A note to readers about the importance of spreading
the word about societal effects as a result of
unmitigated hearing loss. 'It's Your Hearing Health'
By
Max S. Chartrand, M.A.
Health & Human Services/
Research in Communicative Disorders
Dear Readers: I’'d like to invite each of you to
visit the DigiCare Hearing Health Network Research
website at www.digicare.org. There, you’ll find one
of the most complete, in-depth health information
sites on the Internet.
When you log onto the homepage, just go to 'Hearing
Library' and click onto any of the nearly 100 topics
of interest. You’re also welcome to print and
distribute information from this site as long as you
keep the credits and references in tact.
As you’ve likely noticed from reading this column,
what affects the body, whether disease, medication,
nutrition, stress affects the ears as well. Ringing
and noises in the ears (tinnitus) is an indication
something is wrong in the body. Advancing hearing
loss is another indication.
On our site you'll find seemingly unrelated
conditions exposed in-depth about their (often
unnecessary) impact on hearing health:
Alzheimer’s/dementias
Hyper/hypotension
Diabetes mellitus II
Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)
Osteoarthritis/osteoporosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Cartilage deterioration
Artherosclerosis/stroke/vascular disease
Hyper/hyponatremia (sodium)
Hyper/hypokalemia (potassium)
Lupus/MS/Autoimmune deficiency
Toxicity from medication taken for the above
And that's just primarily adult conditions. For the
children, our schools, family and society at large
suffer tremendously because of an almost pervasive
lack of recognition of hearing health factors
relative to learning disabilities, language delays,
reading problems and attention deficits. Here are
the top ten culprits for all of these:
Past or present history of chronic otitis media
with effusion (OME)
Adhesive otitis residue and scar tissue on the
eardrums
Noise induced inner ear damage
Chronic inhalant allergy
Nutritional deficiencies, allergies
The list could go on, as some of the most costly,
perplexing, and persistent health and developmental
problems that plague us have hearing-related issues
as their root cause. The lack of recognition of
these facts is one of the major downfalls of our
health system today.
So, help us get the word out. Visit our site, and
spread the word to your friends.
And, if you find something that rings a bell with
your own personal or family situation, write us
about it. You’ll be glad you did.
Questions may be directed to
www.digicare.org or
faxed to (719) 66-6882. Due to space limitations,
questions may be edited.
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