So My Doctor Thinks I Have Endolymphatic Hydrops...

I will appreciate your thoughts guys
@Jkph75 @Coyotesheaven @Candy @PaulBe

 

The low frequency drops are strange. That is probably why your doctor was thinking hydrops, but low frequency losses don't always mean such a phenomenon is occurring. Also, you must be lucky they went down to 125 hz; that's a good reference. The high frequencies look good for your age though.
Did they test for bone conduction as opposed to air conduction (it does not look like they did)? Sometimes low losses are conductive in nature (and I'm not talking about fluid in the ears).

I really don't know what it means, especially if you do not get a roaring tinnitus. Did you expose yourself to a lot of bass music while clubbing over the years? That will do that kind of damage in the lows.

 

Yeah lots of clubbing over the years but im not sure...
i compared it to a lot of "early meniers audiograms" and its not close..
but how knows?

 

For the record this is my audiogram as of Sept. 23. The high frequencies haven't done much in the left for over a year. The right chanced suddenly as a result of a cough of all things. That low frequency drop in the left ear appeared within the course of 5 days that
My lows are much worse now, and unfortunately they don't have the 125 db reference. That's where the loss is much worse.
Sorry that it is backwards

 

@Mario martz

Doesn't look like Hydrops to me. Your ears are pretty much the same and that isn't much of a slope. I would still see a Neurotologist and keep getting regular hearing tests just to keep tabs on your ears. A low salt diet wouldn't hurt either. I can tell you that there is no a Neurotologist who would diagnose you with Hydrops. Your hearing is normal. Now you should relax. Go do something fun. You don't need to spend your time trying to find a cure for something you don't have.

 

Hey @Jkph75
Thanks for your words, when i saw the audiogram i just couldnt understand it.
its pretty odd, i dont know ... there isnt a significant loose?? but i still have tinnitus.
and then there its a "major" drop on my right ear and i dont have tinnitus there.
mmm just so weird.
just trying to decide if should continue this doctors next neurological studies
or get another audiogram from another doctor...

 

The NEW studies on Tinnitus and Hydrops are just coming out! (See recent Medscape info on Dr Connor Liston, Nature Magazine Dec 5 2016). Endolymph will increase with salt in your diet, it has linked to Tinnitus for decades but with fMRI NOW THEY CAN SEE IF YOU HAVE A BUILD UP! This is new and exciting! An fMRI will be able to diagnose it SO HAVE ONE! It MIGHT be the cause of your T. They are saying fluctuating T is more likely to have endolymph origions than non fluctuating. Your ENT ROCKS!

 

@suze

Can you put up a link to that? I found an article from that date and mag where he was talking about fmri for depression. I didn't see any mention of Hydrops. If your info is correct I need one stat.

 

Oooops, you're right. I receive numerous medical articals in my email from JAMA, Medscape, Up to Date etc. Jotted down references in a hurry this morning to follow up on later....must have mixed them up. Don't have time now but will try to find the references for you when I can. Sorry for the goose chase! (wrong reference but correct information.)

 

@suze

Fluctuating tinnitus has been linked to tinnitus to Hydrops, but they have never been able to see it. If they could see it on an fmri that would be huge! I am guessing that is probably the part that got mixed up, unfortunately. Boy, I wish they could see it.

 

I thought they could already "see" it with an ECOG...

 

By fluctuating, do they mean on-and-off, or always present, but rising and falling in intensity as in changeable within the passing seconds. Mine consists of a background roar that is just there as a constant, but with a secondary sound that seems to spurt and hiss constantly, always rising and falling (which I guess is why TRT is useless, as the tinnitus reminds me minute to minute that its there).

 

No. Actually, all of the Neurotologists I have been to said that the ECOG is basically useless.

 

I think that they mean getting louder and then much quieter or stopping completely for a period of time.

 

Hello. I have hydrops, which is a bit better now due maybe to following a low salt diet for six months, and taking betahistine. I've also had a constantly fluctuating and reactive tinnitus on top of the usual low rumble for about a year and have searched constantly for answers. Recently I went to a uk NHS hearing therapist who suggested that it could be hyperacusis, and after reading about the condition I think she could be right. The therapist gave me a noise generator (pink noise) for my bad ear and I find that it provides a comforting buffer between my brain and the tinnitus. The hyperacusis diagnosis explains a lot - I guess my ears have become over sensitive due to listening out for and worrying about the tinnitus. I had formerly discounted hyperacusis because I had no pain.

 

Sorry for a delayed comment. To simplify the story, hydrops is NOT always a sign of Meniere. They are two types of hydrops, a second type is called Secondary Endolymphatic Hydrops and has nothing to do with Meniere. Signs of this type of illness are very stable and crisis are showed much more often than Meniere, which is more dangerous and violent. Also I heard from a doctor about some hydrops that can lead to get no damages in the ear cells. It is a tricky matters. Though some signs of vertigo needs to be present sooner or later. So you can have hydrops without signs of vertigo in the first years and then signs of vertigo can show up even after long time. I have a pulsatile tinnitus and most likely have this kind of problem. If somebody suspect this problem they need to start a low sodium diet, using a diuretic and steroids. Just for a month to see if are improvements. Obviously it is better to be followed by a doc. However just to get rid hopefully of the Tinnitus a month of cure can be tolerated I believe.