Hearing loss

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debbiel0
debbiel0 Member Posts: 134 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

It has been 5 months since my last treatment  (35 rad with 2 chemo) for HPV tonsil and tongue.. I cannot hear highpitched sounds and voices are muffled. Background noises seem to be louder than ever. My ENT says my hearing loss is due to my age, 62, and not my treatments. He thinks it is a coincedence that I am noticing it now. Has anyone else had hearing loss and was is temporary or permanent?  I am still dealing with ither side effects, hair loss, swollen mouth, difficulty eating due to swollen throat. I am working on trying to consume enough calories in a day to maintain my weight so I can have my PEG removed.

Hearing aids are not financially possible so some encouraging news would be welcome right now.

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  • Curlyn
    Curlyn Member Posts: 189
    #2
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    Cisplatin is ototoxic. I was

    Cisplatin is ototoxic. I was told by radiation oncologist that radiation field to that area could also cause muffled hearing. I didn't have those side effects after the swelling decreased (though I had problems with hearing on that side when the swelling was bad) but is it possible that because you are still battling swelling that it might get better? 5 months is still early days for some as we are all different, different radiation fields, different ages, different recovery times. I wish you best of luck.

  • OKCnative
    OKCnative Member Posts: 326 Member
    #3
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    Did you do Cisplatin chemo?

    Did you do Cisplatin chemo? If so, I'm not sure how your ENT is ruling out hearing loss. That was a big concern with my entire team when I received treatment. They had my hearing checked prior to treatment and then routinely throughout treatment. Hearing damage is pretty common with Cisplatin.  

    I did see you mentioned hair loss - that is not common with Cisplatin, so maybe you had a different chemo.

    With Cisplatin I experienced ringing in my hears - but it was minor, didn't last long and stopped when treatment ended.

  • debbiel0
    debbiel0 Member Posts: 134 Member
    #4
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    OKCnative said:

    Did you do Cisplatin chemo?

    Did you do Cisplatin chemo? If so, I'm not sure how your ENT is ruling out hearing loss. That was a big concern with my entire team when I received treatment. They had my hearing checked prior to treatment and then routinely throughout treatment. Hearing damage is pretty common with Cisplatin.  

    I did see you mentioned hair loss - that is not common with Cisplatin, so maybe you had a different chemo.

    With Cisplatin I experienced ringing in my hears - but it was minor, didn't last long and stopped when treatment ended.

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin.

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin. During my treatment my team only ever seemed concerned about ringing in my ears, but didnt comment on other issues.  As with all of the effects I am still battling, I naively thought they would disappear after my treatments were finished. I am struggling with the realization that this may be my new normal, and I dont like it.

    Just to be clear, my team at the cancer agency was wonderful. My ENT is a local Dr not part of the CA, I think he just wanted to sell me hearing aids ($$$$). Small town, not many choices. I go back to the CA in two months. 

  • OKCnative
    OKCnative Member Posts: 326 Member
    #5
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    debbiel0 said:

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin.

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin. During my treatment my team only ever seemed concerned about ringing in my ears, but didnt comment on other issues.  As with all of the effects I am still battling, I naively thought they would disappear after my treatments were finished. I am struggling with the realization that this may be my new normal, and I dont like it.

    Just to be clear, my team at the cancer agency was wonderful. My ENT is a local Dr not part of the CA, I think he just wanted to sell me hearing aids ($$$$). Small town, not many choices. I go back to the CA in two months. 

    I know people that suffered

    I know people that suffered hearing loss due to Cisplatin, but it partially or mostly returned with time. But I do know it can be permanent. I lost just a tiny bit of high frequency. I don't even notice it.

  • corleone
    corleone Member Posts: 312 Member
    #6
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    debbiel0 said:

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin.

    Yes, I did have Cisplatin. During my treatment my team only ever seemed concerned about ringing in my ears, but didnt comment on other issues.  As with all of the effects I am still battling, I naively thought they would disappear after my treatments were finished. I am struggling with the realization that this may be my new normal, and I dont like it.

    Just to be clear, my team at the cancer agency was wonderful. My ENT is a local Dr not part of the CA, I think he just wanted to sell me hearing aids ($$$$). Small town, not many choices. I go back to the CA in two months. 

    Cisplatin ototoxicity

    The only thing your ENT specialist was right about is that you should have noticed the hearing loss right after the first Cisplatin round, and even more so after the second.

    Other than that he is wrong, because Cisplatin causes hearing loss typically on the higher pitched sounds. Unfortunately this is permanent. There may be some ups and downs caused by inflammation and serous otitis, but the Cisplatin toxicity is permanent. Radiation adds to that loss, but over time. Age too.

     

    To the hearing aids. These are very expensive, typically in the thousands. A high quality pair can be around 6 thousands. Cheaper ones are not so cheap, around 2 thousands. These are not the typical hearing aids that you see in commercials for seniors; these are much more sophisticated, with a specially designed DSP chip, in addition to the amplifier. 

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