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Can Flu Shot Cause Hearing Loss

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Is Your Dog Going Deaf Perhaps Hes Just Getting Older But There Are Other Causes Of Hearing Loss In Canines So Its Always A Good Idea To Have Him Checked Out By A Veterinarian

Sudden Hearing Loss

When people find out their dogs have hearing loss, they often feel concerned. But in most cases, the cause is either treatable or simply a normal part of aging, and not harmful or fatal to the dog. This article will discuss hearing loss and deafness in dogs, along with treatments to try with the guidance of your veterinarian.

In clinical practice, there are five common causes of hearing loss in dogs.

There Is Hope For People With Sudden Hearing Loss If They Get Early Treatment

by Audiology Associates of DFW | Mar 20, 2019 | Uncategorized

In our modern society, putting off health care is a scenario that happens more frequently than wed like to acknowledge.

Consider the parents who consistently put the needs of their children ahead of their own, making sure their kids obtain proactive and reactive care when needed, but neglecting to do the same for themselves. You can say the same for the working professional who refuses to cancel a meeting to squeeze in a doctors appointment. Then there are people who are afraid of what they might hear so they avoid the doctors office preferring to stay ignorant.

But what would you do if you needed more than something to fight off a sinus infection or your annual flu vaccine? What would you do if you woke up one day with sudden and complete hearing loss in one or both ears?

Theres a good chance your hearing will never come back if you just try to put it off. Hearing specialists caution that sudden, temporary hearing loss might advance to permanent hearing loss without immediate treatment, specifically if the damage is at the nerve level.

An Ent Can Help Get To The Bottom Of The Problem

If a primary care or urgent care provider doesnt see any signs of blockage or infection in the ear that could be causing sudden hearing loss, the next step is quick referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

The ENTspecialist will want to rule out anything else that could be causing thesymptoms and give a hearing test.

Many of these patients would not have a baseline hearingtest for comparison, but in those circumstances, what were mostly looking foris asymmetry, or a difference between the two ears, Dr. Woodson explains.

They may also order an MRI to rule out other problems, such as benign tumors that form on the hearing and balance nerves. These are called acoustic neuromas. These are uncommon tumors, but this is the way they tend to pop up first, with sudden hearing loss, Dr. Woodson says.

If SSNHL is determined to be the culprit for the hearingloss, the next step is steroid therapy to reduce inflammation in the inner ear.This typically starts with oral treatment , but depending on thesituation and the patient, injection of steroids into the ear drum could alsobe an option.

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Study Looks At Link Between Covid

Woman undergoing hearing test.

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As of today, just under 286 million Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States, with an average daily vaccination rate of 1.8 million doses. These numbers include all doses of the PfizerBioNTech and Moderna double-dose regimens, as well as single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As millions in the U.S. and globally have received vaccines , recorded accounts of medical issues temporally associated with vaccine administration are being collected. While some issues, including rare blood clotting possibly linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, led to a temporary pause in vaccine distribution, myriad other issues, which may or may not have any causal link to the vaccines, are being studied.

A recent report published in this weeks JAMA Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery assessed the incidence of sudden sensorineural hearing loss associated with recent receipt of one of the two mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines between December 14, 2020 and March 2, 2021. The study group, based at the Johns Hopkins University Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, reviewed data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System . During the timeframe of the data review, over 86.5 million SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations had been administered in the U.S.

People waiting in line at Citi Field Coronavirus vaccination mega-site, Queens, New York.

How The Flu Affects Your Hearing

Rubella (German Measles): Symptoms, treatment, during ...

Now that cold and flu season is upon us, itâs time to prepare for the possibility of an extended bout of illness.

Getting a flu shot is your best chance of avoiding the flu, but itâs no guarantee you wonât experience an onslaught of symptoms that includes fever, aches and pains in the muscles and joints, malaise, dry cough, and congestion.

As miserable as these can leave you feeling, thereâs another, lesser-known, side effect of the flu that is fairly common: temporary hearing loss.

When youâre sick, fluid may build up in the middle ear and Eustachian tube, a thin canal in the back of the throat that connects the middle ear with the nasopharynx. This congestion hampers hearing in two ways: it inhibits sound waves from traveling through the ear and prevents the Eustachian tube from regulating air pressure in the middle ear.

The result is muffled sounds that are difficult to hear. Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, and balance issues may also accompany the flu. In most cases, flu-induced hearing loss is temporary. Normal hearing should return once your symptoms have run their course.

However, on rare occasions, nerve damage resulting from fluid and pressure buildup can cause permanent hearing loss. If you have recovered from the flu but your hearing has not returned, itâs crucial you see your audiologist as soon as possible.

  • Stick to a well-rounded, healthy diet and help boost your immune system by taking plenty of Vitamin C.
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    Organic Brain Disease Such As Gme Encephalitis Or A Brain Tumor

    Usually, dogs with organic brain disease have other clinical signs besides hearing loss, such as seizures, depression, or changes in cranial nerve function . These dogs must have advanced imaging done in order to properly diagnose and treat the underlying problem. These causes of hearing loss are serious and expensive to diagnose and treat but fortunately, they are very rare.

