The Total Hearing Care Difference

When Medicine Harms: Understanding Ototoxic Medications and Your Hearing Health

• Dr. Jill Copley • Episode 6

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What is Ototoxic Medication? 

Could your medicine cabinet be harming your hearing? That's the critical question we explore in this eye-opening discussion about ototoxic medications with audiologist Dr. Jill Copley.

Many people are unaware that common medications—from everyday pain relievers to life-saving antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs—can potentially damage hearing. Dr. Copley breaks down the science behind this phenomenon, explaining that "oto" refers to the ear while "toxic" means poisonous. These medications, while treating various conditions, may inadvertently harm the delicate structures responsible for hearing and balance.

We dive deep into specific examples, revealing how high doses of common drugs like aspirin can trigger tinnitus (ringing in the ears), while powerful antibiotics like streptomycin and gentamicin may cause permanent hearing loss. Dr. Copley shares practical advice for patients, emphasizing the importance of bringing complete medication lists to healthcare appointments and promptly reporting any hearing changes to physicians. She reassures listeners that in many cases, medication adjustments can protect hearing while still effectively treating underlying conditions.

The conversation highlights the crucial role audiologists play in identifying potential medication-related hearing issues and coordinating with physicians to protect patients' hearing health. Through real patient stories and expert insights, this episode provides a valuable roadmap for anyone concerned about the intersection of medications and hearing health.

Have you noticed changes in your hearing after starting a new medication? The information in this episode could be life-changing. Share your experiences with us, and if you're experiencing hearing concerns, contact a qualified audiologist for a comprehensive evaluation.

To learn more about Total Hearing Care visit:
https://www.TotalHearingCare.com
Total Hearing Care
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469-218-4853

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Total Hearing Care Difference where we help you experience life through better hearing. Hosted by the experts at Total Hearing Care, a leading private audiology practice serving the DFW Metroplex, we're here to provide guidance on hearing loss, tinnitus and the latest advancements in audiology. Transform your life through better hearing. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

Some medications do more than treat. They can actually harm your hearing. Learn what ototoxic really means and how to protect your ears while managing your health. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sophia Yvette, co-host and producer, back in the studio today with Dr Jill Copley. Dr Copley, how's it going? It's going wonderful.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Sophia.

Speaker 2:

It's very great to hear that, Dr Copley, and so glad to have you back on Now. This isn't a type of medication we hear about very often, so can you give us an explanation about what ototoxic medication is?

Speaker 3:

Okay, that's a great question. Ototoxic oto means ear, toxic means like a poison, so ototoxic means that it's being poisonous to the ear. So many medications will there when they treat the illness. What they're doing is they may not only treat the illness, but they may affect the rest of the body, and so when we talk about ototoxic medications today, we'll talk about those kinds of medications that are treating more severe kinds of illnesses, cancers, things like that. They're much stronger medications than we tend to think of as just things we may take over the counter for a cold or for sinus infection or something like that, and so these will affect the whole body and can affect the ears as well as the balance system.

Speaker 2:

Wow, so does Odo by itself mean poison.

Speaker 3:

No, odo means ear, it's the toxic part, that means the poison. So ototoxicity means that something has been affecting the ear, oto that has been damaging.

Speaker 2:

Now, why would an audiologist be interested in knowing a patient's medication list? Getting into this topic deeper, yeah.

Speaker 3:

so that was always a good question for my patients. They'd ask why do you need to know my medications? And I think it's important because so many medications or combining medications could affect their hearing and their balance and many people will go to several different doctors and get medications. So I like to look at the medication list just to see if anything stood out that could be affecting the issues they were describing to me and that way I could refer them back to their physician. As an audiologist, I'm not going to prescribe any medication and I can't tell the patient how to take a medication. Only a medical physician can do that. But I could certainly look and see if anything seems suspect to me that I thought they should talk to their physicians about.

Speaker 2:

Now, when you ask them about the different things that are in their medications, what are some key components that you look for? That would signal a red flag.

Speaker 3:

So one of the things that a patient might describe to me is that they have really loud ringing in their ears. Well, one of the things I want to look at as their medication list are are there medications that tend to cause ringing? So one of the common ones could be just aspirin or aspirin-like products like ibuprofen or Aleve. So those taken at regular doses usually don't cause any effects on the auditory system, but if they're taken in high doses they could. So if you're taking several adult doses of aspirin a day, you may end up getting some ringing, and so I would ask them is your physician recommending this much of a dosage? If so, and it's causing ringing and it's bothersome to you, then you should ask your physician to see if there might be a different class of medication, because there's so many medications out there that can do the same thing, and so it's worthwhile to talk to the physician.

