Allergies can cause temporary hearing loss or other hearing disturbances. Here is some specific information about it, originally taken from a comment on the wine allergy thread.
The following was contributed by PF:
The first time I experienced sudden hearing loss, I immediately went to the emergency room and was examined by an ENT. The doctor explained that Sudden Sensorial Hearing Loss (SSHL) is a medical emergency and the standard method of treating it entails injections of steroids to the eardrum, along with prednisone pills. I agreed to the treatment, but I found that it did not help me recover my hearing until I changed my diet.
Although the ENT did not consider food allergies as a factor, I decided to undertake an elimination diet, which limited my dietary consumption to the following items: vegetables, lean meats, and water. Within a few days, I noticed a significant improvement in my hearing. The doctor accounted the succcess to the steroid regimen, but I thought it was a result of my change in diet.
After the recovery from SSHL, I noticed that my hearing would periodically wane, but I did not visit the ENT because I found that I would recover my hearing within a few hours. I began to think that I might have developed Meniere’s Disease; I experienced a couple of episodes of vertigo during the initial loss. Sadly, I had begun to accept my condition as a new way of life. However, I examined the pattern of hearing loss and noticed that it happened after drinking wine. For reasons completely unrelated to my hearing impairment, I decided to begin drinking Oil of Oregano pills and strangely my hearing has been stable ever since.
I have noticed that if I stop taking the pills for a while and I drink wine, my hearing will begin to deaden like it did in the past. I was surprised to find the correlation, until I researched further and found that oil of oregano has anti-inflammatory properties and can tame allergies. I’m not sure what’s happening inside of my inner ear-and neither can the doctors-but, whatever it is, the oil of oregano has some sort of soothing properties that allows me to drink wine without going deaf.
I think I have a histamine allergy, because in the past I have had a few bad and sudden allergic reactions to MSG and bananas, both of which have a high histamine content. I guess that over time I must have developed an allergy to wine because of its histamine content. All of these observations are completely anecdotal, as I don’t really have any scientific research to back it up, but I truly hope it helps in some way.
Gluten allergy or other allergies may cause similar symptoms and/or tinnitus.
What are your experiences with allergy and hearing loss or auditory disturbances?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you PF for writing all this information up I too have had the same problem and went to the ENT and got predisolone and my hearing can go from 2 – 24 hours and the predisolone has not made much difference but each Dr I see always asks if I have an animal as they think I could be allergic to something*(I don’t have any pets)…although the ENT does not think this way…I do feel there is something triggering mine and have had a few allergy tests but nothing has showed up…so am at a loss as to what to do now….but am heartened by your information PF can you tell me what it is you take is it liquid or tablets as I will try that as what I do know is they keep saying I have some inflammation ….although they do not know where or how…nightmare…looking forward to hearing from you and thank you again
I have hearing disturbances mostly linked to wheat or gluten allergy. I get ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and often have to ask people to repeat what they just said, even though I more or less heard all the words.