While drugs that lower blood pressure can cause side effects that lead to sexual problems, it's not always the medication that's at fault, says an article in the October issue of the Harvard Heart Letter.
Criticism: The HealthDay story (below) about this research erroneouslystates that: "Drinking can Lead to Hearing Loss." Hearing was nevertested.
What wasdone was the ABR (auditory brainstem response) test. This testinvolves attaching electrodes to the head to record electrical activity from theauditory nerve (the hearing nerve) and other parts of the brain. The ABR test isalso known as brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP).
A Thought: It is interesting that hearing loss is also acharacteristic feature of the fetal alcohol syndrome. When the mother drinksalcoholduring pregnancy, the alcohol shedrinks can damage the baby'sability to hear normally. Might the mechanism alsoinvolve damage to theauditory cortex?
