My story - numbness, hearing loss

[ericp]

I am in my early 30s. 11 days ago I was lifting weights and got hit with a thunderclap migraine and neck pain. I also got sick but tried to wait it out another 12 hours (I know...). Finally I decided I needed to go to the hospital. diagnosed with mild subarachnoid hemorrhage from CT. did angiogram, apparently it ended up giving me two "minor" strokes. mri performed days later no longer showed sign of hemorrhage. seemed to clear out quickly.

 

However, I've noticed some odd issues. my tail bone was hurting a lot and I couldn't stretch my hamstrings even slightly without significant pain. possibly related, my right abdominal region is numb. the doctors shrugged this one off but the nurse thought it might be from the bleed leaking down my spinal cord and messing with nerves. or maybe being stuck in a hospital bed?

 

Was discharged from the hospital after 5 days.

 

Something I noticed once I started getting up and walking around was that my left ear had some tinnitis. also feels stuffy, congested, sometimes hurt. it has more or less worsened and I've lost a couple decibels of hearing. music sounds gurgly, muffled, and bad. this is especially disturbing to me because I work with audio for a living and permanent hearing loss is the worst possible outcome. 

 

Went to an ent and did a basic hearing test; diagnosed with "mild" hearing loss in the left ear. really seems more than mild to me. I got my ears cleaned, didn't change anything.

 

I also have the typical residual headaches, fatigue, weird balance, and what not, but I'm not too worried about that. I assume those will subside.

 

My questions for the people here: 

1) anyone dealt with hearing loss? is all hope gone for my left ear?

2) anyone experience similar lower spinal pain mixed with numbness? 

 

 

[jess]

Hi there welcome to btg sorry you need to be here xxx

 

Hearing loss I have had problems with my ears since the sah in 2002 I describe it as its as if I have suddenly gone under water that's what it sounds like I get tinnitus daily to some degree drs were telling me my ears were fine but after a swab it turned out I actually had an infection (for 18 months everyday I was taking antibiotics with a couple of days break between courses and with regular swabs just wouldn't go) xxx

 

Pain in base of spine I still get that but that is due to osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia which I have been diagnosed with both yours is probably from the blood as it takes a while to absorb hopefully it will go soon xxx

 

 

[DigglyDog]

Hi and welcome. Sorry to learn about someone so young having post SAH issues. My sah was in late 2018 so now almost three years in, I'm (considerably....)older than you but have similar hearing issues. It's a bit more complicated in my case as I needed a programmable VP shunt implanted in the skull behind my left ear and current UK advise seems to be to avoid anything with even a small magnetic field being in contact. This means that most hearing aids are to be avoided too.

 

I've found that my underwater moments like Jess happen when the air pressure is low. I keep an informal watch on barometric pressure now and have noticed that I struggle more when the air pressure drops so enjoy my music more when it's fine but that's probably more to do with listening to Bob Marley in the sunshine....

Hope it all works out for you.

 

[Louise]

Hi there

 

Warm welcome glad that you found us.

 

I went deaf in one side when I was sent home, turned out to be the Iodine had hardened in my ear....  and got disslodged by the movement in the car on the way home...

 

 

[Compostc]

Hi Ericp

 

Reading your post reminded me of numbness and pain in the lower spine l suffered it used to drive me crazy.

My son got me a little vibrating cushion that seemed to ease it a bit.

I was in hospital for three weeks and it took about three weeks after that to clear up.

 

Take it easy and don’t try to rush things.

[Tina]

Hi Ericp

 

A very warm welcome to BTG  

 

I suffered with hearing loss in my right ear. It was like i was underwater like Jess and Digglydog and was very painful and drove me mad. I had my ear checked and because of my craniotomy surgery it was blocked wth gunge from surgery. I had it suctioned out which sorted that. I found afterwards i was very noise sensitive and would suddenly a hear loud noise that would make me jump. It did improve over time.

 

I also had back pain and was told like you it was the blood dissipating down my spinal cord. It did subside eventually. 

