Hi again. I'm seriously considering the laby surgery and am thankful to those of you who replied to that post. I understand that gent is going to make me feel bad. However, it has now been a month almost and I'm feeling awful. Still unable to go out like before gent but just a bit more. Now I'm on valium which am not liking. Person all prefer my klonpin but valium supposed to be better for inner ear. Anyway just looking for personal experiences regarding how you felt after gent and how long it lasted. How about pain? I had to take Vicodin but also developed infections. Anyone else? Still have good hearing but am miserable. Balance so far dealing with but the oh I can't even step outside due to the lightheadedness, dizzy feeling in ear, etc. Anyone have that dizzy feeling from ear? I feel so bad and am facing a decision to do another gent in a week or talk about laby. I'm so miserable I want to go outside and scream but can't go outside nor could I scream due to this misery meniers. Thanks for "listening"
I wish I never heard the word gentamicin. I had both gentamicin and streptomycin ( more powerful than gent). Some people do great with it, it made me feel awful. I had 9 injections over 2 years. I am sympathetic to the laby as far as living a normal life.
Like a lot of people I have a long and involved story about my years with MM.I had 2 gent injections this past July.They did stop the violent daily vertigo I had but I still had dizziness.I still could not work.I felt HORRIBLE and it took 4 months before I felt better. I said no more! I want the laby(I was almost completely deaf in my affected ear). My dr recommended the laby with the vns.I am very glad I had the surgery. No more vertigo or dizziness! No more feeling horrible!My surgeon helped me through the recovery with plenty of meds in my i.v. I didn't have much pain.I did have double vision for a few hours but it was't as bad as vertigo and went away exactly when the dr said it would. I had vest therapy which helped me to relearn balance.The gent was only 48% effective for me. If I had the decision to do it again I would't have had the gent. People say recovery from surgery is easier after gent but I feel like I went through a lot of suffering and wasted time.It's a hard decision. The gent works for some people and I guess the misery is worth it if it does. My surgery was easier to recover from than the gent.This is just my opinion and my experience but my dr says all of his patients that had the surgery are extremely happy and are living normal lives. I wish you the best in whatever you decide.
Oh and I meant to add that I can hear from my other ear better now.No more painful sounds in my bad ear. The tinnitus was louder but lemon bioflavonoids queited it down.
I agree 100% with debsue regarding the affects of gent. I only had one and when offered a second said NO just do the laby. So happy I did!!
Before last gent, I was at 75%. Hearing though good. What % were you all at as far as with the vng testing, not sure what its called and did you have severe pain following gent. Thank you all again. The valium calmed things down a bit. I was able to go to the dollar store with mom and my baby but drugged up. So yah glad to get out but no real improvement.
I had zero pain with the gent shot. Not sure what percentage I was but I pretty much had zero hearing in my mm ear. Made my decision to have the laby very easy.
My experience with gent shots have been pretty good over all. It's not 100% cure more like 80%. They seam to last me about 6-9 months then I need another shot. I usually get 1 shot then another 3 weeks latter. I will feel off for about 6 weeks then I will be fine until I need the next one 6-9 months latter when the nerve starts to heal again. At some point if my hearing gets really bad I will probably get the laby. If I start getting drop attacks again and my hearing is still good then I'll get the VNS.
I had my first gent injection in 2012 and was *very* off balance for a week or so. I realised that to recover I had to get moving and did lots of walking (I have a dog which is great as she got me out and about), some running, getting up on chairs to reach things in high cupboards. Yet I was still quite wobbly for a long time. When I walked along the pavement (sidewalk) I would feel as if I could topple over into the road and turning my head to look for traffice was hard. I got a few very mild attacks so had several low dose gent injections about a year later but still had this pervasive off balance, tipsy, slightly drunk feeling. I have some vestibular rehabilitation exercises to do and for some they can be very effective. So I'm pinning my hopes on those at the moment. There is a description here of how challenging your balance can help. He didn't do exercises but the sport he took up, raquetball seemed to be a good substitute (its quite long the raquetball comes about half way down) http://www.poota.com/menieres.html Baloo
The thing I hate the most about the gent shots is the increase in brain fog I get for about 6 weeks or so after the 2nd shot (I get a series of two shots each time). The off balance feeling usually only last a couple weeks.
Hi Jaeger Can I ask how you know you need another gent shot? Does your vertigo start coming back, the spinning etc? thanks Baloo
^^^^ Doh! used the wrong quote. I'd be interested to know how you know its time to get another shot. Baloo
when the vertigo comes back. Usually mini spins that last a few minutes then after awhile they increase in time. I tolerate them for awhile then I go get another shot. usually after I have one that last a hour or more.