Lost hearing then suddenly hearing voices and noise

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ID00000000
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:11 am
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by ID00000000 on Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:34 am

Lost hearing then suddenly hearing voices and noise

Though I have health issues including a mental health situation of my own, on this occasion I'm wanting to understand better something that's happened to a family member.

She was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer three years ago after decades of living with all sorts of other pain from arthritis to IBS. Around eighteen months after the diagnosis her hearing started to fail, and at this point she began hearing things - a man singing and other possibly tinnitus-like noise (but which as far as I understand is only tinnitus-like, and is still 'hallucinated'). There was a vague suggestion that this has developed a side effect of mental health medications. Her hearing then failed altogether, so that now she is someone with cancer who is deaf, in a continued, earlier pain, dealing daily with a never attended-to eating disorder and hearing voices and noise.

It would seem either that the Covid situation or the condition of her immune system or both are why she is being denied a cochlear implant, which she had seen specialists about, or that it is at least delayed, when she can't really afford delay. I would hope they have not quietly decided that the expense is not going to be processed because of her diagnosis. I can tell being able to hear would make a hell of a difference to her.

The situation is pretty strange. Is this sort of thing known? Are these side effects of medication at all common? Is there anything that can be done to speed up having the implant or to assert its necessity?

Can anything be done about the singing and noise? If pills caused it, can't intervention with another medication reverse this? I had this vague feeling that the singing is like an inappropriate compensation the brain has embarked upon because of the deafness. But perhaps it's just biochemical and not 'meaningful'.

All thoughts welcome.

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talkhealth
Posts: 1782
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:29 pm
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by talkhealth on Mon Nov 02, 2020 10:20 am

Re: Lost hearing then suddenly hearing voices and noise

Hello - we are very sorry to hear about the issues your family member has encountered. There is something called musical tinnitus and you can find out more about it from the British Tinnitus Association. https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/
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MissCandyGirl
Posts: 583
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2019 6:11 pm
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by MissCandyGirl on Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:44 pm

Re: Lost hearing then suddenly hearing voices and noise

I don't have any advice I'm afraid but your friend is not alone. I do hope you're able to get the medical advice needed. Also, your friend can learn to live with it. I don't mean to be patronizing, though: I write it because my dad has tinnitus and has done for 20 years. I have a slight problem myself: and hate it. I do find listening to music eases it a little.

Hopefully, someone else will be able to advise you more. I do hope your friend gets better with her other health issues, too.

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