According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), over 200 medicines sold on the market nowadays can cause hearing loss. These are what you call ototoxic medications. These supplements and medications can potentially damage your hearing.

The damage can either be temporary or permanent. The risk depends on how much of these medications you take in. According to health professionals, ototoxic drugs do damage to the cells responsible for hearing.

What types of ototoxic over-the-counter and prescription medications are these? Below are the most common types. Knowing will definitely help you rethink about the medications that you take.

1. Diuretics

This type of medication is prescribed by physicians to treat different types of health conditions. This includes, but is not limited to high blood pressure, heart disease, glaucoma and edema. Ongoing researches are still being made to prove that diuretics drugs can in fact cause hearing loss.

2. NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)

According to the American Journal of Medicine, consistent use of pain relievers, anti-inflammatory, acetaminophen, and aspirin types of medications can be dangerous to your auditory health. As per the different researches done by various medical institutions and universities, this is still an ongoing study to better understand the effects of these types of drugs to those who take them on a regular basis.

3. Platinum-based Chemotherapy Drugs

There are different types of chemotherapy medications available in the market, but the platinum-based ones are being looked into. Cisplatin, is a medication for treatment of cancers related to the human reproductive systems. Users of this drug are known to have common side-effects like tinnitus, vertigo and hearing loss, both permanent and temporary.

4. Antibiotics

We all have to rely on antibiotics at a certain point in our lives to fight off common infections. There is a certain type that is known to have an effect on one’s hearing health. This type is called aminoglycosides. This is used for the treatment of meningitis and is what most doctors would recommend to patients if other types of antibiotics previously prescribed did not work for the patient.

The research scientists at Oregon Health and Science University and Research Center have an explanation for this. According to their published findings,  this type of drugs go to the inner ear through a nutrient pathway. This pathway is responsible for blocking the dangerous elements into the blood, which then damages the hair cells in the ear responsible for hearing.

There is no need to panic, of course. It does not mean that just because there is research showing that these ototoxic medications can harm your hearing, that you would actually go deaf if you take them.

People react to medications in different ways. Symptoms can vary.  It could just be temporary tinnitus or worse cases. What’s important is to be educated, and to ask your doctor about their side effects of the medicine that they prescribe to you.

Beltone DFW not only provides the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex with the latest in hearing technology, our staff can also help you through the process of diagnosing hearing loss. We provide comprehensive hearing tests and will assist you in understanding your options if there is a serious issue. Give us a call today at (888) 958-8432 or schedule an appointment online to begin exploring your options!