Tinnitus... Acoustic Neuroma? I'm Scared

Hi everyone.

My tinnitus started in 2000 for unknown reasons. I think it has been stable by the years and i haven't paid it much attention. I think i've got it from ear infections as a small child. I've experienced the T to be inside my head, but always thought it was the right ear that caused the problem. Basically, I have always thought the left ear was unaffected and healthy and that the T inside my head came from the right ear. The point is that I don't know...

However, about 4 months ago everything changed. I started to feel fullness in my left ear, some weird distorsion and took some online hearing-tests. I was chocked when I realized my left ear couldn't hear 8kHz frequencies under 25 dB. A couple of days later I woke up with bad, new tinnitus in this ear. It's one high pitched tone that warbles every second and some lower frequency sounds with a constant tone.

The first months was hell. My first hearingtest at the hospital showed no hearing loss. I took another test because the first doctor didn't pay attention when I told her I couldn't sort out if the beeps was from T or from her machine. I took another test that showed slight/mild hearing loss (8kHz, 25 dB). Nothing in my right ear. The doctor said that my hearing is normal because everything else is perfect (100 % in the "speaking- test). She also told me not to worry about tumor as the difference between my ears were small (15dB in R, 25 dB in L).

My concern is that I may have acoustic neuroma... I don't know if I had T in my left ear before. The T also came out of the blue. No exposure to loud noises or anything. The only abnormal thing before the T was anxiety - but if that was the case it wouldn't cause me this permanent crap... Should I demand MRI? Is it normal that T starts (or increase) for unknown reasons? Do I have typical symptoms for AN?

I would really appreciate some advices. I also hope my english is readable (I'm swedish). /Pirru

 

As for an MRI so you can rule it out.

 

Don't worry too much. I was in a same situation as you just last week, I matched the text book description of acoustic neuroma: gradual onset high freq HL in my left ear with tinnitus, while my right ear is normal. Got an MRI done this week and it turns out nothing is there.

Acoustic neuromas are relatively rare, I read somewhere that even with asymmetry, the chance of neuroma is still only 1/1,000. So get an MRI done to get peace of mind.

 

Thanks to both of you!

nj78: Is your T/hearing loss also caused by unknown reasons? I know the risk of having AN is very low... But still, the "what if?" is always on my mind. I guess the only way to find out is either to wait and see, or taking the MRI-test.

 

Yes, reason is pretty much unknown. I have been somewhat irresponsible with my hearing all of my life, listing to music for long periods of time via headphones on most days. But my ENT said that HL should be in both ears then if it was purely headphone induced. So either my left ear is just naturally weaker, or I had some infection in the past that caused it without really noticing it. Or there is still something else going on they haven't found yet. But thank god it's not a neuroma.

 

I'd do the MRI. Wait-and-see is a risky game when dealing with tumors.

 

Ok, interesting! Same situation for me. Had A LOT of ear-infections as a small child and because

Agree, but at the same time it doesn't matter. It's not "cancer" because AN is benign. It's only life-threating if it becomes big (that would probably cause more severe symptoms than T). The most scary thing if it's AN, is the surgery that probably will make the left ear deaf.

 

That's the weird part, I don't remember ever having an ear infection in my whole life. But when I was younger, I had some issues with HSV infections in my eyes and nose, so it's possible that that also made it into the ear one time without me noticing.

It's no cancerous, but it's still a tumor and I still wanted to know. The earlier they catch it, the more likely some hearing can be saved. But AN is really a very unfortunate thing, even if you go completely deaf in that ear after they remove the tumor, the T is very likely going to stay. Son of a b****.

 

I'm glad your results came out fine! Yes, it's like choosing between a hammer in the face or a hard kick to the groin! However, as you said earlier before, it's very unlikely to be AN. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow and ask what to do next.