Has Anyone Seen a Neurologist?

Lorac

Member
Author
Benefactor
Nov 19, 2015
494
Michigan
Tinnitus Since
2013
Cause of Tinnitus
Sudden profound hearing loss in left ear.
The last audiologist I visited suggested making an appointment with a neurologist. I'm just wondering if anyone here has tried seeking help from a neurologist. Will this be just another dead end?
 
Hello @Lorac !
Yes I went to a neurologist, after 4 ENT's did nothing to me.
Neurologist just listened to me and actually I told him what to give me, he didn't know more than me unfortunately.
Well, you can try to see a Neurologist, I hope yours will know more than mine or he will be able to give you something that will help you!
 
Please don't waste your time. If you've had an MRI and nothing has been detected they are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. I spent over an hour with one this week who refused to give me steroids or Baclofen. I think I have some sort of inflammation going on in my jaw and neck as its always very tight. She did not agree and instead gave me Gabapentin for the pain and headaches. Do not go to a Neurologist for an ear issue.
 
There seems to be a hole in the system between ENT and Neurologist. There's always the Neuro-otologist but I think he's on semi-permanent vacation.
 
My conventional neurological tests are all quite normal. qEEG does show some abnormalities (shocking!) but not anything that so far has been useful from a treatment perspective.

If you're considering trying neurological drugs for this (trobalt, benzos, whatever), then in that case I'd recommend seeing a neuro.... if not, it's probably not likely to do anything for you.
 
@Lorac unfortunately its another dead end, just as mentioned above a neurologist doesn't know much, they just listen and type your complaints about T in their computer. All my neurologist prescribed me was an antidepressant.
 
I thank all of you for your responses. I have lost all hearing in my left ear and I hear tinnitus in that ear whenever I am awake but the only reason I consider going to a neurologist is because of what I feel. Always feels hot and inflamed. When I touch the back of my neck, I hear a weird electrical sound in my deaf ear. When I first wake up in the mornings, I hear sounds that seem like electrical shorting.....hard to describe. This goes on for the first 30 minutes or so when I get out of bed.
 
Hey Lorac,

I saw a Neurologist last week. We just talked over my symptoms and I plan to get an MRI done later this week. I had explained that my hearing loss had to come from loss of the nerve fibers that are part of the auditory nerve connected to the brain. The Neurologist said that they should be able to see the nerves for hearing through the test I'm getting done because the nerves go through the Brain Stem to the auditory portion of the brain. I'll let you know how things go and if they find anything interesting going on between my brain and my ears.

I'm hoping they'll be able to see something. If not, I'm going to try and get an ABR and DPOAE test done for my hearing sometime soon.
 
Hi @Lorac: Assuming you already have had the routine MRIs and other brain tests done, as suggested.

I saw my long-time neurologist and a neuro-psychologist within my first six months of tinnitus. It was pretty obvious my tinnitus was caused by barotrauma and eustachian tube dysfunction, though. The neuropsych thought my resulting anxiety and slow habituation might be exacerbated by an area of brain death I have, due to a brain hemorrhage and stroke in 1999. But there was no way to definitively prove and even if there had been, no way to treat it.

If you do decide to go the neurologist route, might want to go to an otoneurologist, who specializes in neurological problems connected to the auditory system. Good luck.
 
Many years ago while complaining to my doc about my T. He sent me to a neurologist. I went to the appointment and arrived at his office door. On his door it said neurologist/psychiatrist. He was strange... he talked so low calm,in a weird way. He spoke to me as if I was a mental patient that was hearing voices in my head. I told him "no voices" just ringing in the ears "tinnitus !". He wasnt any help. He put me in a sleep clinic where I had to wear a ton of wires that they stuck on my head and had to sleep there over night and get monitored.

Nothing came of that sleep clinic test.Waste of time.
 
When I touch the back of my neck, I hear a weird electrical sound in my deaf ear. When I first wake up in the mornings, I hear sounds that seem like electrical shorting.....hard to describe.

Hi Lorac,

For years I had a similar sound coming from the back of my neck from time to time, like once in a week. It was lasting for 1-3 secs and usually happening when I was hungry (probably low blood sugar). But I never cared about it much. It was just coming and going.

I believe it started when I injured my neck in a car accident 7 years ago. After I got my T 2 months ago, I stopped consuming sugar and do not remember hearing this crackling any more.
 
