Jimmy phoned me from his office because he couldn't travel to mine. His increasing dizzy spells and ringing in his ears had laid him flat on his office couch. He especially suffered dizziness after standing up suddenly from a sitting position. Indeed, for nearly three years, he had been experiencing gradual hearing loss. During the past 30 years, Jimmy worked as a motion picture sound director, and his job entailed being responsible for both music and special effects soundtracks, in addition to anything else in a film that required sound. He loved his job and was successful. Unfortunately, the years of exposure to high decibel sound had led to hearing loss, dizziness, crow’s feet, and ringing in both ears, especially his right ear. In addition, he had a genetic disposition to hearing loss because his father and grandfather suffered from the same affliction as they became older.
Before I could tell him about an exciting, new breakthrough in addressing hearing problems, Jimmy interrupted me and exclaimed he was so desperate that he wanted to have surgery. He had tried conventional drugs, but they did not work and had adverse side effects.
Surgery wouldn’t have solved his problem. However, there was another alternative, a natural one that wasn’t as drastic or as risky---and it has provided beneficial effects for those afflicted with hearing problems (AldoMax). It’s a new Swedish remedy with natural peptides and amino acids that work together in synergy to alleviate the discomforts of ear problems. The beauty of it is that there are no adverse side effects for anyone who uses this remarkable remedy. Jimmy finally agreed to try this new approach and schedule an appointment with me.
While I had him on the phone, I asked him a few questions. He admitted he was still drinking a lot of strong coffee and smoking (nicotine and caffeine are two substances that can cause or aggravate hearing problems.) He has also been taking a lot of aspirin on a daily basis because of his thick blood and headaches, mostly due to his constant exposure to high-decibel sound. Jimmy was caught in a vicious circle. The loud noises gave him headaches, so he took aspirin; the long hours tired him, so he drank coffee to stay awake; the pressure of constant job deadlines created stress, so he smoked to feel calm. The result: all of this aggravated his hearing problem and caused decreased blood supply, thickened his blood, and decreased metabolic activity in his inner ear.
Jimmy is not alone. 40 million Americans and over 400 million people worldwide have impaired hearing. If younger people could hear better, they could hold a job and improve their lives. In older people, it’s one of the ten leading chronic conditions reported by those over age 60, according to the National Center for Health Statistics from the National Health Interview Surveys for recent years. The largest group afflicted is seniors. Age-related hearing loss affect 30 to 35% of Americans between the ages of 60 to 75. Hearing impairment and ear problems affect more than10 percent of the population, and most of these people have varying degrees of tinnitus or ringing and buzzing in their ears.
Common Hearing Problem Types
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, in a report titled, “Hearing, Hearing Impairment and Deafness (1),” the following is a list of common hearing problems:
Tinnitus: the most common type of all ear problems. As mentioned earlier, 85% of those with hearing impairments have some degree of tinnitus. People hear a ringing, buzzing, clicking, or pulsating noise of continuous or intermittent frequency, soft or loud intensity, and high or low pitch (1).
Conductive Hearing Loss: occurs in some older people. It involves the blocking of sounds that are carried from the eardrums to the inner ear.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss: involves damage to parts of the inner ear or auditory nerve. When this type of impairment occurs in older people, it’s called presbycusis (pronounced prez-bee-KU-sis).
Over 70% of seniors over age 70 have hearing impairment. Every year after age 40, we’re likely to lose some of our hearing ability. Children often can hear up to 15,000 Hertz and dogs can hear to 20,000 plus Hertz. As children grow old, hearing gradually declines to below 8,000 Hertz in seniors. And guess what? We need approximately 13,000 Hertz of hearing to understand all notes and subtleties from a symphony orchestra.
Just as graying hair occurs at different rates for different people, presbycusis (loss of hearing during aging) acts in the same way. Both are significant markers of the aging process. Environmental noise, certain medications, improper diet, and definitely deteriorating genes contribute to this vexing impairment.
Central Auditory Dysfunction: occurs in older people, although it’s rare, even in this age group. Damage to the nerve centers within your brain cause this problem such as a head injury, high fever, vascular problems, or tumors. Sound levels are unaffected, but understanding language or cognitive difficulties are usually a problem.
Meniere’s Disease: According to the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center in a report titled “Hearing Loss”, this is a common condition caused by changes in the chemical composition and volume of fluid within the inner ear. It tends to affect only one ear and causes episodic spells of severe dizziness, vertigo, and fluctuating hearing loss that gradually deteriorates over time. The cause is unknown, but if it occurs with signs and symptoms of crow’s feet and acute dizziness when a patient suddenly stands up from a comfortable armchair, the cause is likely a deficiency of aldosterone (AldoMax).
Causes of Hearing Problems
Exposure to loud noises over time, viral infections, vascular disorders (heart and stroke), head injuries, tumors, heredity, certain medications or age-related changes in the ear can cause hearing loss.
A clinical study by Dr. DeBartolo found that basic diet factors that are good for the heart are also good for hearing problems (2). The opposite is also true. Reducing your intake of fat and cholesterol, as well as avoiding caffeine, can help alleviate ear problem symptoms. Jimmy knew he needed to lose 20 or 30 pounds, but he didn’t know that diet was another contributing factor to his hearing problem. In fact, it has been shown that excess fat in the diet is closely associated with all inner ear symptoms.
