Aspirin Can Cause Hearing Loss

Medicine is not static. Recommendations change over time as what we know changes. I’ve been in the medical field (or following it in retirement) for over 40 years. Early on recommendations were made with limited understanding. I’ll give an example.

The biggest killer of heart attacks victims is a fatal heart rhythm. The medication lidocaine can prevent that rhythm. For many years we gave lidocaine to everybody who might be having a heart attack. Makes sense right? However when we studied it we found out that people were more likely to die if they got lidocaine. Oops. Lidocaine is still used but only to treat fatal arrhythmias, not to prevent them.

There are many other examples of recommendations changing over time. I’d encourage everyone to work with their physician.

Like all Meds MDB, one size doesn’t fit all, we all react differently, for the majority of people, that reaction might have a positive outcome, for others, the side effects might prove severely damaging or detrimental to their health, sometimes the cure, is far worse than the actual symptoms! Nearly all medications will have some form of side effects, to varying degrees. Nowadays, I tend to be very careful with Meds (on my Doctors advice) I take them extremely sparingly at first, then build up to the correct dosage over several days if I get no adverse effects. My main problems are, Cardiovascular, Severe Anxiety, Type 2 Diabetes, Arthritis and Vascular Eczema, I regard the Eczema as my main problem, as it literally drives me to distraction with the itch!!! If, I was able to see a Physician regularly, then I might have adopted a different approach, I still take my prescribed medicine, I am extremely strict on my diet, but I experiment with various natural health remedies, again, I take these remedies little by little, to see if they have any adverse effects, if things improve I will gradually up the dosage… I have been building up my fitness levels, swimming 2 or 3 times a week, playing outdoor bowls, walking the dogs, and working hard in the garden, I feel fitter now than 20 years ago, and I am 70 in November! I monitor my heart rate regularly 3 or 4 times per day, I check my blood sugar levels daily, I feel, I am in control, especially so since I started using a certain spice which I love the taste of, namely pure “Ceylon Cinnamon Powder”, for me and many others Worldwide, it’s wonderful stuff, and from what I have read, particularly good for many different ailments, including Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Insulin Resistance, my sitting heart rate is starting to regulate, and my Blood Sugars are at their lowest levels in years, just above normal, around 7.2 mmol/L…As far as Aspirin goes, most folks will have little or no problems with it, but others like me, it will have a severe knock on effect on their health! If you think about it, our bodies are like a small chemical factory, we are literally what we eat, each of these factories has a slightly different chemical composition, we all eat different things, for instance, I don’t eat meat, I eat plenty fish though… So, someone’s medication that helps improve their health, might be literally poison to another person, because of their chemical makeup! I have waffled long enough, but try the Ceylon Cinnamon, I believe the recommended dose is around 7 grams a day (1/4 ounce) it is lovely on cereal, with oat milk, and drizzled with Manuka Honey. Cheers Kev

I accept that not everybody has the advantage of being able to work closely with a physician. I have no objection to somebody finding their own path and sharing what they’ve done and experienced with others. I do have qualms about encouraging others to try it.

Why @MDB, for thousands of years we have used natural methods, the Chinese still do it somewhat differently from the West, but it works for them? Western Medicine as we all know, occasionally get it wrong big time, you yourself have given an example, where medication was killing the patients, so why not try something new with more natural ingredients, in most instances, taken in moderation, there is no harm done… Personally, I still take what the Doctor ordered, I just supplement it with the natural stuff, eventually you will find something that helps to alleviate your symptoms, and surely that is the whole point of any medication, be it modern or natural medicine… Cheers Kev

I don’t really give medical advice @MDB I make practical suggestions of what might work as opposed to what actually works for me… For instance, a friend of over 40 years standing had horrendous hip and knee pain, Arthritis, he was taking prescribed opiates from his physician like there was no tomorrow, to little or no effect on the actual pain, sleep deprivation was becoming troublesome, so I suggested he try “New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels” and see if they help, he is now sleeping like a baby, with no pain whatsoever and no opiates! Which to my way of thinking is a win, win situation, long term use of opiates isn’t going to help your overall health and well being! Many years ago, they discovered that “The Maori People” in certain coastal areas of New Zealand, had no Arthritis whatsoever, they ate copious amounts of Green Lipped Mussels though, so the connection was made, and subsequently a whole new industry was formed… Cheers Kev

@kevels55 said:

Many years ago, they discovered that “The Maori People” in certain coastal areas of New Zealand, had no Arthritis whatsoever, they ate copious amounts of Green Lipped Mussels

Interesting. Many dog owners know that Green Lipped Mussel extract (sold commercially by Boehringer) is quite effective in relieving hip dysplasia, a common dog affection.

I have seen a paper of a Phase II study of this drug suggesting efficacy, but it is not approved for human use. This story illustrates a problem with Western medicine- biological mixtures are extremely difficult to develop (because of their undefined contents).

Hi Rob… Here in the UK, some of us have been using Green Lipped Mussels for many, many years, it is only recently that dog owners started giving their arthritic dogs the same, it is very effective, one of my older dogs “Archie” was having severe movement problems, my vet recommended Green Lipped Mussels, Archie is now occasionally running around like a 2 year old! After speaking to the Vet, I recall at the time thinking, “are these not just for humans?” personally, I have no qualms about taking the doggy version or the human form, I get mines from a German company, but there are nowadays literally dozens of GLM processors, if you check on Amazon & eBay there are loads of suppliers, I believe when I started using GLM there was only a few suppliers like Seatone… Cheers Kev

So the graph that I see in your profile is made by the forum itself the app that they’re using to convert the digits into a graph? Problem is I just had this one done and the technique for printing out my results does not give the individual measurements in a table so I just made an image of it and that’s the image for my profile. I don’t see any way to upload that finished graph to the forum.

Yes, you need to punch the numbers of your audiogram here in a table, whence the Forum will produce a graph. If the data you have are in a graph (as for most of us) you need to read (intrapolate, or estimate) the numbers from that graph.

It’s not only Aspirin that can cause hearing loss. There are so many more drugs, on the market that are on the ototoxic list. Just too name two Ciprofloxacin (rare complication) and hydroxychloroquine, (well known complication) both of these drugs I’ve taken or still taking, have caused me hearing loss. (SSHL.) Hydroxychloroquine caused a 40 db ski slope drop in my hearing. It was this drop that made me get a CI. Whereas Cipro just caused a 10 db loss and was able to be mapped out in my next CI mapping. IMO there’s not enough publicity about these ototoxic drugs, and the damage they can cause.

The abstract of that paper says that it is ototoxic. Is there something in the body of the paper that makes you disagree with the authors’ conclusion?

The paper says indeed that hearing loss was observed, but they are highly critical for how the studies were designed, noting that “All selected studies were observational, and there was a low level of evidence.”, and “A pattern of incomplete audiological information also stands out.". Not comparable (yet) with the clear-cut case for antibiotics, imho.

Ah, fair. With the exception of the platinum chemotherapeutrics and the -mycin IV antibiotics, that’s probably going to be the level of evidence for most drug ototoxicity.

@kevels55

I feel the same way.

Well said

DaveL
Toronto