Tinnitus?

[drjohnnyfeva]

Anyone have tinnitus and manage it with supplements, prescriptions, or some other method?

Long story short. Never really had it except after a loud concert as a teenager and then only for a day or two. Started wearing earplugs to all loud things at about 20, so until recently at 48 it has only been a minor, occasional occurrence.

I think it started with a home improvement project where I rung my bell hitting a pry bar with a hammer. But it could have been a flu-like bout in December too. Both were at about the same time. I lean toward the priy bar as it really did ring my bell - - - to the point I went and got ear plugs for the rest of the demo job.

Went to an ENT recently and he said it was likely an eardrum bruise and that it can take a year or more to heal. But there's no way to prove that's the case. A hearing test showed only minor hear loss at one frequency in the effected ear. He prescribed an x-ray just in case, but he said it was highly unlikely since it's occurring in both ears, which makes it consistent with some kind of injury.

Anyway, I'm interested to know what anyone here has done. The ENT suggested lipoflavenoids... I have been taking an offshoot of them for two weeks with little to no effect. It's not life altering, just really annoying at times.

 

[Champco]

You cannot let it annoy you. It's presence seems to be louder at times and sometimes it's there and can be unnoticed until you think about it.

I have been unable to find anything to stop it. Good luck.

 

[tubed]

Doctors can be rather clueless about such things as tinnitus and what to do.
If it is "an injury" give it time to go away.
You will get used to varying degrees of tinnitus especially if you don't worry yourself.
Keeping busy works wonders as most times you'll forget you have it.
Good Luck!

 

[hemiram]

Good luck. I have a bunch of friends who have it pretty bad. All worked around airplanes, machine tools, or air compressors. Only one, who is very old, 82, complains about it. It's the least of his worries, he's got all kinds of other issues going on (Parkinson's is number one), and it's kind of obvious, he will be gone soon.

The only time I really had tinnitus was when I was younger was after I did something really dumb, like one of the times we took a whole box of caps (5 rolls), and smashed them with a sledehammer. Heard the whistle all day. Another memorable time was when a friend fired a starter pistol about a foot from my left ear.

About 1995, I got an insanely bad ear infection and had a whine in both ears at it's peak. It went away soon after the infection was knocked out by antibiotics. Good thing, I had a lot of ear infections as a kid, and this one, at 39, was by far the worst one ever. Somehow, even though I went to about 100 drag races with nitro cars and wore no ear protection, I still had excellent hearing. My dog Gus caused some mid frequency loss by his barking next to my left ear in the car. At times, I could feel my ear canal try to close up, as it did at the drag races at times.

About a year ago, my right ear, the better one that still goes past 20K, started having problems where it felt "full", and when it was "full", my hearing was almost exactly the same as if I stuck my finger in my ear. It got worse and eventually, it was "full" almost all the time. Popping my ear by holding my nose and blowing would make my hearing normal again, for a short time. The good times got shorter and shorter, and I began to hear a low buzzing in my right ear about November that sounds amazingly like Cicadas do around here in the summer, in NW Ohio. Popping my ears made it go away, but the bad hearing in my right ear annoyed the hell out of me. I finally went to the doctor for it a while back and I'm using Flonase Sensimist (It doesn't stink like regular Flonase), and my ear is beginning to work correctly again as the steroid is shrinking down my eustation tube and allowing it to operate normally. On Monday, I had 100% hearing for over 3 hours straight, and I spent that time listening to net radio, and it was so nice not to have to continually pop my ears to be able to hear any high frequencies in my right ear and none of the phantom Cicadas. As I type this, the Cicadas are gone, but a soft whine, about 1K is there, unless I pop my ears, then it's gone, for a while...

 

[trinhsman]

Anyone have tinnitus and manage it with supplements, prescriptions, or some other method?

Long story short. Never really had it except after a loud concert as a teenager and then only for a day or two. Started wearing earplugs to all loud things at about 20, so until recently at 48 it has only been a minor, occasional occurrence.

I think it started with a home improvement project where I rung my bell hitting a pry bar with a hammer. But it could have been a flu-like bout in December too. Both were at about the same time. I lean toward the priy bar as it really did ring my bell - - - to the point I went and got ear plugs for the rest of the demo job.

