Diabetes and Tinnitus are very connected to each other. Below, you will learn how diabetes can cause Tinnitus. You will also learn about the connection between diabetes and hearing loss, another leading cause of Tinnitus. Lastly, we will tell you how you can manage Tinnitus that is caused by clinical diabetes.
Diabetes and Tinnitus- Understanding the Connection
What is Diabetes?
In simple terms, diabetes is when you have too much sugar in your blood. Your pancreas produces insulin to help process sugar. Insulin signals your cells to open up, to absorb blood sugar that it can then use as energy. But, when you consume too much sugar, insulin is unable to make the cells absorb sugar. Over time, your body becomes resistant to insulin leading to a very poor processing of sugar present in the blood. As a result, sugar remains in the blood, then causing widespread damage.
What is Your Tinnitus Handicap Score?
Calculate your THI Score in about 2-3 Minutes
This is why people with diabetes are told to watch the amount of sugar and carbohydrates they consume in their diet. We wrote a detailed post about sugar and Tinnitus here. If you want to learn about Diabetes in a lot more detail, this is an excellent research resource on diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes – Your body can produce insulin, but insulin isn’t used well
Type 1 diabetes – Your pancreas are unable to produce insulin
How Severe is Your Tinnitus?
Find out by using this THI (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory) Scoring Calculator
How Diabetes Causes Tinnitus?
Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the common result is that your blood has too much sugar. Over time, diabetes can cause havoc in your body. From increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and renal problems, it can also cause blindness, dental disorders, nerve disorders and neuropathy in the feet. Recently, a firm link has been established between diabetes and Tinnitus as well.
Diabetes can cause both Hearing Loss and Tinnitus in the following ways
Please note that the following are early theories suggested by the medical community. Ongoing research may be able to provide a more concrete connection between Diabetes and Tinnitus in the future.
- High sugar levels in blood thicken it, preventing it from reaching the small capillaries that lead into ears
- Hair like cells in the ear (Stereocilia) suffer as they do not receive optimal levels of oxygen and glucose from blood (The ear relies on blood for nutrients as it does not have a reserve energy system of its own)
- Cause neuropathy or nerve damage or nerve death, affecting the auditory nerve connecting the ear and brain
- Unfavorably alters the very precise and delicate potassium and sodium composition in the inner ear fluid, vital for proper ear function
Studies Linking Diabetes to Tinnitus and Hearing Loss
Though research investigating the connection between diabetes and Tinnitus is still not comprehensive, a fair amount of headway has already been made to establish a connection.
- NIH Study that concluded that people with diabetes have a 2X higher risk of developing hearing loss
- The above NIH study also concluded that people with pre-diabetes also had a much higher risk of developing hearing loss when compared to the non-diabetic or non-prediabetic population
- A larger NIH study with over 20,000 participants that further supported the study mentioned above.
- NIH study linking type 2 diabetes induced Tinnitus with dizziness (Meniere’s disease)
What Can You Do for Tinnitus Caused By Diabetes?
Getting your diabetes under control will automatically allow your Tinnitus to be controlled. Here are some of the most important things you can do to achieve that result.
Avoid loud noises
If you have Tinnitus caused by diabetes, chances are that you are at an increased risk of developing hearing loss, if you haven’t developed it already. Protect your ears against loud noises by wearing Tinnitus ear plugs. Turn down the volume when using headphones or listening to digital media on external speakers or televisions. Avoid noisy environments as much as you can.
Chronic loud noise can easily cause a premature death of tiny hair cells in your cochlea. These hair cells are responsible for converting vibrations caused by incoming sound waves into electrical signals for the brain. This cell death is permanent and irreversible. While everyone is at risk of developing hearing loss because of loud noises, diabetics have twice as much the risk.
Take an Annual Hearing Test
Hearing loss can happen suddenly or gradually. If you are diabetic and have or don’t have Tinnitus, you are recommended to take a hearing test every year. Catching hearing loss early will give you an opportunity to wear hearing aids to prevent further hearing loss. Hearing aids can also help you with your Tinnitus problem, if the ringing was brought on by hearing loss in the first place.
Manage your Diet
By simply managing your diet alone, you can dramatically reduce the intensity or intrusiveness of Tinnitus caused by diabetes. This study showed that people who carefully managed their diet had a fivefold increase in the probability of significantly reducing their Tinnitus intensity.
It’s not just sugary foods that can affect Tinnitus caused by diabetes. Salts, sugar substitutes and most processed foods are also Tinnitus triggers.
Sacrifice the Smokes
When you have diabetes, the high blood sugar greatly damages your arteries. And, smoking can speed up that process even more. Remember that only small capillaries lead blood into your ears. Capillaries are more quickly affected by blood sugar and smoking than arteries. In other words, if cigarettes and diabetes can affect your body’s blood pathways, your ears will be among the first organs to suffer.
Practice a healthy lifestyle
Regular exercise and an active lifestyle can help you lose weight and help your cardiovascular health. Insulin resistance might also improve, giving your body a chance to process sugar normally, then potentially resolving or reducing Tinnitus caused by diabetes as well.
