Discuss Cures/remedies for tinnitus

I have been using a few drops hydrogen peroxide in my right ear for ringing and it really helps mine, but may not be the cure all for everyone.

I went through the wicked vertigo thing several years ago. It went on for the better part of a year, no fun! I sure kept off ladders that's for sure. Anyway went to doctors to no avail. Finally found a solution on the Internet, which was a series of exercises that "reset " the crystals in my right ear. It took a while but eventually went away.
Thankfully Alobar you "simply" had BPPV, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
Docs can't induce symptoms and ruled out BPPV.
As far as tinnitus goes, I'd recommend a rigorous healthy lifestyle and a positive frame of mind.
 
I have been using a few drops hydrogen peroxide in my right ear for ringing and it really helps mine, but may not be the cure all for everyone.

I went through the wicked vertigo thing several years ago. It went on for the better part of a year, no fun! I sure kept off ladders that's for sure. Anyway went to doctors to no avail. Finally found a solution on the Internet, which was a series of exercises that "reset " the crystals in my right ear. It took a while but eventually went away.

Sounds bad, how did you arrive at that? Is it diluted?
 
tubed: You could additionally try some gymnastics for the neck/shoulder area.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Sounds bad, how did you arrive at that? Is it diluted?
I just use the hydrogen peroxide found over the counter and use a dropper to get a few drops way down into my ear and then let it sit there sizzling for a few minutes. I think it softens wax, cleans things out and relieves pressure. I usually have to do it several times, once a day and it does reduce ringing for me. Then I'm good for a long while,months sometimes. I rarely need to do it with my left ear.
 
Last month my world came crashing down around me, literally and figuratively.
Standing in line at the market my left ear started ROARING I had a very hard time keeping my balance.
Somehow I made out of the store, somehow started the car, staggered into the house and fell into bed only to have the most hair-raising vertigo.
The room was spinning, back and forth and Up & Down for what seemed like eternity
I thought I was dying for sure, projectile vomit at any slight movement or blink of the eye.
Three or four repeat performances out of the blue but nothing as frightening as the first.
Music, tv, conversations sounded unworldly, distorted loud and ugly.


Meniere's disease is the somewhat clueless doctors diagnosis and I'm counting on the medical "arts" being wrong again.
Mini-stroke symptoms. See a doctor.

Rich P
 
Have a script for meclizine hcl for when I get hit with the vertigo. I take 1/2 a pill. When I have had the ear infections I would get a lot of pressure in the ear. Had different antibiotics to knock down the infection. So the bug couldn't get resistant to the antibiotic. Changed them up each time. One round of one, then a different one next. Had to have a tube put in. in order to drain the ear. Air pressure to force it to drain thru the other pathway to the throat. My hearing varies with the pressure in the ear. More pressure less hearing, less pressure more hearing. Hope you can find a fix for it. Good luck.
 
Mindfulness meditation. I recommended mindfulness meditation in order to reduce tinnitus a zillion times in this forum in the last seven years. The feedback was always poor, anyway I recommend it again. And I recommend again Jon Kabat-Zinn's masterpiece "Full Catastrophe Living" describing his famous MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction).

Mindfulness meditation prevented me of committing suicide due to tinnitus 15 years ago.
 
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By the way, Heather, stop feeding your body with chemical junk. One of the worst things in this case is Aspirin (and similar products) because it increases tinnitus. And even if your tinnitus may not be triggered by stress, meditation will help you to cope with it in a way that you hardly will notice it anymore after a couple of months of practicing meditation daily for about twenty minutes. In addition to that meditation has a very lot of positive side effects.
 
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Try Phosphatidylserine. It is the fat that serves a insulation on nerves and is somewhat limited in the diet. It is one of the few "smart drugs" I've tried that really does something useful. Supplementing seems to improve nerve maintenance and regeneration. Since tinnitus is nerve damage, it may help in your self-repair.

Okay, found a 60 dose bottle on Amazon (white bottle) for $16, so I ordered a jar.
I'll give that a try and see how it works ...

