Any Effective Tinnitus Therapies?

[Koolau]

Aspirin is the worst for mine. I do take the 81mg. tab each day. I don't think it worsens my situation. When my tinnitus is "stable" I can ignore. Recently (past couple of days) it's worse. I wonder if it's due to my flu shot??

 

[Anakalia]

Tinnitus medication

I have had it for years. Ive tried Mason’s Ear Health two tablets twice a day off and on for 5 years. I am convinced it lessens it but not a cure.
Its lipoflavinoids. Pretty harmless.

 

[leeg]

I've had it for years. I see an ENT every couple of years, and they have just said, "live with it." They say there is no cure.

I like to describe how I first realized I had it: one say I said to my wife, "gee there must be something wrong with our electricity. Lets get an electrician over here to check out why our electricity is making this sound."

Wife: "what sound"?

 

[EvanC]

Simply to add to the discussion, I have tinnitus, and I have had it for years. I joke that I have “rock ‘n’ roll” ears. I can’t say for sure, but I think mine comes from too many concerts with great seats.

I have learned to ignore it… for the most part

 

[FedRetired50]

Too much noise when I was a teenager lead to some hearing loss and tinnitus. I started wearing hearing aids in April, and a pleasant side effect is that while I'm wearing them the tinnitus is noticeably quieter.

 

[catii]

I know exactly when my tinnitus started! It was the moment when my car was rear-ended by a drunken idiot! He climbed out of his car & screamed at me that I should have gotten out of his way. Audiologist measured the frequency, which came in useful in the court hearing, when I was successful in getting his drivers license revoked! I've tried a number of treatments, but none have been successful. Now, I pretty much ignore it, & use a white-noise generator to get to sleep.

 

[winyaz]

Mostly I ignore it but I do this when it bothers me and it doesn't bother me as much. It almost always helps immediately but often for only a very short time.

Same thing only with a 10 minute description to describe something that takes 30 seconds:

 

[DrRoy]

I've had it for years. It is persistently there, but I have grown to ignore it for the most part. The last time I checked in with my PCP on the topic, he said they really don't have any recommended treatments for it.

Another +1. I flip from being aware of it and not. I worked around occasional noise for years and rode planes 2x/mo, but always wore ear plugs. I got a hearing test a few years ago and had a noticeable loss at 8000 hz, so I guess that is the frequency of my ringing.

 

[Time2]

Another +1. I flip from being aware of it and not. I worked around occasional noise for years and rode planes 2x/mo, but always wore ear plugs. I got a hearing test a few years ago and had a noticeable loss at 8000 hz, so I guess that is the frequency of my ringing.

It is my opinion that you can have tinnitus ringing at a much higher frequency than the frequency at which your hearing rolls off. My hearing starts rolling off at 4kHz and is down 60db by 8kHz. But I'm sure my ringing is higher than 8kHz. No science, just my experience.
I can hear the guys talk just fine, I have trouble hearing my wife and children. The audiologist said, "hearing aids would be a waste for you."
That was several years ago, and I haven't noticed my hearing getting any worse.
Oh, I also have trouble hearing if there is other noise in the environment. I suspect this matches what other would say about their hearing.
"Getting old ain't for sissies!"

 

[PointBreeze]

I developed sudden sensorineural hearing loss (low frequencies), jet engine tinnitus, dizziness, hyperacusis, and diplacusis as a result of my third Moderna shot 2 years ago. The tinnitus was so loud I couldn’t concentrate, read, etc. and I got quite depressed. I threw everything at it: oral steroids, three steroid shots through the eardrum, citrus bioflavonoids, acupuncture, meditation, etc. After 10 weeks my hearing returned and the tinnitus faded down to soft crickets.

It has recurred three times since the initial episode, and oral steroids have helped.

 

[GenXguy]

It is my opinion that you can have tinnitus ringing at a much higher frequency than the frequency at which your hearing rolls off.

That is a fact. You can be deaf and still have tinnitus.

 

[GenXguy]

Mostly I ignore it but I do this when it bothers me and it doesn't bother me as much. It almost always helps immediately but often for only a very short time.

