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Approved for Cochlear - starting to get anxious

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In reply to @madmechanic

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery.

Right ear…right handed?? Running air tools? Just a guess.

You have come to a great place to learn about your hearing and maybe that new processor.

You might want to start your own thread, special for your hearing journey.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

Now that I have found this forum i will definatly be checking in regularly and letting everyone know how it goes. Raudrive, thats the part we can’t figure out, I’m left handed. My said that is something we will never know why the right ear took harder.

Welcome to the forum @madmechanic.

Congratulations on taking a positive step towards better hearing. This journey is a marathon not a sprint. Lots of rehab will help you understand conversations.

Everyone’s journey is different, some understand speech at activation some take 1-2 months and others take longer still. You should have approx 6-8 mappings in the first year then annually for the remainder of you life.

Please come back and let us know how you are going post surgery. Good luck to you on the 6th January.

Heads Up before you consent to the C. implant. The sensor of the device gets implanted in the brain. That sensor continuously vibrates and is known to cause frequent vertigo attacks, without advance warning. If you any vehicle, most Dept. of Motor Vehicles prohibit driving for those who have vertigo or seizures that are not controlled and stable. If your job involves operating anything mechanical or sharp, you should consider questioning how the results of the surgery would affect your job. After the surgery and after the device is fully operational, are you prepared to have every tiny sound in your environment become loud and pounding in your head? This info comes from someone who had the c. i. done a long while back plus my own checking the adverse effects. I’ve had major vertigo attacks in the from other cause that I rectified by making a major lifestyle change. That was 5 years ago, thank goodness. The procedure was offered to me by my Ent doc. Nix on that for me.

Thank you very much for info fitzie. All the reading and information I gathered before I gave consent, this is first I heard of these negative impacts. With that said I am hoping I do not experience such adverse affects,in a quest for better hearing I am willing to take the chance. My audiologist which suggested the is fully aware of the my job and lifestyle. The in my right ear only helps me on phone calls with the bluetooth, other than that it is usless. At the end of the day my thinking at this point, if I can not put up with the loud noises pounding in my head I could just simply not use the CI and stick with the HA in my not as bad left ear,nothing gained nothing lost. The only thing I am hoping for is better understanding of speech,not constanly asking people to repeat themselves,not embarrasing myself when I think I heard what was said, or pretending that heard correctly what was said.

In reply to @madmechanic

I had heard that some folks do get some vertigo after surgery (makes sense with things getting close to the cochlear) but not anything that would be significant or ongoing. I did have some balance issues (not vertigo room spinning but the off balance when turning suddenly like with an ear infection). That balance challenge was just for the initial few days and I stress (at least for me) not significant.

My left ear had 0 word recognition so like you I figured nothing to lose, more to gain. :slight_smile:

In reply to @madmechanic

I understand where you’re coming from. You’re much braver than I am, wishing you the best of success. I’m a retired RN who checks everything including the stats on the severe adverse effects of proposed surgical procedures related to my health issues. Spent far too many years caring for those that suffered from them. In other words, the fact that we “know too much” can and, often does, make us decide to refuse some recommended surgery. God bless. Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year.

In reply to @fitzie63

@fitzie63 said:

Heads Up before you consent to the C. implant. The sensor of the device gets implanted in the brain.

Why have you written this? This is utterly untrue. Nothing goes into the brain.

@fitzie63 said:

That sensor continuously vibrates and is known to cause frequent vertigo attacks, without advance warning.

Another false information. has nothing vibrating. Internal device has electrodes which indirectly stimulate cochlear nerve.

There is another type of implant - /Osia, which indeed have vibrating part embedded in the temporal bone.

If attacks of vertigo were a common problem, CI users would be prohibited from driving, but they aren’t.

@fitzie63 said:

After the surgery and after the device is fully operational, are you prepared to have every tiny sound in your environment become loud and pounding in your head?

