Chemotherapy causing tinnitus and hearing problems

[Whoknew76]

DH has been diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. He is currently having radiotherapy daily and had one dose of cisplatin (chemo). He is due a second dose of chemo next week. He has mentioned the tinnitus to his oncologist and she has said that they may review whether he has the second dose of chemo as the tinnitus may become worse. This of course would slightly reduce the chance of a cure. The chemo has made my dh really poorly so I think there is a part of him that feels relieved that he might not have to have the second dose. Sorry not really AIBU but wanted the know if anyone had experienced anything similar?

Whoknew76 - have sent you a private message and hope all goes well for you and your husband

I have severe tinnitus (fortunately just from a year of repeated ear infections around 10 years ago) and know how difficult it can be to have there as a constant noise, but in time I have found ways of coping and distracting myself from it. Sometimes when I am stressed I can't zone it out and it and it can be a right bugger and on top of the stress drives me to tears, I also remember reading on some help forums it has lead to MH difficulties in some sufferers.

My brother also has tinnitus from chemo (3 x very high dose and bone marrow transplant for NHL) but his does not appear to impact him as much as mine does. I guess there is no way to tell if mine is worse, or he just copes with it better than I do.

But I am still surprised a consultant would suggest stopping potentially life saving treatment due to tinnitus.

Must be such a horrible decision to have to make when he is so vulnerable and exhausted. Wishing you all the best.

Cisplatin is a known ototoxic agent - meaning it can cause a permanent deterioration in hearing and can cause tinnitus. I am not from the UK, but in the hospital I work in, all patients on Cisplatin and other ototoxic meds have a baseline hearing test, a hearing test halfway through treatment, end of treatment and 3 and 6 months post treatment (and more regular assessments if hearing or tinnitus worsen in between hearing assessments). This can guide the oncologists in determine what treatments to continue or not. Can he get referred to Audiology for a hearing assessment? There may be other chemo meds that your husband may be able to take that are less ototoxic, so please advise him to keep mentioning it to the specialists. Sorry to hear that you guys are going through this.

I've not had it, but a guy in my treatment room mentioned that he had been given permanent hearing damage by chemo after initially ignoring tinnitus.

Now, idk if he was getting the same chemo that did that, a different chemo or even immunotherapy, but he was hooked up to something.

Depending on the side-effects and the nature of the cancer, doctors may do different things.

A) continue the treatment as usual and monitor the side effects in case they worsen

B) reduce the dose but use the same chemo

C) change to second line treatment, such as a different chemo.

D) cancel it, but I think that's unlikely for your DH (unless he tells them to of course).

Thanks so much for your replies. We saw the oncologist today. By not having the second dose of chemo is reduces the chance of a cure by roughly 5%. The radiotherapy does most of the work. Hopefully overall cure of over 90%. My husband thinks he might miss the second dose but I feel he should have it… but I know I’m not the one going though it so it’s got to be his decision.

The chemo is the icing on the cake. The main thing is that he well enough to attend his regular radiotherapy sessions so if giving chemo could compromise that then it’s not given.
It’s not uncommon for patients to have to stop chemo as cisplatin has so many side effects. I understand it’s scary but he needs to remain as well as possible. His side effects from the radio will worsen as the weeks go on so it’s really important to be sensible.