Went to an ENT recently and he said it was likely an eardrum bruise and that it can take a year or more to heal. But there's no way to prove that's the case. A hearing test showed only minor hear loss at one frequency in the effected ear. He prescribed an x-ray just in case, but he said it was highly unlikely since it's occurring in both ears, which makes it consistent with some kind of injury.

Anyway, I'm interested to know what anyone here has done. The ENT suggested lipoflavenoids... I have been taking an offshoot of them for two weeks with little to no effect. It's not life altering, just really annoying at times.

I have I have tinnitus. I have learned to ignore it. I got it almost the same way you did. At times it is worse. I have tried Chiropractic, vitamins, etc, but nothing really gets rid of it. I have basically learned to ignore it. There are times though when it bugs me. As long as it doesn’t prevent sleeping, I guess I’m good.

 

[bluescat]

I have been dealing with it for a few years. I recently had my hearing check'd , and the VA audiologist prescribed hearing aids. To make a long story short, the hearing aids (Seimens NX) have a tinnitus cancelling feature, which has helped my tinnitus (but only while wearing the aids). Of course if your's (OP) is due to a recent injury, and your hearing is otherwise good, this probably wouldn't be an option, but, for other's with chronic tinnitus, this technology may help.

 

[Guest126]

I've dealt with this for almost ten years, and in my case it was due to nerve stress from a combination of caffeine, improper ear cleaning, and stress. When I first had a case of the dreaded ear ringing, it was in the left ear. I had myself diagnosed by an ENT doctor, and they did a hearing test and discovered that I had some hearing loss. The tinnitus went away after several months, and the following year I had my hearing tested again. The second test determined that I had normal hearing (no hearing loss). My case was peculiar in that I would get the ringing in the ear at around October almost without fail. Many times it would be in the left ear, but I have also had ringing in my right ear, and one or two cases in both ears. I have even witnessed the sound transfer from one side to another. It took a little while (as the ear attacks were sporadic and occurred during one period of time per year) to figure out what was wrong with me, and I discovered that when I would clean my ears with cotton swabs, I had a habit of sticking the tip too far into the ear canal (which is the wrong thing to do). I found out that I might have caused some nerve ending irritation or even very light damage due to compressing them with the swab. After I changed the routine of using cotton swabs, it seemed that the ear ringing episodes went away.

What I have also found beneficial, is that sometimes you can use baby oil or mineral oil (small drops...about 4 per ear) to clean your ears. I've found it to be very helpful, in that it soothes and lubricates the ear canal, and it relaxed my ringing noise on some occasions when I had it.

Take my testimonial with a grain of salt, because there are many causes of Tinnitus, with some cases being continuous (unlike mine). Your best recourse is to work with your doctor or ENT professional, and use the remedies that can relieve stress.

 

[Ohighway]

The only so called "cure" I've found is to have your mind engaged in activities such that you don't notice it. If I'm busy I don't notice mine, as soon as there's a lull in activity..... I notice it.

 

[Pioneered]

I've had Tinnitus since I was about 8 or 10 caused in an accident and I've not found any relief from it accept what has been mentioned before (ignoring it).
Mine goes from a low hum to a scream but, because I've had it so long I don't notice it much at all until a thread like this comes up or it is very quiet, and
nowadays that hard to come by. An over the counter drug called Lipo-Flavonoid is said to help. No, I've never taken it because it's quiet expensive for my
tastes and I was told by a friend suffering the same that it didn't help him. I think most the garbage they try and sell you to cure or help the condition is exactly
that, Garbage. Just one of many tonics in the snake-oil salesman's bag.

 

[BigElCat]

I just pretend that it's the Carrier Frequency of the Universe...and I'm so tuned in, Man.

(P.S. for the youngsters, Man means Bro, sort of like Dude.)

 

[cwh]

Sucks ass. Everybody who suffers deserves a big hug. I've had slight ringing for a long time, easy to forget.

However earlier this year I lost hearing in one ear and the ringing/distortion was awful. Couldn't listen to music, super bummed.