That’s normal. The rehabilitation and getting used to new sounds takes time. How much did you read or talk about rehabilitation before getting a cochlear implant? It seems you haven’t been given enough information.

@fitzie63 said:

I’ve had major vertigo attacks in the from other cause that I rectified by making a major lifestyle change.

I don’t understand. First, you suggest that CI is the cause of your vertigo attacks; then, in the quote, you say that it is caused by something else.

Edited

In reply to @fitzie63

@fitzie63 said:

The sensor of the device gets implanted in the brain.

I’m sorry but this statement is totally not true. The receiver and electrode array do not go into the brain. You have so many inaccuracies in your post.
Copied from Google-

“A cochlear implant is surgically inserted with the internal receiver placed under the skin behind the ear, and its thin electrode array is carefully threaded into the spiral-shaped cochlea (inner ear) to directly stimulate the auditory nerve, replacing the function of damaged hair cells and sending sound signals to the brain.”

It’s stressful enough even thinking about getting a . But to be told wrong information just triples the stress.

@fitzie63 Im also a retired RN the difference is I have a , I understand how a CI works. You profess to know how a CI works but you don’t have any clue how it does actually work.

@madmechanic If the electrode is placed to close to the vestibular nerve you can get Vertigo. This happened to me, my at my first mapping increased the stimulation, This increased stimulation nearly had me falling off of a chair. She promptly turned off 2 electrodes and I haven’t had vertigo since.

It’s not fair when someone is looking for accurate information and they receive hearsay information that can destroy a new recipients confidence.

I would like to thank everyone for their input. I was fully informed that rehabilitation could take some time and it is going to require work on my part. My activation date is set for Feb 3rd then I have appointments set for 3wks,3months,6months,9months final 12months after all appointments are with the audiologist. I was told things are going to sound un natural for the first while. The procedure the surgeon told he would be performing is basically the same that Deaf_piper copied from Google. I seem to remember one of the test during the workup had something to do with vertigo, but like my hearing my memory has issues also LOL.

I had a look at that and did a search for the word ‘rare’ in it. I got ten results. Complication rates between 6 and 20%- most of those you’d assume would be minor. I mean do you think that there’s any medical treatment anywhere that doesn’t have a list of possible complications associated with it?

Things are going good so far. I have my appt on Monday for first follow up after activation. I have been diligent about wearing it every day all day. Initially when activated all I heard was “noise”. As of now there are times that I believe I am understanding certain tones/words (could be my good ear picking it up…but still better than a month ago). Some tones, really fast speech is difficult - but difference now vs activation is that I at least can discern speech cadence, it’s not just noise. I am hopeful that during Monday appointment some additional adjustments are made to improve it more. Also understand that for many it can take 6-12 months to have better understanding. Really excited for you to start your journey!

@nicmger said:

I have been diligent about wearing it every day all day. Initially when activated all I heard was “noise”. As of now there are times that I believe I am understanding certain tones/words (could be my good ear picking it up…but still better than a month

I didn’t hear anything but screeches and scratches my first couple weeks when first activated. About a week or two from activation I took the hearing aid off and just used the new . It was frustrating at first but slowly I started understanding kitchen, bathroom and vehicle noises that made sense. That gave me lots of hope about speech. About 6-8 weeks after activation using only the CI I was able to have a conversation on the phone. That’s when I knew to move forward with the second implant and go bilateral.

Each of us have to figure out what works best to learn the new CI. My audiologist did not tell me to do what I did but he was flat surprised at my results and how I went about doing it.

Our journeys are all different but similar. Try different things to learn.

Thanks for the update.

In reply to @nicmger

@nicmger said:

I have been diligent about wearing it every day all day. Initially when activated all I heard was “noise”. As of now there are times that I believe I am understanding certain tones/words (could be my good ear picking it up…but still better than a month

Congratulations @nicmger you are doing so well. Keep working with just your ear, it really does help. Time, patience and perseverance with rehab are the real winners in your hearing journey. Good on you.

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