Sudden hearing loss is a terrible tragedy. Its called sensorineural hearing loss. Its believed that acute inflammation affecting the inner ear hair cells or the auditory nerve is the cause of this hearing loss. But the true cause remains unknown. And conventional medicine does not have much to offer for treatment. Doctors will typically use steroids. But the results are marginal.
But now theres a natural breakthrough!
In a study on 87 patients with sudden hearing loss, researchers found that two nutrients offer significant help. All of the patients in the study had to meet strict criteria to be included. One of the criteria required that they begin their treatment within 14 days of the hearing loss.
The researchers gave all of the patients either steroids and/or alprostadil (a vasodilating drug). Then they divided the participants into two groups. One received vitamin E (tocopherol nicotinate: 600 mg daily) and vitamin C (1,200 mg daily). They did not give the control group any supplements.
The patients treated with the vitamins showed significant improvement in hearing gain compared to the controls. Additionally, 63.3% of the supplemented subjects improved compared to only 44% of the controls.
This is exciting to me. Ive seen several people who suddenly lost their hearing in one ear. No conventional treatment helped them much. They were told that the condition would be permanent. This study suggests that inflammation in the auditory nerve or critical inner ear hair cells might be the root of the problem. And if caught early, and the inflammation checked, the cells can recover before being permanently lost.
Keep this information around. The condition hits suddenly, without warning or pain. If it happens to you, be sure to use the supplements in conjunction with steroids, should your doctor prescribe the latter to you. The fact that 44% of the controls saw some improvement could suggest the steroids offer some degree of help.
Ref: Hatano M, Uramoto N, et al. Vitamin E and vitamin C in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Acta Otolaryngol, 2007 August 22.