stay bad...if THEY get worse as they probably will, I doubt I will notice.

Cora,

Stop diddling....get the stapedectomy. I COMMAND it! It'll be the best thing you'll ever do for yourself (unless you marry a shipping heir!)

Hi,

In answer to your questions - I had hearing probs as a kid and had my adenoids removed and grommets for drainage for 6 mths at age 5. All seemed ok until about 7 or 8 years ago when I found I was really struggling to hear if there was any background noise. Went to GP who referred me to ENT who said hearing loss was minimal - couldn't give me an explanation and said I could have an aid if I wanted one! Said I didn't WANT one but if it would help then yes please I would go ahead. They gave me an over-the-ear monstrosity which only magnified EVERY noise, gave me a headache and, even then at 30 I still had a bit of vanity and felt like a right geek wearing something associated with the over-70s! So I stopped wearing it. Hearing got worse and worse so went to an audiologist who referred me to a different ENT who ultimately did the stapedectomy. In the meantime I have got a digital aid which is 'completely-in-canal' and having long hair it is virtually invisible. Age now is very nearly 37.

The stapedectomy was exactly a year and a week ago! The ENT was disappointed after the surgery when my hearing was still crap so he sent me for CT and MRI scans to get a better picture (literally!!LOL) of the problem. This was when he realised how extensive it was. His expression was that the entire inner ear cavity is 'peppered' with oto. He showed me the slides and where the cochlea should be really black you could see it was only grey and where the surrounding area should be stark white in contrast you could see it was light grey. He was shocked by this as it's the worse case he's seen. He has spoken to the UK national ear guru about it apparently and decided on the two-year course of Nafril as (hopefully) the only way of stopping the growth of any more oto. It won't improve the hearing but should stop it getting any worse. They reckon it COULD reduce the tinnitus - no sign of that happening yet unfortunately! But something is definitely going on with my 'good' (rofl!!) ear - the tinnitus has changed and my voice sounds really nasal and tinny - weird. Will go to docs next week if it doesn't change - have had a bad cold over the last couple of weeks so not sure if it's just the tail end of that?

So that's my story! Considering they reckon 1 in 10 people get oto I am surprised at how few there seem to be on this site. Admittedly many people get it but don't realise for some time, but even so, am surprised that not one person so far has replied to my previous post about having any Sodium Fluoride experience...I live in hope!

Anyway, Roger (ZIP) is right - you MUST go ahead with the stapedectomy!!! I command it too!! When I was faced with the choice I thought that if I didn't have it and my hearing got steadily worse I would always wonder if it would have got better if I'd had the surgery. Even though it didn't work for me I'm glad I had it done or I should always wonder....SO DO IT!!!


You said about the oto and pregnancy - have read this before during my trawling of the www to get info about oto. I have endometriosis (gynae condition) and I have e-mailed a couple of UK universities to ask about them doing research into gynae conditions and their relationship with hearing issues - haven't had much joy though, but surely someone, somewhere must be investigating it??

Speak soon,
Caz

Caz,

If it weren't for the INSURANCE/PAYMENT problems I'd recommend you take a weekend flight to NYC and have your other ear done by my WIZARD, Dr. Andrew Fishman at NYU Medical. His hands came straight from a merciful God! I'm sure he'd give you a good result- I really mean that.

Lord, I just thought about another BIG wrinkle: you'd have to go back on the QEII because of the 2 month prohibition on air travel afterwards.

You know, Cora brought up something interesting for you. Findo out your mastoid hearing deficiencies. If they are slight, then the "peppering of the cochlea" is just a red herring signifying nothing. But the ROUND WINDOW involvement IS a serious impediment....think about reexamining those pix and audiological tests.

Well you are right I am afraid of the surgery. I would like to preserve my situation like it is now and have the surgery as a backup for the future.
I will visit another ENT on the 7th of July and let you know what he suggests.
Caz
Could you please give us the numbers of your audiograms before and after the surgery? I wonder where you bone curve stands. If it is below 30DB I think they are not doing a stapedectomy. Also if the air-bone gap is less than 30DB it is not worth doing it. I cannot understand why the doctor who did the surgery could not evaluate the situation better before doing it.Or maybe it was not possible?

Keep waiting,
Cora

Originally posted by CORA:
Well you are right I am afraid of the surgery. I would like to preserve my situation like it is now and have the surgery as a backup for the future.