My tinnitus is driving me crazy. I spend a lot of time reviewing my past. How was I as a person? What ever happened to those who I have wronged? I sit in anger on my porch at night because what should be a nice quiet environment filled with the peaceful sounds of the night is filled with maddening ringing and loud crickets. Everywhere I go. In the shower, during a movie, during music. All activities are accompanied by this horrible noise inside my head. No one understands my horrible affliction because it is only heard by me. The sad thing is that this all could of been avoided if I would have stayed true to my white coat. My doctors coat. The color of a health care provider that I betrayed by not helping that disturbed tinnitus patient all them years ago. I had no business wearing that clothing. That life changing event is forever branded in my mind. I was a neurologist and a patient came in complaining of tinnitus. He said it was taking over his life. That just seemed too challenging for me so I dismissed him and told him to live with it. Plus I was late to drink night with the guys but I never made it to that event. The tinnitus patient punched me right in my jaw, knocking out two of my front teeth. Then he slammed me on the examination table and shoved a air horn right in my ear and said, "Now you suffer too!" He pressed the button and shattered my inner ear. He then ripped my doctors coat off and set it on fire and threw it at me as I lay in agony over the ringing in my ear that hasn't left me since. He stormed out of the office. I never found out what happened with him. All I know is that I should have been a doctor. I should have done my job and at least tried to help nut I didn't. Now I know his pain.
 
My tinnitus is driving me crazy. I spend a lot of time reviewing my past. How was I as a person? What ever happened to those who I have wronged? I sit in anger on my porch at night because what should be a nice quiet environment filled with the peaceful sounds of the night is filled with maddening ringing and loud crickets. Everywhere I go. In the shower, during a movie, during music. All activities are accompanied by this horrible noise inside my head. No one understands my horrible affliction because it is only heard by me. The sad thing is that this all could of been avoided if I would have stayed true to my white coat. My doctors coat. The color of a health care provider that I betrayed by not helping that disturbed tinnitus patient all them years ago. I had no business wearing that clothing. That life changing event is forever branded in my mind. I was a neurologist and a patient came in complaining of tinnitus. He said it was taking over his life. That just seemed too challenging for me so I dismissed him and told him to live with it. Plus I was late to drink night with the guys but I never made it to that event. The tinnitus patient punched me right in my jaw, knocking out two of my front teeth. Then he slammed me on the examination table and shoved a air horn right in my ear and said, "Now you suffer too!" He pressed the button and shattered my inner ear. He then ripped my doctors coat off and set it on fire and threw it at me as I lay in agony over the ringing in my ear that hasn't left me since. He stormed out of the office. I never found out what happened with him. All I know is that I should have been a doctor. I should have done my job and at least tried to help nut I didn't. Now I know his pain.
T Is driving you crazy. Instead of rehashing the past. Put a routine fir a better recovery
 
Hey Lorac,

I saw a Neurologist last week. We just talked over my symptoms and I plan to get an MRI done later this week. I had explained that my hearing loss had to come from loss of the nerve fibers that are part of the auditory nerve connected to the brain. The Neurologist said that they should be able to see the nerves for hearing through the test I'm getting done because the nerves go through the Brain Stem to the auditory portion of the brain. I'll let you know how things go and if they find anything interesting going on between my brain and my ears.

I'm hoping they'll be able to see something. If not, I'm going to try and get an ABR and DPOAE test done for my hearing sometime soon.

That's some MRI..yes please do!
 
I do not think it will make any difference what kind of doctor you visit as there is no cure for tinnitus. They will all tell you to try and live with it because we all have to face it here, what else is there to say at this point.
 
I didn't have to pay to see neurologist or sleep clinic
Why not, are you in a Public Health system country? If so you seem to have gotten in without too much waiting. Public Neuro here just refused to see me, and I waited six weeks to see an idiot in the Private sector. My point is that we all see these people and we all pay them for telling us they know nothing about our condition. I wonder how they would view it if we refused to pay the full fee they demand as they couldn't provide the Specialist service we demand. I've thought if I were next in that situation I'd offer to only pay the standard GP consultation fee as a respect for their time, but would not pay for the Specialist portion of their fee as they were unable to provide such a service, yet accepted a referral knowing that already.
 
I have a private Neuro appt for Friday. Its taken 5 months for a private appointment! probably as Im in Chch NZ. It wasn't even set up for T it is because I was suffering a huge cluster of migraines at the end of 2015 and through to early 2016. The T became bothersome in the middle of my trying different meds. I've kept humming about this damn appointment I've prob left it too late to cancel but I tried to today. Its $440 and I'm fairly sure its just going to be an expensive chat if I go. I know what caused my initial ,barely discernible, T and I'm fairly sure it was meds that caused it to spike to this hideous level I've lived with this year. I actually haven't had any scans though. My ENT and Audiologist all agree on where my T has come from. We do have public health system so I can go through that rather than private and eventually see a Neuro I wont need to pay for. I'm right though I think? it would just be a very expensive conversation!
 
I am going to see a neurologist because I'm curious about what they will say. However, the main purpose of my visit is to try Botox treatments that they administer.

I saw someone in this thread mention, "Do not go to a neurologist for an ear issue."

But is this really an ear issue? I'm not sure that it is.

I do understand that, effectively, there is no cure, and we should all go pound sand.
 
I do understand that, effectively, there is no cure, and we should all go pound sand.
@cjbhab, all you can do is take a couple of research papers with you (Hamid Djalilian's or Dirk De Ridder's) and request a low-dose cocktail of medications that may help. There's nothing else they can do.
 

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