Hearing loss can sneak up on you, it’s true. But there are times when hearing problems suddenly pounce you like a cat instead of sneaking up on you. Here’s a hypothetical: You get up one morning and go into the shower and when you get out you notice your hearing seems off or different. Muffled, maybe.
You just suspect that you got some water in your ears, but as the day progresses, and there’s no difference, you start to get a little worried.
It’s these moments when hearing loss seems to strike suddenly, as if out of nowhere, that it’s a smart idea to seek out some medical attention. That’s because sudden hearing loss can frequently be a symptom of a larger problem. It may be a simple matter of a blockage in your ear. It may be just a bit of earwax.
But sudden hearing loss can also be a symptom of diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
You’d be forgiven for not immediately seeing the links between hearing loss and diabetes. Your pancreas seems a long way from your ears.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which your body has trouble breaking down sugars into energy. When your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t process the insulin it is making, this is the outcome. That’s why treatments for diabetes usually entail injections or infusions of insulin.
What Does Diabetes Have to do With Your Hearing?
Diabetes is a common, sometimes degenerative (and complicated), condition. It needs to be handled carefully, normally with the help of your doctor. So how is that associated with your ears?
Well, it turns out that sudden hearing loss can frequently be a sign that you’re experiencing type 2 diabetes. The link lies in the ability of diabetes to create collateral damage, most often to nerves and blood vessels around the extremities. Tiny tiny hairs in your ears (called stereocilia and in control of your ability to hear) are particularly sensitive to those exact changes. So you might suffer sudden hearing loss even before other, more conventional symptoms of diabetes kick in (numb toes, for instance).
What Should I do?
You’ii want to get medical attention if your hearing has suddenly started acting up. Diabetes, for instance, will frequently be entirely symptomless initially, so you may not even realize you have it until you begin to see some of these red flags.
Getting help as soon as possible will give you the greatest number of possibilities, as is the case for most forms of hearing loss. But it’s not only diabetes you need to watch for. Here are a few other possible triggers of sudden hearing loss:
- Autoimmune conditions.
- Tissue growth in the ear.
- Problems with blood circulation (often the result of other issues including diabetes).
- Blood pressure problems.
- Some types of infections.
- Earwax buildup or other obstructions.
Without an appropriate medical diagnosis, it can be challenging to figure out the cause of your sudden hearing loss and how to treat the root symptoms.
Sudden Hearing Loss Treatment Options
Here’s the good news, whether your sudden hearing loss is related to diabetes or infection (or any of these other problems), successful treatment of the underlying cause will often bring your hearing back to healthy levels if you catch it early. If you promptly address the problem, your hearing is likely to return to normal once the blockage is removed, or in the case of diabetes, once you address the circulation problems.
But quick and efficient management is the key here. There are some conditions that can result in permanent harm if they go neglected (diabetes is, again, one of those conditions). So it’s essential that you find medical treatment as quickly as you can, and if you’re suffering from hearing loss get that treated.
Keep an Eye on Your Ears
If you get routine hearing screenings, sudden hearing loss might be easier to identify and you may stop it from sneaking up on you by catching it sooner. These screenings can normally uncover specific hearing problems before they become obvious to you.
There’s one more thing that diabetes and hearing loss have in common, managing them sooner will bring better outcomes. Other problems, like deterioration of cognitive function, can result from untreated hearing loss. Give us a call to schedule a hearing test.