It is very early days for you in your recovery. As Compostc has said be kind to yourself and dont rush things.

 

Wishing you well with your recovery and we look forward to hearing how your are doing.

Take care

Tina  

[Marion]

I had pain in my lower back due to the blood in my spinal cord, but here were no nerve issues.  The pain resolved within a couple of weeks, so I hope things have improved for you now.

 

I started to lose my hearing in one ear 3 years after the SAH, and it has been intermittent, perhaps due to a pineal cyst.  I did look into hearing loss caused by SAH when I was trying to find out why it was happening and found it is relatively common  e.g. "Conclusion: Subjective hearing impairment occurs in 1 of every 5 SAH patients."

 

With my hearing loss, it comes  on when my brain is fatigued and goes when it is rested. There is a cenral aspect to it also, so that although my hearing may only be affected in one ear, I can't process sound very well from either ear meaning I find it difficult to pick out speech/sounds in a noisy environment.  

 

I hope things are improving for you, but go easy on yourself, your brain needs a lot of rest to recover.

[Skippy]

Ironically mine has gone the other way - I can hear the slightest noise and most things seem amplified - I can hear a clock ticking in the kitchen when I am in the front room with the TV on.

 

Hope that it resolves and you recover your hearing x

[Swishy]

Hello and welcome to BTG,

 

I too had hearing loss in one ear, it did clear up with time  (perhaps a few months) and I feel like my hearing is fine now but i am left with tinnitis.   I also had the spinal pain, it is so uncomfortable....I was told both were due to blood disipating , truth I never have asked about the tinnitis, it doesn't bother me too much...I did not experience numbness but everyone is different for sure with these bleeds.

 

This is a great site, first off because you realize you are not alone and talking to others who have similar experiences is so helpful.

 

Be patient and kind to yourself, this is different from other illness.  Our brains heal slowly.  

take care

Jean

[julianc]

On 10/10/2021 at 04:55, ericp said:

I also have the typical residual headaches, fatigue, weird balance, and what not, but I'm not too worried about that. I assume those will subside.

 

My questions for the people here: 

1) anyone dealt with hearing loss? is all hope gone for my left ear?

2) anyone experience similar lower spinal pain mixed with numbness? 

 

 

Hi Eric

 

My NASAH dates from 2014 so it has been a good while.  The headaches and fatigue were definitely part of my initial period.  Unlike you I had surgery to drain the contaminated CSF (cerebral spinal fluid).  Months of intermittent headaches and fatigue. 

 

Nowadays they are a thing of the past, but paracetamol is never far from reach because when even mild headaches come they can leave you exhausted even if not in pain.  Like those mild headaches that you think you can ignore and you do, but after a few hours you given in, take a painkiller and in 30mins are wondering why did you waste hours feeling lethargic and muddy brained?  I guess the muddy brain explains it.

As for hearing, mine became overly sensitive and still is.  Foil blowouts (those curly party raspberry blowers) and loud screaming (children's parties) are to be handled with care and, ideally, with ear plugs or headphones (the more noise cancelling the better).  I wrote about it here.

As for my hearing in terms of performance, no change.  Tested it on a machine at an opticians, and all good, better than the wife's.  Not noticed a loss.

One downside, I don't think I hear myself sing like before.  Feels like my hearing is overly sensitive to my own voice which leads me to move the mic away.  The guy on the mixer asks me why I do that so I guess it is down to my hearing rather than my singing.  Might try some earplugs to see if a little bit of dampening returns my hearing of my voice to regular levels.

Hope you get better and better and please do keep us posted on your progress.

[Marion]

After a couple of years of only experiencing the deafness, I have had extremely hypersensitive hearing for the first time. It happened at the same time as partial deafness. I couldn't hear most things, but the the occasional sound appeared super loud and reverberated in my head, making me jump. It was very peculiar. I'm still waiting to see the neurologist about my hearing loss and all the other new symptoms.