Thoughts after a few days activated

[ptcallaghan]

Well here I am after about 5 days of being activated. I blasted through the first program on the CI in just about 3 days...now I am on to program two and am probably going to max that one out before friday when I go for my next mapping.

As I have said before I am hearing all kinds of annoyingly loud sounds (latest one was a tape measure retracting....), but those are few and far between compared to the "good" sounds I am hearing. I can now hear the smoke alarm, phones beeping and ringing, the timer on the oven, some birds chirping (cant make out calls yet but that may come).

I can now also hear my fiance talking to me normally (ie not speaking up like she used to). As I hear her voice most frequently it sounds most normal (but still cartoony, actually more like Australian haha). Most of the time I dont have to ask her to repeat and generally dont have to lipread either, both in the car and at home. I dont catch every word but enough to reconstruct what she is saying. She keeps thinking I am ignoring her because I dont look at her while she is speaking haha. I could also hear her talking to me from another room, she had to speak up but at least I made it out.

I find this program actually a bit worse than the first one with the radio and tv but with the captions I can still make out some of the words on tv. I really have to pay attention to it though...if Im not actively focusing, it is just noise for now but that will improve I am sure.

Off I go to find some new old sounds...

 

[dereksbicycles]

I'm so glad to see a successful activation. I'm fairly new here so I wonder how long you were without sound before CI or did you use hearing aids before that? I ask as I wonder if they would help me.

 

[ptcallaghan]

Well i started losing my hearing about 3 years ago at the age of 27...progressed in a series of drops to basically profound in my left ear (now implanted) and severely hoh in my right. As I said above I dont think I ever realized how deaf I was until getting the implant....now instantly when I take it off I go back to what I used to be and the silence is deafening (as they say).

Another note...I dont notice any tinnitus now when I have the CI on...was constant before....now I just get bit of a white noise sensation when the implant comes off for the night.

I did try HAs for a while (a few months) last year but with the nature of my loss I didnt get much help. The left ear was initially fitted based on a hearing test which was before my last drop...I was just getting confusing sounds, nothing useful and upon retesting, the audi determined it wasnt worth attempting to aid that ear. Perhaps a stronger aid/ more expensive aid might have but she didnt really give me that option. I continued with one on the right side and did get a bit of amplification of ambient sounds, but no help with vioces which is what I was really aiming for. After a while of using it with mixed results, the audi suggested I try getting a consult for a CI as that might be the best solution to bring me back more useable hearing. She was also concerned that I hadnt really had a true diagnosis of why I had the loss (suposedly viral).

After alot of research I went the CI route and never looked back.

I would highly recommend trying the HAs first as it is certainly the least invasive method and depending on insurance coverage, generally the cheapest as well (unless your state/province pays for CIs as was my case). Most reputable audi's will provide a commitment free trial period after which you can get most of your money back if it doesnt help.

 

[Beach girl]

Good to hear of your progress.

Did they ever figure out why you lost your hearing? Did it matter, as far as getting fitted for CIs was concerned? I assume they needed to check that your auditory nerve still functioned before they put the CI in.

 

[ptcallaghan]

Beachgirl- the last ENT I saw in Toronto (aka the big city with the better drs lol) pretty much shrugged his shoulders and very politely said "you got me stumped".

Due to the fact that the lost started concurrently with a bad head cold, where my ears really plugged up and werent draining for a few weeks....the suspicion is viral. Initially it was very mild and more annoying than anything but progressed to much more obviously. The way it dropped in stages didnt really fit with the virus theory hence why the dr was stumped.

As far as whether it mattered for the CI...not really, all they needed to know that it was SNHL as opposed to otosclerosis or something else. Yes, they needed to know the nerve was still functioning obviously. I am not sure exactly which of the tests are used to indicate that, perhaps someone more familiar with the tests could answer that.

However, it would have been a bit of closure for me to know why, but I have accepted that I will likely never know and I just have to live with it.

 

[krazykatkitty]

Good to hear of your process.

 

[Danb]

Another note...I dont notice any tinnitus now when I have the CI on...was constant before....now I just get bit of a white noise sensation when the implant comes off for the night.
.

Same with me. Its my second favorite thing about getting the CI. I used to have terrible tinnitus. If i get it now i put the CI on and it clears it up, and stays that way until the next morning when i wake up. Hearing aides never had that effect. Its strange.