When you begin on a course of medication, it’s normal to want to be educated about any potential side effects. Can it upset your stomach? Will it cause dry mouth? Make you sleepy? There might also be a more severe possible side effect that you might not be aware of – hearing loss. Many different drugs are known to cause this condition which medical professionals call ototoxicity.
Exactly how many drugs are there that can lead to this problem? The answer is uncertain, but there are lots that are known to trigger ototoxic symptoms. So which medications do you personally need to know about?
Ototoxicity – what you should know
How is it possible for your hearing to be affected by medication? There are three different places certain drugs can harm your hearing:
- The vestibule of the ear: This is the part of the ear that sits in the middle of the labyrinth that composes the cochlea. It helps manage balance. When a medication produces an ototoxic response to the vestibule of the inner ear, you can experience balance issues and the feeling that the room is spinning.
- The cochlea: That’s the seashell-shaped part of the inner ear that takes sound and translates it into an electrical signal that the brain can comprehend. Damage to the cochlea affects the range of sound you can hear, usually beginning with high frequencies then expanding to include lower ones.
- The stria vascularis: Located in the cochlea, the stria vascularis makes endolymph, the fluid in the inner ear. Too much or too little endolymph has a substantial impact on both balance and hearing.
What is the risk level for each drug?
You might be surprised by the list of drugs that can cause an ototoxic reaction. Ototoxic medications are pretty common and most individuals have a few of them in their medicine cabinets right now.
At the top of the list of ototoxic medications are over-the-counter pain killers including:
- Naproxen
- Ibuprofen
Aspirin, also called salicylates, is on this list too. The hearing issues due to these drugs are normally reversible when you quit taking them.
Antibiotics are a close second for common ototoxic drugs. You may have heard of some of these:
- Streptomycin
- Kanamycin
- Tobramycin
There are also numerous other compounds that can cause tinnitus
Some drugs may cause tinnitus and others could lead to loss of hearing. Here are some ways tinnitus might present:
- Thumping
- Ringing
- A whooshing sound
- Popping
Some diuretics can also result in tinnitus, including brand names Lasix, Bumex, and Diamox but the leading offenders in this category are things like:
- Caffeine
- Tonic water
- Nicotine
- Marijuana
Every single time you drink your coffee or black tea in the morning, you are exposing your body to something that may make your ears ring. Luckily, once the diuretic has cleared your system, the ringing should go away. The following drugs are prescribed to manage tinnitus but ironically, they are themselves diuretics:
- Amitriptyline
- Prednisone
- Lidocaine
Once you stop using the medication, the symptoms should go away, and your doctor will be there to help you with anything you may need to know.
There are very specific symptoms with an ototoxic response
Depending on what specific medications you’re using and the health of your hearing, your particular symptoms will differ.
Be on guard for:
- Vomiting
- Tinnitus
- Blurred vision
- Difficulty walking
- Hearing loss on one or both sides
- Poor balance
Be sure you ask your doctor about any possible side effects the medication they prescribed might have, including ototoxicity. Contact your doctor right away if you detect any tinnitus symptoms that might have been caused by an ototoxic response.
Also, call us today to set up a hearing exam to establish a baseline of your hearing health.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7985331