Tinnitus is NOT incurable!

[Joe Nerve]

Thank you so much for chiming in here with a bit of actual experience.

... interesting choice of words there, Guy. I think you've got it a little twisted though.

Actual experience (and results) seem to count for very little with you. It's titles and text-book knowledge that you hold in high esteem.

 

[svtb15]

Great info

...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 .

 

[ddnidd1]

Yes, tinnitus IS incurable. Currently.

The causes of tinnitus are not yet understood so any attempts to "cure" it are not going to work. There are, however, options for management of it.

Some tinnitus is associated with medical conditions and treating those conditions could help the ringing. Some people can develop serious depression from the condition and it is important to address that if that is you. It is so much more complicated than "my ears are ringing because the guitar player won't turn down". Do your homework from reputable sources. A lot of audiologists may offer "tinnitus management", but they may just have hearing aids that have the programs on it. If it is bad enough to be seeking treatment, it is worth it to try to find somebody that is a bit more invested in the condition, but that is just my editorial thought.

I am an audiology student that is interested in focusing on tinnitus and noise induced hearing loss. "Tinnitus" comes in several forms which can make zeroing in on the cause even more challenging. We all get that brief, 20 or 30 second ringing in one ear that seems to come out of nowhere, but that goes away. If your ears are ringing after a concert, you've done damage to the mechanism even if it goes away the next day. That is "temporary threshold shift" and if you keep at it enough, one day it isn't going to go away. That's a post for another day.

The big points for now:
1. Tinnitus occurs in the brain. There is no external sound source and hearing loss is usually associated with it.
2. Supplements aren't going to fix it. Please save your money on bottled placebos and go see an actual doctor. Ear, Nose and Throat docs are a good starting point. They may send you to an audiologist for evaluation and then management, but you need medical clearance to be sure that it isn't something serious.
3. Sound is your best friend. White noise machines, radios, fans...whatever you need to distract you from that ringing. Since you can't make it go away, management involves masking the sound, distracting your brain from focusing on it and counseling to work on coping with the sound.
4. Hearing aids often have tinnitus management programs. Substantial progress can be made with hearing aids, but they are expensive. Sometimes, if you have a hearing loss and could benefit from hearing aids, just getting them can be sufficient to mask the ringing. Otherwise, some people get them more for the management program which is a type of noise generator that is customized to the pitch of your tinnitus. Hearing aids are more successful if the tinnitus is mild or moderate.
5. Some tinnitus is the brain's way of saying "wait a sec...why aren't I getting 3800 Hertz (or whatever the frequency/frequencies in question)?" It is thought that the brain is compensating for not getting signals at certain frequencies by generating them. Tinnitus therapy involves giving the missing sounds back to the brain to see if it can be appeased, or at least fooled.

Something to remember is that tinnitus that is ONLY in one ear needs to be assessed by a medical doctor. The auditory system loves symmetry and if something is only happening on one side, it may not be a problem but it is best to get that cleared by a doctor "just in case". A possible exception is if the ringing sounds like your pulse. In that case, it is more concerning if that is in both ears and needs to be cleared by a doctor.

There's some good general musician's hearing info here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

It is thought that about 50 million people in the USA have tinnitus. It is no wonder so many hucksters have jumped on the herbal supplement or natural oils bandwagon. If you put drops/oils in your ear, you'll have a shiny eardrum and a greasy pillow but that's about it. If it did find a way to your auditory cortex where the ringing is though to originate, then you have a lot more to worry about than the ringing.

Please let's not muddy the water with facts when anecdotes work perfectly well here at TB.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Going to add also....

I think I updated my OP somewhere in the middle of this thread, but it bears repeating. My tinnitus isn't cured, but after over a decade of non stop screaming in my ears it's gone down like 70%, and I now get times of absolute silence. That's something that never happened since it first kicked in. And I'm grateful for that.

I went to doctors and audiologists, and they told me lots of stuff - but left me with nothing. It's incurable. It's not understood. Try this - $4,000 hearing aids that did absolutely nothing. I returned them after tweaking and trying for 90 days and took a $400 hit.

Medical science has it's place, and doctors have saved my life (and family members) more than once - but as I've said many times in many threads, I'll never trust them as the absolute authority. They've been wrong many MANY times, and they often fill people with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. There are very few things medical science can cure. At best they can treat what ails people. If someone wants to be cured, most times they'll have to look elsewhere.




Doctors have their place, but they're not God. Interestingly enough I've noticed also that most people who don't believe in any sort of god or higher power are the ones who put them highest on a pedestal. Hmm... maybe a great topic for the lobby?

Oh yeah, and I'll add this nursing school joke my wife shared (she's an advanced practice nurse). Anyway:

What do you call a doctor who graduated at the bottom of their class?








Doctor.

 

[guy n. cognito]

... interesting choice of words there, Guy. I think you've got it a little twisted though.

Actual experience (and results) seem to count for very little with you. It's titles and text-book knowledge that you hold in high esteem.

Provable, repeatable, testable results count very much for me. It's the type of things that have been studied, tested, double tested, researched, reviewed and published.

A single event, that defies tested scientific theories doesn't sway me much.

 

[petrus61]

Provable, repeatable, testable results count very much for me. It's the type of things that have been studied, tested, double tested, researched, reviewed and published.

A single event, that defies tested scientific theories doesn't sway me much.

So I take it you're not the type to clean out your ears using one of these?

 

[guy n. cognito]

So I take it you're not the type to clean out your ears using one of these?

View attachment 2774406

All I see there is a fire hazard and a trip to the burn ward.

 

[petrus61]

All I see there is a fire hazard and a trip to the burn ward.

