Common drugs may be what’s causing your hearing problems

Hearing loss: It’s one of the least talked-about side effects of lots of drugs, including common OTC ones.

But it’s real, it’s scary and, thanks to a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, it’s once again been confirmed.

So if your hearing is starting to go, don’t let anyone — your family, friends, and maybe even your doctor — brush it off by saying that’s what happens as we age.

That may be true to a point. But when you hear what these researchers are saying, it becomes loud and clear that many people – especially seniors – are suffering from hearing loss not from age or listening to loud rock and roll, but because of something that’s sitting right in their medicine cabinet.

Not hearing is believing

Drugs that cause you to lose your hearing, sometimes permanently, are called “ototoxic.” That means they can damage the delicate inner ear mechanisms where sound waves are transmitted to our brains.

And yes, toxic is a perfect description of these meds.

This new Brigham and Women’s research focused on older women who took ibuprofen (like Advil) or acetaminophen (like Tylenol) for six or more years. The data they collected came exclusively from over 54,000 who volunteered for the Nurses’ Health Study.

What they found was that over 16 percent of the women who experienced hearing loss could most likely put the blame squarely on the shoulders of those two drugs. The senior author of the study said that given how popular these meds are, what they found has “important health implications.”

But don’t think you’re safe from the damage if you are a guy.

In an earlier study, this same research team found a link between OTC painkiller use and hearing loss in men and women who were younger than those who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study.

I would say that it’s shocking that any one drug could rob you of one of your key senses like that. But the real shock here is that these ear-damaging drugs number in the hundreds!

Many of them are uncommon and rarely prescribed. But others are widely used, such as the OTC drugs in the new study, along with certain antibiotics, diuretics, cardiac drugs, chemotherapy drugs, and ones for depression and anxiety such as Prozac and Xanax.

And although the new study did not link aspirin use to hearing loss, aspirin is already included in the long list of ototoxic culprits as well.

As you might guess, when two or more of these drugs are used at the same time, the risk of hearing damage climbs higher and higher.

But diminished hearing is just the beginning of the problems such meds can lead to.

Balance is also an important issue. The workings of your inner ear help regulate balance, so as your hearing starts to fade, you might find yourself less steady on your feet.

And that’s something that can lead to a significant injury from a fall.

Of course, if you put these risks in the context of aging, what you’ll get is the typical knee-jerk response about expecting such things as you get older. That’s life.

Well, to that I say: Not so fast.

You might be getting older, but these important issues could all trace directly back to a few drugs that you might never suspect as the root of your problems.

Other things that can trigger hearing loss are deficiencies of folate, zinc, or vitamin B-12. And that’s something that can be easily corrected with supplements.

As I said, the list of hearing-damaging drugs is a long one. So if you’re taking any prescription or OTC drug on a regular basis, talk to your doctor about its ototoxic potential.

And make sure he hears you!

“Everyday pain relievers may be linked to hearing loss in some women” Robert Preidt, December 19, 2016, HealthDay, medlineplus.gov