Jarrow Formulas Ps-100, Brain and Memory Support, 100 mg, 60 Softgels
Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a naturally occurring phospholipid and is a component of cell membranes. Jarrow Formulas Cogni-PS is a concentrated form of phosphatidylserine from sunflower lecithin that offers superior stability. It does not contain soy and is not derived from genetically modified organisms (non-GMO)
 
By the way, Heather, stop feeding your body with chemical junk. One of the worst things in this case is Aspirin (and similar products) because it increases tinnitus. And even if your tinnitus may not be triggered by stress, meditation will help you to cope with it in a way that you hardly will notice it anymore after a couple of months of practicing meditation daily for about twenty minutes. In addition to that meditation has a very lot of positive side effects.

Kind of a trade off there, a single daily dose of child strength aspirin has shown a significant reduction in the risk of heart attack from clots -
and since Mom died of a hear attack around my age ... I'm not likely to stop the small aspirin doses. My dad had bad arthritis and took large doses of aspirin daily and he tended to the non-clotting side - had a tooth pulled once and almost bled to death. Then again, he did live to just under 93 ...

Anyway, I generally don't do meds other than the list I started the thread with ...
(a few vitamins plus the small aspirin when I think of it ... maybe every other day at bedtime).
 
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I've had something similar, drove me nuts! Luckily discovered a nerve was getting pinched in the shoulder area. Perhaps try some therapy in that area, icing the shoulder or the front chest area where the shoulders join the sternum/clavicle. Also try laying with back to floor and put a rubber raquet ball/dog toy between the first rib and the shoulder blade - then roll slightly back and forth, side to side to massage those muscles.
The main nerves and arteries run between 1st rib and clavicle and can get pinched if one or both are out of place.
 
All I have to do to get rid of mine is lift weights repeatedly above my head. How many reps hasn't been determined. A few chiropractors have been successful by manipulating my neck with an activator at a certain angle just behind and below my right ear.
 
Anxiety and stress is, without a doubt, a cause for an increase in tinnitus, but is not the cause for tinnitus. Wherever there is tinnitus, there is ear damage. Mine started between the age of six or seven. I had repeated ear infections and, afterwards tinnitus attacks, which used to hit me out of nowhere and no one believed me when I told them about it. The description in the dictionary for tinnitus used to be, subjective sound. There is no subjective about it, it is there.
 
Causes

  • Tinnitus
A number of health conditions can cause or worsen tinnitus. In many cases, an exact cause is never found.

A common cause of tinnitus is inner ear cell damage. Tiny, delicate hairs in your inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves. This triggers ear cells to release an electrical signal through a nerve from your ear (auditory nerve) to your brain. Your brain interprets these signals as sound. If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken, they can "leak" random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus.

Other causes of tinnitus include other ear problems, chronic health conditions, and injuries or conditions that affect the nerves in your ear or the hearing center in your brain.

Common causes of tinnitus
In many people, tinnitus is caused by one of these conditions:

  • Age-related hearing loss. For many people, hearing worsens with age, usually starting around age 60. Hearing loss can cause tinnitus. The medical term for this type of hearing loss is presbycusis.
  • Exposure to loud noise. Loud noises, such as those from heavy equipment, chain saws and firearms, are common sources of noise-related hearing loss. Portable music devices, such as MP3 players or iPods, also can cause noise-related hearing loss if played loudly for long periods. Tinnitus caused by short-term exposure, such as attending a loud concert, usually goes away; long-term exposure to loud sound can cause permanent damage.
  • Earwax blockage. Earwax protects your ear canal by trapping dirt and slowing the growth of bacteria. When too much earwax accumulates, it becomes too hard to wash away naturally, causing hearing loss or irritation of the eardrum, which can lead to tinnitus.
  • Ear bone changes. Stiffening of the bones in your middle ear (otosclerosis) may affect your hearing and cause tinnitus. This condition, caused by abnormal bone growth, tends to run in families.
Other causes of tinnitus
Some causes of tinnitus are less common, including:

