Pain Medications and Hearing Loss Web sites

[Guest guest]

The drug combination medication that is being attributed to hearing

loss is distributed under various names including the brands Vicodin®,

Hydrocet®, Lorcet®, Norco® and their generic counterparts. Hearing

researchers at the House Ear Clinic in L.A. California

are still trying to find out how these painkillers cause deafness.

Researchers know the delicate hair cells inside the inner ear are

permanently damaged in people with opiate-induced hearing loss. These

hair cells are like tiny microphones, picking up sound vibrations and

transforming them into nerve impulses that are transmitted to the

brain. Once they're destroyed, people lose the ability to sense sounds.

It seems that people who are using MORE than the allotted prescribed

dose are the ones who are experiencing the hearing loss. One patient

who was having pain from two knee surgeries was taking 20 - 30 pills a

day. Once the symptoms started, it was 4 weeks before he had total

hearing loss.

Info from :

House Ear Clinic

their web site includes an online hearing test

http://www.hei.org/

http://www.hei.org/news/factshts/painkillers.htm

http://www.latimes.com/la-091001vicodin.htmlstory