Cora,

That's why God gave us 2 ears: one to stapedectomy, the other to hold in reserve.
I did one in 1979, and the other in 2003!
My first surgeon(now dead) said "If you wait til you're 60 to have the other ear done you'll hear better than any of your peers."

He was absolutely right!

But on the other hand, you know yourself. There will come a point where you'll say "WHAT?" once too often, or miss most of a once in a lifetime theatrical performance, and that will be your breaking point.
Unfortunately you will also say "Lord, why did I wait so long."

Caz

A friend of my mother has a daughter who is now 27 years old. She was diagnosed with otosclerosis when she was 7. Only one ear was affected with the disease then and she inhereted it from one of her father's cousins. She has been taking sodium fluoride for many years and according to her mother the other ear has not been influenced at all and she can hear without the help of hearing aids although the affected ear has worsen.
To tell you the truth because I have not met the girl personally I cannot verify her mother's story. I am not sure if the other ear is not affected due to the fluoride or it was not going to be affected anyway or maybe it will be affected in the future. The problem with this treatment is that nobody knows what would have happened without the fluoride taking. But I do not think it hurts to give it a try.

Still waiting for your numbers.

Cora

Dear Zip

Could you ask Dr Fishman for his opinion about Naf treatment. Is it possible when used in the very beginning of the disease to stop the worsening of hearing?
I have a great respect for his opinion as he seems to know a lot about otosclerosis.
Maybe we can all take Naf to preserve our hearing as it is now.
Thanks in advance

Cora,

I will ask when I see him probably this week.

Know well though, NaF is SERIOUSLY POTENT STUFF and not without systemic and gastrointestinal risks.

Roger

Hi Cora,I noticed my hearing loss atarted getting bad about a 1 1/2 ago..especially in my right ear with popping and cracking sounds.My hearing tests were: right ear:50DB left ear:35DB RHL=90 LHL=80 I mixedHL;air bone gaps @500,1000,2000:4000 I got this off my reports.If i remember correctly i'm around 25db in my right ear now after surgery 6 mths ago.

Zip2play and Cora, Are you going to continue with florical?Do any of you have any other probelms like popping ,cracking noises? Zip2play,How about your corrected ear..do you hear any noises?Thanks for all of your help.

Dear Texan

Thanks for your answer but I do not understand what RHL=90 and LHL=80 means. Also you mention "I mixed HL" and you do not give us the air bone gap numbers before your operation. Could you please explain?
As for the cracking noises I was diagnosed 10 years ago and the first thing I noticed was sound sensitivity to certain noises (i.e. some male voices, an airplane passing by, dishes in the kitchen. My hearing was quite good then <20db loss. The disturbance from the noises went away when my hearing loss increased. Now I do not have noise sensitivity. I am also wondering if it will come back if I have stapedectomy.
Zip
Thanks for asking your doctor about Naf. I read that it is not a drug just a food supplement and that it also prevents dental cavities. How bad can it be?

Wow, Hello Texan...ANOTHER stapedectomy (hooray)

Did you have much dizziness, vertigo for a couple weeks later?
Was there much change in your tinnitus before and after?

To answer your question, yes there is some popping and crackling which I attribute to the motion of the incus and malleus doing there normal thing- not annoying. A VERY SLIGHT inflation/deflation can make them "creak" a bit. I'm sure it's been always there but without decent conduction to the oval window I was unaware. Now that I think about it, my right ear (done a quarter century ago) does the same thing.

I'm still in the healing stage and was unhappy to get, on Saturday (16 days after surgery), a return of tinnitus with some dizziness on footfalls. Nuts, I thought the tinnitus was gone (and it WAS considerably diminished) for two weeks after the surgery.
It sdoesn;t effect the excellent hearing but I'm going to see the doc soon about it....currently taking some prdnisone to control any possible labyrinthitis.

In any case, Welcome aboard.


[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 07-02-2003).]

CORA/Caz,

I asked my surgeon about NaF treatment to prevent the proliferation of otosclerosis.
He said, "it can't hurt."
He added that that's what the consensus is but the evidence for much effect is very scanty. But there is nothing else so it's worth a try.

Rog/Cora et al,

You're right - 'there's nothing else' so got naff-all (pardon the pun!) to lose by giving it a go.

