Stress Disease
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com spoke with Dr. Ing. Birgit Mazurek (35), about triggers and chances of recovery in acute hearing loss. Dr. Mazurek is a senior physician at the Tinnitus Center of the Berlin University Hospital Charité.
Dr. Birgit Mazurek
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: The hearing loss is usually seen as a stress disease - is that true?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: A hearing loss is a circulatory disorder of the inner ear. It can be associated with stress. That is not the only cause. Often it is an interaction of different triggers. In addition to stress often include diseases of the cervical spine, coagulation disorders of the blood or pre-damaged Hörsinneszellen.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: The causes are allegedly not fully understood until today. What role do viruses play?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: It is assumed that a circulatory disturbance, as animal experiments have shown. Viruses, such as herpes or Borrelia, are only very rarely the trigger. Inflammation by viruses is associated with a swelling of the inner ear vessels, which then also leads to circulatory disorders.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: What is the difference between a hearing loss and a tinnitus?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: In a hearing loss, the hearing is reduced, Hörsinneszellen begin to die. Even a tinnitus is a disorder of the cells, but the disorder is expressed differently: By auditory noise, instead, as in the case of acute hearing, by reduced hearing. The sounds of tinnitus arise because the cell increasingly sends messenger substances to the nerve. The messenger substances usually ensure that we can hear.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Who is particularly vulnerable?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: It hits both men and women, across all professional groups. However, it is often people who are extremely tense professionally. Particularly at risk is the age group between the late 30s and early 40s - they often establish themselves in the job, but the performance curve is already down - and people between late 50 and early 60, often already existing disorders, such as wear of the cervical spine or senile hearing loss ,
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: What can I do myself?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: It is important that those affected go to the doctor as soon as possible, so as soon as they notice the symptoms - acute hearing loss, pressure, dizziness. It is not an emergency, but an emergency. At some point, the "point-of-no-return" is exceeded, that is, the cell has died and can no longer be revived. No one knows exactly how long it takes for a cell to die. It's about 36 hours in the lab. Everyone is different, so you should go to the doctor as soon as possible.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: What therapies are there?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: There are two ways to promote disturbed blood flow. By medication or by infusions. Both options are recognized by the health insurances. Medications are not usually as effective as infusions. The latter are therefore often recommended in more severe cases, however, the side effects such as itching or allergic reactions are often stronger than with drugs. The infusions are placed daily for eight to ten days. In severe cases, cortisone is also added because cortisone improves the swelling of vessels.
Patients are always examined by orthopedics. The blood vessels pass through the spine to the ear. Many patients are tense, blockages in the cervical spine reduce the blood supply to the ear. Such blockages must be corrected, an infusion alone brings in such a case little.
There is also a kind of blood washing (apheresis) that can be used once. The costs for the apharesis are in the four-digit range and are not covered by the health insurance companies. This therapy only makes sense if a patient has high cholesterol.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Can a sudden hearing loss be completely cured?
Dr. Birgit Mazurek: In some patients a complete cure is possible, in others the hearing is worse. I can not tell you numbers, but the majority benefits from a treatment. The problem is: we can not measure our treatment chances. Although we can diagnose a hearing loss with a hearing test, we do not know at what stage the cells are located. This information would be important to assess if infusion therapy is useful. As the cells sit behind the eardrum, we can not get to them. Nevertheless, I would always recommend a therapy, spontaneous healing - ie healing without therapy - are rare.
additional Information
German Tinnitus League e.V.(DTL) Am Lohsiepen 18 42369 Wuppertal Tel .: 0202-24 65 2-0 Fax: 0202-24 65 2-20
The tinnitus league offers initial telephone consultation free of charge: Telephone number (0202) 2 46 52 74. Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10-12 clock and Tuesday, 16-18 clock. Free information brochures of the tinnitus league can be requested here.
Recommended reading
Eberhard Biesinger, Karoline V. Greimel. "Quickly understand hearing loss and tinnitus and act right the first time - answers to the most important questions." Trias-Verlag. 2003. 12,95 Euro.
