I have increasing;y bad tinnitus. Will this help with that?
I hear a permanent and constant low-volume very high pitch "squeal" in my ears at all times,
I was never a big loud music listener, and I have always brought ear-plugs to loud events - and have had no big ear-rupturing moments (such as a gun firing close to my head without protection etc...
This sounds crazy, but try hearing aids. That worked for me. Initially I used the white noise masking feature of them, but switched to using just amplification. I stop noticing my tinnitus a few minutes after I put them in, and it starts again a few minutes after I take them out.
In the spirit of "there's a forum for everything," you can get help programming them yourself here:
Try masking sounds. Your brain has an amazingly capable AGC and absent other sound it can create sound out of just about nothing including sounds that aren't there. Playing very (-30 dB) soft white noise may be just enough to stop your brain from doing its thing and after a short while the white noise itself will fade into the background. This helped me tremendously when I had a nasty case of tinnitus myself (which lasted for years).
That is an open question. Tinnitus is NOT well understood. It does have fairly high correlation with SNHL, which IS pretty well understood as a matter of cochlear hair cell destruction. So there is a lot of optimism that if we can treat the latter, the former will go away, but there may be other components to it in the central nervous system. It certainly would only help to fix SNHL in trying to treat tinnitus.
True, talking to a hearing specialist, they didnt know histidine can reduce hearing loss, now whether this is due to histidine being a precursor for histamine which can help white blood cells move through tissue, or because it can play its part in remyelinating nerves isnt clear.
Manganese could also play a part because its the most abundant metal in hair samples which might translate to the hairs in the ear. However to get it there, you'll need to increase your cysteine intake, but we dont absorb it easily through the gut so we have to use N Acetyl Cysteine...
Ibuprofen increases blood pressure, which is associated with higher levels of tinnitus. You might check in with your GP - maybe some intervention to lower blood pressure could reduce your overall tinnitus?
I feel much better about getting a custom mouthguard for my bruxism now. Also, in case anyone is wondering, it was well worth the insane price for a piece of molded plastic.
Mouth guards for American football, customized by heating and biting them, are pretty cheap in my experience. Not sure how workable they are for other issues.
I had odd bouts of tinitus as a teenager, like you, no obvious causes. It went away and came back with a vengence about 15 years ago. That lasted a year or so but over time it's become more of a minor irritation than a major handicap. I guess, my brain has trained itself to deal with it?
The only tip I can give you is to always have some kind of background sound that you can focus on rather than the buzzing in your own head.
Also, avoid earplugs and headphones, they just create a wierd feedback loop.
The best advice I ever got about my tinnitus was from my mom, who has worse tinnitus than I do: "just forget about it". I know that might sound difficult, but honestly, just try. When you notice it, reassure yourself that it's not really a big problem, and then turn your attention to other things. If you are successful with this, eventually you will only notice it when you remember that you have it and listen for it.
A couple of the things I used to tell myself when it troubled me more than it does now:
- There's nothing you can do about this, so just forget about it.
- We all accumulate damage as we age. None of us are going into the grave in prime condition and if we do, that's a mark of a life not well-lived.
- The fact I can hear this noise means I'm alive: "I hear ringing, therefore I am".
These may not be helpful to you, so invent your own!
The other thing I would recommend is getting a hearing test. If it turns out you have hearing loss, then treatment for that (e.g. hearing aids) may reduce your tinnitus (one theory is that tinnitus is caused by your brain "turning up the gain" on your "audio inputs", so that when you have a hearing aid, your brain no longer needs to do that, and your tinnitus diminishes).
If it turns out you don't have hearing loss, then you can reassure yourself that your tinnitus is not a sign of any damage. I had always assumed my tinnitus was the result of damage due to a lot of music events but it turns out I have excellent hearing, which helps me ignore my tinnitus, because I no longer view it as proof that I hurt myself.
You may also notice that certain things make your tinnitus worse. For instance, if I have a few drinks, mine gets noticeably louder. But because I know the alcohol will wear off, I just ignore it because it's temporary.
One tip that was indeed helpful in learning to ignore it, especially when I was new to tinnitus was: don't keep checking your tinnitus level. Once I stopped checking "Do I hear it now? Is it as loud?" I started minding/noticing it less.
It's interesting advice. I don't even consider myself as "having tinnitus". However, if I sit in a quiet room and concentrate I can certainly hear a background whine. I feel like I have always had that. Is that tinnitus?
It’s a good question and the jury is sort of out on that. That is what tinnitus is like, yes, but on the other hand, in an exceptionally quiet environment it is possible to hear things like the blood rushing in your ears - and tinnitus can also manifest as a roaring sound. I think it is fairly normal to hear something in very quiet environments, even if you don’t have tinnitus.
With that said, my advice to you is, don’t do that. ;) Maybe you have it, maybe you don’t, so probably best to just ignore it, because it’s not a problem unless you start paying attention to it.
Interestingly, having this conversation on HN has made mine more noticeable, so, I better move on too!
I had pretty severe tinnitus. Getting religious about earplug usage at music performances plus getting musician-specific hearing protection pretty well put it into remission. Cymbals with no earplugs are specifically the worst.
My personal albeit anecdotal evidence is that certain foods, or possibly too much sodium, can cause tinnitus. When I have tinnitus I drink a lot of water and reduce my sodium intake - I think that acesulfame postassium (NutraSweet) can cause it for me as well.
You might want to experiment with changing your diet, drinking more water, etc.
I do eat a lot of sodium, but here is an interesting anecdote:
A friend's husband had Lyme Disease - and had very bad veritgo from it which was exacerbated by a high sodium intake (I assume the ear works on the sodium potassium pump in some manner?)
but she used to have to make a very careful diet for him so as to remove sodium as much as possible, which would prevent his vertigo.
"Where an inflammatory component is suspected in bilateral Ménière’s disease, short courses of systemic glucocorticoids may be appropriate. It recently has been shown that glucocorticoids not only influence inflammatory process in Ménière’s disease, but also alter fluid dynamics via an interaction with the sodium pumps in the semicircular canals (Ponduglula et al 2004). Intra-tympanic application of corticosteroids appears to have only temporary effects (Dodson 2004) and is probably not recommended"
I have tinnitus too, and would love a cure/solution. I do play drums and have been exposed to loud music, but my tinnitus nevertheless developed from a glandular fever, and my hearing is actually fine. Would just love to get rid of the constant 3-4khz sine waves and enjoy silence again.
I vaguely remember hearing something about tapping on the back of your head can greatly reduce tinnitus. I think there are plenty of instructional videos on youtube and it's worth a shot to try.
I've tried this in the past and, for me, it never helped for more than a few minutes. But it DID work. It's amazing how interconnected various systems in our bodies can be and how little we truly understand.
It helps some but only for tens of seconds to a minute. Just enough for a tech preview or nostalgia trip (depending on your level of optimism or acceptance), not a solution.
I hear a permanent and constant low-volume very high pitch "squeal" in my ears at all times,
I was never a big loud music listener, and I have always brought ear-plugs to loud events - and have had no big ear-rupturing moments (such as a gun firing close to my head without protection etc...