Time to tune out that one-a-day painkiller mantra before those painkillers force you to tune out everything — because the latest research links these overused meds to hearing loss in men.
In fact, men who use the most painkillers have the worst hearing — especially those under 50, according to a study of 26,917 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow- up Study.
You can read more on this for yourself in the pages of the American Journal of Medicine. May as well get used to it now — you’ll be doing a lot more reading when your hearing’s shot to bits.
The study found all painkillers to be hard on the hearing… but some were worse than others. Men who used acetaminophen more than twice a week had double the risk of hearing loss, while ibuprofen and other NSAIDs increased that risk by two-thirds. Regular aspirin use increased the odds of hearing loss by a third.
Since the researchers only studied white men, they say the results only apply to white men… but would it really surprise you if it turned out these things deadened everyone’s ears?
Painkillers don’t just kill hearing — they tear apart your insides and increase your risk of ulcers, bowel problems, kidney disease, high blood pressure and even the heart problems some of these drugs claim to prevent.
Yet some dummy docs are STILL telling their patients to gobble one down every single day. That’s bad enough — but plenty of other patients use these drugs to self-medicate every minor ache. We’ve turned into a nation of wimps, because most of the people who pop these pills regularly have no idea what real pain is.
It’s like I’ve always said — I don’t care how common or how cheap these meds are, there’s no such thing as a safe painkiller. These are serious drugs, and anyone who uses them regularly is begging for trouble.
Take them long enough, and eventually you won’t even be able to hear the warnings.