Is Your Medication Contributing To Hearing Loss?

Have you ever noticed your hearing isn’t the same after taking a pill? Maybe you experience vertigo or ringing in the ears. Perhaps you find it harder to hear high-pitched sounds or people speaking to you sounds garbled. People don’t know that hearing loss is a side effects of certain medications. In fact, ASHA says there are more than 200 pharmaceutical drugs that are ototoxic. This means that they can cause hearing and balance problems.

Hearing loss caused by prescription drugs will most likely be temporary. However, some medications can lead to permanent hearing loss. Lifestyle habits such as smoking, a high fat diet, and obesity can aggravate this symptom. If you begin to experience these symptoms with your medications, ask your doctor for ways to prevent it from happening.

If you’re worried about losing your hearing due to your medications, we have listed some medicines that are more likely to affect your hearing. Try to be wary of the following drugs.

Aspirin

Who would have thought that everyone’s favorite painkiller can cause hearing loss? Aspirin-induced hearing loss occurs more often than we would like to admit. In frequent or high doses, hearing loss can occur. Once you take eight to twelve pills per day, more than what your physician advises, you may be in trouble. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be permanent.

The remedy for hearing loss caused by Aspirin is to decrease the dosage or to not take it at all. If you take aspirin for a diagnosed medical condition, make sure to talk to your doctor first before discontinuing your current dosage. You can also ask if there is another medication you can take instead that won’t affect your hearing.

Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

While NSAIDs can be great at relieving inflammation, they can do a number on your ability to hear properly. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard University wrote a study about the effects of anti-inflammatory drugs on hearing health. The study revealed that NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, could impair hearing. The effects of hearing loss due to NSAIDs increases the longer you use the drug.

Despite reducing inflammation, which causes arthritis and other ailments, NSAIDs can hinder blood circulation. In the cochlea, an organ in the inner ear, a lack of blood circulation means hearing loss. As blood circulation in your ear is cut off, the receptors can’t pick up as much as they should. If you take NSAIDs to help with your ailments, talk to your doctor to see if there is another medication you take to preserve your hearing.

Antibiotics

A study in December 2011 by the OHSU linked antibiotics to hearing loss. In this study, they specified aminoglycosides. Doctors prescribe aminoglycosides to treat meningitis and other infections when other antibiotics fail. Aminoglycoside antibiotics are used because they work on a broad range of bacteria.

Those that use this type of antibiotic risk a 20% to 60% chance of permanent hearing loss. This happens after permanent damage to sensory cells and neurons in the ear. When aminoglycosides are the only option, doctors will be on the lookout for those most likely to need hearing rehabilitation much earlier. If this is a concern of yours, talk to your doctor to learn how to save your hearing.

Chemotherapy Drugs

Chemotherapy drugs are only used in the most dire of circumstances, but they can impact your ability to hear. The OHSU found a link between platinum-based chemotherapy and hearing loss. Cisplatin, Carboplatin, and Bleomycin are all known to cause reactions in your hearing. These can range from tinnitus and vertigo to permanent hearing loss. Chemotherapy causes hearing loss by causing permanent damage to the inner ear cells. These cells are responsible for hearing.

These drugs are often used to remedy bladder, ovarian, and testicular cancers. Its usage is justified in spite of the risk of hearing impairment. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, talk with your medical team to discuss next steps in your treatment.

Diuretics

Edema, glaucoma, and high blood pressure are often treated with loop diuretics. These include Furosemide and Bumetanide. These come with a risk of damage to one’s hearing health. This happens because of a fluid and salt imbalance in the inner ear. This imbalance leads to swollen tissue and nerve signal transmissions problems. This causes tinnitus and temporary hearing loss. Rarely does this class of drucg lead to permanent hearling loss.

The effects of diuretics-induced hearing loss are temporary. It may worsen into permanence if used in combination with other ototoxic medications.

In certain situations, the benefit of these drugs outweighs the risk of hearing loss. This is why patients should be aware of their prescriptions’ full extent. Make sure to read the literature that comes with all of your prescriptions and look at the potential side effects. Coordinate with your physician to make the best, well-informed decisions about your health and your medicines. Let Ken Clark at Chicago Beltone help you determine if your hearing loss could be due to your medication. If it is, we can help you dtermine how to get your hearing back to the way it used to be. Contact us today at (800) 900-6187.