Most of us know that listening to loud music, noisy event centers, foregoing hearing protection around heavy machinery, and other high-volume environments can cause hearing loss. But one of the more surprising culprits behind hearing loss is one that people may not think to protect against. That culprit is ototoxicity.
What Is Ototoxicity
Ototoxicity is hearing loss induced by ingesting medications. The word itself breaks down to explain:
- Oto – Hearing
- Toxic – Damaging
Over 200 different medications are considered ototoxic, several of which you can buy without a prescription. Sometimes the ototoxic effects of these medications are temporary but at other times, the effects result in permanent hearing loss.
Medications Which Can Affect Your Hearing
While there are over 200 different ototoxic medications, many of them fall into basic drug categories. The ones with generally temporary effects are:
- Loop diuretics – These medications are often taken to manage kidney or heart conditions.
- Aspirin – As long as you don’t go over the recommended dosage, taking aspirin should not affect you overly much.
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – A basic NSAID is an ibuprofen, a pain-relieving, and anti-inflammatory drug.
- Quinine – This drug is often administered to fight malaria and also treat babesiosis.
The medications which can cause permeate hearing damage are:
- Antibiotics – Be sure to ask your prescribing doctor or the pharmacist whether or not your antibiotics are ototoxic.
- Chemotherapy drugs – While you may not be able to refuse ototoxic chemotherapy drugs if they are the ones which work best for you. However, you can monitor your hearing to see if these drugs are affecting you.
Whether the drugs have temporary effects or more permeate ones, if you expose yourself to situations where your hearing can be damaged (ie – listening to loud music) the effect of the ototoxicity can be magnified. It can even make the hearing loss permanent, even though the effects should have been temporary. So, be extra careful with your hearing as you take these medications.
Monitor Your Hearing For Medicine-Related Hearing Loss
If you are starting a course of ototoxic medications, it is important to establish a baseline for your hearing. Here at the Hearing Associates of Las Vegas, our hearing specialists can provide quality hearing evaluations. These evaluations can determine the status of your current hearing and can be compared to later evaluations.
This comparison is highly important in assessing whether or not your hearing has been damaged by taking ototoxic medications. To receive a top-quality hearing evaluation today or avail yourself of our other hearing services, be sure to contact us for an appointment.
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