Have you been wondering if the caffeine you’re drinking is causing your hearing loss issues? Maybe you’re wondering if it’s caused your tinnitus or Meniere’s disease.
Right now, all you know is that you’re suffering from these issues. You may have even tried looking on Google for some research into this subject.
Unfortunately, up until now, there hasn’t been much research conducted on this topic. However, there are a few things that you should know.
Understanding How Caffeine Affects Hearing Loss
Caffeine is a natural stimulant that works on the central nervous system to keep you from feeling tired. It’s also been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer. Furthermore, there hasn’t been any indication that drinking two cups of coffee per day will have any type of long-term impact on your hearing, even though it will alter your blood pressure and restrict blood vessels. Some studies even indicate that by drinking coffee, you’re less likely to suffer from hearing loss.
Caffeine Worsens Issues After Noise Exposure
You may have left a noisy environment only to discover that your hearing is muffled. This hearing loss happens because you’re experiencing a temporary threshold shift (TTS). It’s a sign that you’ve overworked the delicate hair cells that are found within your inner ear, causing them to grow fatigued. Typically you’ll recover from this in a few days or sooner. During this time, you may not want to drink a lot of caffeine. One study conducted on some guinea pigs in 2016 shows that too much caffeine can prolong your recovery time.
Cancer Patients Should Use Caffeine with Caution
Cancer patients who’ve been prescribed cisplatin should use caution when consuming caffeine. This precaution must be undertaken because it’s known that the medication causes problems with your hearing. These problems include tinnitus and a phenomenon that’s known as “cisplatin-induced hearing loss.”
In 2019 a study was conducted on lab rats. It showed that increasing a patient’s caffeine intake led to a higher risk of these modalities. Therefore researchers concluded that caffeine and cisplatin might interact with one another. In doing so, they result in ototoxicity. To avoid this, patients taking this medication as part of their chemotherapeutic regimen are encouraged to drink less caffeine.
Understanding How Caffeine Affects Tinnitus
Some patients have reported that their hearing has improved when they’ve cut back on caffeine. If you find that this is true for you, then you should cut back. However, there isn’t any research that shows doing so will help improve your tinnitus. One study even shows the opposite: women who drink a lot of caffeine had fewer problems with tinnitus. Another study showed that withdrawal from caffeine could cause more issues with tinnitus.
Understanding How Caffeine Affects Meniere’s Disease
Some doctors have told patients with Meniere’s Disease to cut back on caffeine to help alleviate their symptoms. Some people have found this beneficial, even though there isn’t much evidence that this works. Nevertheless, many doctors still turn to this first as it’s an inexpensive treatment modality. Unfortunately, there aren’t any high-quality studies available to back this up. Some doctors believe that this may be somewhat harmful because it doesn’t look towards more effective treatment modalities; therefore, the disease may continue to progress, causing patients to continue suffering.
Understanding How Caffeine Affects You Overall
As long as you’re healthy you can still enjoy your caffeine. There isn’t any research related to hearing loss that indicates you should stop. Of course, you can see if cutting back on caffeine is helpful. However, if you’re still having issues you should consult with Countryside Hearing Aid Services today.
References:
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012173.pub2
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(14)00198-3/pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45964-9#Abs1
https://www.healthyhearing.com/help/hearing-loss
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