Hearing loss can catch you by surprise, it’s true. But occasionally, hearing problems bypass the sneaking entirely, in favor of a sudden (and often startling), cat-like pounce. It could happen like this: you wake up, drag yourself out of bed, and perhaps you don’t notice until you get out of the shower but your hearing feels…off, or different Maybe muffled.
You just suspect that you got some water in your ears, but as the day continues, and there’s no difference, you begin to get a bit concerned.
It’s times like this when hearing loss seems to strike suddenly, as if from the shadows somewhere, that it’s a smart decision to seek out some medical help. That’s because sudden hearing loss can frequently be a symptom of a larger problem. At times, that larger problem can be a blockage in your ear. It might be just a bit of earwax.
But sudden hearing loss can also be a symptom of diabetes.
Diabetes – What is it?
If you don’t immediately identify the link between hearing loss and diabetes that would be understandable. Your pancreas and your ears seem really far apart, distance-wise.
With type 2 diabetes, sugars in your body aren’t efficiently broken down and converted into energy. When your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t process the insulin it is producing, this is the result. This is why insulin injections are the most common type of diabetes treatments.
What Does Diabetes Have to do With Your Hearing?
Diabetes is a common, often degenerative (and complex), affliction. It needs to be managed carefully, in most cases with the help of your doctor. But what does that have to do with your ears?
Well, it turns out that sudden hearing loss can often be a sign that you’re developing type 2 diabetes. Collateral damage to other areas of the body is common with diabetes which commonly has an impact on blood vessels and nerves. Tiny tiny hairs in your ears (called stereocilia and in control of your ability to hear) are especially sensitive to exactly those changes. So you could suffer sudden hearing loss even before other, more traditional symptoms of diabetes appear (numb toes, for instance).
Is There Anything I Can Do?
You’ii want to get medical help if your hearing has suddenly started acting up. Diabetes, for example, will frequently be completely symptomless initially, so you may not even realize you have it until you start to observe some of these warning signs.
Getting help as soon as possible will give you the largest number of possibilities, as is the situation for most forms of hearing loss. But it’s not just diabetes you need to be watchful for. Here are some other possible triggers of sudden hearing loss:
- A blockage in the ear (like an ear wax build-up).
- Blood pressure issues.
- Autoimmune conditions.
- Tissue growth in the ear.
- Problems with blood circulation (often caused by other problems such as diabetes).
- Some types of infections.
Without a proper medical diagnosis, it can be challenging to figure out what’s causing your sudden hearing loss and how to treat the root symptoms.
Treatment Options For Sudden Hearing Loss
Regardless of which of these your sudden hearing loss is caused by, if you catch it soon enough, your hearing will usually return to normal with correct treatment. Once the blockage is removed or, in the case of diabetes, once blood circulation problems have been addressed, your hearing will very likely return to normal if you addressed it promptly.
But that really does depend on prompt and effective treatment. If they are not addressed in time, some conditions, like diabetes, will lead to irreversible harm to your hearing. So if you’re coping with any type or amount of hearing loss, have it treated now.
Keep an Eye on Your Ears
If you get routine hearing screenings, sudden hearing loss might be easier to identify and you might stop it from sneaking up on you by catching it sooner. Specific hearing problems can be detected in these screenings before you observe them.
Hearing loss and diabetes have one other thing in common: the sooner you get treatment, the better. Neglected hearing loss can lead to other health concerns such as loss of cognitive function. Schedule an appointment with us for a hearing assessment right away.