Facial Numbness?

Hello folks. I have had tinnitus in my left ear since April this year when I had middle ear effusion.

Now, in August I am also having facial numbness on the same side.The numbness is on and off. Tinnitus 24/7 and extremely LOUD. I am only just starting to habituate after having a breakdown over it.

My Doctor says he is concerned about that combination of symptoms. I tried an MRI IAM scan but panicked and failed to complete.

Is it possible that this tinnitus and numbness are NOT acoustic neuroma?

That is my fear, that I have a tumour. I am terrified.

Thank you for any advice.

 

Hi again , i have just been told by my specialist that I have quite a lot of hearing loss in my left ear ...the one with the tinnitus. Now i am EXTREMLY worried. So now i have the tinnitus, the hearing loss and the facial numbness sll on the left side..this surely HAS to be ACCOUSTIC NEUROMA ? All I need now is the MRI scan to confirm it or hopefully deny it . I am so scared.
Can this be anything other than AN?

 

I have had facial numbness on the left side of my face and loud T in both ears for over two years now. I had an MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma. In the tube, I wore earplugs and that reduced the noise to well within safe levels.

It turns out that I had no acoustic neuroma. To this day, I don't know why my face feels so numb. But to answer your question, it is definitely possible that your symptoms aren't from an acoustic neuroma, but only an MRI can tell you for sure, so go get it done!

 

I had pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear for 8 months last year. It went away on its own to be replaced by very loud tonal tinnitus in my left ear in Feb this year. I thought I could have a neuroma and underwent a lengthy head and spinal MRI. All clear thankfully. I would undergo an MRI if I were you as your anxiety is almost certainly making your tinnitus louder.

 

There are all kinds of things that can cause these symptoms and a lot of them are probably both more likely and more benign than a neuroma, but you should definitely get the MRI.

I had an MRI to rule out AN; wore earplugs + over-the-ear muffs in the machine, no problems. (Actually I've had I think six MRIs since I got tinnitus, no problems with any of them).

 

Thanks guys ! I am so afraid now with having one sided tinnitus, numbness and now significant hearing loss in the effected ear . All classic symptoms of A.N apparently.
The MRI people tell me if I cannot tolerate keeping still for twenty minutes then just 6 minutes will be enough to image for an AN .
The onky reason i failed to complete the scan was that they cannot let me have a pillow under my head and that wrenches ny neck badly . I have spinal problems already.
My Tinnitus is RAGING now . I had just started to habituate with it and now it is even louder 24/7 .
Your replies have reassured me quite a bit.Thanks so much .

 

@MrNobody something that helps me in MRI is to close my eyes and just count breaths; it is going to be loud and claustrophobic, but not dangerous if you've got earplugs etc (and some machines these days are actually pretty quiet, it just depends on what they're using and what scans they are doing). I think the definitive screening test for an AN uses a contrast MRI which means you get injected with a gallodium dye, that was what I had done.

FWIW someone I work with had a severe AN, had it operated on, lost hearing completely in that ear but no tinnitus and is pretty much back to normal, so even if it is an AN it's not necessarily that big a deal in the long-term. But it's probably not....

If you're really anxious about the MRI, they will probably agree to give you a valium or something, which might not be a bad idea; if you're twitchy or moving a lot during the imaging it keeps it from showing anything.

 

@linearb thanks for the info . I don't think i will be having a contrast dye because i already attempted one MRI scan for this last week and failed . There was no injections .
The very thought of being deaf in even one ear fills me with utter horror .I simply could not take that. I couldn't. I am a real wimp where things like that are concerned. I realize I am jumping the gun with all this but I am one of life's worriers.
I wonder if it normal to lose some hearing in one ear more than another ? I am aged 48 by the way.

 

I have right sided facial numbness, except it's not really numbness, it's more like tension that gives off a sensation of numbness. I can still touch my face and feel it, so I would guess this isn't true numbness. It kind of feels like I got hit with a baseball bat minus the pain.

I've never had an MRI, but I've had two CT scans of my temporal bone (one with contrast) and one of my brain. My T and H is also bilateral, in fact the left side has the worse T and H, which is the opposite of my "numb" side. My neurotologist agrees with me that it's extremely unlikely that my symptoms are caused by a neuroma, so I opted to not get an MRI in order to avoid worsening my very likely noise induced T and H.

 

I still think it's really unlikely that you have an AN, but if you did end up deaf in one ear I bet you'd adapt to it better than you're thinking; I know a bunch of people with that condition who are otherwise completely normal. If you really want the MRI to be definitive I'd probably ask them why they are not using contrast; several ENTs told me it's an essential part of a definitive screen. I'm not a doctor, so I have no idea...

 

I will report back here after my MRI .I have been practising keeping flat and still for the required six or eight minutes and can now do it.
Wish me luck