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Hearing loss from herx? ABX?

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Posted 6/1/2022 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
My mom's hearing seems a little worse right now. She was on Tetracycline & Flagyl for 2-3 days but stopped because appeared to be herxing quite bad and also she seems to be fighting some kind of flu. She says her ears don't feel clogged.

Can a herx cause hearing loss? Are these abx known to cause this problem much? I guess maybe even this virus or whatever she is fighting could cause it? Can abx damage to ears be permanent? Any suggestions? Thoughts?

I just want to be cautious. Thanks.
Posted 6/1/2022 12:57 AM (GMT 0)
Pretty sure that's a viral infection and not the abx/herx. A family member of mine had the same many years ago (a long time before covid) and her hearing has never been the same, nor has her smell.

It's also documented:

Hearing loss caused by viruses can be mild or severe to profound, unilateral or bilateral. Mechanisms involved in the induction of hearing loss by different viruses vary greatly, ranging from direct damage to inner ear structures, including inner ear hair cells and organ of Corti (as seen in some of the classically described causes of viral hearing loss such as measles), to induction of host immune-mediated damage (Table 2). Following infections with certain viruses, hearing loss can be reversed or limited by appropriate antiviral therapy.

I put the last part in bold because your mom might have a good shot at reversing it still. If it were me I would treat it sufficiently now so that her hearing can still recover.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc4222184/
Posted 6/1/2022 12:09 PM (GMT 0)
I'm just not sure how to treat her for viruses now since she is so sensitive to herbal treatment. We tried some antiviral herbs awhile back, and it seemed to really rile her symptoms. The only way I know now to treat it is to treat Bartonella/parasites, etc so that Lord willing, she could tolerate virus treatment eventually or maybe just treating those would take away the seeming virus problem.

Her labs indicate active CMV. Maybe the Bart, etc is lowering her immune system to where the virus is activated. And then there is the possibility of a virus causing her current flu-like illness (it is improving) It's all guessing really.
Her gastro doc has a son who has hearing aids. He said his son had CMV as a baby and that CMV is the biggest cause of hearing loss in children. I have a niece who has hearing aids and wonder if CMV was the cause. Could CMV also affect hearing in adults? Maybe. Mom has had some hearing loss for awhile that we just attributed to age. But could it be the CMV????

Thankfully, her hearing doesn't seem bad today, and it could even be back to normal for her.
Posted 6/1/2022 12:53 PM (GMT 0)
This is interesting. Two weeks ago my husband and I were both suffering from what appeared to be a virus. We both took Covid tests which came up negative. However I am inclined not to put stock in these tests as we had experienced false negatives a few months back and that was from a rapid test site.

We also both had flu like symptoms. My husband complained that he couldn’t hear out of one of his ears. It seems to have resolved the more time that has passed from being ill with the virus.
Posted 6/1/2022 1:05 PM (GMT 0)
Seems like something is going around. My dad has it too. I'm glad your husband's hearing issue is resolving.
Posted 6/1/2022 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you JMF84 and blessings to your parents. I empathize with your mom. It is frustrating to contend with yet another virus. A unfortunate pitfall of having LD for me is my tendency to conclude that LD is the culprit of everything.
Posted 6/1/2022 2:39 PM (GMT 0)
What kind of hearing issues? Ringing? Or just hearing loss?
Posted 6/1/2022 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Just hearing loss I think. Now she may have mentioned this morning she could have some stuffiness in an ear. As I said though, it doesn't seem too bad and may be back to normal now. Just not sure. Her thinking is that the "flu" she's fighting caused it.
Posted 6/1/2022 5:29 PM (GMT 0)
Is there fluid in her ear? I used to get a lot of fluid in my ear
Posted 6/1/2022 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know. Is there a way to find out? She did say that she thinks her right ear seems a bit plugged.
Posted 6/1/2022 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
Eh for me I could feel and hear the fluid like my hearing would change based on position. I have a ton of earwax that Clogs my ears frequently and I use a very doc unapproved method to unclog them.
Posted 6/1/2022 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
Ok. It might not be that then.
Posted 8/27/2023 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
She's doing fair, but it's clear she's fighting infections. We are treating her with Tinidazole, Rifampin, and Septra DS currently. Funny thing, that's the combo that is helping me now.

Her hearing is up and down. I tend to think the problem is infection related, as it seems to worsen in flares or herxes at times. She hears pretty well. I can just tell when it's a little worse, as I have to speak louder.

Based on Mom's response to Lyme abx like Tinidazole, I'm quite sure she has at least Lyme and maybe also Bartonella. I'm glad so far she is tolerating ABX.
Posted 8/27/2023 9:45 PM (GMT 0)

richards said...
How is your mom doing these days?
Did her hearing got better eventually?

Hi richards - welcome to the forum.
I see this is your first post.

Are you interested in starting a new thread to introduce yourself?
Posted 8/28/2023 11:59 AM (GMT 0)
Many years ago I had a sudden deafness in one ear

Does this sound like her?
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/sudden-deafness

I went to the ENT who wanted me on steroids. Apparently there was a 10 day window for treatment. Luckily on day 10 I had an appt with my LLMD. As with most lyme doctors, he is very against steroids, however for this he said that I had no other option but to take them.

His theory was that I had a bunch of cysts somewhere in the ear (I cant remember where he said) that burst. He changed me from flagyl to tindamax. My hearing did eventually come back but it took a while.

It is good that her hearing does come back.
Posted 8/29/2023 2:51 PM (GMT 0)
Her hearing loss was never what I would call deaf. I guess I would say it's not enough for me to think anything additional needs to be done at this point. Thanks for that info. That's interesting about the cysts in ear. The places these bugs infiltrate...
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