You took the fun right out of that joke by stating what was implied by the image. Don't do that again.

 

[Loring]

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!

I found that if I just hammer the base of my skull with my fingertips right where the neck joins without the cupping -

1. it is obviously stiff and need a massage or some such and

2. the ringing disappears

 

[turbo2256b]

ringing in my ears started a while back dont remember exactly when. My hearing has always been past the normal range on both ends of the scale. I can hear dog whistles. Had hearing tests and was told this also. During my life have often heard noises others couldnt same with my son. Been through cannon firing, engine noise still grate at hearing NVH souds and detecting were they come from. The were some noises that totaly like vibrated my ears so bad it caused pain. Big deal is if 2 things like tv going and someone tris to speak to me I have a hard time hearing them which wasnt an issue before. This all started seemingly decades after not being near loud noises

 

[ddnidd1]

15 Things That Can Make Tinnitus Worse

Slideshow: 15 Things That Can Make Tinnitus Worse

 

[seamonkey]

Add in DNA
Add in age

 

[Axstar]

Doctors have their place, but they're not God. Interestingly enough I've noticed also that most people who don't believe in any sort of god or higher power are the ones who put them highest on a pedestal.

If not doctors then who do you put on the highest pedestal when it comes to medical knowledge? Priests? TV Evangelists? The dude selling healing crystals in the parking lot at a Phish show? The folk who give their autistic bleach enemas to 'cure' them or the fools that turn themselves blue because they drink colloidal silver solutions?

 

[Joe Nerve]

If not doctors then who do you put on the highest pedestal when it comes to medical knowledge? Priests? TV Evangelists? The dude selling healing crystals in the parking lot at a Phish show? The folk who give their autistic bleach enemas to 'cure' them or the fools that turn themselves blue because they drink colloidal silver solutions?

I don't assign godlike qualities to anyone. I recognize all humans for what they are. Humans. Which means they're fallible, and make lots of mistakes.

Doctors study the treatment of illnesses. They don't study healing nor prevention. They have an enormous amount of knowledge when it comes to the way systems in our body function, and how to best treat things when they go wrong. They have knowledge of how medications work. Many great books have been written addressing this, I probably recommended a few in this thread already. Nothing wrong with treating things, but pills don't cure high blood pressure. Zoloft doesn't cure depression. Lipitor doesn't cure high cholesterol. Most doctors have very little information on what actually could (or might) cure these things, and wouldn't even know where to start as far as getting their patients to do what they'd need to do in order to heal. Functional doctors are beginning to pave the way with that. Yay. There are other alternatives also.

I'll add that in the US, doctors are now forced into 12 minute consultations with patients. They have 12 minutes (sometimes less) to come up with a diagnosis and a treatment. I could elaborate on the problems with that endlessly, but even someone with a limited imagination could make sense of the implications there.

I use doctors, I'm not an idiot, but I don't take their advice (nor their diagnosis) as law or irrefutable truth. I question, I listen to what my body is telling me, I read, I ask, I see alternative physicians, and I get second opinions. If two doctors ever agree I have cancer and they suggest cutting it out, knock me out and do what ya gotta go. If I have an infection that will kill me if I don't take antibiotics, I'm taking antibiotics. My life has been saved, probably more than once, with that. On the flip side though, I can't even begin to tell you how many incurable things I've been diagnosed with that I no longer suffer from in any way. Again... this thread has been going on a while, so I probably already mentioned a bunch.

FWIW, if you have a problem with what I stated earlier, there's no need to get sarcastic. You can treat your illnesses however you choose to. This is just where my experience has taken me, and what works for me. I put it out there in the hopes that someone else might benefit. Not telling anyone, ever, what to do. My apologies if I slipped up with that somewhere. I'm human too.

 

[guy n. cognito]

They don't study healing nor prevention.

Yes, actually they do......

 

[Joe Nerve]

Yes, actually they do......

Ask any doctor you know how much education he/she's gotten regarding diet and nutrition.

 

[Axstar]

I don't assign godlike qualities to anyone. I recognize all humans for what they are. Humans. Which means they're fallible, and make lots of mistakes...

Actually yeah, I can get behind this whole post. Apologies for steaming in a bit there, earlier. I jumped the gun and assumed you were rooting for somebody/something to be promoted beyond doctors in terms of deity sweepstakes.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that doctors diagnose within a very short period of time. Your 12 minutes sound somewhat luxurious. I've been to my local doctor a few times and sometimes I can tell they simply aren't listening. There are also doctors that are way better with male patients than female patients, etc.

Ask any doctor you know how much education he/she's gotten regarding diet and nutrition.

This might be a US.cultural thing, because UK doctors are knowledge in this matter. I get the feeling that British doctors are subtly different, only because there isn't a mega industry in alternate medicine here (though there is an extensive history of herbal medicine, foraging etc) and there isn't a sort of culture of mistrust in 'Big Pharma' either.

 

[delta7fred]

This might be a US.cultural thing, because UK doctors are knowledge in this matter.

Not according to my daughter (a senior dietitian).

 

[Axstar]

Not according to my daughter (a senior dietitian).

Nobody is going to be as knowledgeable as a specialist in a given medical field. A doctor needs a broader knowledge of more numerous things, whereas your daughter only needs to know one area of medical knowledge to the Nth degree.

 

[Aberdumbie]

The power of the mind is immeasurable. I willed myself to health after a crippling spinal injury a dozen years ago. I too have the ringing but it’s more a nuisance than anything so I don’t think about it much.... But yes there is something to be said about fully believing and willing yourself to health. I know it can be done. I try to apply that will of mind to other areas of my life too. And I been a pretty fortunate fellow.