[Skylab]

Jazz makes some good points. Tinnitus is complex, and poorly understood. I have very mild tinnitus caused by TMJ, which is caused by clenching my teeth at night, which is caused by a stressful job, etc, etc. Funny that my tinnitus gets better when I get a massage, or even relax listening to music!

Anyhow, none of this lessens the importance of caring for your hearing. There is no doubt that tinnitus is one of the LEAST common problems associated with noise-related hearing damage. Causing loss of HF hearing ability, and ultimately growing deafness, are far more common. Listen at comfortable levels, folks, but be careful. Unless you have terminal cancer, in which case you should crank it up big time. No joke.

I think so many head-fiers report having tinnitus because as a group we're pretty "in tune" with our auditory systems, maybe to a fault.

 

[Bones13]

Not an audiologist - I would think an orthopedist is about the other end of the spectrum. But, as is true of most ailments, there are many causes of tinnitis. Temporary, and permanent damage to the nerves in the ear responsible for hearing, compression of the auditory nerve, and even mechanical linkage problems with the tiny bones in the ear (at least this kind of thing I can get a grasp on) These are all sources of incorrect sound. I am sure that many medical conditions which adversely affect nerve function (including diabetes) can be considered.

On the other hand is more of a gray area, and pertains to nerves and the brain. The junctions of nerves (synapses) change their sensitivity over time, in response to different factors. If you stimulate a nerve in the same way over a long period of time, it becomes accomodated to that activity and the junction actually connects with lower stimulation.

When you consider that some tinnitis may be a "learned" response to certain types of auditory stimuli (from repeated stimulation over time), resetting these connections actually may help some people. Of course just getting some folks to relax for 20 minutes a day might be even more helpful.

How to pick those people would be the hard part. The nature of this type of advertising, and many of the herbal supplements that are sold, is that a few people notice a strong improvement in whatever was bothering them, and soon their anectdotal stories become the facts that help the products sell.

As a medical professional, this type of marketing is distastefull, but then snake oil has been sold, and eagerly bought for centuries. Will it help some people - probably, is it the simple answer to everyones problem - No. Will this hurt people? Well financially yes, and to those that turn up the white noise too high on their iPod.

I have really enjoyed the humor in this thread though, you all are quite a humorous lot

 

[neilvg]

I'm glad to know that many of us have our opinions and experiences with tinnitus. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, I think it's important to figure out how your biology works and go with it from there.

I used to have extremely good hearing as kid. As I grew older, it wasn't loud concerts, but stressful circumstances that created various neuromuscular tensions in the body/mind. I've been able to eliminate my perception of tinnitus greatly, and I have correspondingly gained almost all of my original hearing back. (tinnitus can exist without hearing loss, there isn't any necessary 1:1 correlation).

Neil

 

[davidhw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slidemasterx When you say that tinnitus is aggravated by lack of sleep, caffeine, alcohol etc, does it mean that it will get worse in the long run, or is it just temporary? My tinnitus only becomes worse when I don't have enough sleep so could it possibly get worse even if I don't listen to loud music? Also is this product just b**l or is it real? http://ringstop.onlineworldstore.com/

You have to become aware of what causes acute attacks and what doesn't, in my experience (I'm not a doctor, so none of this is medical advice, just my anecdotal contribution). Avoid the things that make it worse.

Once tinnitus becomes chronic, it is not curable and can only get worse, AFAIK. I know that sounds tautological, but there you have it.

As far as Ringstop goes, the consensus among those with Meniere's-induced tinnitus is that it's worthless.

 

[iancraig10]

Mine comes and goes. It seems to correspond with the quality of sleep that I get. A bad night = tinnitus.

One morning, I woke up and heard a shhhhh noise in my ear and I thought, 'here we go .....'

Then when I got up, it was the loo filling up. I'm beginning to confuse tinnitus with the 'real world'.

Ian

 

[jimmyjames8]

Tinnitus sufferer for about 3 years now. I take ginko from Arches as well as some of Barry's other supplements and supplements from the drug store. It takes 3-4 months of taking ginko and or additional vitamin and mineral supplements to affect a change in tinnitus for most people. Several studies have shown that it takes 3-4 months of taking any kind of supplement to affect a change in the body.

There are many causes of tinnitus and many treatments but not cures. Habitutation or retraining works according to the doctors and their statistics. I have not participated in this type of treatment but it is supposedly highly effective. It is also fairly expensive and time consuming and not permanent.

There are tinnitus exciters or triggers if you will that make tinnitus worse or cause flare ups. There are 200+ known over the counter and prescription drugs that worsen tinnitus. Aspirin and ibuprophen are just 2. Tylenol (acetomeniphen) does not. Stress, Caffenine, nicotine and alcohol are also exciters as well as some artificial sweeteners.

Ginko, garlic, zinc, magnesium, calcium, B complex, B-12, C (two forms), D, fish oil (for animal Omega's) and flax seed oil (vegetable Omegas) are the supplements I take and they work for me. It is night and day difference most days for me as to the level of my ringing when I skip taking these supplements at night.

There is a ton of info here: http://www.tinnitusformula.com/information_center.aspx

and here:
http://www.tinnitusformula.com/quiet_times.aspx

All the info is free and 99% of it is from published medical studies and clinical trials. Barry also tells you exactly what is in each of his products and in what quantities, so if you want to go to the vitamin store and buy their supplements instead of his, you can. Hope this helps.

 

[Tanelorn]

You can only have tinnitus if you believe you can have tinnitus.

Thats a fantastic post..
For me.. i always thought Tinnitus itself cannot really be a condition, as I never could imagine how this would be caused..
and I got it.. so..

 

[Hanafuda]

Twelve years.

Twelve.