If CIs didnt involve surgery...

Thanks for sharing your experience, that makes it a bit more clear where you are coming from.

Obviously, procedures vary as I haven't had to take extra precautions with antibiotics before and after having any kind of surgical procedure dental or otherwise since my cochlear implant. It sounds like it is more of a practice rather than a specific identified problem with CIs generally.

Does anyone else here with a CI have any experiences to share?
 
R2D2 said:
Thanks for sharing your experience, that makes it a bit more clear where you are coming from.

Obviously, procedures vary as I haven't had to take extra precautions with antibiotics before and after having any kind of surgical procedure dental or otherwise since my cochlear implant. It sounds like it is more of a practice rather than a specific identified problem with CIs generally.

Does anyone else here with a CI have any experiences to share?
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You're welcome. And correct--I wasn't refering to CI in particular, but of protocol for any type of an implant.
 
I know a dentist who is also a CI user. He told me that antibiotic treatment is not necessary before or after a dental appointment except in cases where the patient has a heart condition. He also told me that this information has been slow to reach the medical field due to the long established practice of administering antibiotics to anyone with an implanted device in their body.
 
Hear Again said:
I know a dentist who is also a CI user. He told me that antibiotic treatment is not necessary before or after a dental appointment except in cases where the patient has a heart condition. He also told me that this information has been slow to reach the medical field due to the long established practice of administering antibiotics to anyone with an implanted device in their body.
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Cool. Thanks for sharing this. I just tried reading up on the FDA website where it lists all the pros and cons of CIs and they didn't mention the need for antibiotics before and after surgery on account of having a CI, either. They did mention the MRI thing, which we all know and have been educated about.

It sounds like as you say, a long standing practice in the medical profession for any kind of implant.
 
Hear Again said:
I know a dentist who is also a CI user. He told me that antibiotic treatment is not necessary before or after a dental appointment except in cases where the patient has a heart condition. He also told me that this information has been slow to reach the medical field due to the long established practice of administering antibiotics to anyone with an implanted device in their body.
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Thanks for sharing that. My husband died 15 years ago, and at the time, it was still protocol. I understand that there are several, in particular, oral and maxilofacial surgeons, who continue to follow that particular protocol.
 
I was prescribed antitiobics before the skin surgery because I had the implant but I think it's unnecessary and poses more risks - as long as the skin is sterilized and the surgery is done with sterile knives and is banded with sterile bandage, it should be ok.

I have not find any evidence to support that having a cochlear implant requries antibiotics before dental surgery.

Antibiotics should be administrated to patients who have cardiac implants or heart defects but other implants? Questionable at this moment. We definitely need a large scale study to determine if antibiotics would make a difference.
 
That would be awesome if there was somehow a way we could all receive our CI without having to go thru surgery! Unfortutely, I don't see how that is possibile but it's a nice thought! And, I agree, I bet more people would've wanted to get CI and Ci would probably be much more acceptable with the Deaf community.

---Ignore my spelling, dealing with insomnia! :P
 
netrox said:
I was prescribed antitiobics before the skin surgery because I had the implant but I think it's unnecessary and poses more risks - as long as the skin is sterilized and the surgery is done with sterile knives and is banded with sterile bandage, it should be ok.

I have not find any evidence to support that having a cochlear implant requries antibiotics before dental surgery.

Antibiotics should be administrated to patients who have cardiac implants or heart defects but other implants? Questionable at this moment. We definitely need a large scale study to determine if antibiotics would make a difference.
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There have been large scale studies done. That's why protocol was developed, and why you were prescribed antibiotics prior to skin surgery. The risk doesn't come from the surgery itself--provided that you have a sterile field--but from the possible infection of the incision site. Implant patients are more at risk for complications from the infection. Not just CI, but all implant patients.
 
Tousi said:
If I were so inclined to get a CI, the surgical procedure itself wouldn't stop me.
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Tousi, didn't you really mean to say, "If I had the balls to..."?

Jillo, off topic, your late husband was hearing? I don't understand your perceived stance against CI when you rode his coattails for the majority of your professional life. You used his ears and voice to be where you are today. We can resort to PM's if you'd like to discuss about that.
 
Fragmenter said:
Tousi, didn't you really mean to say, "If I had the balls to..."?