    Deafness in dogs can have a variety of causes and treatments. In many cases, it results simply from old age and treatment is neither needed nor effective. However, its important to rule out other conditions rather than let a dog that could be cured remain deaf for the rest of his life.

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    The Evidence Base Is Growing

    Professor Kevin Munro and PhD researcher Ibrahim Almufarrij looked at 56 studies that linked COVID-19 to auditory problems, like loss of hearing and ringing in the ears.

    They found that 7.6% of COVID patients experienced hearing loss, while 14.8% of them experienced tinnitus. A further 7.2% experienced vertigo, a loss of balance which occurs in people with ear damage.

    In a separate study, Professor Munro found that over 13% of patients who were discharged from a hospital reported a change in their hearing. The team are conducting a long one-year study to further explore the link between COVID and ear damage.

    Researcher Ibrahim Almufarrij explained: Though the evidence is of varying quality, more and more studies are being carried out so the evidence base is growing. What we really need are studies that compare COVID-19 cases with controls, such as patients admitted to hospital with other health conditions.

    Though caution needs to be taken, we hope this study will add to the weight of scientific evidence that there is a strong association between Covid-19 and hearing problems.

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    First Reported Uk Case Of Sudden Permanent Hearing Loss Linked To Covid

    Condition not common, but awareness is important as prompt treatment can reverse it

    Although uncommon, sudden permanent hearing loss seems to be linked to COVID-19 infection in some people, warn doctors, reporting the first UK case in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

    Awareness of this possible side effect is important, because a prompt course of steroid treatment can reverse this disabling condition, they emphasise.

    Sudden hearing loss is frequently seen by ear, nose and throat specialists, with around 5160 cases per 100,000 people reported every year. Its not clear what the causes are, but the condition can follow a viral infection, such as flu, herpes, or cytomegalovirus.

    Despite plenty of published research on sudden onset hearing loss, only a handful of other cases associated with COVID-19 have been reported, and none in the UK–until now.

    The doctors describe a case of a 45 year old man with asthma who was referred to the ear nose and throat department at their hospital after suddenly experiencing hearing loss in one ear while being treated for COVID-19 infection as an inpatient.

    He had been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms which had been going on for 10 days. He was transferred to intensive care as he was struggling to breathe.

    He was put on a ventilator for 30 days and developed other complications as a result. He was treated with remdesivir, intravenous steroids and a blood transfusion after which he started to get better.

    Does Hearing Come Back

    Unheard Concerns: Thousands blame COVID-19 vaccine for hearing problems

    Studies have found that half to two-thirds of people who experience SSNHL recover their hearing. Those who dont may benefit from other treatments such as hearing aids or cochlear implants.

    While there isnt necessarily a way to predict who will andwho will not get their full hearing back, Dr. Woodson notes that people withonly mild hearing loss who seek treatment within a week tend to have higherrates of recovery.

    In the same vein, its hard to know who is going to experience sudden hearing loss in the first place. But Dr. Woodson says recent research has uncovered associations between SSNHL and vascular risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.

    Anything that can affect the little blood vessels coursing through our body can make somebody more likely to have sudden sensorineural hearing loss, she says.

    So the best thing peoplecan do to avoid it? Take care of themselves and their chronic medicalproblems, Dr. Woodson says. All the things that are important for hearthealth are important for ear health as well.

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    What Is Sudden Hearing Loss

    According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders , only about half the people who experience sudden hearing lossthe rapid loss of 30 decibels or more of hearing abilitywill regain some or all of their hearing naturally.

    Many people would be surprised to know how often sudden hearing loss occurs. As a matter of fact for every 5,000 people, between one and six are estimated to experience sudden hearing loss. That said, the NIDCD cautions that the amount of undiagnosed cases would cause that figure to go up if you were to include them. That means that about 400,000 Americans may develop sudden hearing loss every year.

    Sudden hearing loss can actually take place over a few hours or days so the term is a bit of a misconception.

    Sudden Hearing Loss Linked To Covid

    October 16, 2020 — Hearing loss could be a rare side effect of coronavirus infection for some people, according to a new case report about a patient in the UK.

    If recognized early, treatment could reverse part of the hearing loss and stop it from becoming worse, according to the doctors from University College London and the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital.

    âImmediate steroids are the best treatment to improve prognosis,â they wrote in BMJ Case Reports.

    Every year, patients report sudden hearing loss to their doctors, which can stem from viral infections, the flu and other causes. So far, a few cases have been linked with COVID-19, and there may be more that have been unreported. Earlier this year, several patients reported hearing loss after being hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a in the International Journal of Audiology.

    In the UK case, a 45-year-old man with asthma reported hearing loss in one ear while being treated for COVID-19 at the hospital. He had severe coronavirus symptoms and was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. He received intravenous steroids, the antiviral drug remdesivir and a blood transfusion and began to recover.

    âDespite the considerable literature on COVID-19 and the various symptoms associated with the virus, there is a lack of discussion on the relationship between COVID-19 and hearing,â they wrote.

