Tinnitus and Hearing Loss in One Ear — MRI for Acoustic Neuroma

Hello,

I was diagnosed with tinnitus with hearing loss at 6-8 kHz in left ear. I have been scheduled for an MRI later this week to rule out acoustic neuroma. I had a few questions:

• I have tingling along my jawline, on the sides, from time to time. Also, I started to have eye twitches around the same time. Could this be related? Does this indicate an acoustic neuroma?

• Both parents complained of vertigo roughly after 70s, currently aged 75 and 85. My maternal uncle had severe hearing loss in voice range in his middle age, but details are unknown as he has passed away. My other maternal uncle had Grave’s disease (hyperthyroidism). My mom has Vitiligo. I have had alopecia areata in the scalp. Is this related? If my hearing loss is due to auto-immune, can I get this diagnosed ahead of time rather than wait for some acute/sudden onset?

• My report says “Acoustic reflexes are present bilaterally” but then another part says “IAR present from 500-1000 Hz, AS, CNS, thereafter, AU”. AS = left ear, CNS = cannot screen, AU = both ears. This seems contrary.
  
  
• If no tumor, how can the hearing loss be actually visualized? How does it actually manifest? For example, can any damage to the inner ear be isolated to a specific region?

• Can you explain the risk with the use of gadolinium during MRI? I read about possibility of accumulation of gadolinium in the brain despite healthy kidneys. I don’t have any past kidney issues. ENT did not order any blood tests prior to MRI.

• Does the asymmetry (tinnitus in only one ear) indicate higher chances of tumor especially given I can’t recall any loud sound exposure nor any onset of fever, infection etc. What could be the cause of my hearing loss if not tumor?

Thanking you in advance!

 

Whatever you do, wear earplugs and get some hearing muffs without metal for the MRI.
Some MRI machines can be like a jackhammer.

 

You may never know. A year ago I went to bed with no hearing issues and no Tinnitus. I woke up in middle of the night with 100% hearing loss in just my right ear and very significant Tinnitus. I had all kinds of tests done including an MRI on my head. Absolutely everything appeared normal. It still the same today. I feel your pain.

 

@JohnFox Thanks for the reply - very kind of you! My ENT told me that a sudden onset of hearing loss can sometimes be autoimmune related (I had asked him because of the bullet number 2 in my original post in this thread - my family and I have autoimmune history). My hearing loss was not sudden or rather I did not even notice a hearing loss. The tinnitus grew gradually - paid attention to it a year ago and took a year before I finally paid more attention to it as it grew louder. So my ENT thinks it is not autoimmune related. My ENT he had said if I do get a spurt of sudden hearing loss I should immediately go to him to get a prednisone prescription and the steroids *sometimes* help recover *some or all* of the hearing *if* given *soon enough*. Passing on this information - though I suspect you may already know about this.

 

Yep. Sudden hearing loss is considered a medical emergency. That same morning I went in to the ENT doc and he immediately put me on oral Prednisone. After I finished the prescription I had no improvement. Then he gave me a series of Prednisone injections into the middle ear. Absolutely zero improvement. It’s like my right ear is completely disconnected. Been a year now, so I’m not expecting my hearing to come back. There is one thing I have started just recently and that is to take a daily dose of Vitamin D. I live in the NW and we don’t get a lot of sun up here and it was suggested to me I might be low on D. After I began taking it I definitely noticed a mood improvement and then read that “mood” is effected by lack of Vitamin D. And mood and Tinnitus are related. Anyway, not only has my mood improved but my T doesn’t seem to bother me as much either having the effect of seeming like the T itself is not as bad. Either way, I will continue taking daily doses of D. Even a little improvement of the T would be awesome.

 

Wondering how you are doing and what they found?