Vasectomy and Hearing Loss?

[bluen]

A few weeks after I got a vasectomy done, I suddenly started having hearing problems. Initially only in 1 ear, but a few weeks later the second ear got problems as well. There was no ear infection, nothing on an MRI scan, audio tests confirmed some loss. Four different ENT doctors had no explanation. When I mentioned vasectomy, being the only medical surgery and health intervention I have ever had in my life, they said there cannot be any correlation between vasectomy and hearing loss.

The hearing loss issue has persisted for 7 months now, and what is interesting is that it will get better a bit for a week, and then get worse again. But it never returns back to normal. It's unpredictable from one day to the next how bad it will be. Pain in the ear has been mostly absent. Sometimes a very slight faint pain, but is very rare.

Is there a possibility that vasectomy could have caused the hearing loss, and if so, how would you go about addressing it and investigating, and possibly correcting for it?

[Kayseemae]

Husband (28) of 10 years just had a vasectomy today and gets dizzy and has sudden hearing loss for a couple minutes after each time urinating. 2022. Its definitely linked yall.

[OutdoorJanitor]

I am 59 I had a Vasectomy at age 40. Like you I had Sudden Hearing Loss (SHL), this year in my right year before Labor Day weekend, which made getting a couple appointments slower for me. Nevertheless less than 2 weeks later, I started 60 mg prednisolone after consulting the internet and learning of an oral prednisone treatment regimen, & seeing a general practitioner who prescribed it..

Two weeks weeks after that I had an ENT doctor visit, was sent for a (negative results) brain MRI w/inner ear focus.
Interestingly, like you, 19 years out from the vasectomy – I suspected it, because I had read of autoimmune issues that some thought might surround the vasectomy
procedure, and was now reading on the Internet, that Sudden Hearing Loss (SHL) could it be related to an auto immune response by one's own body against the cochlea, nerves, or hair cells in the inner ear.

My vasectomy, which I got (with essentially no research) but, but would likely have gotten, even if prostate cancer link then suspected proved true, to save me from marital stress over a 4th child, I heard from my urologists however, that for the FIRST TIME after vasectomy, one creates antibodies against ones own sperm, which has caused some researchers to look for an autoimmune disease link involving vasectomy.
From the start, and for 10 years annoyingly, and now occasionally, the scrotum tissue over the epididimys area, both sides, became extremely itchy; I feel the result of the allergic reaction to my body having to destroy its own trapped, and now pathogenic, sperm, within. (ALONG WITH with general pain after sex and pressure pain  of a strange sort before sex, all serving to blunt my  desire. NOT advertised by the urologists!) Enough on that.

But alarmingly this year I had Sudden Hearing Loss (sensineural) around Labor Day in my right ear. Terrible audiology report, fullness in ear, tinnitisclike a brass band playing. Took prednisone immediately for 3 weeks, got intratympanic cortisone injections later, my 3rd and final one was just today - with about 80% improvement so far. (Not painful if you Perdue the IT injection, some dizziness & tongue numbness for an hour or two is minor).

I searched "sudden hearing loss, vasectomy linked" today & found YOUR question; and I feel it is another case of internet connections between people uncovering associations and side effects even BEFORE THE DOCTORS, or drug companies. We, as patients have only limited annecdotal one-time-stories but The Lord is able to make our unusual causality / association link testimonies sufficient to warn others. And, maybe researchers too! -- To me, plausible link makes sense since auto immunity is suspected, (along with viruses, (and "unknown causes"), as possible SHL causes.

Nobody  in my family has had anything like this sudden hearing loss, though SHL is only about a 1 in 5000 occurrence in our 40 to 60 year old age group.

Regarding your 7 months If too much time has  not passed, or even if it has, I'd seek help from an ear specialist: mine will do I.T. injections out to 6 months and beyond, after SHL, despite contrary study outcomes, because his patients report reduction in "stuffed" freaking in ears and in tinnitus even that far out. And I am so glad he does! & gave me an amazing "self pay" price.

Bless you for posting your question, we are not alone, you and I. Stick to your guns !!ill pray for you and others who may see this.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
There is no connection between vasectomy and hearing loss. Get an evaluation done from an ENT surgeon to check the type of hearing loss and then start with the treatment.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.