• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Tinnitus is NOT incurable!

#101
Honch said:
Yes, and the main incentive is that with all hearing tests, and why it has taken so long is explained in this video very clearly. The human being is the only animal where all hair cells regenerate EXCEPT hearing hair cells in the cochlea. This means that no animal tests can ever be carried out, because no animals will ever have hearing loss. They hear mostly above our range anyways, and so they can't carry out anything remotely looking like any human hearing cells. All animals regenerate hair cells, no matter of that it is fur, eyebrows, or hearing hair cells. They heal. Their sight may have gone south, but the hearing of a dog or bat doesn't detoriate with age. Animals may have hearing loss due to other things, but missing or damaged hair cells are not one of them.

I've always wondered about this. The decibel limit for humans. It is said to be 120 db for a long exposure time. At 160 db it is complete sudden deafness without any time spent. Instantly. Now, these kind of painful experiments have not ever been able to be carried out by early non-ethical animal experiments, because a) their threshold is way too different from human hearing, both in loudness and frequency range b) the above thing, it will grow back on animals. Animals that once were deaf due to loud explosions will sooner or later gain back their hearing. All animals. In air that is. Water based fishes are a different thing.

So how can one tell which is the limit of human hearing, before it is gone for good? There just had to be ONE test way back in time that caused a great deal of pain to the victims, and had to be carried out JUST once! Now, which things provided such loud levels in the past? Well, cannons and guns only. So whenever there was a war going on, and the order was to "Take no prisoners, kill them all...no, wait... take some prisoners" and they carried out those tests with their head in close vincinity to the pipes of different guns and cannons and you made records of it. Scientific for science only. I can't think that this can be calculated out with the most accurate mathematical calculations, because there's no way to say for sure that if you feel it's painful at 120 db, that it is at 160 db it causes a permanent and sudden deaf. That one could just as well have occured at 140 db or lower.

Imagine that!
Click to expand...

I don't know. The scientists will figure it out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Honch
#102
jamro217 said:
There is some Doctor on the internet hawking a CD that retrains your brain into resetting itself and shutting off the tinnitus. I was going to send away for it, but it sounded a little fishy, like so many of those "I'll tell you about it in a minute, I'm not doing this to make money, here are some testimonials from satisfied patients, free money back guarantee..." infomercials. Maybe there is something to the concept of this being more brain (receptor) than ear related. Has anyone tried the reprogramming?
Click to expand...

Yes, the "noise" is generated in your auditory cortex, with chronic tinnitus. And yes, please don't believe any of those ads. However, there is legitimate research going on utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as well as various forms of neurofeedback. My colleague, an MD PhD who is immersed in the TMS research, has tinnitus. I have it too. As we say, research is often "me-search." And that's a good motivator!
 
  • Like
Reactions: rodak, DirtDog, Winoman and 1 other person
#103
Joe Nerve said:
...modern medicine has just not yet determined how to cure it.

This is going to be a long one, but I can't do it any other way.

I'll start with a brief history and the reason I'm writing this. I've had tinnitus for at least 30 years. For 20 of those years I dealt with it, considered it an occupational hazard, and didn't feel it was a huge deal. It was there every minute of every day, but I could live with it. Didn't understand those who complained like crazy. My thought was, "Just shut up and deal with it."

I started wearing ear plugs to further protect my hearing, but one day at a show at the Bitter End about 10 years ago, I left them home. I said screw it, and played without any protection. That night was life altering. My tinnitus went from what seemed like a 3 right up to 11! And it stayed that way for days, slowly lowering itself to about a 7 or 8. Suddenly, I understood how people went into massive depressions over this. How they even killed themselves. The screaming in my ears was unbearable. No noise machines, air conditioners, or any other background noise could relieve it. I lived with it for about 5 years at that level, and then started doing things that made it a little more bearable.

While it was at that level, a car horn could send me back to 11 with a 3 second beep. A cymbal crash without earplugs in, any kind of music that hit certain frequencies at any volume whatsoever. I went to a friends clarinet concert once and literally almost started crying. Stayed out of respect, but would never repeat that.

Point of this all being, I know full well what tinnitus is. And I know full well the levels it can go to. I even purchased $4000 hearing aids in hopes that it would help. It did absolutely nothing, and I had to take a $400 hit (restocking fee) when I returned them after 90 days.

Two days ago I was driving, with music down low in my car and it occurred to me that I heard no ringing. I shut my stereo, pulled the car over and heard dead silence except for a few birds!​

My eyes got teary, I took a deep breath, and just got super grateful. I hadn't experienced that in years! I know this is reading like an infomercial, but I promise I'm not selling anything. Only trying to help anyone if I can. The fact that I experienced that tells me I'm capable of getting rid of tinnitus altogether. I'll say also, that right now it's only returned to the barely noticeable level, and it comes and goes. It's not bothering me at all.

So now the bad news - I don't know HOW to stop or cure it, but I know I did. And I'm about to list everything I did that I believe helped it to end. It could be just one of these things that worked, or it could have been a combination of any number of them. All I know is that it worked, and if you suffer from this the way I did you'll probably be willing to try anything.

