Posted on 12/05/2016 6:55:23 AM PST by far sider
Hey guys. I'm 58 and have had tinnitus for about 30 years now. It has always been just an annoyance. But this year the volume has increased A LOT. It's like a very loud dentist's drill in both ears. I have heard that tinnitus can make you suicidal. I always scoffed at that but I'm starting to see why it would be attractive to some people.
I have a few questions and would appreciate any feedback.
1. I know there is not cure but do any of you know of anything that can reduce the volume?
2. Do cochlear implants help tinnitus?
3. Is there anything promising down the road?
My doctor doesn't have any answers.
It’s important to try to eliminate potential causes, especially since it recently showed a significant change. I would suggest going to a specialist.
My tinnitus started very mildly at 25, and since both my parents have it I thought little of it. Within a few years, this became louder tinnitus with hearing loss. To make a long story short, the specialist found the conditions causing the hearing loss (one related to otosclerosis, a stiffening of tissues between the ear bones; one related to a cyst in my middle ear). Both can be corrected surgically — I’m in the midst of it with one successful surgery down and waiting on another.
My tinnitus in the corrected ear is not completely gone, but is MUCH less. Also, I’m grateful to not be going deaf in my 30s.
My VA hearing aids have that feature. It does help at the frequencies that can be accurately reproduced, but like most will say, nothing really helps.
My MIL had severe tinnitus for a long time. Someone suggested a tinnitus herbal treatment and it is all but gone now. freepmail me a reminder to get the name. No idea if it will do anything for you, but it worked for her.
Lipo-flavinoid, I recommended it to someone and it worked. My husband’s uncle has Meniere’s disease and it helped him immensely. He had to walk with a cane before.
If you are taking any prescription meds, you might want to research each of them to see if it has tinnitus as a side effect alone or in combination with other meds. After starting Lisinopril, the tinnitus and pounding in the ears I already had became significantly worse. Lo and behold, these are known side effects. Like everyone else’s, my doctor finds it quite easy for him to live with me having this.
mark
Were you in California, Massachusetts, or Illinois?
Bring a white noise generator to your next appointment and turn it all the way up while she tries to talk to you.
Interesting...... the noise I hear reminds me of summer nights when I was a kid. It was hot and we often “slept out”
It is therefore a pleasant memory. Perhaps my mind is generating it’s own white noise.
On a Sad note..... years ago I had dinner with some FReepers and one was suffering from the problem. Eventually, he did in fact suicide.
I can’t remember his name..... it was quite some time ago
It works for me but caused my hearing aid to feed back
“You’re asking someone who had a career in aviation for over 40 years? 5KHz is gone for me.”...Amen brother. too many years on the flight line. That and playing with things that go BANG!
“Smart” hearing aids can attenuate some of the unwanted sound out but not all and they are $$$.
I have had ringing for 20 + years. Not a huge bother until after I threw my back out and started getting adjusted by my chiropractor. Back on my feet and in better shape now but when my back is needing adjusted I can tell it because my neck starts hurting and my ears start ringing, NO, more like roaring like a couple of 747 engines ready to take off. The stress and tension in my neck is involving the bones and nerves of my inner ear. After 2 days of it I gotta get adjusted or start medicating to keep the anxiety down. There was a spot that I am adjusted past now but it was craziness for a few months.
Maybe visit a chiropractor and see if they can help?
On a side note, why do hearing remedies advertise on the radio?
Huh? What?
Every morning I take VASTAREL MR@ 35mg but it's not FDA approved so it may be hard to come buy. My ear doctor told me that it was controversial and to only take it if it seems to help (I think it does). Another thing that helps me is cleaning out the ears thouroughly w/ Debrox, it makes the ambient noises sound louder.
Something that's probably mandatory is keeping super busy doing things to refocus the mind. Prayer is good, and I mean strong heartfelt absolutely sincere prayer. Yeah, it might not cure anything but but at least you don't think about it if you're praying hard enough. When I don't like prayer there's always sex, video games --I just bot an Oculus which is great for both games like Elite Dangerous and porn.
Like my doc told me there's a lot of controversy about tinitus, some say it's caused by exposure to loud noises, others say it's caused by changes in altitude. I used to own a Cessna and got a lot of both. Tell u what I'll pray for u. Then I'll get back to my oculus.
Most people get rapid relief, but it is short lasting and they become discouraged; I personally feel the key is to make sure to repeat anytime symptoms return. My theory— because anecdotally it works for people without nerve damage, but not for those with. I think it is retraining the neural network by some neuronal inhibition mechanism that reduces impulses from neurons that are firing when they shouldn’t be.
I must have had mild tinnitus for a long time....but i was awoken one morning with bells in my ears and then sound regressed to buzzing. I had started a new medication (allopurinol) a month prior to these events. I found out that a rare adverse reaction to that drug is tinnitus. So after slowly withdrawing the med the loud tinnitus went away.If you just started having really loud tinnitus consider what could have changed in your life in the few months before it got louder Also some medical conditions can cause tinnitus so rule them out also.Also some drugs (aspirin is well known offender) The big clue for me was that I noticed that when I heard a sharp sound my ear pinged. Since that was a new phenomenem to me I knew that something had changed recently. So I thought it might be the new drug and it was.I hope you can find some relief. The suggestions of white noise , lipoflavoid, are things i have heard of. My ent doc told me to try thiamine. Withdrawal of alloprinol worked for. Best wishes.
Best of luck as I know what you're going thru.
Ok, just called her. Ginkgo, Zinc, and B Complex supplements. Still has it but it is greatly reduced. I asked % she said 80 to 90%. It varies day to day. Took about a month of taking it for her to notice a change. Stopped improving after about 6 months. Hasn’t gotten worse since. Takes recommended dosage. Brand: Spring Valley bought at Walmart. Diff causes for this problem so it working for you... big ? She is 74, no alcohol, no smoking, generally healthy.
Yeah, me too. I forgot that one.
Some how it seems a number of folks in aviation have this problem. Not sure if it's the noise or the altitude change.
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