Pain in Cochlear implant after 1yr of surgery

[Hima]

Hi all,

can any one please let me know if you have experienced this situation.

my daughter has cochlear implants for both the ears. Left ear surgery done in Jan 3019 & right ear surgery Nov-2019. Everything was well until last month. Since 3 weeks she is complaining of pain on her right side with/without using processor. We gave a break of 2 weeks by not putting processor, changed the magnetic strength, reduced the program but she still complaining of the pain.

her ENt and audiologist do not find any infections/swelling and hence they did not suggest any medicine.

[Mary Beth]

@Hima

I am sorry your daughter is experiencing this.  Which processor does she use?

I have a friend with a different brand of CI (not Med-El), who experienced pain like you describe.  Her CI surgeon scheduled a biopsy and sent the samples to be analyzed.  Turns out she had an infection that grew on her internal component.  She was treated with strong medication which thankfully resolved the problem completely.

Wishing your daughter the best.

[Hima]

Thank you for your response. She Uses both sonnet 2 and ronda-2 for her right ear. 

did your friend had swelling which can be identified by looking? My ENT doe not see any sweeping and is considering there might not be any issues but daughter is complaining since 3weeks

[Mary Beth]

@Hima

My friend did not have any noticeable swelling.  She had pain.  It was painful with her CI on and painful with her CI off.  It hurt a lot when touched.  Brushing her hair in that area was very painful.  She could no longer sleep on that side of her head.

The CI surgeon could not find the problem until he did the biopsy and sent the samples away.

[Hima]

Thank you.

I brush her hair very lightly but she is not allowing me to touch the CI part and since yesterday she is complaining of her right eye and eyebrow pain

sometimes she complain of dizziness and heavy head

[Mary Beth]

@Hima

I hope you can get another appt soon. If it was me, I would call today.  
 

Wishing your daughter a speedy recovery.

[tmscarlett10]

I regret to admit that this is the reason that I signed on today; hoping that someone might - rather might not - have written something about this topic. 

I have started feeling pain on the magnet area on my had, since the last couple of days. It hurts mainly when touched. I want to try leaving my processor off for a couple of days, but I can't until about two weeks from now because of work, and appointments on days off.

I have recently changed jobs and have to wear a baseball cap, so am putting the processor (Rondo3, Magnet 1) on the outside. 

So, I wonder if maybe the magnets are working harder, due to the thickness between the two, to try to stay connected? Is that possible?

I plan to call my audiologist on Monday. 

@Hima, how is your daughter?

[Mary Beth]

@tmscarlett10

@Joan has a technique that works to make her magnet 1 less strong

I am glad you plan on contacting your audiologist as pain at the implant site is important to get resolved fast.

[Joan]

@tmscarlett10

As @Mary Beth mentioned, I wear Rondo 2s with magnet 1 and experience irritation and tenderness on one side. (FYI, I had the same problem with my Rondo 1 and used a piece of moleskin held in place with the “acrylic bumper” that was available for that processor. Unfortunately, there is no bumper available for the Rondo 2 or Rondo 3.) I found that putting 3 GripWear (one on top of the other) on that processor to keep it slightly raised has eliminated the problem. I change them about once a month. I purchase them from the Med-El store. 
Another solution my audiologist suggested is to use a Cochlear (brand) SoftWear Pad. She gave me a few to try and I found they work well too.

I’ll be at the chat tomorrow if you have any questions. I hope you find a solution soon!