Ototoxcity

[JennifersHope]

Hey I have been on Amikacian now for close to six months, One gram IV daily. In the past few days I have noticed I was dizzy, then I noticed a pressure in my ear and now I have ringing....

I have been a total slacker and have not had my labs drawn in a few weeks.. I did today, I called my nurse and she spoke with the doctor and I am to hold that drug pending lab results.

Have any of you experienced this? I get dizzy if I turn my head too fast, I feel pressure in both my ears and a slight ringing/
Do you think this will go away.. if this has happen to you in the past, what have you done about taking that particular antibiotic?

Thanks

 

[JustDucky]

I had this problem with Gent....I was on it for 5 weeks when the ringing and pressure started. It progressed quickly to balance problems, I could barely walk and I had terrible nausea. That was last April, the only residual issues that I have now is that I can't turn my head too quickly or I will get dizzy, otherwise every other symptom has slowly gone away. Because I had this issue with Gent, my doc does not want me on it anymore and is very hesitant to giving me any other aminoglycosides. If I do have to go on one, it will be last resort.
I hope you feel better, that ringing can be so unnerving in itself.

Hugs, Jenn 40 w/CF

 

[JennifersHope]

I am not done with treatment though.. and that is the big gun one for the NTM I am supposed to be on it for another six or so months.... I am having the same issues you are saying, Was your trough level high? Mine has been normal we will see what this weeks one shows???

Crapolla if I have to stop this one I am going to be up the creek.

 

[JustDucky]

Mine would be borderline for the most part, not terribly high....so it kind of surprised my doc that I had such bad symptoms. I think that maybe once it was high and I had to readjust, but that was early in my treatment.
I really hope you don't have to stop this one, I know you have a long road ahead of you IV wise. I wonder if they could switch you to inhaled Amikacin? That would be much easier on the body......
Keeping my fingers crossed for you.....how are things going with visiting Nat'l Jewish? I hope that you are going soon, I know you have had a hellacious road and have been waiting to see them.
Hugs, Jenn 40 w/CF

 

[beleache]

Hey Jennifer,
I had (& still have the ringing after several years) this happen to me due to IV Tobramycin becoming toxic & causing me to have renal failure.. After the renal failure it took me 6 weeks to be released from the hosp. so my 2 wk tune-up turned into a 6 wk nightmare !
I had to go to a special pt place for pt, they specialized in this. The dizziness did go away for the most part , but every so often it comes back for a bit, but I dont know if its from the original problem..
My drs. have me on Inhaled Amikasin just for that reason.. Have you discussed the inhaled form vs the IV form w/ them?
Hope you feel better soon .. joni

 

[JennifersHope]

Thanks, more then any other problem I have if my spastic airway, if you can believe that.. I have true vocal chord dysfunction and when I cough hard , my vocal chords flop right over my airway and that feels like a piece of saran wrap is covering my throat.

My upper airway, (we don't know exactly what is the cause of all the problems up there) is the reason I wind up on life support so often, when I get sick at all, and my coughing increases my airway swells up and I can't breathe.. so we have to be very, very careful about what drugs I inhale, I was taken off of hypertonic saline for this reason.

That totally stunk because that worked like a miracle drug for me.... but it was not worth the risk to my airways.

I go to DNJ the March 24th... I am hoping for answers, I still have a lot of pressure in my ears today, some ringing, it feels like I have to talk over the ringing but no one else can hear it... I also am slightly dizzy.

As of a few minutes ago, the trough level was not back yet and I was told I might not know till the morning.. I am still to hold it for now....

I am so torn because I am not willing to risk losing any hearing but at the same time finally my night sweats are under control... and most likely it is because of the Amikacian...

I am also on zyvox, cipro, bactrim and zithromax... but as far as I can tell they don't injure the ears.

Thanks for the input.

 

[lizlas]

Hi
Ive had ringing in ears especially left since the 80s from tobramycin....
but this april 2011 after having3 weeks tobi and 4 weeks amikacin....I got dizzy off balance and now have moderate high frequency hearing loss from the amikacin, it was 450 mg bid, tobra was 580 daily....
I had amikacin and tobra before without this problem but not for this lenght of time....
ringing has gotten worse and the roaring in ears was like niagara falls!!...but the roaring went away in few weeks after stopping drug.
I do still get dizziness suddenly from time to time for a few minutes.....
Im going to get hearing aids, I cant even hear the therometer beeping when its in my mouth....and I keep telling people to speak up!!! whats wrong with everyone!! ??
and tobra and amikacin werebest for my bacteria, so we r really worried what s gonna happen when I need it again....and my kidneys took a bad hit too, creatine is in high normal but not as low as itused tobe, so kidneys have been affected a bit too....
but if I need amikacin, Im gonna have to take it what can you do? aminoglycosides are thegood ! but horrid side effects....
Liz

 

[JennifersHope]

Well the home infusion company just called and said my trough level is normal.. They are still going to have me hold the Amikacian to Monday and then I am supposed to call them to tell them how I feel.


The pressure in the ears is uncomfortable for sure.... I will not allow myself to lose hearing... to bad for the Mac and me... but for now we will wait till Monday..

What I don't understand is why don't they check peaks with the Amikacian.. they only checked a peak once and that was after my fifth dose, months and months ago.. it was slightly high.

What if my peaks are going to high? That is what I am thinking but they never check it again which for the life of me I don't understand..

Anyway, we will see how I do over the weekend... I can't tell if I have hearing damage because they didn't test my hearing before.. The last time it was checked was five years ago and it was so perfect they could not believe how well I could hear.

If anyone else has experience with this I would appreciate it and thanks to everyone who replied