Tinnitus - I no longer have it!

project_c · #1 01-17-2010, 12:12 PM

Seeing as I've asked for advice on ringing ears and tinnitus on Talkbass in the past, and I know a lot of you here suffer with this problem, I thought I'd share this. I've had pretty bad tinnitus for a little while, and have always been told that there's no known cure.

I'm sure this may not work for everyone, but about a week ago I got a cold, and was told that Camomile tea can help ease symptoms. Whilst I'm not sure if it helped much with that, it seems to have made my tinnitus disappear without a trace. I've been drinking about 3 or 4 cups a day, and since then - no ringing in my ears whatsoever. As an experiment, yesterday I didn't have any Camomile - and the ringing came back by the evening. So I had another cup last night, and another this morning, and my ears are back to normal again today.

I'm not a believer in magic cures and am sceptical about herbal remedies at the best of times, but weirdly this seems to be working. I've done a bit of research and Camomile has a calming effect on the nervous system, which may in some way affect how the brain deals with tinnitus - I really have no idea. The main thing is it appears to have fixed my tinnitus, which means there's a chance it may work for some of you too.

James Judson · #2 01-17-2010, 12:18 PM

When a doctor says "there is no cure". The translation is "there is no prescription drug I can give you that makes your symptoms dissappear". My Tinnitus seems to have disappeared with no explanation. If it comes back I'm trying Camomile and I'll post results.

scowboy · #3 01-17-2010, 12:25 PM

How cool is that. I will give that a try.

varunkapahi · #4 01-17-2010, 12:27 PM

wow now i have to find out what the f is camomile!

Crockettnj · #5 01-17-2010, 12:32 PM

Family member with meniers disease in discussion with one with MS and several with tinnitus has led to some Annecdotal evidence, but worth a try:

avoid caffeine or at least moderate it.

cut back on salt.

avoid continued damage (plug those puppies!)

herbal teas, with ginko receiving some accolades (could be a result of having tea, not coffee? or some effect of ginko increasing blood flow?)

thanks for the tip on chamomile... I'll pass it on.

Also, HUGE +1 on the Doctor / prescription drug comment.

julio.gamiz · #6 01-17-2010, 12:40 PM

Bit OT, but I once read a letter from a man in a magazine. He had Parkinson and claimed that Red Bull made the symptoms almost disappear...

otis_thick · #7 01-17-2010, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by project_c

Seeing as I've asked for advice on ringing ears and tinnitus on Talkbass in the past, and I know a lot of you here suffer with this problem, I thought I'd share this. I've had pretty bad tinnitus for a little while, and have always been told that there's no known cure.

I'm sure this may not work for everyone, but about a week ago I got a cold, and was told that Chamomile tea can help ease symptoms. Whilst I'm not sure if it helped much with that, it seems to have made my tinnitus disappear without a trace. I've been drinking about 3 or 4 cups a day, and since then - no ringing in my ears whatsoever. As an experiment, yesterday I didn't have any Chamomile - and the ringing came back by the evening. So I had another cup last night, and another this morning, and my ears are back to normal again today.

I'm not a believer in magic cures and am skeptical about herbal remedies at the best of times, but weirdly this seems to be working. I've done a bit of research and Chamomile has a calming effect on the nervous system, which may in some way affect how the brain deals with tinnitus - I really have no idea. The main thing is it appears to have fixed my tinnitus, which means there's a chance it may work for some of you too.

Also note ear ringing is a sign of high blood pressure...the tea may be relaxing you and lowering your BP and stopping the ringing

Side note: remember MOST pharmaceuticals are synthesized from animal glands, herbs or plant extracts and concentrated and sold under active ingrediant brand names... Tetrodotoxin has proved useful in the treatment of pain from such diverse problems as terminal cancer,migraines, and heroin withdrawal. Tetrodotoxin has been isolated from widely differing animal species....including western newts, pufferfish, toads , several species of blue-ringed octopus.

ihateusernames · #8 01-17-2010, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crockettnj

Family member with meniers disease in discussion with one with MS and several with tinnitus has led to some Annecdotal evidence, but worth a try:

avoid caffeine or at least moderate it.

cut back on salt.

avoid continued damage (plug those puppies!)

herbal teas, with ginko receiving some accolades (could be a result of having tea, not coffee? or some effect of ginko increasing blood flow?)

thanks for the tip on chamomile... I'll pass it on.