Seems the side effects I experienced in the first few weeks of taking it have all but gone. Can't drink alcohol with it though - that's for sure! Acid city!

I'm quite happy to keep taking it for the next 20 mths as prescribed. I know my hearing won't improve but as long as it doesn't worsen then that's ok by me. They reckon sometimes it improves the tinnitus - but so far I have not found that to be so...would be an absolute Godsend if it did.

Ah well, keep taking the tablets as they say! : )

Caz

Cora - haven't forgotten about getting the test figures - just haven't been able to get hold of the audiologist bloke yet.

Roger

Thanks a lot for the info. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow and I will ask about the surgery. I will keep you all posted.

Hi everybody

Here are my numbers of my latest audiogram done one month ago:

RIGHT EAR LEFT EAR
AIR BONE AIR BONE
250Hz 60DB 75DB
500 55 5 60 10
1000 50 15 50 10
2000 40 20 45 15
3000 30 30 55 10
4000 25 0 40 5
6000 35 0 55 0
8000 40 - 45 -

I went to the ENT yesterday and he suggested stapedectomy on the left ear first and after 6 months on the right ear.

He said that he is doing the surgery every day and sometimes more than once a day. The problem of otosclerosis is very common in the mediteranean area and he has the highest number of surgeries (about 4000 ears only for stapedectomies).
He was very optimistic about the results and said that 99% of surgeries go well.The patients solve the problem of the stapes for the rest of their lives. Any deterioration in hearing after that is a result of nerve damage due to cochlear otosclerosis or aging.
He said that my case is a classical case of stapedial otosclerosis.
I asked about the quality of the sound after the surgery and he said that it is very good after the first 3-4 months. (No cracking or popping noises. Roger I need your experience on that).
So I have to admit that I am tempted and scared of course.
I would like to find out more info about this doctor and discuss with the patients he has operated about their experience but it is not possible because everybody is keeping it a secret. How do you find information about doctors?

Caz
I asked him about Naf treatment but he said that it is and old-fashioned belief that did not turn out to be true. They are giving it to very young people but he did not suggest it for me.

So that's the news. I am waiting for your audiograms (those of you who want to share).

Cora

CORA,

Your audio results of course show you to be an excellent candidate. The snaps and pops are novelties that have always been there from the motion of the various bones, but with their new mobility might be more pronounced. Think of a knee that hasn't been fully straightened in years and the cracks and pops it will make when it finally IS.
Between the combination of "normal" wearing down of teeny arthritic processes and the brains ability to eliminate "dross," all that is quickly gone from your awareness- or else completely gone PERIOD.

On a crack sugeon: In the US many magazines publish lists every couple years of the "BEST DOCTORS"- they are all over the web. In my case, being a mile from Manhattan I had LOT'S of recommended ENT's to winnow through. After calling one after another (many of whom DON'T specialize in stapedectomy) I got recommendation after recommendation for Dr. Fishman. I think I got the best in NYC. Of couse all my data had to be filtered through yet another VERY important list (in the USA)- DOES A PARTICULAR DOCTOR ACCEPT MY PRIVATE INSURANCE PLAN.

Alas, I have NO idea how ATHENS works in this regard to these publications.

What is your planned time-table for surgery?

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 07-09-2003).]

Roger

There are no magazines here in Greece with best doctors in them. So basically in order to find out who the best doctor is you have to ask all your friends and get recommendations from them.
Another thing, here in Greece no ENT suggests another ENT and nobody admits that he is not and expert. We all have very strong ego here.
The insurance is not a problem. The only thing that scares me is the possibility of total and permanent hear loss. I know that it is only 1% but it looks huge to me!
That is beyond every surgeon's control (the doctor I saw yesterday said that it has never happened to him).
But do I believe him?
What was your biggest fear about this surgery?

CORA,

My biggest fear from surgery was DEATH from bungled anaesthesia( pretty big, you must admit!).
My fears might have been amplified because that's what nearly happened the first time, long ago.

I found another very real fear later which I will take with me forever: ANTIBIOTICS CAN DO SERIOUS DAMAGE especially in the presence of other drugs. In the future I will wean myself from any HBP or cholesterol loowering drugs before any surgery to avoid "surprise" interactions. Quiz your doctor about what, why and how much of eveerything he's planning on using on you.