Jillo, off topic, your late husband was hearing? I don't understand your perceived stance against CI when you rode his coattails for the majority of your professional life. You used his ears and voice to be where you are today. We can resort to PM's if you'd like to discuss about that.
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Fragmenter: Jillio is hearing. It's her son who is deaf.
 
Fragmenter said:
..........
Jillo, off topic, your late husband was hearing? I don't understand your perceived stance against CI when you rode his coattails for the majority of your professional life. You used his ears and voice to be where you are today. .........
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Hi Fragmenter,
long time no read....

Jillio is not against CI, she just sees a lot of people that have CI and have no benefit from it. This in combination with a lack in sign-language abilities creates problems.... and she see lots of them.

(I'm sure Jillio will correct me where I went wrong..)
 
Fragmenter said:
Tousi, didn't you really mean to say, "If I had the balls to..."?

Jillo, off topic, your late husband was hearing? I don't understand your perceived stance against CI when you rode his coattails for the majority of your professional life. You used his ears and voice to be where you are today. We can resort to PM's if you'd like to discuss about that.
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Yeah, my late husband was hearing--AND SO AM I! And I have ridden no one's coattails. I have a bachelor's degree, and master's degree, and am currently working on my doctoral. The majority of my professional life has certainly not been spent working with my husband. That was 23 years ago.

I see no need to respond in PM to your innacurate and absurd observations. I can correct your misperceptions quite well here. I would suggest that the next time you decide to offer criticism, you get your information straight.
 
Cloggy said:
Hi Fragmenter,
long time no read....

Jillio is not against CI, she just sees a lot of people that have CI and have no benefit from it. This in combination with a lack in sign-language abilities creates problems.... and she see lots of them.

(I'm sure Jillio will correct me where I went wrong..)
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No need to correct anything in your post. It was quite accurate, and I thank you.:ty:

ismi :ty: Thank you as well.
 
Fragmenter said:
Tousi, didn't you really mean to say, "If I had the balls to..."?

Jillo, off topic, your late husband was hearing? I don't understand your perceived stance against CI when you rode his coattails for the majority of your professional life. You used his ears and voice to be where you are today. We can resort to PM's if you'd like to discuss about that.
Click to expand...

Lol, Fragmenter, no, for one thing, I am approaching the sunset of my life, and for another, I still get enough benefit from my hearing aid......
 
shel90 said:
If they didnt, I would try them...I have serious issues when it comes to surgery so that's why I refuse to try them. I think surgery is such a big big decision. I read in another AD member post how that those who havent tried CIs dont know what we are missing. Well, I acknowledge that..I am sure with my strong audiological background, I would benefit from them BIG time but I just cant do it...if they came in like regular HAs, I would go for them in a min but to put a device in my head..I just cant..I guess maybe the need to hear is not worth all the trouble for me right now but maybe later I will change my mind..who kows what the future brings.. I just wonder if there was no surgery involved, would it be a lot less controversial as it now? I think it wouldnt be as a big deal if there was no cutting involved...what do u think?
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I agree with you, Shel, about CI's. It would be worth the try if CI's did not involve surgery. I have severe to profound hearing loss (severe in left ear and profound in right ear). I do wear hearing aids in both ears. I just started wearing a hearing aid in my right ear (since November 2006). I am so disgusted with my right hearing aid because I wear glasses and the new aid keeps "flipping off" my right ear. My left ear is used to wearing a hearing aid so I do not have a problem with my other hearing aid flipping off that ear. I mean, "Goodness!" If they would only just find a way to "fix" hearing loss so we would not have to choose anything to try or use. I'm sorry folks! But would prefer to have natural hearing if I could. I HAVE and AM coping well with hearing loss (since birth). Don't get me wrong, I love learning ASL and I respect Deaf people . . . but I prefer to have natural hearing. My choice!

OhioGirl
 
This thread is an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Given the nature of what a CI does and where it is in the body, it is a very moot point to even bring up the hypothetical issue of no surgery in the first place (at least at the present point in time).

I guess I will resort to a "gumpism" ==> "Bizarre is as bizarre does!"
 
sr171soars said:
This thread is an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Given the nature of what a CI does and where it is in the body, it is a very moot point to even bring up the hypothetical issue of no surgery in the first place (at least at the present point in time).

I guess I will resort to a "gumpism" ==> "Bizarre is as bizarre does!"
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Oh well..everyone is entitled to bring up whatever they want. Not everyone has to agree or like each other's interests or curiousity.
 
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