Whoa - hearing volume just dropped.

[jensequitur]

I'm just hanging at work, getting stuff done, and suddenly I lost part of my hearing.  Maybe the highest end of my range - the white noise bandwidth.  It was as if somebody lowered a curtain or shut a door between me and the white noise.... very strange!

[jensequitur]

I should say that this isn't the first time my hearing has cut in and out, but it's the first time that it got that quiet - or stayed quiet for that long.  During band practice yesterday I had another recurrence, along with some ringing... although everybody was so loud it didn't really affect what I was doing.

I'm not optimistic that the neuro will look at this as an MS symptom.  He thinks the orthostatic hypotension isn't MS related, and I had a hard time convincing him that I was having spasticity.

Yup, I need a new neuro!  Maybe I'll start a poll.

[Deb61]

I have had this issue with the hearing disappearing (even the loud ringing) on and off now for the last several months.  I have bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss, too, that was diagnosed a year ago or so.  One of my ears, my left ear, is much worse than my other ear.  

I also have constant ringing in them, and sometimes the ringing gets really loud to the point that I can't hear a thing but that within the past few months.  I can see people's mouths moving, but I can't hear a word they're saying.  I pointed this out to my neurologist a couple of months ago, who ordered an MRI.  I'm seeing him on Monday.  I don't think there were new lesions that showed up because the radiologist didn't see them (not in report); however, my neuro hadn't reviewed the MRI with me yet.  If my neuro finds anything on the MRI, which I really doubt, or offers up any explanation for this, I'll let you know.  

It does sound like a trip to the audiologist may be warranted, after explaning all of this to your neuro.  In the least, you can get a baseline measure of your hearing and monitor any loss.

Deb

[Nancy T]

Hi Jen. Sudden hearing loss is (or should be) considered a medical emergency. (I found this out one month after suddenly losing the hearing in my left ear!! PCPs blew me off during that month with "wax" and "Eustachian tube dysfunction," when in fact I had suffered a severe-to-profound, permanent sensorineural hearing loss.)

That said, since you have MS (right?) and other cranial-nerve problems, I'm not sure how much of an emergency they would consider it. Still, if you've had a sudden change in your hearing that isn't clearly due to a blocked Eustachian tube, wax, etc. (and it doesn't sound like these are your problem), I would call your otologist and get an urgent appointment to see if you should get steroids or some other treatment.

(I too have all kinds of little things with cranial nerves: trigeminal-nerve symptoms on both sides, off-the-scale-abnormal BAER bilaterally, possible 7th-nerve thing on the left, etc.; some kind of brainstem weirdness, I believe.)

Best of luck,

Nancy (undiagnosed as always)

[steph74]

I have the opposite problem--it soounds like someone turned the volume WAY up.  Very strange...

[jensequitur]

I've been having ear issues all along - rather like one ear has some bad wiring, so the white noise will cut in and out.  This is the first time it just went away - like somebody turning off a switch.

I need to fire my neuro and find a new one - issues like this one leave him foundering at sea.  

I've had problems with my trigeminal nerve, and I've had paresthesia of the face all along, so I'm sure it's related - perhaps something in the pons where all the nerves get together.

[Zacksmomi]

OH NO That is what I was supposed to tell my PCP just now...darn it!  

I am having the same issue.  I seriously thought my ear was plugged for months, but Now I am thinking it was just certain frequencies then Boom...I got really stressed the other day and (along with many other MS related symptoms that I have) that ear issue started acting up again.

LMK if you find out what the heck it is.  Hopefully it will be back to normal very soon.  

Sometimes mine lasts for a day or two still.  The first time was 2 months straight, the second time was 5 months. The other day it was only a couple hrs.

I thought allergies, but all Drs said "HHHMMM wierd"?!?  Gotta love that.  No luck with allergy meds or ear flushing so I ruled out the plugged ear.

Good Luck!
D