"A New Me" Blog

About 60,000 people a year are diagnosed with single-sided deafness. With this problem, it can be very difficult to follow conversations, especially in a noisy environment. This can be a real challenge and leads to exhaustion and frustration. This, in turn, can lead to stress, anxiety, irritability, and headaches. This is the bad news. Now […]

Have you ever watched a YouTube video? Go to the home page of  YouTube, www.youtube.com.  Type “acoustic neuroma” in the Search box. You’ll be amazed at the number of results – 5,200 as of today. Many of the videos are by patients who have had surgery and describe their symptoms both before and after surgery. […]

In my last blog I shared some of the improvements in hearing aid technology. I might not have learned about all this if I hadn’t gone to a support group meeting. In an earlier blog, I mentioned the national symposium meetings for AN patients. These meetings have been replaced by one-day meetings called ANA Patient […]

Remember when I talked about my Phonak Cros hearing aids in blog # 37 ? I purchased those aids in 2012. Recently I went to a support group meeting and learned a lot about upgrades that have happened in 6 years.   Technology is making huge progress with hearing! After the support group meeting, I […]

Some acoustic neuroma patients have serious balance issues pre-treatment and some have the balance issues post-treatment. For some, it’s both pre and post. The hearing or eighth cranial nerve has a balance branch and if this is where the tumor is located, balance issues result; in fact, this was my first symptom of an acoustic […]

I mentioned in the last blog the first step in the treatment of depression involves a study of what is causing the depression. If the cause can be determined, then the treatment can be specific. For acoustic neuroma patients, treatments might include: Sound therapy. Sound therapy is one of the suggestions if tinnitus is the […]

In a previous blog about depression (# 15), I talked about depression resulting from trying to reach a treatment decision. Also, part of the depression resulted from the symptoms of an acoustic neuroma. Now that I have had treatment, that part of depression is not an issue. So why the depression? I think depression results […]

Brain fog often happens with fatigue (see #39), but can happen at any time. Do you ever struggle to find a word? Do you ever struggle with memory? Do you ever leave your purse or jacket in a restaurant? Do you ever do something ridiculous without thinking, like turning left on red? Brain fog includes […]

It doesn’t matter if you have had surgery, radiation, or are in a wait and watch holding pattern, fatigue is often a problem with acoustic neuroma patients. Why do I need a nap most days? I sleep well at night, yet in the middle of the afternoon, I feel like a wall is coming down. […]

Do you know what tinnitus is? With tinnitus, you hear sounds in your head and no external sound is present. Lots of people have tinnitus but don’t have an acoustic neuroma. If you have an acoustic neuroma, chances are you know what tinnitus is. Besides acoustic neuromas, there are other causes creating this symptom. Some […]