Three weeks ago, Doug woke up with little to no hearing in one ear and diminished hearing in the other ear. He had been diagnosed with AIED (Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease) about 11yrs ago and had been treated by UTSW Otolaryngology and UTSW Rhuematology departments for this disease. He had been released from their care about 14 months ago as he had been stable for several years.
The Rheumatologist (Stanley Cohen MD) has him on 60 mg of Prednisone a day along with Methotrexate once a week. His hearing has not improved with this course of treatment to date.
Today (Tuesday, Nov 11th) I took him to his ENT appointment at UTSW. He had an ear wax removal done followed by an audiogram. This audiogram was compared to the last one done in 2006. His Right ear is about the same, maybe some better (this is probably due to the prednisone treatment). His Right ear, has always had diminished hearing that never came back with any of the treatment options. The Right ear still is not good, just slightly better than the last test.
He has always relied mostly on his Left ear for hearing. Doug's fear is that the hearing loss now being noted in his Left ear will be gone....and not come back. The audiogram showed the hearing in the Left ear is much worse that it was last time. Especially in the decibels related to voice/speech. They had him try on a voice amplifier but he states that only made him hear himself better, not other people.
His treatment today in the office included a steroid injection into the Left ear. Transtympanic administration of steroids has been shown to improve hearing and balance symptoms in AIED in some small studies if given within 30 days of the sudden onset of hearing loss.
Doug will go back on Monday (November 17th) for a follow-up audiogram and appt with the Otolaryngologist to see if this treatment improved his hearing. If so....GREAT! If not, then we are back to square one...possibly another steroid injection in the ear, discussion about cochlear implants, IV prednisone...just some of the options being thrown around.
Doug is due to go to Amsterdam (Nov 30 - Dec 12) and had hoped to have some improvement by then. So we will wait and see how this treatment affects his hearing this week.
Add him to your prayer list please!!
For more info about AIED: http://www.american-hearing.org/disorders/autoimmune/autoimmune.html
No comments:
Post a Comment