Same thing only with a 10 minute description to describe something that takes 30 seconds:

LOL. I actually tried those things and other crazy things in youtube videos in the past. They don't work at all for me. It's probably the placebo effect in action for some people.

White noise doesn't touch my loud high frequency tinnitus.

Some high frequency tones / noises will cause a temporary lowering of my tinnitus called residual inhibition, but it only lasts about 20 seconds after the sound is stopped. And those aren't nice sounds to listen to like relaxing white noise.

 

[DrRoy]

Another +1. I flip from being aware of it and not. I worked around occasional noise for years and rode planes 2x/mo, but always wore ear plugs. I got a hearing test a few years ago and had a noticeable loss at 8000 hz, so I guess that is the frequency of my ringing.

It is my opinion that you can have tinnitus ringing at a much higher frequency than the frequency at which your hearing rolls off. My hearing starts rolling off at 4kHz and is down 60db by 8kHz. But I'm sure my ringing is higher than 8kHz. No science, just my experience.
I can hear the guys talk just fine, I have trouble hearing my wife and children. The audiologist said, "hearing aids would be a waste for you."
That was several years ago, and I haven't noticed my hearing getting any worse.
Oh, I also have trouble hearing if there is other noise in the environment. I suspect this matches what other would say about their hearing.
"Getting old ain't for sissies!"

It's not a roll off. There is a loss at 8 Khz, then recovery, and the roll off is 12-15 Khz.

 

[carty1]

Acupuncture

I've had serious tinnitus over the years. Thirty years ago, after having lost ALL hearing in one ear and after countless tests including a head MRI, I went to an acupuncturist.

Twelve hours later, at 3am, a "pop" woke me up and I could hear again. It does return mildly from time to time, but a regular acupuncture visit tends to keep it in check.

My tinnitus has this bizarre 4-5 day bell curve cycle:
Day 1 : Hardly noticeable, faint but still there.
Day 2 : Gradual increase in volume.
Day 3 : Max volume.
Day 4 : Gradual decrease.
Repeat back to Day 1.

Yeah, I have not tried acupuncture or hyperbaric chamber. Worth a try.

 

[Koolau]

Simply to add to the discussion, I have tinnitus, and I have had it for years. I joke that I have “rock ‘n’ roll” ears. I can’t say for sure, but I think mine comes from too many concerts with great seats.

I have learned to ignore it… for the most part

Hmm, I always wondered if it just might be those 125 hours I spent behind a spinning propeller or maybe the years of trap shooting. Nahhhhhhh!

 

[GenXguy]

My tinnitus has this bizarre 4-5 day bell curve cycle:

Yeah, I have not tried acupuncture or hyperbaric chamber. Worth a try.

Feedback is generally unsuccessful using those. I mentioned some of the treatments earlier that people are trying in desperation without success:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/any-effective-tinnitus-therapies-119451.html#post2994538

 

[Skyward1]

I had mild tinnitus most of my adult life but about 3 years ago my right ear went to a whole different level that was very alarming. Nothing seemed to help, but cutting back on caffeine and alcohol did seem to lessen the intensity of it somewhat. At first I couldn't concentrate, read, sleep etc. and I was wondering how I could continue like this for the rest of my life. Over time (years) I have come to terms with it and can even ignore it for certain lengths of time if I am absorbed in some activity but it is always there and it is obnoxious but I have grown to live with it.



If you live next to a freight train crossing, at first the noise will be overwhelming but given enough time you will acclimate yourself to it and it will not be as noticeable and you may even have times where you can ignore it. I liken my tinnitus to living next to a freight train and try my best not to obsess over it.

 

[GenXguy]

If you live next to a freight train crossing, at first the noise will be overwhelming but given enough time you will acclimate yourself to it and it will not be as noticeable and you may even have times where you can ignore it. I liken my tinnitus to living next to a freight train and try my best not to obsess over it.

