hearing issues with chemo

bfp9548 said:

hearing loss
Kim,

I had moderate hearing loss(40% in one ear, 50% in the other) due to my chemotherapy. I was treated with platinol/alimta. I now have to wear hearing aides. After a second opinion I elected to stop chemo. I was lucky, my cancer was 1B so my chemo could be stopped since it was considered adjuvent. Unfortunately, sometimes damage must be done in cancer treatment. These are very strong medications that we are given. I would agree that you should speak to your oncologist immediately. There may be other options available for your treatment.

Kim

bfp9548 said:

hearing
I took two treatments. I immediately noticed that my ears were "funny" after the first treatment. My oncologist told me it was allergies since the pollen count was way up and to take Claritin. I took the Claritin for the next 3 wks and when I mentioned it wasn't any better, Sudafed was suggested. I took another chemo treatment that day. When it was worse, after the second chemo, is when I searched out a second opinion and started my own research. The second opinion felt that my side effects out-weighted the benefits at the time, so I stopped chemo. I kept the same original oncologist, who was not happy at all with me stopping chemo. But that was O.k. because I wasn't very happy with him for a while.

I am now taking the clinical trial vaccine. I still worry of course. What if my cancer returns and those two more treatments would have made the difference? My decision has been made. I just hope it was the right one. My advice to you is to do your research and make the decision that you feel is right in your heart.

joep531857 said:

hearing
Hi,

My name is Joe and I am in the middle of my chemotherapy. I am on Cisplatin and Vinorelbine, I have had moderate ringing in my ears but i would say it is not bad enough to stop my chemotherapy. I had read about this possible side effect and have weighed the pluses and minuses of this side effect. I can live with some hearing loss in order to decrease my risk of a recurrence. This is a personal decision that you have to make. I am also stage 1b
Joe

2catsmom said:

tinnitus after cisplatin
Hi! I'm new to this message board. I've been reading it for awhile and finally decided to join in.

I'm a 64 year old female and was dx'd with non-small cell adenocarcinoma, stage 2,in August 2009 with mets to one lymph node. I had a lower right lobe lobectomy (not vats). After my first chemo I was very sick. I started throwing up the first night, passed out in the bathroom and landed in the tub but fortunately was only bruised (someone was watching out for me that night!) I was throwing up for over a week, going back for fluids, back home again and finally a friend took me to the ER. I was admitted back to the hospital for four days with very low potassium and dehydration. I could only do the one round of chemo because of this. I had cisplatin and something else I can't remember, but reading about the problems with tinnitus and hearing loss is interesting. I started experiencing tinutus somtime after the chemo, can't remember exactly when. It is constant and pulses with my heartbeat. Lately my ear has been plugging up and hurting. I have an appt with an ENT in a couple of weeks and will tell him about this. I'm pretty sure I have hearing loss in that ear as well. Anyway, I am so glad someone wrote about this because I had no idea it might be caused by the cisplatin.

I did go through a whole course of radiation after I recovered from that horrendous chemo experience and did well with that. I was off work for about four and a half months.

Although it's been almost a year and a half I still have pain in the right side of my chest and an intermittent cough, but other than that I'm doing well. I'm due for my 6 month CT scan in May and I'm already getting nervous! Reading about everyone's experiences (including scanxiety!) has really helped. This is a wonderful group of people. Thank you for reading this!