It’s a sad — but all-too-common — story. Another aging rock star is going deaf.
This time it’s Eric Clapton, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer behind some of our favorites, such as “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Sure, you can blame it on playing his guitar extra loud all those years… or standing onstage next to super powerful speakers one too many times.
Plus that, getting older can diminish hearing, even if you haven’t played or listened to music at too high a volume — and Clapton is certifiably “well-aged” at 72 years old.
But there may be yet another reason you need to keep cranking up the sound on the TV.
Specifically, I’m talking about drugs that are considered to be “ototoxic,” which means they can damage your hearing.
Here’s what you need to know before you resign yourself to the fact that your ears aren’t quite as “perked up” as they once were. You might be able to put the brakes on your hearing loss… or even get your hearing back… by taking two simple steps that your doctor will probably never tell you about!
The worse to hear you with
While the fact that millions of Americans have substantial hearing loss is actually pretty scary when you think about it, it’s music to Big Pharma’s ears!
It’s the latest gold rush for the pharma and biotech industries, as hundreds of millions are now being raised to forge ahead with R&D.
Drugmakers are on the hunt for ways to restore our hearing through numerous high-tech angles, developing everything from drugs … to gene-therapy treatments… to ways of creating new hair cells in the inner ear.
And you know what can destroy those inner ear hair cells, the ones that are so valuable to your hearing?
As it turns out, it’s something also created by Big Pharma: an antibiotic called streptomycin (as well as others in the drug class known as aminoglycosides).
That’s quite a racket it’s got going. It’s like poisoning your food and then selling you an antidote!
But I’m sure you’ll never hear anyone in Pharma Land making that connection!
In fact, the knowledge that taking a medication could damage hearing goes way back to 1944, when the antibiotic streptomycin successfully cured tuberculosis… but the TB patients treated with it started going deaf!
Now, 75 years later, loss of hearing is one of the most overlooked side effects of hundreds of meds.
Last year, I told you about a large study out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital that collected data on over 62,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study. Researchers found that the women who took meds containing ibuprofen (like Advil) or acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) were increasing their chances of suffering a hearing loss by up to 24 percent. The more often they took these pain meds, the higher the risk.
Since then, plenty of other drugs — such as a wide variety of antibiotics, diuretics (water pills), pain remedies (even aspirin!), chemo and heart meds, and antidepressants — have been found to have similar toxic effects on hearing.
Of course, having diminished hearing goes way beyond just asking people to repeat what they said. When your ears aren’t working well, you can be more easily thrown off balance and are much more likely to take a fall.
Ear damage from medications can also lead to that ringing or buzzing known as tinnitus –something else Clapton suffers from, probably also from decades of performing on stage. Unlike the kind caused by loud music, tinnitus caused by meds could actually go away once you stop taking the drugs.
Unfortunately, though, that’s not always the case. Whether the damage can be reversed depends both on the specific drug and how long you’ve been taking it.
That’s all the more reason to take as few drugs… and for as short a time… as possible. If you’re currently on a med and have started having hearing problems, talk with your doctor about stopping it or finding an alternative.
Remember, however, that unless you’ve been exposed to an incredibly loud noise, you don’t just wake up one day unable to hear the birds singing. Hearing loss is usually very gradual. In fact, you might think that people are mumbling or that your phone isn’t working!
Another way to protect your hearing is make sure that you’re getting enough folate and other B vitamins. Over the years, study after study has confirmed that even age-related hearing loss can be significantly reduced by keeping up with the B’s, either through food or supplements.
That may just be enough to help the music from your favorite rockers keep coming in loud and clear.
Just don’t turn up the volume too high!
“Eric Clapton: I’m going deaf but will still keep playing” Lauren Gill, January 14, 2018, Newsweek, newsweek.com
