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Tinnitus relief?

Suzette

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
I have had tinnitus all my life but usually it is only bothersome if I am sick and some medications can make it much worse. But right now I am not sick or on any kind of medication, and my tinnitus has been horrible for a few weeks.

At first I thought it was due to all the wildfire smoke in the air, but the air has cleared.
I am at 8,000 feet so I assume elevation is part of the problem but the tinnitus seems to be even worse today.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me calm the tinnitus some? Are there any suppliments that help or therapies I can try?
 
I empathize with you.

Through eliminating certain foods, then attempting to add them back into my diet, I have figured out which foods exacerbate it, and I have, also, found the combination of quercetin and nettle to be helpful. Both are histamine reducing substances, which have also minimized some respiratory inflammation and allergy symptoms I experienced after I experienced a histamine storm from physical injury/trauma. I wasn't aware that it could help relieve tinnitus, but, in my case, it has. Perhaps, because, tinnitus can be triggered by inflammation.

Apart from apples and blueberries, I no longer eat anything containing sugar, as I'd become aware that sugar would trigger my tinnitus. Perhaps, because, sugar can cause inflammation, and, as mentioned, in my case, inflammation seems to be a cause.

The most contributing substance was apple cider vinegar, for some reason. I still have research to do on the connection. The way I figured it out was, I, initially, began to notice a pattern. Whenever I would use apple cider vinegar (I used it as a prebiotic), my tinnitus would flare up and become absolutely unbearable. When I stopped using it, I experienced minimal to no tinnitus, at all.

On the tinnitus website that I used to frequent (Tinnitus Talk, if I remember correctly), many people reported experiencing extensive relief while taking an amino acid called L-Carnosine. I tried it, however I experienced unpleasant side effects, so had to stop. We are all different, so, you may find it to be of great help.

I wish you much success in your plight. I know how debilitating it can be.
 
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I have had tinnitus all my life but usually it is only bothersome if I am sick and some medications can make it much worse. But right now I am not sick or on any kind of medication, and my tinnitus has been horrible for a few weeks.

At first I thought it was due to all the wildfire smoke in the air, but the air has cleared.
I am at 8,000 feet so I assume elevation is part of the problem but the tinnitus seems to be even worse today.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me calm the tinnitus some? Are there any suppliments that help or therapies I can try?

It depends upon the underlying mechanism of the tinnitus.

If it is primarily an autism-related, neurological, thalamocortical dysrhythmia, then it will likely intensify with any type of oxygen radical-induced tissue edema (secondary to an exacerbated imbalance of exitatory-to-inhibitory neurotransmitters). For me, I can have issues after a particularly stressful day or two of work. In which case, a high dose regimen of antioxidants, specifically those that cross the blood brain barrier (vitamin C, ubiquinol, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC)) will scavenge those oxygen radicals. Phosphatidylserine and Omega-3 will help repair cell membranes. L-theanine will help restore the neurotransmitter imbalance. This type of tinnitus I say comes from the center of the brain and radiates outward and never goes away. However, when it exacerbates, my brain may feel hot and swollen, even though if I were to have someone feel my head it wouldn't feel hot to them.

If it is due to vascular changes, high blood pressure, migraines, fever, then medications to treat those issues will be your best bet.

If it is due to actual damage to the ear, itself,...you stood by the speakers at a concert, you had an ear infection and have fluid build up, etc. Then give it a few days or treat the infection and/or find ways to relieve the pressure. This type of tinnitus feels like it is coming from the ear, itself.

You can also have a combination of issues, neurological + vascular, etc. and can be especially annoying.
 
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Myhusband suffers from that, and I have experienced it a few times and what I found is that if I exchange that horrible sound for a nicer sound, it drowns it out and my husband found the same thing.
 
My husband has Meniere's and relies on a reduced sodium diet. Not sure if that's helpful for your case.
 
Been living with it for decades and find little relief. It really became prominent after Cephalosporin treatment to combat a pseudomonas infection in my tibia after a nasty tib-fib double compound fracture. I think the hearing loss created by the antibiotic exacerbated the tinnitis. I'd rather have the tinnitis than lose my leg, though.
 
Thank you for all your replies. As I said, this is a life long thing. I was likely born with it. I'll try some of these suggestions.
 
I sympathize with you, @Suzette I don't think I've met any other people that have had tinnitus their entire life like I've had, so you're the first. I've never experienced what silence is like; ever.

They say aspirin can exacerbate tinnitus. For me loud noises if I'm exposed to them make my ringing louder for days afterward. I have to be very careful with sound because of that reason as well as the fact that I also have hyperacusis.

I still remember as a young child: Me: "Why do ears have that ringing sound all the time?" My parents: "What ringing sound?"

I find solace talking with other autistic people regarding my autism. I was a member of Tinnitus Talk forum for awhile and the people there are very nice. However, I stopped participating because unlike with autism forums, I found that focusing on my tinnitus was NOT a good thing for me. Thinking about it a lot, talking about it a lot on the forum there. Not good at all.
 
I sympathize with you, @Suzette I don't think I've met any other people that have had tinnitus their entire life like I've had, so you're the first. I've never experienced what silence is like; ever.

