My Hearing Loss Drama -- POST PARTUM UPDATE

[Curlita]

I posted last week about losing hearing in my left ear and freaking out b/c last time this happened (4 years ago) they put me on massive doses of prednisone... which isn't good when you are pregnant and is really crappy when you are BFing because it can stunt baby's growth. Not quite what you are going for when you BF, ya know?

Long story short, yes I have hearing loss, but since this is the second time it has happened, they term it as "fluctuating hearing loss" due to fluid building up in some part of the ear (cochlea?). This sort of makes sense, as the same time I noticed the hearing issue I also noticed that my feet were getting fat. If there were balance problems involved, they would diagnose me with Meniere's disease -- but other than being a klutz anyway, and being hugely pregnant, my balance seems to be okay. If I weren't pregnant, they would treat me with a diuretic. In my case they will wait until after I deliver (when the fluid may start abating anyway) and then reassess and treat with diuretics.

I'm so happy that the answer is basically to wait until AFTER baby comes!

From there I went to my MW appointment. My BP is up a tad (120/75) and the combination fluid gain/continued marathon eating showed up on the scale... and I had another skinny midwife earnestly asking me how they could support me in my efforts to eat better. Sigh. But baby is still head down, bottom to my front, with a great heartrate. He put on quite a show for the midwives while they were palpating my belly.

So, all in all, not a bad set of appointments. I can definitely live with the hearing loss as long as I don't need to stress out about a bunch of appointments and steroids.

My mom is here, so I'm going to go to the pool now and work on the fluid issues with a little swimming.

Thanks for reading!

[DeChRi]

So glad it went well! Not pregnancy related, but I have a solid hearing loss in my left ear, so I feel your pain.

Enjoy your swimming and I hope your work stuff is falling in line!

[Momma Aimee]

i am sooooooooooooooooooo g;ad you got a "good" answer to the hearing issue -- and i can seehow it (being fliuid) would be connceted to pregancy.

so -- do they think that if you are to get pregant again, you will have this hearing loss again then too?

Sorry the MW and "eating better" thing -- :

I hope things happen fast for you pp ...

what CAN you do to reduce fluid while pregant? anyhting but pool time / tubbie time ??

AImee

[melissakc]

What a relief, Erica!

[*Lindsey*]

I'm glad you got good news, Erica. Hopefully after your little guy is born your hearing loss will remedy itself.

Sorry about the weight issue. It'll all be over soon! Enjoy your swim. Sounds heavenly...to feel weightless...ahhh.

[Googy]

Erica,
That sounds like really good news overall. Fluid build-up in the cochlea is totally treatable--not a permanent damage situation from my understanding. I know its frustrating to wait for treatment, but this really sounds like a good diagnosis in the grand scheme of things!

[GinaRae]

Sounds so much better than what you thought it might be!

[Curlita]

Thanks for your responses, mamas. I'm really not as bothered by the hearing loss as I would have been by the idea of having to aggressively treat it... when I was thinking that I might have to choose between going on prednisone OR BFing baby, I felt like, heck with it, a cochlear implant can't be that bad. The first time this happened, the idea of perm. hearing loss terrified the bejesus out of me. It's all relative, huh?

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

so -- do they think that if you are to get pregant again, you will have this hearing loss again then too?

I didn't specifically ask about that, since we're planning on this being the last baby... but the last time this happened, I WASN'T pregnant, and the impression that I get is that I'm at an increased likelihood for it to recur again in the future, whether I'm pregnant or not.

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

what CAN you do to reduce fluid while pregant? anyhting but pool time / tubbie time ??

I asked the midwife about natural diuretics, but she wasn't listening carefully and started telling me why they couldn't prescribe diuretics. By then I was tired of being at the medical center and annoyed with her, so didn't pursue it. I remember hearing that red raspberry leaf tea is a mild diuretic, though I can't find any corroboration of that on-line, and dandelion and nettle have also been mentioned. I have a brew of tea made up of the three of these cooling upstairs. So, I'm just drinking lots of fluids and trying to get to the pool.

[Curlita]

Today I went back to the otolaryngologists for my follow up appointment on the hearing loss issue... between the last appointment and Conrad's birth I had two dizzy spells. My perception was that, by the time Conrad was born, my hearing was fine, although I could not pinpoint when it came back. Today's hearing tests confirmed that my hearing was back to normal, so no treatment necessary at this point. I might be susceptible to future hearing loss or Meneire's disease, but for now I'm okay. I'm going to chalk it up to having been pregnant and retaining fluid. Although if I lose my hearing for two weeks once every four years, that's a far less serious complaint than many others have.

[sorteep]

great news!!

[renaissanceed]

I'm sure that's a relief for you.

[AKmomof2+1inNov]

That's great!

[Googy]

that's fabulous news!