can oxycodone cause deafness?

[bob123]

I read several articles that said that Rush Limbaugh went deaf from abusing oxycodone. The thing is there are lots of oxycodone abusers and I don't hear of them going deaf. Whats the truth here?

 

[pasha]

Opioids are known to be ototoxic, therefore commonly causing hearing loss usually only during extreme abuse.

The likelihood of this extending to deafness is probably a one-off case report, and there are definitely other contributing factors. I'm sure if you look into this individuals case closely, such things will come up.

 

[bob123]

Opioids are known to be ototoxic, therefore commonly causing hearing loss usually only during extreme abuse.

The likelihood of this extending to deafness is probably a one-off case report, and there are definitely other contributing factors. I'm sure if you look into this individuals case closely, such things will come up.

so how come you never hear about heroin addicts going deaf?

 

[Morphling]

Well, my hearing is shit. But I just attribute that to all the speaker humping and blasting bass I've been exposed to for fifteen years or so. This is very interesting, however, due to the fact that most people say that opioids have such few side-effects!

 

[pasha]

so how come you never hear about heroin addicts going deaf?

That's exactly my point. I said that the individual you mentioned is a unique, rare, and probably sole case which could or could not be attributed to opioids.

After looking at his case history *very* briefly ,his doctors actually believe he has a genetic disorder.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I think some opioids might possibly be more ototoxic than others. I have heard about people having hearing loss from oxycodone or hydrocodone, but rarely heroin (although there are cases). I think one of the reasons is also because oxycodone and hydrocodone are often in pills containing acetaminophen (APAP) which is ototoxic itself, and there is an ototoxic synergy between them. Many of the cases I have heard about have been hydro + APAP or oxy + APAP.

As for how likely hearing loss or deafness is, although hearing loss associated with opioid use and is being diagnosed more frequently, it is very likely that it often remains undiagnosed. Doctors don't question opioid users or OD patients about hearing loss, nor do they tend to question patients with hearing loss about whether or not they have used opioids, so people may not make the connection to the opioid use. And if chronic users of illicit opioids have hearing loss it may be even less likely that they would make the connection or even be able to know for sure whether or not it was the opioid.

So, who knows really. I can post links of case reports though if anyone is interested.

 

[laCster]

yes, hydrocodone especially is known to cause hearing loss

Several cases of progressive bilateral hearing loss unresponsive to steroid therapy have been described as an infrequent adverse reaction to hydrocodone/acetaminophene combination. This adverse effect has been considered due to the ototoxicity of hydrocodone

http://www.painphysicianjournal.com/linkout_vw.php?issn=1533-3159&vol=10&page=467
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17525781
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10733182