Hi All, It's been a year since the low noise, hearing loss and fullness started in my left ear. I have never had dizziness. I have seen multiple doctors and had many tests (allergy, autoimmune, thyroid...etc). Dr's are calling it cochlear hydrops. In June we found out I had hypothyroidism. I am on Levothyroxine and now my thyroid is running normal. I was hoping this would be the fix but there has been no change with my ear. When the things with my ear started last year, at the same time I noticed that my fingers had swelled and it was difficult to get my wedding ring on (something that only normally occurs when I have my period). This has been the case all year (except when I was on diuretics). So my ENT and I are thinking this may be hormone related. Now that my thyroid is normal I am hoping to get my hormone levels tested to see if I have a hormone imbalance. I have been reading that if your hormone levels such as estrogen are off it can cause edema and even possible ear problems among many other things. Has anyone else personally made this connection and found any relief? Thanks!
Janicer, I was wondering how you Were doing with your symptoms and thyroid. I have basically The same symptoms except I would get Very dizzy when thyroid levels drop too low Or go too high. Strange you mention hormones My cycle is very strange for some time now Gyn believes its perimenopause then mm set in As well as thyroid problems. I'm thinking Of going on birth control pills after thyroid Is corrected to see if it helps. I was also told It takes time for symptoms to settle down After thyroid is corrected . Do you have permanent Hearing loss?
Hi Lisa, Now that my thyroid levels are normal most of my symptoms seem to be under control. I am still new to this but have not experienced a drop or high in thyroid levels now that I have been on meds. I never had dizziness but did have anxiety, tiredness, crankiness, among other things that I thought were just part of daily life. I was attributing them to going crazy from the ear thing. More recently I have been having real emotional issues and just not feeling myself. Reading up on the hormone imbalance I have found I have several symptoms of too high estrogen. So I am waiting for my gyn to get back so I can have some tests run and know for sure. As for hearing loss, I have no idea if it's permanent. It just seems like the noise prevents me from hearing well. And trying to have a conversation with someone in anything other than a quiet room, forget it! My hope is to find something going on with my hormones, correct it and have my ear go back to normal. So if this doesn't work I have no idea where to go from here. Something caused the hydrops so I am doing my best to figure out the cause and treat it. Has your gyn tested your hormones? Curious to see if others have seen any parallels between hormones and hydrops. I will keep you posted on my findings.
My hormones are all over the place between My thyroid and perimenopause. So far estrogen Comes back normal but from what I understand That fluctuates as well so a blood test doesn't Reveal too much . I'm 51 so I'm sure I'm peri menapausal. I still am not regulated With my thyroid it's all over the place but When it levels off for a month or so I feel good I believe hormones play a big part of this too
So all my hormone tests came back normal. Thyroid has been back to normal. So now I have no idea where to go from here. I have been experimenting with my Essential Oils to see if they will help my symptoms and everything has calmed down a bit (except when I drink alcohol, work out or am stressed). I don't know if this is due to the oils or if something else is helping my symptoms. I am tired of all the doctors and tests and not being able to figure out the cause of this craziness. I have had hearing tests, ecog test, MRI, allergy tests, bloodwork for everything including autoimmune/viral/bacterial/bloodcount/vitamin deficiency, etc. etc. etc. Even after a year with the noise, sensitivity to sound and fullness, I still find it hard to accept that this will probably last forever. I have been on overload reading about the hundreds of possible causes and "cures". So all I can say is that I am truly lost and don't know what to do next
Janicer, I've been dealing with the same symptoms for a year as well and like you I'm very tired of trying to figure it out. I'm going to have a steroid injection in my ear on Friday. This will be the first one and I'm scared that it will cause more problems than it solves. I'm going to try it though and hope it will give me some relief and reduce the hearing loss.
I am new to the forum and just posted above. I mentioned in the post that recently I asked my doctor to check my thyroid level. I had thyroid cancer almost 7 years ago and am on Synthroid for life, but my levels haven't changed in six years, until now. I was hyperthyroid and had all those crazy feelings of anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitating, etc. At first I thought it was MD but then I thought no something else is going on. Next week I go back for another blood test to see where my levels are. I wonder if there is a correlation between MD and thyroid levels.
My ENT wants to do the steroid injection but I don't think I want to do that. How did yours go? Did you find any relief? Thanks
I did not get the shot last week because my hearing test results improved quite a bit, especially the speech distortion. My hearing in my right ear is still not normal though. The ENT said he would not administer the shot since my hearing had improved on the oral steroid version. My feelings were mixed on that--glad that I didn't have to take the risk of having a needle and foreign substance go in my ear and disappointed that I wouldn't get the potential relief of this new, more direct delivery method. The plan now is to ask for another oral steroid prescription when my hearing gets worse. It can be hard to tell when my hearing changes, but as far as I know, there are no at-home hearing tests. I may get the injection at a later date. One of my ENTs said he was hesitant to give it to me because of the risk of dizziness and more hearing loss. Another ENT is full steam ahead on it. He doesn't seem to think it's risky. What are your concerns and what have you heard about it?
I had 3 injections for the fullness and hearing Fluctuation, I did not hurt just a little Uncomfortable the first week I had a few Very dizzy spells( which may have been From thyroid problems) it happened with each Injection. It did help with fullness and presure ESP with damp weather . The oral steriod Worked better but I didn't like the way I felt On it very hard tapering for me . I tried A kenalog steriod injection in my arm Which lasted about a month . You would have To seek an Infectious disease dr for that. That stats in your body for a yr but can Give you lasting results without the pill Side effects. Keep us posted on what you Decide to do.
Janicer, have you tried a diuretic? My ENT recommended it, but I refused because my blood pressure is low already. (I'm also 51.) Finally, my neurologist talked me into trying it over the weekend to see how I did on it. I've been on it for four months now. I try to limit my sodium to 1500 a day. I started with 12.5 mg of hydrochlorothiazide every morning. At first it seemed that my symptoms were gone, but when they returned after a weekend of eating out (eating too much sodium), I asked the neurologist if I could take a second dose, maybe in the evenings when I am becoming symptomatic. He said he would go ahead and write a prescription for 12.5 twice a day. He said he usually recommended 25 mg anyway, but had started me on 12.5 because of my low blood pressure. Amazingly, I have had no trouble with low blood pressure since being on 25 mg a day. Also, my aural fullness and tinnitus have been much milder and not as often. After eating too much sodium over the Thanksgiving weekend, I did have a flare-up, but the vertigo was much milder - not as violent as it usually is. Also, I've found that the essential oil frankincense rubbed behind my ear has helped with the fullness and tinnitus, although it does not help me with the vertigo. Some people claim it helps them. I hope you find something that helps.
I'm not on diuretic yet, but your post gives me a clearer understanding. I've been afraid to go on one because my BP is usually normal. I also like Frankincense, however, it's not helping one bit right now. The barometric pressure is killing me. My ear has been full for 2 weeks now. It's not salt intake, that's for sure.