Lucky to have access to Kaiser medical here in the Bay Area. The specialist said 3 things could've happened; stroke, tumor or virus caused trauma to the nerves. She injected the inner ear, through the tympanic membrane with steroids. After two injections I regained my full hearing. Guess I was lucky.

 

[Yoss15]

I've been around enough machinery and shooting that I have what I'd consider a mild to moderate case of it. Mostly I don't notice it as long as I'm not specifically thinking about it. Things like high blood pressure can exacerbate it. Some people report that creatine supplements can help diminish tinnitus. I've taken it before in conjunction with weight training but I didn't notice any difference in my tinnitus.

 

[Lapslah]

I've had pretty severe tinnitus since I was a teen (I'm 53). No relief that I've ever found, but I'll watch this thread in case someone has a miracle cure.

 

[superdog]

I have it but it comes and goes.Primarily in my left ear.I think because one night after drinking heavily I fell asleep on my side with headphones on loud.Anyway when it's comes it sounds like a constant whine or it sounds like a staticy radio in the background.

 

[Steven Tate]

Like a lot of folks here, I've had tinnitus a very long time. It started when I was 21 and way too close to 5" guns on a Navy ship. Instant and lifelong tinnitus. That's been 47 years, and if I think about it, it's still very loud. But I guess our brain can filter it out during normal life activity. I almost never notice it. But I can imagine that if one thought about it very much, he might get where he couldn't ignore it. I have heard of many remedies, and I have never found one that worked. Good luck!

 

[BOUXY]

Like a lot of folks here, I've had tinnitus a very long time. It started when I was 21 and way too close to 5" guns on a Navy ship. Instant and lifelong tinnitus. That's been 47 years, and if I think about it, it's still very loud. But I guess our brain can filter it out during normal life activity. I almost never notice it. But I can imagine that if one thought about it very much, he might get where he couldn't ignore it. I have heard of many remedies, and I have never found on that worked. Good luck!

EXACTLY!

 

[drjohnnyfeva]

I think mine definitely started due to hitting that pry-bar. It comes and goes, I mean it's always there but if there's noise elsewhere, it doesn't seem as prominent. I think it has to do with an inner ear infection. The ENT said he didn't see anything, but I have constant popping when swallowing in both ears. That is relatively new, maybe a year now. The left one, where the ring is more prominent - - - and it's also the ear that took the brunt of the noise impact from whacking the pry-bar--- almost always feels full. Not completely full, but like there's some water or something stuck down there.

The ENT cleaned both and said they were "unremarkable." lol. I've been taking the citrus/lipo bioflavenoids. I'll keep it up til the bottles are gone. I also read it could be caused by high blood pressure. I'm a few pounds heavier than I normally am, and the last time I was my BP did go up a bit. So maybe it's that.

I was just curious if anyone else given most music guys love of loud had similar problems and maybe some solutions. Thanks for all the responses. I'll continue to look in.

 

[Dave B.]

I'm 71 and have had severe tinnitus since my teens (exposure to high SPLs (go karts, guns, etc.)). Watching jets take off from the flight deck of my aircraft carrier back in the late 60s without using hearing protection made a bad situation worse. Anyway, I've found that the ringing becomes unnoticeable when I'm using headphones to listen to music. My uninformed, nonmedical opinion about why that happens is that the sound waves from the headphones tend to cancel out the tinnitus waves (assuming that tinnitus emits sound waves and is not just conjured as an illusion by the brain).

The same thing happens while I'm wearing my hearing aids, which pump amplified sound waves directly into my ear canals. If you don't have or need hearing aids, you can experiment with headphones. Good luck. Tinnitus sucks.

Dave

 

[RTally]

I have tinnitus. It comes and goes. As I read this thread, it is getting louder and more annoying. I hadn't noticed it before reading the thread.

 

[Steven Tate]

I'm a dentist, and I see tinnitus as a symptom associated with TMJ dysfunction very often. If you clench or grind in your sleep and/or if you have a deep bite (lower front teeth are WAY behind and above upper front teeth when you bite), you could have TMJ dysfunction. The jaw joint is directly in front of your ear canal, and inflammation in that joint can cause jaw pain, headaches, pain on biting and tinnitus. This is one case where if you treat the root cause (TMJ), you can resolve the symptoms, including the tinnitus.