Speaker 3:

There are some other serious medications that could be on there. Let's say, if somebody has cancer and they're taking certain cancer drugs, that could affect their hearing and their balance as well as affect ringing in their ears. Of course, with those kind of medications, usually a physician is going to let the patient know ahead of time that that could happen. But it's important for people to let their patient know ahead of time that that could happen. But it's important for people to let their physicians know if that's happening, just because, again, there's so many different classes of medications that can treat the same thing. Sometimes you'll have different side effects and we want to protect the hearing when we can. Sometimes you can't. Sometimes these are life and death drugs and you have to take it to live, to get rid of the infection or to get rid of the cancer, but sometimes physicians can change things for you.

Speaker 2:

Wow, now, if you stop a medication, will you get your hearing back and will tinnitus stop?

Speaker 3:

Sometimes that will happen. So, as with aspirin, that's usually a pretty easy one. If you lower the dose or stop it, it could decrease your tinnitus or stop it altogether. However, again, I'm not a physician, so I don't want anybody to think they should stop any medications based on this little talk. They should ask their physician prior to that. There are other medications, including what we call loop diuretics, and loop diuretics are something like Lasix. Usually, when you take Lasix by itself, it doesn't affect you, but when you take it with some different other medications it may cause ringing or some hearing loss. And typically when you stop those other medications or stop combining those two medications, your hearing or ringing can get better. But there are medications where they could cause permanent hearing loss.

Speaker 3:

And those are what I call the life and death drugs, and those are things like streptomycin. That drug has been used for tuberculosis. It can cause severe and permanent hearing loss, vestibular issues like dizziness or vertigo, as well as tinnitus. Gentamicin is another drug for difficult bacterial infections and it specifically can really affect the balance system and cause a lot of dizziness and vertigo for you, as well as some hearing loss. So it really depends on the medication, and that's why it's important to let your physician know as soon as you notice any of these symptoms, so that they can review it and see if there's something they could do.

Speaker 2:

Now how should I talk to my physician if I think my medicine is causing hearing loss or tinnitus?

Speaker 3:

I think it's best just to bring it up and just say you know, this is one of my questions. It's always important to take questions to your physicians. It's always important to take your full medication list from any physician you're seeing, as well as supplements, and that way they can look and see what you mean. Important to take your full medication list from any physician you're seeing, as well as supplements, and that way they can look and see what you mean. You could say you know, my audiologist told me that these medications might be causing this. Is there something we can do? Is there a different dosage? Is there a different medication? Because this is bothering me, or I don't want my hearing to go down.

Speaker 3:

I certainly I saw a man who had what they called a superbug. We don't hear about that much anymore, but it's basically a drug-resistant disease and so they have to use a lot of these really fierce antibiotic medications that are usually given through IV to really try to stop the infection. And he came in for regular hearing tests so we could see if his hearing was falling. And if it did fall, then he went back to his physician, explained it, to see if they could adjust the medication to keep it from getting worse. It's very important, especially with these drugs like I'm discussing, as well as cancer drugs such as cisplatin we're really talking about chemotherapy when I talk about cancer drugs to let your physician know, because they can sometimes do things.

Speaker 2:

Now, are there any final words of wisdom for us today, Dr Copley, on ototoxic medications.

Speaker 3:

Like I said, I think the important thing is if you start any medication and you have side effects that you haven't been warned about. Especially if you haven't been warned about, because sometimes a physician will say this could be the side effect and that's normal. But if there are side effects and you're concerned about them, it's very important to bring it up with the physician or with their nurse, so the nurse can talk to the physician and that way it can be addressed, because if the physician doesn't know, you can't address it. So I think it's very important to bring it up to your healthcare provider so that they can see what they can do.

Speaker 2:

Wow. Thank you for sharing that great information with us today. Dr Copley, We'll catch you on the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day.

Speaker 3:

You too, Sophia. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Total Hearing Care Difference. If you're in the DFW Metroplex and ready to take the next step toward better hearing, call 469-218-4853 to book an appointment or visit TotalHearingCarecom, because when you hear better, you live better. See you next time.