Also, HUGE +1 on the Doctor / prescription drug comment.

good tips here, to take it a step deeper - eliminate sugars and refined grain products (flour, cereals, etc.), and limit yeast and dairy.

at the end of the day there is only so much that can be done to offset the 'mechanical' damage, but every little bit helps

project_c · #9 01-17-2010, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by otis_thick

Also note ear ringing is a sign of high blood pressure...the tea may be relaxing you and lowering your BP and stopping the ringing

Yep, I was aware of this and had my blood pressure checked a while ago, but it was absolutely fine, no sign of high blood pressure at all. The ringing was the result of prolonged exposure to loud noise (*edit* - otherwise known as the guitar player in my previous band..) and quite possibly lack of sleep too.

**lowendfriend** · #10 01-17-2010, 01:17 PM

Also heard from a Meniere Disease sufferer that lipoflavinoid makes a huge difference. The owner of the proprietary formula makes no claims outside of Meniere disease sufferes, however.

SBassman · #11 01-17-2010, 01:20 PM

Excellent thread.

rosanne · #12 01-17-2010, 04:42 PM

Thanks OP, I'm going to try camomile. I had given up on being able to do anything about my tinnitus, (I already avoid caffeine, don't use much salt, and don't have high blood pressure).

Petebass · #13 01-17-2010, 06:52 PM

OK this might sound weird, but I've finally come to an uneasy acceptance of the ring in my ears to the point where it doesn't bother me. I guess I've trained my brain to ignore it in the same way it ignores bird noises, traffic noise, my dog's barking, the neighbor's kids playing outside the TV in the other room, and any one of 1,000 other background noises. However like any one of those background noises, you can drive yourself nuts by concentrating on it too much. But human nature being what it is, people are more likely to concentrate on the ringing in their ears than anything else. I've managed to break that instinct.

To be honest I don't think I'd be able to block the ringing out so effectively if it was coming and going as it invariably did if I forgot or was unable to drink Camomile tea.

I'm being stupid aren't I?

tigerbass · #14 01-17-2010, 06:55 PM

I am absolutely going to try this. I really like camomile tea anyways. Thanks for the tip!

Sijjvra · #15 01-17-2010, 07:08 PM

Ugh yeah , it is a pain. I don't have a sharp ringing in my ears, but I've had multiple surgery on my right ear when I was young and it left me with about 75% hearing loss on that side (I also have about 50% hearing loss in my left ear too at this point because of infections as a kid that really messed some stuff up :/ ) and there's a constant low pitched "woosh" on that side. It took quite a while to get used to it, but eventually you learn to live with it and after a while (hopefully) you won't even notice it.

Still sucks big time though. I didn't know about camomile tea though, I wouldn't guess it would help my condition but since I like tea anyway I'll give it a shot. Maybe it will lessen the noise a little bit.

David1234 · #16 01-17-2010, 07:29 PM

I've heard that exposure to unpitched noise can reduce mild and medium tinnitus. Sleep a night near a beach, or play white or pink noise (perhaps through headphones) for a few hours.

Interestingly, tinnitus is not a phantom sound but a real one - so I'm told; it has been recorded in test subjects using tiny mics inserted into the ear because. The tinnitus happens when the sensor 'hairs' in the ear that are supposed to hear a frequency are damaged by being moved outside their linear range so that they start oscillating at that frequency. Cool huh?

floydman · #17 01-17-2010, 07:40 PM

I've had fairly bad tinnitus in my left ear for about 4 months now. About a month or two of having it I took myself to an ear, nose throat doctor to have it looked at. Audiogram came back showing no hearing loss in either ear-remarkable considering my audio-history but I'm incredibly grateful for the results. They explained that tinnitus often shows up for no reason and may just as quickly disappear after a month, a year, or never.
So I just wanted to point out that tinnitus is not necessarily due to hearing loss. I am going to go try chamomile tea right now because going to bed is the worst for me, right when it is the most quiet the ringing is the loudest. For good measure I think I'll make up a little hops chamomile and damiana mixture, a nice calm blend with of course a bit of honey. thanks for the tip Project-c

emblymouse · #18 01-17-2010, 07:49 PM

Until this thread I'd never heard of tinnitus 'going away'. I assumed there was no going back just minimizing further damage. Amazing.

Slaine01 · #19 01-17-2010, 07:54 PM

I no longer have that annoying high pitched annoying squeal in my ears anymore either - now that she's moved out..

rosanne · #20 01-17-2010, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David1234

I've heard that exposure to unpitched noise can reduce mild and medium tinnitus. Sleep a night near a beach, or play white or pink noise (perhaps through headphones) for a few hours.

Maybe so, but I've been sleeping with an air purifier on for over a year now and I haven't noticed a reduction in my tinnitus.