MRI to Diagnose Mild Tinnitus?

[GregoryK]

I have been experiencing intermittent, unilateral Tinnitus for 4-6 weeks and visited my PCP, yesterday. He decided to do Complete Blood Chemistry and ordered an MRI. I thought this was a little aggressive on the diagnosis side and I thought he would refer me to an ENT. He said if the blood work showed a possible cause, we may cancel the MRI? I am not sure my insurance will approve the MRI, without some serious explanation of the justification.

Has anyone else had an MRI for Tinnitus?
Would love to hear the process others went through...

Greg

 

[MikeP505]

I am not sure my insurance will approve the MRI

Hello Greg.

I know of many members here that have had MRI's for tinnitus. I also had 2 done, one for tinnitus and later on, one for sudden hearing loss. I was told before hand there usually is nothing found during this test however at times, a small growth or tumor has been detected near the hearing center of the brain. The specialist said.... "It's up to you"! Well as soon as he put it in my head I knew I had to get one lol. I might be worried I had a tumor right?

As usual, both MRI's were negative. Nothing out of the ordinary. If your insurance company will cover it, then go ahead and have it done. It really may be a waste of time but if it costs you nothing then.............

However if you end up having to pay for it?? That's a tough one. I could say don't waste your hard earned money and you would be the 1 out of 1000 that had a growth. Then you would be pissed at listening to me! So best keep talking with your doctor and find a way to have him/her push for coverage.

Where I live they are covered under the universal health care system in place. Only cost me the time to have it done and the parking at the hospital. Sounds good right? Well it kinda is but since they are "free", there is a long backlog to have one done. Took me 7 months from referral to MRI.

 

[GregoryK]

Thanks for the info! I agree with you about getting it done to clear that tumor worry. In fact, it is scheduled for later this week, pending the insurance approval! I can't imagine waiting 7 months!

For me, the tinnitus has been increasing in frequency and severity the last couple of weeks. Do you ever get headaches when the noise persists?

 

[GregoryK]

PS - Nice Bike

 

[MikeP505]

Well yes, I get nasty headaches. I will tell you this, in 2011 I had to go in for emergency surgery on my left kidney ( only one I ever had ) as it was totally blocked with stones. I had mild tinnitus before this surgery.

I had a reaction to a renal drug ( I believe ) that ruined my hearing and greatly increased my tinnitus. It's known as a "slow push drug" and must be administered very carefully and slowly. I was to sick to pay attention. May have been given it too quickly?? Dunno! Anyways, 2 days later I woke up almost deaf and raging tinnitus! You wanna talk about headaches lol!! I don't need noise to give me headaches. My tinnitus is so loud it gives them to me constantly. What can yea do?

Not going to let this ruin me tho. Waiting for a Cochlear Implant in one ear to restore some hearing and still riding my bikes and driving my trucks.

Try to remain positive during your struggles with tinnitus. Worse thing to do is fear it. Stress is a killer. Keep us posted on the MRI and hope you can get the coverage. I hear they can cost around $2800.00 American or more! Ouch!

 

[MikeP505]

Also, protect your hearing from now on. Careful of loud environments. Cannot hide from all noises all the time, like a firetruck or smoke alarm suddenly going off, but we can be more mindful of our environments and use necessary precautions like ear plugs etc.

 

[Dominic1955]

@GregoryK, I also practice medicine in USA, usually we do an MRI if unilateral sensisoneural hearing loss accompanies Tinnitus to rule out a tumor of the 8th cranial nerve, if you don't have hearing loss you are not likely to have a tumor.
Dom