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.

 

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).

 

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.