CORA,
Make sure anyone you pick has at least 500 stapedectomies under his belt.

Hi Zip

I am not very much afraid of the anaesthesia (possibly because I gave birth with a C-section and an epidural and I was begging for a general). I could feel everything.

The possibility of total deafness is what makes me go insane.
Anyway the doctor I saw the other day says that has 4000 stapedectomies under his belt. How can I check it?
Can you be sure that a doctor is telling you the truth? Do you know other people who had stapedectomies? (not from the web).
I admire you people who had the operation.

Hi Everyone,

I was just reading your posts,

I have been taking sodium flouride for a few months now. It's not very comon because the pharmacy I used didn't stock it. I haven't had any side effects/any problems but I have heard that it can be harmful. I'm trying to find more info about it on the web.

hoodlum

Hi hoodlum

How old are you? When were you first diagnosed with oto? Do you consider having a stapedectomy?
If you have read my posts about the Naf treatment you will see that the doctors I have visited do not believe that it is effective. So they did not prescribe it for me although I wanted to give it a try.
Search the web for "Sodium Fluoride" if you want to find more info.

Hi Hoodlum,

Taking sodium fluoride means the risk of getting skeletal fluorisis. You should be referred to a rheumatologist (or similar) to get checked over. The one I saw didn't kmow anything about the bones within the ear though - but he's supposed to be getting back to me...

Some of the side effects I have read about can be burning in the stomach, skin irritation (sometimes severe), spots, weight loss (still waiting for that one!LOL). Been taking it since March this year and am on 50 mg a day. Found my teeth very sensitive to hot & cold for a couple of weeks but ok now. Stomach burning has also eased off now.

How long have you been told to take it for? What dosage are you on? Have you already had a stapedectomy? Have you been told to take it for life?
Is it called 'Nafril' by any chance?

Questions Questions! Zip, Cora and I are all at different stages of treatment for Oto and we're keen to get as much info as poss from other people.

Speak soon,
Caz

I was diagnosed with otto about 16 years ago. I was fortunate enough to have a laser stapedectomy performed by the pioneer of laser stapedectomies, Dr. Rodney Perkins of the Stanford California Ear Institute. This was a relatively new procedure and not well covered by insurance, but I give my deepest gratitude to my Mom for footing the bill and saving me from the standard pick and chisel technique.

The surgery was done with a local and went greatly. I had to be awake so that the Dr. could test my hearing as he worked and make the best adjustments. After surgery, I actually complained that it was too loud. I could hear paper rustling from over 20 feet away.

I had the second ear done a few years ago by the same Dr. The second procedure was, again, another new approach to this procedure. The idea was to modify the entry to preserve a tendon that is commonly severed. I forget the tendons name, but it serves the purpose of a reactionary tightening of the ear drum to protect from sudden loud noises--similar to the blinking reaction of the eye. This surgery too was a great success and my results were suposedly published in a medical study.

I'm sorry I do not have actual numbers, but the hearing loss was around 30dB and hearing has been restored to within normal levels, although a bit lower than ideal. I do recently note that I have a hyper sensitivity to low pitched sounds. This often causes me some concern as I think I am hearing someone thumping through the house at night, or I hear humming. I also hear rushing sounds from my pulse, more so in the second ear, but it can be very loud if I get startled by something. Every once in a while, I get a piercing phantom pain, but it passes quickly. Tinnitus is rarely present, but still exists to some degree.

Overall, I am totally satisfied with the procedure. I truely cherish the gift of hearing that Dr. Perkins was able to give back to me.

Hi guys,

I am 34 Y.O and was diagnosed with hearing loss aprox 1 to 1 1/2 years ago. I than went to another specialist who said it was nerve damage in both ears and oto in one. I asked about the surgery but he refused to do it because the risks outweigh the benefit. Right now I am managing without hearing aids because the lost isn't real real bad (trying to put off as long as possible) I have been taking the flouride for aprox 4 months and haven't had any side effects/problems that I can tell. I was told by the pharmasist that the drug was controversal and that I should discuss it with my Dr. It's called fluotic and the dose is 60 mg a day. I haven't been told officially that I would have to take it for life but that's the gist I got while browsing the web. I haven't decided if I will continue the drug or not but feel like I'm trapped because I don't want my hearing to get worse.