    BMJ Case Reports, âSudden irreversible hearing loss post COVID-19.â

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    Potential Causes Of Damage

    The inner ear contains the sound-sensing spiral cavity of the cochlea, and the fluid-filled semicircular canals, which are involved in balance.

    In their paper, the researchers note some of the proposed explanations for damage to the inner ear that occurred when people had COVID-19.

    These include:

    • direct viral infections of the inner ear or the nerve that carries sensory signals from it
    • autoimmune attack by antibodies or immune cells, or damage caused by excessive production of cytokines, which are immune signaling molecules that cause inflammation
    • blood clots that block the blood supply to the cochlea or semicircular canals, depriving them of oxygen

    The authors conclude their paper by urging caution when interpreting their estimates of the prevalence of hearing problems associated with COVID-19.

    They write that some of the problems may have been preexisting, pointing out that around 11% of the adult population in the U.K. already have some hearing disability and that 17% have tinnitus.

    Moreover, they say that in around half of the studies reviewed, they were unable to determine whether the authors were reporting a new symptom or a worsening of an existing one.

    For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

    Middle Ear Infection Treatments:

    Prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Nontypeable ...

    Its best to see a healthcare provider if you have symptoms of an ear infection that are accompanied by a fever over 102 degrees, notice fluid leaking from your ear , or if your symptoms worsen or persist after two to three days, says Jaclyn Chasse, N.D., a licensed naturopathic physician in New Hampshire and immediate past president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

    Unless a bacterial infection is obvious, your medical provider may want to hold off on dispensing antibiotics to see if your immune system fights off the infection . Middle ear infection treatment includes over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, as well as decongestants and plenty of fluids antihistamines, saline nasal irrigation, and intranasal steroids may be recommended to allergy sufferers.

    If youve seen your primary care physician and the initial treatment isnt improving symptoms or fluid isnt clearing or keeps recurring, you should request a referral to an ENT for further evaluation and testing. The ENT has special tools to clean out the ear canal and to get a good look at whats going on. When fluid isnt clearing in adults, it raises concerns about the possibility of another underlying cause, such as a nasal polyp or tumor, which you dont want to miss, says Dr. Setzen. A chronic ear infection can lead to ear drum perforation and in infrequent cases, lead to as serious a complication as meningitis.

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    Does Taking Ivermectin Cause Male Infertility And Sterilization

    The overall annual incidence of SSNHL in the general population was analyzed and reported in 2013 in the journal Otology and Neurotology. The authors reported an incidence of 27 per 100,000 per year, with significant increased incidence with increasing age. In those under age 18 years, the incidence was 11 per 100,000, and for those ages 65 years and older the incidence rose to 77 per 100,000 per year.

    Male senior patient with hearing aid

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    Causes of SSNHL are wide-ranging. While the majority of cases of sudden-onset hearing loss are never found to have a source, and are thus termed idiopathic, a multitude of viruses and bacteria, as well as tumors, vascular events and autoimmune disorders, may all account for SSNHL. Treatment typically includes a course of oral steroids, but clinicians need to rule out other pathologies such as tumors or certain bacterial infections before proceeding with medical treatment. Various factors, including degree of hearing loss, duration, and cause, if found, impact likelihood of hearing recovery.

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    Hypothyroidism Or Low Thyroid Disease

    Hearing loss as the sole sign of hypothyroidism is rare, because thyroid hormones affect all body systems . But it is nevertheless important to make sure a dog with hearing loss is not suffering from a thyroid problem. Blood testing should be done for every dog with hearing loss and should include a complete blood count, organ profile, and thyroid testing Even dogs with borderline normal thyroid hormone levels should be treated for at least one to two weeks to see what extent the hypothyroidism is contributing to their hearing loss.

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    Other Diseases & Medical Conditions

    • Tinnitus is a reported symptom of the following medical conditions:
    • Metabolic Disorders: Hypothyroidism, Hyperthyroidism, Anemia
    • Autoimmune Disorders: Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia
    • Blood Vessel Disorders: High Blood Pressure, Atherosclerosis
    • Psychiatric Disorders: Depression, Anxiety, Stress
    • Vestibular Disorders: Ménière’s Disease,Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Otosclerosis
    • Tumor-Related Disorders : Acoustic Neuroma, Vestibular Schwannoma, other tumorous growths

    Again, a person experiencing tinnitus should not assume that he/she has one of the medical conditions listed above. Only a trained healthcare provider can appropriately diagnose the underlying cause of tinnitus.

    Inner Ear Infection Treatments:

    Colds That Cause Deafness Medical Course

    Treatments: Youll likely need to be seen by an otolaryngologist, or Ear, Nose, Throat doctor who specializes in the inner ear for a full exam to confirm you have an inner ear infection, rather than an issue such as migraine or a tumor involving the hearing or balancing structures, says Dr. Setzen.

    Typically with an inner ear infection, you treat the symptoms and let the virus run its course. Medication to suppress the dizziness and nausea may be prescribed sometimes IV fluids are given when theres vomiting. Depending on the situation, an oral steroid or anti-viral drug may also be given.

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