Diabetes and Tinnitus — Is There a Link?

[keith wescott]

Hi I'm new here. Thanks.

Not sure of my way about yet, but I was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 at the time my tinnitus started.

Is there a link or just coincidence?

Thanks for any help.

 

[iGL0CK]

Hi I'm new here. Thanks.

Not sure of my way about yet, but I was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 at the time my tinnitus started.

Is there a link or just coincidence?

Thanks for any help.

Diabetes is well known to cause Tinnitus. Many many other things can cause Tinnitus too btw.
So maybe it's just coincidence but this is pretty good explanation for T.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Is there a link or just coincidence?

I noticed that my T seems to be louder after my blood sugar increases.

 

[BuzzyBee]

I noticed that my T seems to be louder after my blood sugar increases.

My tinnitus also fluctuates with blood sugar. Blood sugar too high spikes it, blood sugar too low spikes it. No diabetes as far as I know, but there's definitely a connection.

 

[valeri]

It could be pure coincidence but it could also be related.
Who knows!

I have insulin resistance for now but wouldn't be surprised if I develop type 2 very soon.
My diet is an absolute shocker!

Low carb and fasting is the best cure but my tinnitus is so bad I can't get myself to start.

Best thing is to try bring insulin down and see what happens.

There's lots of info on insulin and tinnitus:

 

[Frédéric]

Interpreting auditory brainstem evoked responses and distortion product otoacoustic emissions in diabetic patients with normal hearing

Abstract
Objective
Hearing impairment is a reported late complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Previous studies have suggested that microangiopathic complications may cause cochlear nerve function deterioration. We evaluated the auditory brainstem evoked responses (ABRs) and distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) results according to the presence of DM in subjects with normal hearing.

Methods
A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted from January 2016 to January 2018. Auditory function tests including ABR and DPOAE were performed for outpatients complaining of unilateral tinnitus. All of analyses were conducted in ears without tinnitus on contralateral side of tinnitus ears. We included subjects showing hearing thresholds within 25 dB at 0.5, 1k, 2k, and 4k on pure tone audiometry. 45 ears in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 85 ears in non-diabetic patients were finally enrolled in our study.

Results
Diabetic subjects showed significantly more prolonged absolute peak latencies (I, III, V) and inter-peak latencies (I–V, III–V) than non-diabetic subjects. However, there was no significant difference in the inter-peak latency (I–III) between these two groups. Diabetic subjects also showed significantly lower amplitudes at f2 frequencies of 1001, 1200, 1587, 4004, 5042, and 6348 Hz than non-diabetic subjects. Additionally, the prevalence of a DPOAE response, defined as 3 dB above the noise floor, was significantly lower in diabetic subjects than that in non-diabetic subjects.

Conclusion
Diabetic patients with normal hearing can still have abnormal ABR and DPOAE results due to diabetic neuroangiopathy. ABR and DPOAE assessments can help in detecting subclinical auditory dysfunction, which precedes the manifestation of hearing impairment in diabetic patients.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S038581462030242X