Its exhausting talking about myself!

Be Cool,
Hoodlum

Originally posted by caz 406:
Hi Hoodlum,

Taking sodium fluoride means the risk of getting skeletal fluorisis. You should be referred to a rheumatologist (or similar) to get checked over. The one I saw didn't kmow anything about the bones within the ear though - but he's supposed to be getting back to me...

Some of the side effects I have read about can be burning in the stomach, skin irritation (sometimes severe), spots, weight loss (still waiting for that one!LOL). Been taking it since March this year and am on 50 mg a day. Found my teeth very sensitive to hot & cold for a couple of weeks but ok now. Stomach burning has also eased off now.

How long have you been told to take it for? What dosage are you on? Have you already had a stapedectomy? Have you been told to take it for life?
Is it called 'Nafril' by any chance?

Questions Questions! Zip, Cora and I are all at different stages of treatment for Oto and we're keen to get as much info as poss from other people.

Speak soon,
Caz

Hi cuc2u

Thank you for the information about your successful surgeries. I have some questions for you:
1)How is your hearing(quality of sound)from the first operated ear? Did the results last for 16 years or are you having some additional loss due to the progression of oto? Some numbers from an audiogram would help.
2)Did you experience any side effects after the surgery and what?

Thanks for answering

It is difficult to say what the long term performance is, since there is no reference. I can't tell if the more recent surgery is any better than the first.

I would generalize that my overall hearing is near normal. I have diffuculty in noisy environments and probably do not have linearity in frequency sensitivity. I think above 8kHz it started to drop off. I have no paperwork or test results, but I am curious to check it out and have another hearing test. Its been about 3 years.


The surgery lasted maybe a couple of hours. The only painful part was the novicane injection, and it was extreme pain for about a minute. Thats when all the hands came and pushed my body and head into the pillow to hold me down. After that, I could hear the incision through the eardrum, and subsequent popping of the small bones. Then I could hear the sizzling of the lazer cutting the tissue and melting away the growth. Then it gets loud, after the window is cut and the piston is placed. At this point, I was drifting in and out of consiousness. The Dr. awoke me and asked to repeat the numbers he speaks. He makes adjustments and asks if that is better or worse. Every noise in the OR is loud. I awake as they are taking me out of the OR. I do not recall them placing the packing, but I can still hear. That soon fades to silence as the ear fills with fluid. I wait about 2 weeks in silence until they remove the packing. Then I can hear the air pounding my eardrum. Everything is super loud. I recall that on the second ear, that there was a rattling sound for months with loud noises (or loud talkers). This passed after about a year. I always suspected that the connection was loose, maybe the clamp was not crimped tight?

The only real side effects are occasional phantom pains that pass rapidly, but can be moderate. They remind me much of the initial novicane injection. I hear my pulse rushing almost daily, more so in the evening, when excercising, or when startled, and more so in the recently surgered ear. I am starting to hear a low pitched humming almost continuously. I have minor tinnitus. Otherwise, it all seems normal to me. It's easy to completely forget that I ever had a problem.

It is difficult to read about others that do not have this success, or a good prognosis. All I can say to anyone feared of the stapedectomy is to not be. For me, the outcome was as night and day. It was not that bad at all. I made no hesitation to have it done the second time, when the disease struck. But I would strongly caution to find the best practitioner possible. I had to pay a lot for this gift, but I am glad I did.

Thanks for the info cuc2u
Everyone who had this surgery says that everything is very loud afterwards to the point that they need ear protection. Why is that? Is it because they have spent a long time in silence or is it because the surgery destroys the natural mechanism of hearing and makes the ear super sensitive to sound?
Also when does this sensitivity go away?

I suspect that is is because the nerve becomes more sensitive with the lack of stimulation. Just like your eyes in the morning.

Things start adjusting over a couple of weeks after having the packing removed. I think it reached normal levels within a month, but I don't recall the exact change as it was so gradual.

I don't think that the piston is as sensitive as the original mechanism, mostly because its smaller and probably weighs more.

Thanks for the answers cuc2u.

I will be out for 2 weeks on summer holidays. I will check your messages when I come back.

