Help with PAPER please : AGAINST COCHLEAR IMPLANTS

[Lissa]

I always pronouce it as Cock-lear...

Quite a bit of my hair was shaved off and I had many stiches(dissolvable)

 

[faire_jour]

One day after

 

[Lissa]

9 years post implant, wish I had a pic when I was just newly implanted

 

[A]

here's mine again. I wanted to put it in Photobucket so I can remove it anytime:

 

[MoniDew]

For many deaf people, the sudden onslaught of sound after receiving a cochlear implant is overwhelming. (Sensory overload.) The part of the brain which distinguishes important sounds that need to be prioritized from the background sounds that can be ignored has never been developed. They don't realize that not all sound is equally important. They try to take it all in, but it is too much. Many get headaches from the overwhelming sounds and the effort required to sort it all out. It must be acknowledged that the brain is deaf as well - not simply the ear.

Secondly, I agree with those who say that implanting a magnate that close to the brain is questionable. The brain creates a highly magnetic field around itself. Introducing another magnate could, in theory, depolarize the brain.

Thirdly, it is a major surgery! All the factors involved with receiving any other major surgery would apply (undergoing anesthesia, pain, scars, recovery time, accidental injury or the possibility of permanent disability, etc)

I hope that my thoughts can contribute to your paper.

 

[A]

Even late-deafened have issues with background noises with CI.. it is just one of those things that forced you listen to things that you don't want hear just to listen to what you do want to hear. It kinda blend the sounds together, I guess... and if use the background filtering, it forced to filter out the things you DO want to hear because the processor thinks it is a background noises.

Another problem is that there are only small number of audiologists who are qualified to map CI and they have to work beside ENT. This mean you will have to travel a long way just for mapping. They have to work beside ENT because things can still go wrong with the internal implant.. even years later.

Third problem is that it does take a while to get used to it. sometime years, depending on the person. And if you don't keep up with your mapping, you won't gain much from it. you could drain your batteries too that way because you constantly trying turning up the volume to benefit from it.

It's hard to put on your CI in the morning.

Sometimes CI can be too much to bare and very overwhelming in noisy places.

YOu can't swim in it but of course you can't swim with your hearing aids either.

People think you are cured! they don't know that some people still struggle in with it. And still learning to listen..even for years.. CI help alot, but most of the time you don't hear everything accurately as you think, especially in long run on sentences. I am pretty good picking up words without a problem, but when there's a new word , I ask people to repeat it 5 or more times (I know my letter sounds and phonics, but just can not pick those up in new words, I have to ask them to write it) Again, it depends on the person (just like hearing aids depend on the person). I still avoid people who mumbles.

Most CI users are still tone deaf. And they are more of a mild or moderate HOH with CI.

CI can hurt those who choose not to be implanted if they are not careful with the law (discrimination can form if we don't have laws to protect the human rights of these people)

It can be hard to learn how to manage deafness without CI (and HA) if you become too depended on it...


http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/P...andProsthetics/CochlearImplants/ucm062843.htm <--- here's more

Remember, this paper really should be about individual choice why one should not choose CI... and not a ban against CI all together.

 

[rolling7]

i need write on how people should be against

cochlear ear plants !!!

Thanks in advance

kim

look at it this way. Every surgery started with a hope-and-a prayer because the medical field had to find the "right" way to do the surgery. If we dont give them a chance, think of how many people would be dead today fit heart surgery and/or heart transplant were not adviliable. Because of the progress, we now see other transplants.....coming to you soon...face transplants!!!

 

[A]

Don't compare life threatening surgeries with CI, please.

 

[Frisky Feline]

That's pretty big stitch, no wonder FF mentioned scar

?

No, my husband has a tiny scar, similiar as the picture of a little boy. But That's what I am talking about whose who got big or longer scars. It depends on how doctor performs on individual's heads to make tiny or longer scars.

 

[overthepond]

48 hours post op after i had bandages removed, in hosp 7.30 am, op at 8.30 am, came round in recovery at 12.45, up and walking within half an hour after i came round, Doc said at this stage he would have kicked me out but as standard in UK everyone stays in until they had their X-Ray the next morning. I was out of hosp next morning.