It's funny you mention this. I live about a half mile from the train tracks, but in the dead of night, you can really hear it rumbling. Trains run different times of the night, some freight trains, sometimes Amtrak. Unfortunately, after over 20 years, I don't feel like I've gotten anymore used to it. Since my sleep is worse now, I think it even wakes me up more than it used to. But, I would much prefer the freight train rumbling my house for a while over this loud 24/7 tinnitus.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I've had tinnitus for almost 30 years. It started around the time that I was diagnosed with Graves disease (hyperthyroidism), but I was and still am active in the live music scene, so I suspect that the root cause is exposure to loud sounds. I am able to ignore mine most of the time and none of the OTC meds I've tried such as magnesium or melatonin have helped at all. My one piece of advice to the OP is to wear good hearing protection whenever they are around loud sounds. I own two sets of custom hearing protection and I never attend a live music event without wearing one of them. For other activities I use over the ear muffs or the 30dB foam earplugs.

 

[kongmen]

This is one subject I unfortunately know plenty about. I've had loud tinnitus since 09 but it gets much worse at least in my case it did. In 19 I started experiencing whats called middle ear myclonus which makes any form of tinnitus a walk in the park in comparison. This condition manifests itself for me in the form of random clicks throughout the day or night. Think of snapping celery but inside your head. There is a surgery offered by Neurotologists that is mostly a gamble as to it's ability to resolve it and carries risks of hyperaccusis.

 

[Koolau]

I had mild tinnitus most of my adult life but about 3 years ago my right ear went to a whole different level that was very alarming. Nothing seemed to help, but cutting back on caffeine and alcohol did seem to lessen the intensity of it somewhat. At first I couldn't concentrate, read, sleep etc. and I was wondering how I could continue like this for the rest of my life. Over time (years) I have come to terms with it and can even ignore it for certain lengths of time if I am absorbed in some activity but it is always there and it is obnoxious but I have grown to live with it.



If you live next to a freight train crossing, at first the noise will be overwhelming but given enough time you will acclimate yourself to it and it will not be as noticeable and you may even have times where you can ignore it. I liken my tinnitus to living next to a freight train and try my best not to obsess over it.

I guess I'm lucky. My "sound" is of cicadas (locusts) doing their thing. Sometimes it's a bit better and sometimes it's a bit worse. Louder sounds make it worse for a while. I try to avoid drums!

 

[Time2]

It's not a roll off. There is a loss at 8 Khz, then recovery, and the roll off is 12-15 Khz.

Not according to the graphs, it just rolls of pretty steeply starting at 4kHz.
One ear starts the roll off just a little higher than the other ear.

 

[Time2]

This is one subject I unfortunately know plenty about. I've had loud tinnitus since 09 but it gets much worse at least in my case it did. In 19 I started experiencing whats called middle ear myclonus which makes any form of tinnitus a walk in the park in comparison. This condition manifests itself for me in the form of random clicks throughout the day or night. Think of snapping celery but inside your head. There is a surgery offered by Neurotologists that is mostly a gamble as to it's ability to resolve it and carries risks of hyperaccusis.

I haven't had what your experience.
But, has anyone else ever had a loud explosion in your head? Everything is fine, it doesn't hurt there is no lasting effect, but it is dramatic. It has only happened maybe 5 times in my life, so kind rare, but memorable.

 

[Koolau]

I haven't had what your experience.
But, has anyone else ever had a loud explosion in your head? Everything is fine, it doesn't hurt there is no lasting effect, but it is dramatic. It has only happened maybe 5 times in my life, so kind rare, but memorable.

Never had an "explosion" but occasionally some "whooshh" sounds. It sounds like liquid flowing in my ear someplace. Very unnerving.

I had a hearing test not long ago and it was for another purpose other than a normal hearing test. The test tech indicated that I actually hear reasonably well for my age. I told her to tell DW that as I'm always asking DW to repeat herself and speak louder. It's all very frustrating and I don't know what role tinnitus plays in my "apparent" hearing loss.

 

[Time2]

I told her to tell DW that as I'm always asking DW to repeat herself and speak louder.

My audiologist called that selective hearing.