It's still not a banana

But it probably is Meniere’s disease. Which isn’t really a disease, any more than the reactive airway disease I have is a disease. (I don't have asthma, pinky promise.)

Way back in 2014, I got my ears thoroughly checked out by both an ENT and an audiologist. I had some mild low frequency hearing loss, also fullness in the ears but I hadn’t yet had any vertigo or much tinnitus. I mean, let’s face it—as I’ve said elsewhere, I was a military musician for years and you cannot perform the 1812 Overture with real howitzers and not have some tinnitus. But it wasn’t bad, not yet anyway.

About a year later, I was back with the same issues: very full ears that actually aren’t full but sure feel that way, very mild tinnitus and increased lower frequency hearing loss. At that same visit, my ENT uncovered some pretty severe sinus infection issues I’d had for years; I ended up having sinus surgery which helped so much. And I also ended up with a hearing aid—I posted then that I gasped when I heard in stereo again, it had been so long.

But less than a year later my hearing resolved, which I did not expect. That’s when Meniere’s was first suggested and I pushed back hard. I felt like that was a BS diagnosis, and that people who are diagnosed with that tend to get slotted into the crazy, crackpot, difficult patient. No thanks.

I don’t remember exactly when I had the episodes of vertigo (probably because I don’t want to remember) but they were brutal. The world tilted and rotated; I couldn’t walk but had to crawl to the bathroom to puke my guts out for a couple of hours. That happened oh maybe three or four times and then vanished. (Yes, another Meniere’s symptom which I didn’t want to acknowledge.)

In the last six months, my hearing in my left ear has deteriorated a lot, the pressure in both ears is immense and the tinnitus in my left ear is more like standing right next to a Boing 767 engine roaring along on an international flight. It’s loud and it hurts. 

Then this last Saturday, I had an absolutely brutal episode of vertigo, complete with throwing up for several hours. I still feel the vertigo lingering at the edges but God willing, I’m not at the fall down and need to puke stage.

But that got me off my butt and I called my audiologist again, who said oh hey you have to see the ENT first. But he’s just going to send me to you! Yes, but you have to go to him first. And in a nice piece of luck, he had a cancelation the very next morning, which was yesterday. 

And yes, my hearing has deteriorated again. My audiologist reprogrammed my hearing aid for me on the spot, so now I’m hearing in stereo again. The ENT was great, did a really thorough review of my records with him and discussed everything in detail. Since I’m now presenting with all four symptoms, it’s pretty much a certainty that this is Meniere’s. He suggested considering a brain MRI since it’s been a few years (how sad is that that I’ve had more than one?) but doesn’t expect that will show anything. I don’t either but I agreed to get one because I also said I didn’t have melanoma, argued with my orthopedist that my pelvis was not fractured and didn’t really believe my oncologist that I had breast cancer.

So. Clearly I had better rely on my medical partners rather than my own opinion.

Here's my results from 2015 (dots show from 2014, the lines were from that day's test):

And from yesterday (dots are from 2018, the lines are from yesterday):

The right ear (which is weirdly on the left) now shows some typical high frequency hearing loss which generally happens to us all. It's the reverse slope hearing loss in the left ear that's the stumper.

The MRI is scheduled for January 28 so more to come. 

What $2k looks like sitting on my nightstand

Or cause≠ correlation≠ coincidence

Remember the low frequency hearing loss I had? The loss that had been going on for sure for nearly three years and most definitely since 2010 and probably earlier than that?

It’s gone. Vanished, kaput, bye-bye.

I saw my audiologist in early March because I thought my right ear was getting bad (original loss was in my left ear). So he ran a hearing test on both ears; much to everyone’s surprise, my left and right ears both register as normal now. I asked if it were possible that this change was because of the sinus surgery. Nope, he said, not possible. And the reason my right ear seemed as though it might be losing hearing was because my left ear was now over amplified.

He was leaning toward a different diagnosis and asked if I had any tinnitus or ringing in my ears. Of course, I said. Listen, you don’t perform the 1812 Overture with live howitzers year after year and not get some tinnitus—never mind that I’ve fronted rock bands too. That kind of music comes at a price.

So he had me go without my hearing aid for a month and then return to be retested. That was a couple of weeks ago and not only do I not have the low frequency hearing loss in the left ear, the tiny incremental loss I’d had in the very upper register is also gone.

Both my ENT and my audiologist still swear that this change has nothing to do with the sinus surgery I had in December, no how no way.

Now my fancy pants $2000 hearing aid sits in this dry caddy tucked away in my nightstand, and that’s where it will stay unless something changes. I am to get tested again in about six months and we’ll see where things stand.

Edited to add that I'd rather have it sitting there in a caddy than need to wear it.