  • Meniere's disease. Tinnitus can be an early indicator of Meniere's disease, an inner ear disorder that may be caused by abnormal inner ear fluid pressure.
  • TMJ disorders. Problems with the temporomandibular joint, the joint on each side of your head in front of your ears, where your lower jawbone meets your skull, can cause tinnitus.
  • Head injuries or neck injuries. Head or neck trauma can affect the inner ear, hearing nerves or brain function linked to hearing. Such injuries generally cause tinnitus in only one ear.
  • Acoustic neuroma. This noncancerous (benign) tumor develops on the cranial nerve that runs from your brain to your inner ear and controls balance and hearing. Also called vestibular schwannoma, this condition generally causes tinnitus in only one ear.
Blood vessel disorders linked to tinnitus
In rare cases, tinnitus is caused by a blood vessel disorder. This type of tinnitus is called pulsatile tinnitus. Causes include:

  • Atherosclerosis. With age and buildup of cholesterol and other deposits, major blood vessels close to your middle and inner ear lose some of their elasticity — the ability to flex or expand slightly with each heartbeat. That causes blood flow to become more forceful, making it easier for your ear to detect the beats. You can generally hear this type of tinnitus in both ears.
  • Head and neck tumors. A tumor that presses on blood vessels in your head or neck (vascular neoplasm) can cause tinnitus and other symptoms.
  • High blood pressure. Hypertension and factors that increase blood pressure, such as stress, alcohol and caffeine, can make tinnitus more noticeable.
  • Turbulent blood flow. Narrowing or kinking in a neck artery (carotid artery) or vein in your neck (jugular vein) can cause turbulent, irregular blood flow, leading to tinnitus.
  • Malformation of capillaries. A condition called arteriovenous malformation (AVM), abnormal connections between arteries and veins, can result in tinnitus. This type of tinnitus generally occurs in only one ear.
Medications that can cause tinnitus
A number of medications may cause or worsen tinnitus. Generally, the higher the dose of these medications, the worse tinnitus becomes. Often the unwanted noise disappears when you stop using these drugs. Medications known to cause or worsen tinnitus include:

  • Antibiotics, including polymyxin B, erythromycin, vancomycin and neomycin
  • Cancer medications, including mechlorethamine and vincristine
  • Water pills (diuretics), such as bumetanide, ethacrynic acid or furosemide
  • Quinine medications used for malaria or other health conditions
  • Certain antidepressants may worsen tinnitus
  • Aspirin taken in uncommonly high doses (usually 12 or more a day)
 
Echi-lontani.jpg
 
My "hearoic" doctors haven't given a thought about giving me an MRI to see if there's a growth.
I pray it's not Meniere's and it's a virus/infection that resolves itself.
The quality of my hearing ebbs and flows as does the dizziness.

After two particularly violent attacks of vertigo such as you described my tinnitus began.

The first attack occurred in January 2015 which lasted about an hour or two and resolved itself. The second episode occurred on the evening Oct 31st 2015 which was far more violent than the first, lasted overnight, and this time was accompanied by the most severe ringing to the point of being painful.

The following spring is when my tinnitus began which has remained with me to this day. My ENT suffers from tinnitus himself who also said my symptoms are classic Meniere's Disease for which there is no known cure. Just to be certain, he ordered a MRI which my health insurance carrier - after some protesting - finally agreed to cover. Unfortunately, it turned up nothing amiss. h

At least the test he gave me shows that my hearing is still good to ~ 17 kHz which for a 53 year old male is pretty good.

My entire life I always limited my exposure to loud environments - just never found loud music pleasant, and still this had to happen. :(

To @hjames : I feel for you and it has to be one the worst curses an audio enthusiast could endure. By all means try the remedies suggested and post back if any proved effective.
 
I have it too, it comes and goes with stress level and nicotine/coffein levels.

I was just going to post the same. I am in the same boat as you Heather but my tinnitus is barely there which is pretty damn good considering all the time I spent in front of a Marshall stack with no hearing protection. I like it loud with the stereo too as I play my guitar along with the stereo using a Peavey 6505 2x12 all tube combo so it gets pretty loud at Casa Northwinds quite frequently
 
I find mine comes and goes, and the only thing I can relate it to is my blood pressure. Anecdotal, I know, but when I hear that tape hiss sound if I can go to my "happy place" for a moment or two, sometimes that'll quiet things down. Also, since I started taking blood pressure medication, the tinnitus seems less intrusive.

Just my observations.
My blood pressure is rather normal until I feel an increase in intensity of the noise and pressure in my ear whereby my blood pressure drops significantly especially with the dizziness.
 
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