Tinnitus is NOT incurable!

[Joe Nerve]

Driving to work today it occurred to me again (cuz I saw this thread this morning), my ears are dead silent. Still are right now.

My ears ring now from time to time, but I had a screaming loud squeal, 24/7, for a decade before my OP here. When they ring now it’s nowhere near what it used to be. I’ll add that I played 2 gigs this weekend, also.

People can trust science all they want. I’m much happier trusting my experience. Science still seems to want to tell me my experience is impossible. OK.

 

[NKBassman]

@Joe Nerve , glad to hear you’ve found some relief!

I thought I was starting to get tinnitus until I had a visit to my dentist where he informed me I was grinding my teeth something fierce. He suggested I start wearing a mouth guard at night, and within three days 90% of the ringing in my ears (and the daily waking up with splitting headaches) had gone away.

Between that, stretching regularly to relieve tension, as many massages as my insurance will cover, and calming meditation practices similar to what your buddy described in your point #4 (mentally focusing on the ringing and trying to “release” it), it’s made a huge difference over the last few years.

Edit: I realize what I’m describing is more muscle tension related than clinical tinnitus, but I guess my point is that not all ear ringing will always be the result of actual hearing damage.

 

[GKon]

PBL
Posted Before Looking

How dare you! No peanut butter sandwiches for you!

 

[BassAuD]

Edit: I realize what I’m describing is more muscle tension related than clinical tinnitus, but I guess my point is that not all ear ringing will always be the result of actual hearing damage.

ABSOLUTELY! The majority of constant, ongoing tinnitus does have a hearing loss component, but not all. I am happy to hear a fellow musician found this to not be noise induced.

I had a pinched Eustachian tube which amped up the pressure in the middle part of my ear and the tinnitus increased to screaming levels. That is a good example of how treating something else can "cure" tinnitus (in this case, my neck locked up and pinched the tube so I went to a chiropractor and it was immediately fixed). If it isn't noise related, there is a chance to at least lessen it.

Here's a short list of other potential causes that some may find interesting:
Invalid Link Removed

 

[dan1952]

I was prescribed narontin, or gabapentin, to aid in the regeneration of the damaged nerves in my left arm, which was rebuilt from over 60 pieces after being crushed by a hit and run driver. After a couple of months of treatment, not only did the nerves, especially the radial nerve, start to show improvement (still not completely normal after a year and 6 months, but I noticed that my tinnitus, which began with numerous bad ear infections as a child and as an adult, and had worsened from playing in loud bands, had noticeably improved. My vote for gabapentin.

 

[tzn]

Another good resource: Sleepbot Environmental Broadcast

I love Sleepbot!

 

[AlexanderB]

I have had mild tinnitus in both ears since i was a teen. A few years ago I was in a car accident where i was T- boned on the passenger side. Since then my right ear has constantly rang. It's not too bad most of the time. But i have trouble making out words in a somewhat noisy environment. But I guess that's not out of the ordinary.

Sorry to hear about that. Did one or more air bags deploy during the car crash?

 

[Jusseppe]

I read everyone. I got Tinnitus since 2017 or so due to the stress I was living in my music academy and an
altercation with a band member back then, plus I was just gotten a bad ear clean/wash my
ENT did by that time. Idk certainly wich one of those things that happen to me at that time was the reason for my tinnitus but I have it till this very day.

Sometimes is worse and sometime I can even notice that is there. It happens to me that two times I get rid of it once I was just in my room doing nothing and it dissapears for like 1-3 minutes and the other time was the same stuff doing nothing and boop! no ringing at all for again 1-3 minutes.

I don't like when people try to lower the profile of tinnitus saying that's not a illness and is just a symptom, it's not, it's real there's no cure yet like many said and idk if doctors or science can cure the T but I hope someday all the people that has it get rid of it one way or another.

 

[seamonkey]

This is not Medical advise but some may find it useful to mask tinnitus.

IOS has a feature under Accessibility -> Audio/Visual -> Background sounds
You can pick a background "Noise" like Bright, Dark, Rain, Ocean, ...
And have it play this in the headphones.
It will shut off when you play music or talk on the phone.

 

[McFarlin]

This is not Medical advise but some may find it useful to mask tinnitus.

IOS has a feature under Accessibility -> Audio/Visual -> Background sounds
You can pick a background "Noise" like Bright, Dark, Rain, Ocean, ...
And have it play this in the headphones.
It will shut off when you play music or talk on the phone.

Mine is so bad lately that, three weeks ago, I quit what is probably the "best", or my favorite, band that I have played with in 30 years.

Thank you. This helps. I'll use it often, I think.

 

[dan1952]

Driving to work today it occurred to me again (cuz I saw this thread this morning), my ears are dead silent. Still are right now.

My ears ring now from time to time, but I had a screaming loud squeal, 24/7, for a decade before my OP here. When they ring now it’s nowhere near what it used to be. I’ll add that I played 2 gigs this weekend, also.

People can trust science all they want. I’m much happier trusting my experience. Science still seems to want to tell me my experience is impossible. OK.

I've had tinnitus since I was 8 or 9, probably due to multiple ear infections as a child. I had 40% hearing loss when I was tested at about 16. Never wore earplugs, because I didn't like the muffled sound.
Anyway, I was run over by a hit and run driver in 2016, crushing my left arm. Afterwards I was prescribed gabapentin for the nerve pain, and have taken it ever since. And guess what? My tinnitus has improved GREATLY! Still have hearing loss, but I wear hearing aids, which have been a Godsend. Haven't heard birds sing since I was a kid.
Anyway, Joe, I'm really glad you are doing better, and are back playing a lot!