They say aspirin can exacerbate tinnitus. For me loud noises if I'm exposed to them make my ringing louder for days afterward. I have to be very careful with sound because of that reason as well as the fact that I also have hyperacusis.

I still remember as a young child: Me: "Why do ears have that ringing sound all the time?" My parents: "What ringing sound?"

I find solace talking with other autistic people regarding my autism. I was a member of Tinnitus Talk forum for awhile and the people there are very nice. However, I stopped participating because unlike with autism forums, I found that focusing on my tinnitus was NOT a good thing for me. Thinking about it a lot, talking about it a lot on the forum there. Not good at all.

I don't focus on it either. "Silence" to me means the buzz is barely perceptible but it is there!
I tried Welbutrin about 20 years ago to stop smoking and my ears rang so loudly I couldn't sleep. I stopped it immediately.
This particuar time I suspect the high altitude is exacerbating my symptoms. I grew up at a similar altitude (but was born on the flats) but I haven't spent so long at this altitude in years.
My visual snow symptoms are also worse but not as disruptive.
Maybe the rareified air plays a role here. I am going to try some deep, slow, breathing techniques to see if I can't bring in more oxygen.
 
I sympathize with you, @Suzette I don't think I've met any other people that have had tinnitus their entire life like I've had, so you're the first. I've never experienced what silence is like; ever.

They say aspirin can exacerbate tinnitus. For me loud noises if I'm exposed to them make my ringing louder for days afterward. I have to be very careful with sound because of that reason as well as the fact that I also have hyperacusis.

I still remember as a young child: Me: "Why do ears have that ringing sound all the time?" My parents: "What ringing sound?"

I find solace talking with other autistic people regarding my autism. I was a member of Tinnitus Talk forum for awhile and the people there are very nice. However, I stopped participating because unlike with autism forums, I found that focusing on my tinnitus was NOT a good thing for me. Thinking about it a lot, talking about it a lot on the forum there. Not good at all.

Add another one to the list. I've always had tinnitus. I've never experienced silence, either. In fact, I have to have some sort of background noise in order to distract me from my tinnitus. A quiet room is not good for me.
 
The only place where my tinnitus is completely masked although temporarily, is in the shower. I can't hear the ringing in the shower. It's glorious.

I went to an audiologist about 5 years ago and she wanted to sell me tinnitus maskers which were basically earbuds with a a little MP3 player and proprietary downloads of different kinds of white noise. I think they would have cost $3,000+. No.

This is a timely topic for me because actually today I'm supposed to get these in the mail. I ordered them last week:

IQbuds_max_meda.png


They're supposed to be very customizable and able to work with tinnitus masking apps and apparently some people have said that they've worked wonders for them. I didn't buy them primarily for tinnitus. I bought them because I'm supposed to be able to set a decibel level for instantly filtering out loud noises. I hope they help with my hyperacusis and overall sensitivity to sounds when I walk in public for example. To be protected from unexpected extremely loud sounds would be wonderful. That's my hope.
 
I hope I can help my friends here who have tinnitus.

One thing that I did find a small amount of success with but maybe it would bring greater success to others was this:

AudioNotch - Tinnitus Treatment Sound Therapy - AudioNotch

Audionotch. It's an app based thing like the audiologist offered me years ago. The idea behind it is that you try to identify the frequency of your tinnitus ringing. Then the program creates custom audio files for you to listen to. The audio files are custom because they "notch" or cancel out the frequency of your tinnitus. That's the idea anyway. The biggest challenge for me is that my ringing isn't a single tone, a single "note". It's many tones from low to extremely high so it would likely be impossible for me to identify the ringing completely. All the tones of my ringing do make a "chord" of sorts. Overall my ringing is around 6,500 Hz

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

^ I can hear frequencies up to about 13,600Hz on that tone generator which is pretty rare for someone like me over the age of 50.
 
I hope I can help my friends here who have tinnitus.

One thing that I did find a small amount of success with but maybe it would bring greater success to others was this:

AudioNotch - Tinnitus Treatment Sound Therapy - AudioNotch

Audionotch. It's an app based thing like the audiologist offered me years ago. The idea behind it is that you try to identify the frequency of your tinnitus ringing. Then the program creates custom audio files for you to listen to. The audio files are custom because they "notch" or cancel out the frequency of your tinnitus. That's the idea anyway. The biggest challenge for me is that my ringing isn't a single tone, a single "note". It's many tones from low to extremely high so it would likely be impossible for me to identify the ringing completely. All the tones of my ringing do make a "chord" of sorts. Overall my ringing is around 6,500 Hz

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

^ I can hear frequencies up to about 13,600Hz on that tone generator which is pretty rare for someone like me over the age of 50.

Oh wow! You're describing me. The hyperacusis, the 5 distinct tones of tinnitus making a "chord", sometimes flipping from one frequency to another. I too, can hear extremely high tones,...on occasion, I think I am hearing electromagnetic frequencies. I am not sure what it is, but at work with all that electronic equipment humming, it can be a bit overwhelming and I need to take 5-10min breaks. I haven't been to an audiologist in several years.
 
