Hearing Loss - Have You Considered Diabetes As A Cause?
Julia Hanf
One of the most notorious modern-day killers, diabetes is a disease which is deceptively innocuous in its development. What first begins as feelings of fatigue, dizziness and nausea, are quick to compound into a vast hoard of ailments, many of which can even be life-threatening if not diagnosed on time. High blood glucose levels are the mainstay of this disease, triggering its onset in the vulnerable, and also complicating it until diabetes leaves virtually no part of the body untouched. However, the most alarming aspect about these developments is that they, like diabetes, are surreptitious in their growth, often leaving the victim in the dark until they are at their mature, and most devastating, phases.
Diabetics often suffer from a dangerously impaired blood circulation pattern, which results from the thickening of the arteries the glucose-rich blood brings about. This combined with the inherent damage high glucose causes to the blood vessels leads to a tremendous amount of nerve damage, which is turn brings about a significant loss of sensation.
The ear is undoubtedly the most severely affected by this diabetes-inspired nerve damage, given the fact that the vascular tissues play a major role in the process of hearing. When the glucose levels in the blood rise dangerously high, the damage that they cause is amplified by the narrowness of the capillaries of the inner ear, eventually leading to the destruction of the outer ear cells which magnify the sounds that the cochlea picks up. Diabetes also induces a significant amount of micro-vascular damage to the inner ear, which results in a gradual loss of hearing and even complete deafness.
The cochlea is located within the temporal lobe, which makes surgical examination imperative to detect any auditory damage. To gauge the extent of the diabetes-inflicted damage, your physician would also need to examine the neural pathways, which is only possible if advanced surgery is conducted.
Diabetes brought-about hearing loss is also very hard to gauge, in spite of the fact that individual's auditory functioning may be a lot lower than the clinically determined optimal levels. And thus, even while clinical tests may prove otherwise, the individual continues to suffer from auditory damage until the condition is exacerbated to its most severe, treating which proves to be a lot more difficult than curbing this condition at its nascent phase would be.
Diabetes is also responsible for auditory damage at a secondary level, where it disrupts the functioning of the auditory nerve, delaying the rate at which signals are transmitted from the cochlea to the brain. Thus, when faced with complex sound patterns like speech, the brain finds it difficult to comprehend these sound signals, making the individual confused and disarrayed.
As with all other diabetes-related complications, the most effective way to curb auditory damage is by arresting it at its nascent phases by regularly testing for any loss of hearing. When consulting with your physician, make sure that you incorporate regular auditory testing as a part of your standard physical examinations. However, given the vast number of challenges that detecting this disease presents, preventing this condition from arising is indefinitely more effective than waiting for the complications to develop and then countering them one at a time. Endeavoring to keep a constant check on your blood glucose by adhering to the four diabetes principles of diet, exercise, medication and testing can go a long way in ensuring that these complications never raise their ugly heads. And so, if you haven't begun already, take control of your diabetes today - the instant boost you give your health will speak volumes for itself in the years to follow!
Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win Through a real life crisis Julia figured out how to live diabetes free. Visit http://www.yourdiabetescure.com and learn more about your solution for diabetes.
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