Each surgeons have different ways of operating people, most people i know had tiny scar with very minimal shaven hair whereas I had loads shaven off and long scar (very thin though) starting about 1 or 2 inches above my ear running down behind my ear. I didn't have staples (i had glue and steri strips) whereas few of people i know had staples!

Is going under anesthesia for removal of wisdom teeth major surgery??

 

[Lissa]

48 hours post op after i had bandages removed, in hosp 7.30 am, op at 8.30 am, came round in recovery at 12.45, up and walking within half an hour after i came round, Doc said at this stage he would have kicked me out but as standard in UK everyone stays in until they had their X-Ray the next morning. I was out of hosp next morning.

Each surgeons have different ways of operating people, most people i know had tiny scar with very minimal shaven hair whereas I had loads shaven off and long scar (very thin though) starting about 1 or 2 inches above my ear running down behind my ear. I didn't have staples (i had glue and steri strips) whereas few of people i know had staples!

Is going under anesthesia for removal of wisdom teeth major surgery??

I had dissolvable stitches!! My op was Wed 25th Oct around 9am, went in the previous day. Was out of surgery by 1.30, back on Children's ward by 2.30 started being sick so didn't really get walking around until 6pm/7pm, x-rayed the next day(thur) and discharged from hospital Fri night.

 

[rapunzelcrazy]

"sweet nothings in my ear" is a good movie to watch about this topic

 

[josey]

I am going to start reading the posts now but I just want to state . I didn't get the FOR side I the AGAINST Side . This is nothing personal. I wish to exercise my right in the part of the paper to add people in the Deaf Community that are againaist and why and help me understand more as I research the subject . I also would like to openly share the end result if you want to read it.
I am reading a lot of conflicting information and I want this paper do stick in someone's mind and I want the truth not just crap .
Thanks everyone for all your Time so far I hope we can talk more on this and I can learn much more .

 

[josey]

Sorry I spelt it wrong .

Thanks for all the replies
I am sorry I spelt it wrong I have a few learning issues. This is just a paper and I got the opposing side. I really would have loved to get the pro - side of this topic. I believe that this is actually a good thing for who ever wants one. I do believe that it has caused a few riffs in the communities of the Deaf and with the Hearing parents of Deaf children and Deaf parents of Deaf children, moral issues. I also know that my personal views should not come into this paper as much as possible.
I know I am allowed to include people of the DEAF communities’ opinions and feelings to this position of the paper. I feel since this is something that affects the DEAF or the HOH that you are the folks need to have a voice. So I just thought that if anyone had something to say that they might want to and can privately do so.
I don’t want this paper to be only textbook I want it be real also. I don’t want the CI to be made to be horrible. I will need to point some of the bad sides like the operation and the rehab work. But I think the work of the paper should be more about the person that the CI effect and not make the device the evil thing more what its done to the community or something .
Thanks again.

 

[AlleyCat]

There are many pro-CI threads here - they may not be titled as such, but there's feedback within the threads of the positive experiences people with CIs have had. You might benefit from reading through those threads.

 

[A]

edited, I see AlleyCat already said what I said.

anyway, another con is that you really can't sleep comfortable with your CI so you are deaf at night... you still need special fire alarm , flashing phones, etc. just like all other deaf people do. And some CI deaf people still need captioning and relay service.

 

[faire_jour]

Thanks for all the replies
I am sorry I spelt it wrong I have a few learning issues. This is just a paper and I got the opposing side. I really would have loved to get the pro - side of this topic. I believe that this is actually a good thing for who ever wants one. I do believe that it has caused a few riffs in the communities of the Deaf and with the Hearing parents of Deaf children and Deaf parents of Deaf children, moral issues. I also know that my personal views should not come into this paper as much as possible.
I know I am allowed to include people of the DEAF communities’ opinions and feelings to this position of the paper. I feel since this is something that affects the DEAF or the HOH that you are the folks need to have a voice. So I just thought that if anyone had something to say that they might want to and can privately do so.
I don’t want this paper to be only textbook I want it be real also. I don’t want the CI to be made to be horrible. I will need to point some of the bad sides like the operation and the rehab work. But I think the work of the paper should be more about the person that the CI effect and not make the device the evil thing more what its done to the community or something .
Thanks again.

