Hi,
Pat here, wondering if anyone has suffered hearing loss to the point of needing hearing aides. I am also experienceing a continuous ringing in my ears, sometimes real bad other times not so bad. I have had one hearing test and it isn't looking good, I go back for another in August. I had 29 of 35 IMRT treatments and 2 full treatments of cysplatin. I am three months out of treatment and everything else is fine. just my hearing going south on me.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thnaks
Patricia

Patricia, after I had cisplatin, I developed hearing changes and was quickly switched to a different chemo mix because the doc told me a very small percentage of people are sensitive to the point of losing hearing. In my case, I was taken off soon enough that there is no damage. I sincerely hope your hearing loss is reversible.

Patricia --

If you got cisplatin, you should have been told that this drug causes hearing changes in about 60% of the people who take it and in a smaller percentage, these changes are long-lasting or even permanent. This most common complaint is permanent high-end hearing loss, as well as ringing in the ears which may improve over time.

My husband was given carboplatin at Hopkins becasue he already had a high-end hearing loss (due to infections as a kid) and they did not want this to be exacerbated. Carbo- works the same as cis- but has far less ototoxicity (about 3-5%). We had already found this out before meeting with the oncologist but she agreed with our concerns as soon as she heard about Barry's hearing issues.

Also, the radiation oncologist said that radiation to the inner ear can also cause hearing damage, so he tries to avoid as much as possible radiation to the inner ear.

They also did a hearing test before and after treatment, and one about 6 month's out. Only very small changes and these could have been due to normal aging.

Gail

Pat,

As you can see I also had cisplatin and I have suffered permanent high frequency hearing loss in both ears. I was tested and Dx by Moffitt, the same entity that treated me for cancer.

My hearing loss does affect me every day but it is not bad eneough at this point to bother with hearing aids. I was also not told that it will not get worse over time due to Cisplatin but I assume normal aging will take care of that and then I will consider aids.

The docs at the hearing center ( Moffitt) all said my damage is permanent and irreversable BUT my MO ( Moffitt) says that may not be so and to wait and see so we'll wait and see but I can't see any improvement yet.

My MO also told me that he would have switched me to Carboplatin if he had known I was experiencing ringing in my ears. Unfortunately I didn't realize what I was experiencing was ringing in my ears. To me it felt more like one ear going silent for a few seconds. I guess I'll know next time!!

I just last week asked if hearing can be affected by 34 rad treatments to the tonsil area.
Answer
Yes

Maggie

Hi Patricia:
I'm currently in the process of deciding on getting hearing aides as well. Like David, I lost my high frequency hearing in both ears and any background noise limits my hearing from things/people directly in front of me. Also have the ringing deal, sometimes loud and sometimes not too bad. The radition closed up my tubes in the beginning as well, which added to the issue, but in the long run the Cisplatin got me, which I was warned about. It really set in late into the second dose though.
I also would probably fight the hearing aide deal, but part of my job consists of training folks and in classroom settings I really struggle (Thank God my speech has returned very well at this point). My Audiologist hit it right on the head when she told me I'm probably wearing my self out struggling and having to add extra effort into just hearing everything, coupled with the stress of hoping I didn't miss something in converstions.
If a patient can realize it in time a switch in treatment is in order. Even at that,some hearing loss to me is better than hearing that treatment wasn't successful but hearing it "clearly". (Every cloud has a silver lining)
Onward and Upward.
Best Wishes,
Steve

I have the same high pitch hearing loss and ringing. It was explained to me that cysplatin was one of the most aggressive chemo's and then I was asked if I was willing to take the chance with my hearing for the benefit of the aggressiveness. I was. I already had high pitch hearing loss and ringing in my ears. It doubled with two chemo treatments and the audiologist said it would triple with the third. I couldn't get the third due to low blood counts.The ringing can be annoying but I don't pay much attention to the hearing loss. My voice level hearing was actually outstanding so I do ok with conversations. Good Luck.