Hearing Loss

[Ann21]

Has anyone with under active thyroid suffered hearing loss. My GP lowered my levothyroxine from 150mg to 100mg daily. I have been on 150mg for over 20 years and felt fine, since taking the 100mg I have completely lost the hearing in one ear.

[Hidden]

Yes, I have. I don't know if that hearing loss will recover when I'm on optimum meds but I would say it's quite a profound loss too. I'm also in a lot of pain with my ears too - I don't know if that's directly linked to being quite hypo at the moment.

My GP says it's a virus - it may well be.

[shaws Administrator]

Go back up to your previous dose if you've been taking it for 20years and were fine.

By mucking about with dose changes to try to keep your bloods 'in range' is wrong if it affects the patient badly. If the patient was having clinical symptoms and seriously overdosed they would change the dose themselves as they would have hyper symptoms.

Get a print-out of your blood tests with the ranges and post on a new question.

Did you have the earliest appointment and fast? Did you leave 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test?

["I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions"

[SmallBlueThing]

Thankfully, my sudden hearing loss in one ear was solved by a week of dribbling in olive oil followed by a trip to the surgery for syringing.

[humanbean]

Over what period of time has this happened? 50mg is a huge drop in dose to have happened all at once.

If you have developed hypothyroid symptoms and aches and pains as a result of the drop in dosage, have you been taking lots of painkillers as a result? NSAIDs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen can lead to sudden hearing loss.

Another point - if your doctor has been prescribing according to your TSH and doesn't care about your symptoms, it might be a good idea to think about changing your GP.

For all future testing, please make sure the blood is drawn as early in the morning as possible, that you have fasted (except for water) for 10 - 12 hours before the blood draw, and that you have not taken any thyroid meds for 24 hours before the blood is taken. Any missed doses of levo can be taken immediately after the blood is drawn.

[maro]

That's interesting Ann I too have completely lost hearing in one ear, although this has happened gradually over 6 years so it was long before I was on meds but could it be connected to hashimotos I wonder. Had hearing test done now consultant want me to have an MRI to find the cause, I'm reluctant as I'm sure having MRI will not do my thyroid any favours. Any advice would be appreciated.

[BeansMummy]

I haven't had a sudden hearing loss - mine seemed to start deteriorating over time (I didn't notice at all, but my family did) in my 40s, and I now have to wear hearing aids.

It was reckoned to have been caused by listening to loud music in my mid-teens, although I am considered "odd" in that the loss is substantially worse in one ear.

However, my audiologist is now convinced that it is more likely that it is the Hashimoto's that has caused the problem, and strongly believes that it is all linked. My doctor isn't convinced (but then nothing is connected to the thyroid according to her).

[humanbean in reply to BeansMummy]

I have the same problem. Hearing loss which is substantially worse in one ear, and which is considered "odd", and I've got two hearing aids.

Unfortunately I'm allergic to the latex in the bit that goes into your ear, so I can't wear the flippin' things. I'm waiting for an appointment to be seen again, in the hopes of overcoming the allergy problem and because my hearing has got substantially worse in the last few months.

I've never had a positive antibody test.

[BeansMummy in reply to humanbean]

I'll shout a bit louder so that you can hear me

There surely must be an alternative to the latex bit? I've got an appointment coming up, so will have to ask. Have you only gone down the NHS route?

[humanbean in reply to BeansMummy]

Yes, I've only gone the NHS route. My mother has private hearing aids and the cost of hers makes me feel faint.

I have investigated the possibility of having different types of plastics. I've found US forums where people write about trying different kinds, and it isn't seen as strange. So I know it can be done. I haven't found any references to alternatives being available on the NHS.

I got my first hearing aid in the 80s and I had the same problem with that one. The plastic bit made the skin in my ear canal swell and weep, and if I persisted I ended up with blisters and pus (and lots of pain). I tried again in the 90s. This time I was told my problems were due to the mould being poorly fitted. They made me three different moulds one after the other (all made with the same stuff, naturally), and the problem never got any better. They then said they could do nothing more for me, and treated me as if I was doing it deliberately to annoy them.

My current hearing aids don't have the solid mould type of ear piece like the ones I had in the 80s and 90s, I have a bit of cone-shaped soft rubbery plastic with a very narrow tube going to the hearing aid behind my ear. But it makes no difference. My ears just don't cope.

I have wondered if hypothyroidism is at the root of my ear problems. I've had dry, flaky, itchy ears for decades, and I often see that on lists of hypothyroidism symptoms. I have also suffered from eczema since I was a child. I'm sure the combination makes me more likely to have allergy problems of the type that affect skin.

[BeansMummy in reply to humanbean]

Your hearing aids sound like the same as the ones I have. I get on brilliantly with them, and don't even feel them. It's such a shame you react so badly.

I bought mine privately too (NHS waiting times were years). The NHS haven't looked after me too well with my other health issues, and I wasn't about to let them loose on my ears too!

When I went for my last normal check-up recently, which is with a well-known, high street optician/hearing clinic, the audiologist said that Oxfordshire now offers a service through them - and not through the hospital. My GP has now referred me back to them, and I will get the same service as I always have done. The hearing aids are, apparently, better than the ones I currently have. I shouldn't have to faff around waiting for appointments either, but I have yet to find out.

Certain other counties are offering the same service. The downside is probably that you don't get the wider choice of hearing aids, so I guess it wouldn't help you.

I've heard of other people with thyroid disease having hearing problems, but it never seems to be acknowledged by doctors. I don't know about sudden hearing loss being linked to the thyroid/levothyroxine though, that seems unusual.

[humanbean in reply to BeansMummy]

Oh, my hearing loss (over all) hasn't been sudden. I was first diagnosed as "having a hearing problem" when I was 6 or 7 but wasn't treated until I was an adult.

I got my current hearing aids a year or two ago. My current sudden worsening of my hearing coincides with me being put on naproxen for severe pain. Naproxen is an NSAID, like ibuprofen for example, and a known side effect of NSAIDs is hearing loss.

First thing in the morning my husband sometimes has to shout at me because I can barely hear anything, particularly in my right ear. It feels as though it has been stuffed with lots of cotton wool.

So, I'm currently struggling with pain, pain meds, pain clinics, and hearing aid clinics, and also serious family illness, and hearing loss.

Life's a bitch and then you die, as the saying goes. Recently it has felt particularly true.

[BeansMummy in reply to humanbean]

I realise your hearing loss wasn't sudden, but Ann21's is, and that can't be normal. I have no idea if that type of hearing loss can be linked to thyroid issues really.

The route to regain our health is a very long one sometimes, and certainly not easy. Every time you think you've got something sussed, something else jumps up and bites you on the bottom

[humanbean in reply to BeansMummy]

BeansMummy, very true.

Ann21, sorry for monopolising your thread.