It’s true, hearing loss can sneak up on you. But there are times when hearing problems suddenly pounce you like a cat rather than sneaking up on you. Here’s a hypothetical: You get up one morning and go into the shower and when you get out you detect your hearing seems off or different. Muffled, maybe.
You just assume that you got some water in your ears, but as the day progresses, and there’s no improvement, you start to get a little worried.
At times like this, when you have a sudden severe change to your hearing, you should get medical attention. The reason why you should seek help is that sudden hearing loss is usually a symptom of an underlying medical issue. It could be a simple matter of a blockage in your ear. It might be just a bit of earwax.
And sometimes that sudden hearing loss can be related to diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
You’d be forgiven for not quickly seeing the connections between hearing loss and diabetes. Your ears and your pancreas seem very far apart, distance-wise.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which your body has trouble breaking down sugars into energy. When your body doesn’t make a sufficient amount of insulin or can’t process the insulin it is making, this is the outcome. That’s why treatments for diabetes usually involve injections or infusions of insulin.
What is The Connection Between Diabetes And Hearing?
Diabetes is a common complicated affliction which can often be degenerative. With the assistance of your physician, it has to be managed cautiously. So how is that related to your ears?
Believe it or not, a pretty common sign of type 2 diabetes is sudden hearing loss. Collateral damage to other parts of the body is common with diabetes which commonly has an affect on blood vessels and nerves. These precise changes have a strong affect on the delicate hairs in your ears responsible for your hearing (called stereocilia). So even before other more common diabetes symptoms show up (such as numb toes), you could experience sudden hearing loss.
What Should I do?
If you’re in this scenario, and your hearing has suddenly begun acting up, you’ll definitely want to get looked at by a medical professional. You might not even realize that you have diabetes at first, but these red flags will start to clue you in.
Seeking out help as soon as possible will give you the greatest number of possibilities, as is the case for most types of hearing loss. But it’s not only diabetes you need to watch for. Sudden hearing loss could be caused by:
- Autoimmune conditions.
- Growth of tissue in the ear.
- Issues with blood circulation (often caused by other issues like diabetes).
- Earwax buildup or other obstructions.
- Blood pressure problems.
- Some kinds of infections.
It can be hard to know what’s causing your sudden hearing loss or what you should do about it without a medical diagnosis.
Sudden Hearing Loss Treatment Solutions
Regardless of which of these your sudden hearing loss is triggered by, if you identify it soon enough, your hearing will normally return to normal with proper treatment. Once the blockage is removed or, with diabetes, once blood circulation issues have been addressed, your hearing will most likely return to normal if you addressed it promptly.
But quick and efficient management is the key here. If they are not addressed in time, some conditions, including diabetes, will bring about permanent damage to your hearing. So it’s essential that you seek out medical treatment as quickly as you can, and if you’re experiencing hearing loss get that treated.
Pay Attention to Your Hearing
If you undergo routine hearing screenings, sudden hearing loss could be easier to identify and you may stop it from sneaking up on you by detecting it sooner. Specific hearing issues can be identified in these screenings before you notice them.
There’s one more thing that diabetes and hearing loss share, treating them sooner will bring better results. Other problems, like degeneration of cognitive function, can result from neglected hearing loss. Call or Text Us to schedule a hearing test.