ePillz.com - Impotence Drugs May Cause Sudden Hearing Loss

Impotence Drugs May Cause Sudden Hearing Loss

October 18, 2007

- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration –

According to the new post-marketing reports, erectile dysfunction medications, such as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, may cause sudden hearing loss, which can be either temporary or continuous. After revising the available information on the cases of hearing loss associated with the use of ED medications, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the revision of labels for all the ED drugs, including Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. The FDA asked products manufacturers to include a new warning about the potential risk of hearing loss on the labels of their products.

It is interesting to note that the decision of the FDA to revise the labels of popular ED medications is based on a very small amount of reported hearing loss cases in patients, taking ED drugs. In fact, the FDA found only 29 post-marketing reports on the sudden hearing loss. One of them was published at the April 2007 issue of the Journal of Laryngology & Otology and it initiated the FDA investigation of the potential association between sudden hearing loss and the use of ED medications.

Speaking about the character of hearing loss, it is reported that in most of the cases, the hearing loss involved one ear. In some cases it was accompanied with the ringing in the ears, vertigo, or dizziness, and in other cases patients did not face any accompanying symptoms. The hearing loss was either partial or complete. It is also reported that in about 30 % of the reported cases, the hearing loss was temporary, while in other cases the hearing loss was either continuous or the final outcome was not described.

The FDA explained in its official press-release that “because some level of hearing loss is usually associated with the aging process, patients on these drugs may not think to talk to their doctor about it.” Consequently, it is important to warn them on the potential risk of sudden hearing loss, which can be caused by ED medications. The FDA strongly recommends all the patients who experience sudden hearing problems while on ED drugs to stop taking them and seek for medical examination and help.

In addition to medications used to treat erectile dysfunction, the same change of the labeling is likely to be initiated by the FDA for the drug Revatio, which is now used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Revatio is, in fact, another brand name for sildenafil, which is widely known as Viagra. Consequently, the use of this medication may also potentially lead to sudden hearing loss.

However, in contrast to the recommendations for people taking ED medications the FDA does not recommend patients treated with Revatio to abruptly stop taking this medication, since this may cause additional health problems. In case of Revatio patients should continue their treatment even if they experience some problems with hearing, because abrupt stopping of the therapy may cause other health problems. At the same time those patients are recommended to consult their doctors as soon as possible for further evaluation.

Finally, it should be noted that in the past years the labels of Viagra, Levitra and Cialis have already been revised in order to warn consumers about rare but serious side effects associated with the use of this class of medications. The most notable concern was optic nerve damage, which resulted in the condition called non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION). More details on this issue can be viewed at the following address: http://www.epillz.com/info/ed-treatment-and-the-risk-of-optic-nerve-damage.html

From now on doctors prescribing ED medications as well as patients using them will also have to consider the potential risk of sudden hearing loss along with other side effects of Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. However, taking into account extremely small amount of reported hearing loss cases, this is unlikely to have small impact on the popularity of the above mentioned medications as the most effective weapons against erectile dysfunction for the time being.

Nick

External resources
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01730.html
http://www.epillz.com/info/ed-treatment-and-the-risk-of-optic-nerve-damage.ht...