American Diabetes Month, or ADM, is a national campaign to raise awareness of diabetes and encourage people to learn more about the disease. It is celebrated in November every year and is sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. The first ADM was held in 1979.
American Diabetes Month has many goals:
- To educate the public about diabetes and its complications
- To raise funds for diabetes research
- To increase public support for individuals with diabetes
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease that affects the way the body uses sugar. There are two types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system attacks your pancreas, stopping it from producing insulin — a hormone that helps break down food into energy for cells to use. If left untreated, this can cause serious complications leading to organ damage and even death.
Type 2 diabetes develops when your body becomes resistant to insulin, often linked to obesity and lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise or eating habits that contribute to weight gain like excessive consumption of processed foods or carbohydrates (like breads).
Diabetes leads to higher risk of hearing loss than those who don’t have the disease.
If you have diabetes, it’s important to be aware of the signs of hearing loss and take steps to protect your hearing.
Diabetes is a leading cause of hearing loss in people aged 18–44. Nerve damage due to diabetes can lead to tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. High blood pressure—which is common among people with diabetes—can also damage the inner ear by causing a buildup of fluid that puts pressure on it. Kidney disease caused by diabetes has been linked with balance problems and vertigo (a spinning sensation). If you have these conditions, they can also lead to hearing loss
How can you prevent diabetes?
- Eat a healthy diet. This means eating less sugar, salt and fat.
- Exercise regularly. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week (for example, walking or gardening). You may want to talk with your doctor before starting an exercise program if you’re worried about your heart health because of diabetes or another condition.
- Get tested for diabetes and get your blood sugar checked regularly if you have any risk factors for the condition. Your doctor can check your blood sugar levels by doing a fasting test (check first thing in the morning) or using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), which involves drinking sugary liquid then waiting two hours for another reading from a finger prick sample.
What should you do if you think you have hearing loss?
If you think you have hearing loss, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Seek professional help. Your doctor can order an audiogram (a hearing test) to determine whether or not your hearing is at risk of being affected by diabetes. If they feel it’s necessary, they may recommend that you see an audiologist for more information.
- Get a hearing test. A proper diagnosis should be based on the results of a basic screening known as an audiogram and other tests that provide greater detail about how well you hear different frequencies (the higher pitched sounds tend to be lost first), how loud sounds need to be before they become distorted, and how well different parts of the ear process sound signals. A trained audiologist can help explain this data so that both you and your doctor can understand what’s going on inside your ears.
Your doctor might also recommend further testing if they suspect something else is causing some symptoms associated with diabetic hearing loss, such as problems with balance or vision issues caused by glaucoma or cataracts.
This American Diabetes Month, CBook an appointment with us today if you think you have hearing loss. We have the skills and experience to help get you back on the road to better hearing!