After a year and a half of off and on vertigo I'm still undiagnosed (in part because my hearing is normal, just some high level loss, low level is relatively normal). Whenever I'm asked if I have any hearing loss I say no. However, one episode keeps coming back to me which I've never mentioned to any of the doctors I have seen because I don't even think about it when I am in the office. I don't think this would be considered the kind of hearing loss that would lead to a diagnosis of MM but maybe it is. Let me ask what you think. About 8 years ago I woke in the morning and couldn't hear anything out of my right ear. It was plugged up and full feeling. Completely deaf! After half an hour of yawning and stretching it finally unplugged and I could hear normal again. Next morning same thing happened upon wakeneing. I'm totally deaf in my right ear but all the yawning couldn't open it up and I went to my PCP later in the day. He looked in the ear, said it is full of wax, his assistant cleaned it out and as soon as the wax was washed out I was 110% better and haven't had a repeat episode since though my ears to tend to be very waxy. Is this considered "hearing loss?" Should I tell any doctor I see for my vertigo issues about this? Is this the kind of deafness that would be associated with MM? My mind tells me no, it is not related to MM but I could be wrong. What do you think? Thanks, Jane
It's a hearing loss resulting from wax buildup which is common but has nothing whatsoever to do with Meniere's. The hearing loss associated with Meniere's comes from the inner ear and is not visible in any way to a doctor looking in your ear. Don't worry about that one, just get an ent to clean your ears out periodically as it will likely happen again.
Doctors do not work inside a vacuum. Every piece of information you give them helps in diagnosis. If you omit things you think may be trivial but instead may yield an important clue about your ear function you are not helping yourself or the doctor.
I have to agree with June. The hearing loss in MM is coming from the inner ear, as well as the ringing. The ear drum and all of that is working fine, but that information isn't getting relayed to the brain because the middle man (inner ear) is swollen and/or damaged. But, dr's can use all the info they can get. I guess I would be worried if I woke up completely deaf, and the dr said...."your ear looks fine" That would be scary. Aryn
Hearing loss is determined by an audiogram (hearing test). Tell him what you just told us and ask your doctor for one.
Thanks for your responses. If I am lucky enough to ever find a doctor who will listen to me I will mention this to him. I didn't think mm hearing loss was related to wax in the ear but I wasn't positive. Linda, I have had 3 hearing exams over the last 10 or so years, last one was in October. All are pretty much the same - just slight changes. Bilaterally I have mild loss in the high ends but the rest is okay. Thanks, Jane
The audiogram that Linda mentions can detect the difference between sensoneural (inner ear or nerve) hearing loss and conductive - something blocking the sound from getting to the middle ear. Unfortunately we can have both.
It was determined my hearing loss is sensory-neural as opposed to conductive but the exact reason for the loss is not known. At my first test I was told it could be anything from normal aging to a brain tumor. It has nothing to do with my wax problem, that was totally unrelated. Thanks, Jane