I think the vast majority of the Deaf community accepts CI's and CI users are welcome....sorry

 

[DGirl101]

The first time was in 1997. When I woke from surgury I was suffering from severe vertigo, and I didn't have to move. It was bad enough that I couldn't leave the hospital for a week. I lost my balance, I had to learn to walk all over again.

I had staples, so within a few days of leaving the hospital they were removed. I had drainage, so my mother and I had to make a 6 hour trip back to the hospital to try and get it cleared up.

5 surguries, 1 picc line, 1 pvc 3 port line, 5 chest tubes, multiple IVIG therapy, IV anitbiotic bad 24/7, hypobaric chamber treatments, and many hospital stays (one lasting for three months), a two week stay in ICU and bells palsey just before the implant was removed three years later in 2000. I was 17 when I got it and 20 when it was removed, and the hospital stays? Lonely, mother couldn't stay with me because of my two brothers at home and dad worked to keep up with the bills.

Picture 2, 3, and 5 shows the result of infection from CI ten years ago, lovely scars aren't they?

Picture 1, and 4 shows the result of my recent implantation on April 23 and June 11, 2010. Nice and clean.

My ears are lopsided now. yay.

This time, they did it in two stages instead of all at once. Instead of staples they used stitches. So far no infections, no dizziness, nothing but good clean healing.

Switch on date is July 14 and 15th of 2010.

One of the risks of receiving a CI is that you can contract Bacterial Meningitis. It is common among CI recipients.

 

[GrendelQ]

DGirl, it's amazing how much has changed in such a relatively short time, isn't it? I'm so glad your experience was better this time, the first must have been rough.

I wanted to add what we saw as the downsides to the CI, as well, from the perspective of a parent whose child is bilaterally implanted (1 year apart).

• general anesthesia / surgery: this is pretty huge. Sure, even though most people are experiencing a return home the same day, with some minor discomfort, the simple fact is that ANY surgery involving my child (from a having a tooth pulled, to a tonsilectomy, from a few stitches on the knee to a cochlear implant) is a major issue, no doubt about it.
• increased risk of meningitis/infection: here's the FDA warning -- it's NOT common at all, but the risk exists at a very slightly higher rate for those with CIs than for those without. The higher risk is specific to those with CIS with positioners implanted before 2003 - and only 1 firm used those, so we mitigated that risk by using another. But introducing anything into the body has its impact, and every person reacts in a unique way. Any insertion of a foreign object can introduce danger of infection.
• potential damage to hair cells within cochlea: we're thinking ahead to the future, and don't want to close any windows or opportunities to utilize other technologies or therapies (hair cell regeneration)
• learning curve for listening: our daughter had been without sound input for her first 18 months plus in utero input -- that's almost 3 critical learning/development years to make up
• adapting to the equipment: there's a lot of it, from processors to batteries to coils and magnets and remote controls, and there's the wearing of it -- she hated and often threw her HAs, so we worried that she would refuse her processors (she didn't, lucky us).
• upgrading the technology: negotiating with insurance companies or paying out of pocket to keep that tech up to date.

I should just note quickly that I think the benefits far outweigh the risks, and would rather not 'pile on' when the downsides are usually given far more air time in this forum, but for the purpose of this thread, wanted to give you the side you ask for . We'd do it again (and did) if faced with the choice.

The following shots are:

1. Li-Li just before surgery
   
   
2. Morning after surgery, just after removing the bandage
   
   
   
   
3. Li-Li arriving home , morning after surgery
   
   

 

[faire_jour]

One of the risks of receiving a CI is that you can contract Bacterial Meningitis. It is common among CI recipients.

It's not common, people with CI's have a slightly increased risk for contracting menegitis, which could be because of the CI itself, the surgery, or even because hat group is more likely to have ear malformations than the general population. It is a risk but it is not common.