Hi,

This is my first entry on any board of any kind. I was diagnosed with otosclerosis about three years ago. A stapedectomy has been recommended. I have heard that some of the side effects include a persistent metallic taste and sometimes even a complete loss of taste. I have had no luck in finding any kind of statistics. I work in restaurants and food is one of my great joys in life. I would rather wear a hearing aid than lose my sense of taste or have it be altered. Does anyone have any experience with this or information they could point me to?

Thanks

All I can say is that I had a stapedectomy in April 2004 and at first, I had all of the post-surgery problems that so many report. I hated what happened and thought I had made the wrong decision to have surgery.

I had all sorts or extra sounds in my ear, and all of the sounds were too loud and were distorted. Well, after a year, things really did clear up and the bottom line is that my hearing in my surgery ear improved almost 40db and there are few, if any side effects. As far as any metallic taste in my mouth, I have none and never experiences any.

Hope this helps.

John

Hi, Jmcbride,
I had a stapedectomy four months ago (April 25) from a surgeon who has performed hundreds of them. Unfortunately, I'm in the 1% of people who experience a decrease in hearing following the operation (another 1% go totally deaf in the ear, but I am not in that group. Whew!) Anyway, since I have also experienced taste changes that have not gone away, I've spent a couple of days this past week doing nothing but web searches of research papers and review articles about stapedectomies, revision surgeries, and taste changes, and this is what I've come up with.

The taste changes occur in about 30% of the people who have the surgery. This is because a nerve that runs through the middle ear called the chorda tympani is sometimes stretched during surgery (and, very rarely, severed.) When they are stretched, the taste on the 2/3 of your tongue (the leading 2/3) on one side only (the side that the operation is performed on) can go a bit odd. In the huge majority of cases, this is not permanent! I have found only one reference to the exact number, and that author stated that in only about 5% of cases does it remain "prolonged."
Here's that reference:
http://www.capitaloto.com/otosclerosis.htm

I'm beginning to worry that I'm also one of those unlucky people. This is hugely irritating, but the taste on the other half of my tongue is normal, so I DO get to experience great-tasting food with some odd off tastes (it changes all the time -- in the beginning it was salty/sweet, then it went to plasticky, then to bitter, and now it seems to have stabilized in the bitter/salty range.) My doc says that it could take five months to get better, which means I've got one more month before I know whether it's permanent or not) Of course, if I had better hearing, I'd be a lot happier, and I would DEFINITELY consider it a worthwhile tradeoff!

It used to be that if the changes were permanent, the surgeon would go in there and cut the nerve entirely, thus making that part of the tongue unable to taste anything. I think, however, that this technique might be falling out of favor. I read that in one of the many papers I reviewed.

Hope this helps. Again -- let me say that I don't think you should let a change in taste (on one side of tongue only) determine whether you stay hard of hearing or not.
Good luck!
--Lieseg

Hello John and everybody,

I had a stapedectomy 3 weeks ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I live. My physician diagonsed me otosclerosis about 15 years ago, but I feel that I didn't need any aid untill now, so I decided to go on to surgery. Myne was a total anesthesy case, and I don't worry about that since I had no troubles at all, except from a sore thorat (hose effect in your trachea).

In my case, I noticed an improvement of hearing right after surgery especially with the low frequencies (although evey sound was hollow, as you all know...), . The high ones, however, are so far about the same as in the non-op ear or a bit worse. Had no dizzines, or taste changes.

I've been following the threads and it seems that many of you had problems with tinnitus, and this is my biggest concern and reason to write. A few days after entering week two and having the pack removed, I started to notice a constant high pitched tinnitus that never stops. I also feel another one, although more faint, which feels like blowing through a metal pipe, and it goes up and down producing the effect of a distant morse-code.

Since this tinnitus is bothering me a lot, I have problems of concentration and started to worry about suffering it the rest of my life. I was wandering if it is now too early to worry this much, but it will be great to know if in your cases this problem has abated with time, and how long it took.

It would be greatfull to have any feed back from what you have experienced/are experiencing.

Best wishes,

German

German,

All I can say is that I had some new tinnitus right after my surgery but it cleared up after several months. But in my case, I had tinnitus long before my surgery because of other ear issues, including an Acoustic Neuroma. That tinnitus remains.

I still say, that after surgery, all sorts of things happen as far as sounds (tinnitus) goes, but in time they should pass.

The thing to remember, and the one thing that I was not ready for, is that these take months to clear up, not weeks. Give it time.

Hope this helps.

John