My help with this came from a mix of psychological, physical, and spiritual things I applied:

1. I refused to believe tinnitus was incurable. I somehow knew and completely believed nobody has yet figured it out.

2. I was willing to try ANYTHING, and very open minded about healing it
.
3. I DID in fact try many things that had absolutely no effect, including expensive vitamins that did sheit.

4. I had a talk with a guy one day that really stuck with me. He was an intellectual, scientific type of dude who did his dabbling with LSD back in the day - but he told me he had tinnitus pretty bad and he "willed" it away. Said the he did a lot of reading on it, and realized he could focus differently and at first minimize the ringing, then eventually eliminate it. I tried and tried and tried, and think it may have had a cumulative effect. What really resonated with me though was that I believed him, as his conviction was strong. This helped to give me hope.​

The crazier stuff:

5. I read somewhere that raw honey and cinnamon cured tinnitus. I didn't believe it, but I know raw honey and cinnamon are both very good for you anyway so I said what the hell. Did a teaspoon of each, every day for about 4 months straight, and I don't know if it was a placebo effect or the real thing, but it brought that above mentioned 7-8 volume down to 4-6. The tinnitus from that point on would only hit the unbearable mark if I had some sort of auditory assault.​

Over the past 2 years I've made a few more changes:

6. I was always using the highest noise reducing earplugs for every show I did. Just recently started using IEMs, thinking they were actually going to make things worse, but I think the noise cancelling qualities of them are working wonders. I was playing only once or twice a month the past few years. Now I'm playing 2 or 3X a week, and despite that I'm in much better shape.

7. I learned to do this ear cupping thing, and now do it religiously after every show. I cup my hands tightly on my ears with my fingers on the back of my head. I tap the back bottom of my skull to get a "boing" sound, and do that about 20 times. I then squeeze my ears as hard as I can, which intensifies the ringing, hold it a few seconds, and let it go. I might repeat the process if I feel necessary. IT WORKS!!!! It's a temporary reduction, but it lasts 10-15 minutes. I do it again when I get home or before I go to bed.

8. And this is as crazy as it gets. Gotta put it in here because who knows - maybe this is the one key to all, but I don't think so. I was taught to perform Reiki (an energy healing technique) many years ago. When I do the above ear cupping thing, I also rub my hands together first, draw the Reiki symbol on my palms, and apply the healing technique. Don't know how or why this works, and I'm still skeptical, but I've been doing anything and everything possible. It might have something to do with the heat in my hands from rubbing them, a placebo affect again, or maybe there truly is a healing force in the universe that I've been taught to tap into. If so, I believe prayer would have the same effect.

9. I eat well, exercise and work at having a positive attitude always. I believe that to has aided in my healing.​

That's all I've really. I'll reiterate that I'm crazy freaking happy my life is pretty much back to normal now. It's been over 10 years of torture. Hope this helps someone, and I hope other add what they did that helped. I now know we can beat this, and if not, at least make it completely bearable.

Share your thoughts, tips and ideas. I'm done for now :).
Click to expand...

Not sure why or how but Number 7 works. I'm very lucky that I don't have ringing all the time, normally after rehearsal or gigs I'll get it when I get home to dead silence. Doing as you say and hitting the base of your skull where the neck joins is a quick fix for me.
I'd love to know the reasoning behind this.

Glad things are sounding better for you. Whatever works for you is the right remedy.
 
#106
OP: Thank you for sharing with good intentions.

These things work for me:

  • a 5 mg desloratidine tablet every day (not any other antihistamine)
  • a generous amount of raw ginger every day in my meals (warming and drying effect)
  • the juice of 1/2 lemon in 1 liter of water every day (astringent effect)
  • a generous amount of cinnamon every day (warming and drying effect)
  • wearing earplugs for rehearsals, sound-checks, and all gigs
  • avoiding music turned up loud and noise in general
 
#107
Informative post, thank you!

Btw, I lost some hearing and developed tinnitus, after a Megadeth show in 1995. Ever since that annoying "hissing crickets" sound, I wear plugs or monitors to every show and concert, even if not that loud.
 
#108
KickingBass said:
I listen to the horror stories and wear earplugs whenever I know I'm going to be around loud music. The best way to cure it is to prevent it I guess. I still can't understand my friends who should know the dangers of tinnitus and yet still don't wear earplugs, doesnt it bother them?
Click to expand...

Here's the problem for many of us older talkbass folks: My generation & those that preceded it didn't have the internet in our wilder years. It was in the realm of science fiction. Therefore, when we decided to become musicians and found out that we liked it loud, it was easier to be a reckless "fearless" young person. Back in those prehistoric days, one had to go the library to read up on any medical queries that arose. Until I had to, I didn't.