Since tinnitus is related to most hearing problems, a more detailed list of causes, particularly for tinnitus, will be useful. Aging, noise-induced damage, muscle spasm, ototoxicity (toxic effects in the ear) from medications, stress, hypertension, vascular abnormalities, family history, and Meniere’s disease (a ruptured inner ear membrane)---are all problems that can cause tinnitus.
Drugs and other toxic substances that may cause or aggravate tinnitus include caffeine, nicotine, aspirin, ibuprofen, and other painkillers, antidepressants, antibiotics, antihistamines, diuretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antihypertensives, and flexeril (a muscle relaxant). Even allergies to certain goods, including dairy products, fruits, and glutens, may give rise to tinnitus (1).
Indeed, many substances are potentially ototoxic to the ear when
consumed in high doses. Furthermore, deficiencies of certain minerals such as zinc and selenium and even vitamins such as A and E, put the inner ear at risk when exposed to ototoxic situations or loud noise. For this reason, we recommend 50 mg daily zinc and 0.1 mg daily of selenium (3). Last, we strongly recommend alpha-lipoic acid for tinnitus, dose 300 mg twice daily. In a clinical double-blind placebo study, tinnitus decreased from 45 to 30.8 decibels).
Some recreational and job activities that cause noise-activated tinnitus include power tool and miscellaneous use such as boat motors, lawnmowers, saws, motorcycles, racetrack riding, firearms and headphones.
Other noise-induced damage, often afflicting people at a younger age, can result from exposure to loud rock concerts or earphones set at excessively high levels. According to one expert Dr. Chase, “One loud rock concert can leave persons with permanent tinnitus, and legions of frequent concert-goers now suffer high-frequency hearing loss.”
Another cause of noise-induced damage---and this may surprise you—is movies. As reported in Health Journal, “Sophisticated audio technology now enables soundtracks to be made and played at roof-raising volumes.” Climatic scenes of summer blockbusters sometimes exceed 110 decibels---nearly the same noise level of a jet plane on the tarmac. Ear-bludgeoning sound from feature films—and even louder blasts from trailers—can induce headache, tinnitus, or even temporary shifts in hearing that could presage early damage. Moreover, high noise levels can raise blood pressure, heart rate and release high levels of the stress hormone adrenaline. Robert Sweetow, Audiology Director at the University of California at San Francisco, measured sound levels of Batman (112 decibels) and Contact (107 decibels)---volumes he said were equal to those produced by a pneumatic hammer.
Maurice Miller, Ph.D., reports in Dr. Atkin’ Health Revelations, “There is another preventable cause [of hearing problems], one you’re not likely to hear about from your doctors: synthetic medications. Use of over-the-counter and prescription drugs is one of the three leading causes of hearing impairment.” (author’s note: Years ago, I used an antibiotic in Brazil, and I am hearing impaired to this day.)
“If asked to name the top causes of hearing loss, most people could probably guess two of them, noise and growing old. The third might come as a surprise, although it’s as close as your medicine cabinet.”
“Drugs, both over-the-counter and prescription, can cause either temporary or permanent hearing impairment. How much you’ve taken, how long you’ve been on it, and how you’re taken it (orally or intravenously) will increase the ototoxic potential of the medication. Sometimes, discontinuing a medication’s use will restore or improve hearing.
One of the first signs of a drug-related hearing problem is tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears. Thus, tinnitus always signals some type of inner ear problem. If the damage is mild, you may feel nothing more than some ringing. More serious drug- or genetic-related damage could include dizziness combined with hearing loss. In addition, if these two are combined with a third symptom, namely suddenly feeling dizzy when you abruptly stand up after relaxing in an easy chair, then you may well have a deficiency of aldosterone (AldoMax). A tiny dose of aldosterone applied topically in a patient’s ear canals or to a patient's periorbital rhytids (crow’s feet) will correct these symptoms.
Of all medications harmful to hearing, the most commonly used is aspirin. And the harm is not surprising because aspirin was a prescription drug when it was invented way back in 1904! With aspirin, fortunately, hearing damage is reversible. However, the loss may be permanent if you’re taking other ototoxic drugs or are concurrently exposed to high noise levels.
A Remedy That Works----Without Side Effects!
The encouraging news is there’s a new approach to ear problems that has shown to be beneficial---without the negative side effects of traditional medications. It’s a special Swedish remedy using topically applied aldosterone in the ear canals or to the skin of the face. AldoMax will help to support the cellular environment of the cochlea (inner ear)---where hearing disorders originate. AldoMax is now available in North America from our Canadian distributor.
The choices we make in our everyday lives can determine whether we will continue to experience or put an end to hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, Meniere’s disease, and other hearing problems. Jimmy chose to try our Swedish remedy, AldoMax and undergo hypnotherapy to relieve his stress and anxiety. (We also recommend chiropractic adjustment.) Jimmy’s entire life has changed---for the better. His hearing loss has improved by many decibels of clearer hearing and his dizziness has vanished. He also quit smoking and taking aspirin. (note: The enzyme, nattokinase is a good and harmless substitute for replacing baby aspirin that keeps a person’s blood thin.) He changed his diet to Paleolithic and lost 25 pounds; and he exercises daily by walking more and attending a gym. As you can see, the choices about diet and supplements can positively benefit your hearing in several different ways.
1.Ross, V. et al., "Geriatric tinnitus: Causes, clinical treatment, and prevention, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 17(10): 6-11.
2.DeBartolo, H. "Zinc and diet for tinnitus." The American Journal of Otology, 1(3): 256.
3.Petridou, A. et al., 2019 “Nutrients”; 11:E3037. “The effect of antioxidant supplementation"
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