I was discharged from the hospital Friday after having gastric sleeve surgery. The first afternoon after having the surgery, I had a strange observation. I had my phone with me in the hospital and noticed that tones I was used to hearing were lower in pitch than normal. I have no idea what caused this and it hasn't happened before. Luckily, this is the first major surgery or procedure I've had requiring an overnight hospital stay. I was wondering if this could be a side effect of the narcotics? I was on a Dilaudid PCA while in the hospital then given a Loritab Elixir Rx for pain, taken every 4 hours. It's been two days since I was discharged from the hospital and I still hear everything in this frequency lower than I normally hear it. When my phone rings or chimes (I have a work phone and personal phone)I am hearing the sounds off key, or perceive them that way, in a lower pitch than normal. Has anyone at all ever experienced this? I am not worried about it yet, but it is something I am not used to because it makes listening to music intolerable. Voice frequencies sound the same to me, but music and tones I hear from the phones and tv are off. This might be one of the most unique side effects anyone has ever had, but I have never had any hearing or tonal problems like this, not since I ruptured my eardrum when I was 14 from a bad bout of the flu. That only affected one ear, and it was madness as I would hear two different pitches in the good and bad ear, but it went away when the eardrum healed. 25 years later, I am in a similar situation. I had no pain in my ears before and after the surgery, and wasn't sure if this was something that is a known side effect from medicines, IVs, etc. Can anyone shed a little light on this, I'd be relieved to know this is not just happening to me--and will go away! Thanks

News to me. Never seen anything about this in my research. Give it a week till all the anesthesia and pain meds have cleared and see...

Ahh.. yes the drugs are fun! I didn't have any changes in hearing but I had a super human sense of smell for a while

I haven't noticed a change in pitch when taking narcotics for pain, but I have noticed that everything sounds louder to me. It will pass!

Ahh.. yes the drugs are fun! I didn't have any changes in hearing but I had a super human sense of smell for a while

I too suffered this and I hope it never comes back, it was so annoying and my wife thought I was crazy until the PA told her yes that does happen to a lot of people. It's just weird if you ask me but it will pass.

I had GREAT dreams for at least the first week after surgery... Some Fun!!!

It happens to me every time after surgery and it's due to the anesthesia. It will wear off in a few days.

This is exACtly what happened to me. I have perfect pitch, and yesterday I had knee surgery with general anesthesia, and today and yesterday everything sounds about 1/3 of a step lower. like A440 seems like a432. weird. hopefully it'll wear off.