When I started playing gigs in my early teens, I never so much as heard the word "tinnitus." Older musicians--my role-models--didn't talk about dirty things like that, the few that had a clue. It was taboo. That remained the case for me, at least, until well into my 20s. Now, there are online forums about tinnitus, support groups, not to mention musician-relevant resources the like of which talkbass offers. There is a wealth of information at our fingertips nowadays, a good thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Winoman and KickingBass
#109
I have mild tinnitus which comes and goes, so ... not a great bother, but occasionally annoying. It does sometimes seem to relate to sinus pressure issues, as someone mentioned early on the thread, so yeah, neti pot and steam inhaler help.

And dang if that ear cupping thing doesn't help! Good tip, thanks! :thumbsup:
 
#111
My tinnitus is so loud my wife can hear it! No wait....that's probably her tinnitus.....
She has it too and she never gets close to loud music, live or otherwise. Sometimes we be sitting watching TV and she looks at me and says - "Yow! are your ears screaming?!" and they usually are.
Not sure if anyone here mentioned this yet but WebMD and other reputable sites talk about ibuprofen and other NSAIDs causing tinnitus.
 
#113
Awesome post and I'm very happy for you!

I'd say I suffer from the 3-5 range of what you're speaking of in terms of scale. I've had temporary 9's after assaults. There is simply no sleeping without a fan going in the background, and its difficult to hear conversations when I'm in a room full of loud talking (like restaurants).

The worst, is when you're at a loud show, and someone leans over to tell you something by SCREAMING IN YOUR EAR! Dude, just, no! Why?

And I've found that things like sudden microphone feedback bring me to the point of unconsciousness. So far, I've been able to recover before I totally black out and hit the ground, but I could easily see that happening.
 
#116
The thing is with using completely foam earplugs, is that I think I hear the bass better since it cancels/filters out everything above it. No need to ask FOH soundman to turn up or down my bass. It is a little bit too isolated though, but I quite like it. The only negative part is that I am not detecting any slight out of tuneness. I have problems tuning up with foam earplugs. However, those posh, molded and taylor made ones you slip through some of the high end.

- - - - -

@Joe Nerve it would be fun if you could link and point us to some YT video, which someone demonstrates all this cupping, and behind head things. I would be interested since it's basically for free, and costs you nothing.

For whatever it seems to be remedy of tinnitus, I do think that seeking total silence, or surroundings, and environment that are as silent as possible, will your ears benefit from in the long run. Alas, silent environments in nature, and real life, are very rare, and hard to come by these days. And it would be great if it worked this way, that if you've been exposed to loud levels, you could balance this by staying around in as sound proof and silent environment for just as long time, to buck it but, alas, it doesn't work that way, how much we wished it would! ;)
 
#117
I honestly don't understand when people say wearing earplugs makes their tinnitus go away.

When I wear earplugs, it seems to get louder because all the outside noises that distract from it are gone.
 
#118
PsyDocHill said:
Yes, the "noise" is generated in your auditory cortex, with chronic tinnitus. And yes, please don't believe any of those ads. However, there is legitimate research going on utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as well as various forms of neurofeedback. My colleague, an MD PhD who is immersed in the TMS research, has tinnitus. I have it too. As we say, research is often "me-search." And that's a good motivator!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry to hear that you suffer from this most annoying malady. Hopefully there will be some cure for this soon and give us all relief.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PsyDocHill
#119
I've had bad tinnitus in my right ear for about 6 years. I put it down to attending a stupid loud gig while having a really bad cold and playing 2 gigs stood very close to a hard hitting drummer on 3 consecutive nights.

I was really annoyed/angry/depressed about getting it and thought that I might have to give up gigging, 2 things have helped me.

1. It took a couple of years but I have now accepted that it is here to stay and I might as well live with it the best I can.
2. I Don't do anything to it aggravate it or make it worse, I avoid or block out all loud noise possible.

I carry earplugs at all times and don't hesitate to use, every pair of pants has them in the back pocket. When doing anything noisy I use an earplug plus industrial grade ear defenders. I listen to music at a fraction of the volume I used to.

When playing I wear an IEM in my left (non tinnitus) ear and a plug in my right (I know I am going to get told this is wrong but it works for me and I ain't going to change just because some anonymous dude on the internet thinks I should).

Drummer rant - relevant from a db point of view but optional reading.
The plug goes in while we are setting up because our drummer seems incapable of setting up quietly, as soon as he gets his snare on it's stand he likes to whack it at random intervals (maybe to check that it's still working, who knows what goes through a drummers mind (maybe someone here who also plays drums could shed some light on this) ).

Then as soon as he gets his kit set up he will have a quick roll round it and declare "that's me done", put his sticks down, arrange his crib sheets, pick up sticks and make some more noise, put down sticks, sort out his IEMs, pick up sticks, make noise, put down sticks etc. etc. Some nights we will have to yell at him "will you STFU, we're trying to set the PA up here", this usually comes as a complete surprise to him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maxmaroon and Honch
#120
I have found that if I avoid, or at least reduce ototoxins, drink water, avoid loud noises, it seems to cut back to tolerable levels. Interestingly, if I move my jaw left or right, the ring gets louder. I will read thru this whole thread when I get a few. Thanks for posting
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back