by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
© January, 2018
It is no secret that diabetes causes hearing loss in numbers of people with this condition. In fact, hearing loss among diabetics is more than twice that of those without diabetes. Studies show that one in three people with diabetes will have trouble with their hearing because of damage to their inner ears from elevated blood glucose levels.
This holds true for all severities of hearing loss and for all audible sound frequencies. In a large study of people aged 20–69, researchers found a strong association between diabetes and hearing problems. Hearing loss was found as early as age 30. Therefore, if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, you have to act fast if you want the best chance of preserving your hearing.
Diabetes can affect your hearing in several ways. Here are two main ones.
1. The blood vessels in your inner ears are tiny. When your blood sugar levels are high, your blood thickens and is more the consistency of syrup. This makes it difficult to get much blood (and oxygen) through the tiny capillaries in your cochlea. This lack of adequate oxygen to the hair cells (and other structures) results in loss of hearing.
2. When your blood sugar rises, there is a breakdown of the nerves in your inner ears. This results in sensorineural (inner ear) hearing loss. Specifically, high blood glucose levels can damage the vessels in the stria vascularis and the nerves that control the inner workings of your cochlea. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that you do not have to let diabetes Type 2 destroy your hearing or your health. You can take control and do something about it. This is because diabetes Type 2 is a nutritional disease. Since you have total control over what you put in your mouth, you can choose to change your diet to one that will get your diabetes under control, and ultimately get rid of your Type 2 diabetes altogether.
To learn what you need to know about your diabetes and how you can take control of it, you won’t do better than reading Dr. Mercola’s introductory article on diabetes at http://www.mercola.com/diabetes.aspx. Once you have read that article, I suggest you read another of his articles at https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/05/16/tips-to-prevent-diabetes.aspx. (Note: there are thousands of other articles on Dr. Mercola’s website that will teach you much more about how to have and maintain good health.)
Once you have read these two articles, you will know the basics of how you can take control of your diabetes, maintain good control of your blood sugar, and in the process, preserve your hearing and your health.
Now comes the hard part—mustering up your will-power to follow through. My advice: just do it!
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