I’ve had it most of my life. It got worse after someone blew a firecracker next to my ear.
When I’m getting or have a cold or other illness, sometimes It gets much worse, lots of pitch changes, on top of the constant hissing.
In mentioning it to a couple of doctors, both said, “Make sure to not get dehydrated.”
 
I have had tinnitus all my life but usually it is only bothersome if I am sick and some medications can make it much worse. But right now I am not sick or on any kind of medication, and my tinnitus has been horrible for a few weeks.

At first I thought it was due to all the wildfire smoke in the air, but the air has cleared.
I am at 8,000 feet so I assume elevation is part of the problem but the tinnitus seems to be even worse today.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me calm the tinnitus some? Are there any suppliments that help or therapies I can try?
Tinnitus doesn't originate in the ear. It actually originates in the part of the brain responsible for auditory perception. You can completely sever the auditory nerve from the inner ear and have no effect on it. External sound can usually quiet it.

If you think of the brain as having an audio amplifier, tinnitus is the noise generated by the amplifier. Some people have naturally noisier amplifiers than others. Drugs, illness, and very loud noises can put stress the amplifier out. Also, like an audio amplifier, if you send a normal signal through it you can increase the signal to noise ratio to where it is no longer perceived. Any kind of hearing reduction reduces the input signal, making the noise relatively stronger.

For me at least, it gets loudest when I have noise-cancelling headphones without playing anything thru them. Some drugs can exacerbate tinnitus and it should be listed as one of the side effects. When it gets bad I turn on a fan or other source of white noise to keep it under control. There is no scientifically confirmed treatment for tinnitus, only methods to manage it.

Where Does Tinnitus Come From? Ear or Brain? | Fauquier ENT Blog

Treatment Options
 
Tinnitus doesn't originate in the ear. It actually originates in the part of the brain responsible for auditory perception. You can completely sever the auditory nerve from the inner ear and have no effect on it. External sound can usually quiet it.

^ This is why a great concern of mine is going deaf at some point. That would be an awful, not only for not being able to hear, but equally if not worse, then the ONLY thing I would "hear" would be the ringing and nothing else for the remainder of my days. There would be no escape and no way to lessen or mask the tinnitus. In addition to my hyperacusis, that's a big reason why I'm very cautious about protecting my hearing.
 
I don’t really have anything useful to add, just that I’m another member of the “lifelong tinnitus” club. I too have never experienced actual silence. It’s increased long-term and is aggravating when I’m in or nearing sensory overload, but it seems pretty constant in intensity from day to day, there isn’t a thing I can determine that seems to make it better or worse, it isn’t even worsened by loud noise. Occasionally it goes away except for one particular tone that sounds different, but only for a few seconds before it’s back to what’s normal for me. It can be drowned out by other noises, but that doesn’t help when I need as little sensory input as possible. It took me a long time to realize that that noise is actually what people mean when they talk about ringing ears, because it doesn’t sound a thing like any other noise that’s called “ringing,” to me. I also have extremely sensitive hearing, though I’ve noticed that these days, the tinnitus masks quieter noises, which is why I think it’s worse than it used to be. I don’t know if that might have anything to do with it or not.

I tried the tone generator, it’s interesting because I wouldn’t really call my tinnitus that high-pitched, but as I moved the pitch higher, it blended more with the noise (I could hear the tone clearly until about 13,500 Hz). I’m even more sensitive to pitch than to volume.
 
I hope I can help my friends here who have tinnitus.

One thing that I did find a small amount of success with but maybe it would bring greater success to others was this:

AudioNotch - Tinnitus Treatment Sound Therapy - AudioNotch

Audionotch. It's an app based thing like the audiologist offered me years ago. The idea behind it is that you try to identify the frequency of your tinnitus ringing. Then the program creates custom audio files for you to listen to. The audio files are custom because they "notch" or cancel out the frequency of your tinnitus. That's the idea anyway. The biggest challenge for me is that my ringing isn't a single tone, a single "note". It's many tones from low to extremely high so it would likely be impossible for me to identify the ringing completely. All the tones of my ringing do make a "chord" of sorts. Overall my ringing is around 6,500 Hz

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

^ I can hear frequencies up to about 13,600Hz on that tone generator which is pretty rare for someone like me over the age of 50.
I have unusually good hearing for someone my age too.

When I was young we used CRTs for monitors and televisions. The transformer flyback frequency was about 15K. If it were loud, as it was on cheap or old TVs, it would drive me freaking nuts! Of course, my parents assumed I was making it up for attention.

When I got my first computer monitor, I had to set the sync rate to something in the 70+ Hz range because at 60 Hz. the sound was intolerable. Cheap monitors weren't capable of this and employers didn't care. LED screens don't have this problem.
 
I probably won't be really active in this thread if it continues (and I hope it does because it can help a lot of people) because just like when I was a member of the Tinnitus Talk forum, just talking and thinking a lot about my tinnitus today and my tinnitus level is greatly increased. :eek: I know it's just because I'm paying attention to it.
 

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