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Diabetes-Related Hearing Loss

Chronic or severe high and low blood sugars damage the nerves of the inner ear which can lead to hearing loss.

Even people with prediabetes have a 30% higher rate of hearing loss than people with normal blood sugar levels.

The rates of hearing loss among people with diabetes is 3x higher than that of the non-diabetes population.

Check hearing annually

Protect hearing

Avoid medications that can cause hearing damage of tinnitus

Make a referral for audiology screenings to get a baseline and for any perceived change in hearing

Retinopathy

Another form of microvascular damage that causes diabetes related complications is retinopathy. Diabetes related retinopathy is the most common cause of blindness in adults in the US. In retinopathy there is an over growth of the tiny blood vessels behind the retina of the eye. Similar to vascular damage that causes neuropathy in the extremities, it can cause blood vessel leaks and bleeds in the retina. These bleeds are a lot like splashing black paint onto a movie screen. Suddenly we can’t see the picture! Vision becomes blurry, and can be lost entirely. The vision lost is permanent.

Preventing Retinopathy

How can we help our patients prevent retinopathy?

Annual Dilated Retinal Exam

The best way to prevent retinopathy is with an annual dilated retinal exam. This exam looks directly at the retina for areas of bleeding or leaking vessels, but even more importantly it looks for areas of increased or abnormal vascular growth.

Anti-VEGF

This is typically a precursor to a bleed and can very effectively be treated with an injection called an anti – vascular endothelial growth factor. This reduces vascular growth in the area and greatly reduces the potential for future bleeds. Using a digital or photographic image to compare form one year to another can help track vascular growth and catch it farther in advance.

Maintaining healthy blood sugar in target range

Maintain blood pressure control. Like a hose in the garden, a vessel under higher pressure is more likely to leak or burst.

And again we see smoking is a direct causal factor for retinopathy so the sooner patients with diabetes quit, the better.

Unfortunately there are no FDA-approved medications or supplements to prevent neuropathy or retinopathy at this time, though there is a great deal of study on the impacts of various fatty acids and vitamins in the prevention and slowing in progression of these microvascular complications.