I just had a post tx hearing test and was told I have permanent high freq hearing loss. They work in conjunction with Moffitt Cancer where I was treated and said that cisplatin had destroyed hair cells in both ears and it is irreversable.

My MO told me pre cisplatin tx, that I may experience some hearing loss but sometimes it is temp.

I have read some previous posts which really didn't help.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the greatest impact, I would rate this HF loss to my overall hearing function on a day to day basis as a 2 to 3 but I haven't been out socially or even to a restaurant since my tx ended. They told me that backgroud noises may negatively impact my hearing ability the most.

Before I seek other opinions I wanted to hear what the group has to say. I'm toooo young for hearing aids.

Thanks,

David,

Not sure what you mean when you say hair cells in both ears? After my 2nd dose of cisplat I had ringing in my ears and I felt like I had a bag over my head. I had a hearing test which showed some damage and my MO and I decided to switch to carboplat for my last chemo treatment. I do have some damage but am hoping that it is only temporary, I don't have the ringing as much and when I can get my ears to pop I can hear better.

David,
Tom has been told he has permanent high frequency loss from the cisplatin, too. He had just two doses. He finds that background noise really muddles things and if more than one person is talking at the same time, he has a hard time.

Don't be stubborn about hearing aids. You'll save yourself and those around you a great deal of frustration. I have a couple of friends who for one reason or another have gotten them "young" and neither has regretted it. Cosmetically, they make devices so small now that you can't even see them.

Joyce

I don't know how you can really tell at this early stage in your post Tx. It took months for my eustacian tubes to reform and start draining again and until then my hearing sucked. It was like having a bad cold all the time. I even had pain from the fluid buildup behind the eardrum that wouldm't (and couldn't) drain. It was obvious on the MRI's. Permanent hearing loss from Cisplatin is fairly rare. In subsequent hearing tests my mid-range response actually improved a little.

David,

No one is ever to young for hearing aid when it come to hearing loss.

I too have hearing loss of high range. It is very difficult to hear in a room full of people or back ground noise. My ears tend to shut down if it is too noisy. I get the ringing in ears as well. Some days are better than others, it depends on how much noise I have been expose to. I am hopeing that Gary is right and it will improve in time. I am 9 mo. out from last treatment. Our bodies need lots of time to heal so I am just waiting to see if things will change..

Take care
Diane

Gary, they checked my inner ear and fluids, etc. The only problem they found was a sharp drop off in hearing ability in high frequencies in both ears which they said was irreversable. I hope you are right. I don't plan on getting hearing aids until I give everything a chance to heal.

Diane and joyce... I experience everything you both said. It is especially bad when someone is in another room and talks to me. Also when one of our 8 cats knocks something off a table in another room, especially downstairs, I can't tell where the sound comes from. We have a totally deaf kitten and he wreaks the biggest havoc of all.