It would really be wonderful if tinnitus proved to be caused by a fungus, and therefore treatable. This reminds me of stomach ulcers which all doctors knew were caused by excess acid due to stess, until an unknown Aussie doctor found he could cure them using antibiotics. |
As a former stomach sufferer (acid reflux, not ulcers) I remember telling my doctor that I was stressed because I was in searing pain for weeks on end, and NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, but they just refused to believe me.
In the end I cured my reflux through diet and raising the head of the bed. No drugs, no doctors.
I have heard of people solving tinnitus with diet. I can't remember what they did/did not eat. I'd recommend trying fish body oil capsules ... even if they don't help the tinnitus they seem to have many other beneficial effects. |
another remedy rumored to help the cause..
Bioflavonoids were first tested and used by scientists at a renowned Midwest medical center in 1961. They discovered that Lipoflavonoid with bioflavonoids helped improve circulation in the inner ear. Dr.'s recommend this product as a nutritional supplement to their patients with Meniere's Disease -- an ailment involving ringing in the ears, loss of hearing, and dizziness.
you can buy pills with this supplement. |
Things that may help reduce tinnitus:
- avoid alcoholic beverages
- avoid caffiene
- don't take aspirin or products containing aspirin
- get sufficient sleep every night
- avoid loud noises. Earplugs are your friends!
- keep your ears free of earwax
- talk with your dentist about temporomandibular joint alignment. TMJ problems can cause or exacerbate tinnitus |
This is a good crowd to sell "natural" products and "miracle" cures to! Hell they buy a metre of cable for 3K and believe just about anything you throw their way if they think that it improves reproduced sound! I have to laugh, reminds me of the old folk medicine for ear infections that called for a few drops of urine from a person of the other sex put in the ear of the sufferer! Oh, I can hear it now: well urine kills bacteria. How about prayer? At any rate, if the placebo effect rids you of tinnitus, why not? |
i'm no expert but ASPIRIN exacerbates my tinnitis noticeably.
after years of colds/flu and a thousand doses of aspirin
(all this was before tylenol was marketed), i found out at the
age of 13 that i had a hearing loss above 10,000 hz or so.
so i won't go near aspirin, and i avoid NOISE. otoh, listening to a great rock band "dig in" is one of the high points of my music-going life (jethro tull, spirit, frank zappa, etc).
they're excused for obvious reasons... |
PBB Doesn't sound like you suffer from tinnitus or you wouldn't be so sarcastic and maybe more understanding of how unconfortable it can be.
The placebo effect does not really exist but is just something dreamt up by doctors so they can explain anything out of the ordinary. |
In fact I do. So there.
One should always consult a specialist and not self-diagnose. It is a most frustrating ailment, as it does not appear that anything can be done for subjective tinnitus. Good healthy living habits are a must. Alcohol, aspirin, heavy meals, exposure to loud noises, lack of sleep, long drives in the car and a bunch of other things can make it worse. My main point is that after you have been diagnosed, you have to come to an understanding with yourself and that is that it is a lifelong condition that you have to deal with. The fact that medicine has so little to offer to cure the problem or to alleviate it leaves one open to trying just about anything. If what you do or take to alleviate the symptoms has no side effects, go ahead and do it. Chances are it is, in fact, the placebo effect, but under those circumstances who cares.
To say what you said about the placebo effect is just proof that you and may of your compatriots have fallen prey to miracle thinking in every facet of your lives. |
Pbb ... minds only work when they are open. It is good to be skeptical, but you shouldn't deride things unless you have first hand experience. If you think it's nonsense then don't waste your own time and money, but don't try to talk others out of trying something that may help.
I first took fish oil on the urgings of my mother. I completely expected it to have no effect whatsoever, but I figured it was a small price to pay for a quiet life.
I have been overwhelmed by the changes it has made to my mood, my ability to cope with stress (and I'm talking about real stress .. raising a child with severe learning difficulties) and my general feeling of well-being. It may not have the same effects on everybody, but for about $15 a month, and with no known negative side effects (aside from slightly fishy breath about 2 hours after taking it) I figure it's worth a try.
It is also interesting to note that fish oil has been evaluated in double-blind placebo controlled trials to reduce ADD in children and to counter depression in adults. The level of depression and mental illness in societies around the world is also negatively correlated with intake of oily fish. I found all this out since I started taking it.
Vegetarian alternatives (flax seed oil, hemp oil) though similar, just don't work for me (I;ve tried). Only fish oil hits the spot.
Oh, and I make my own cables, for a few bucks each, because I'm too skeptical to shell out hundreds on snake-oil. Only the fishy type for me ! |
PBB You seem to contradict yourself. A doctor can't help and can't tell you what is causing the problem and you are crtitcal of trying something else outside of traditional medicine. Then you say it is the placebo effect when I say I got relief.
I clearly know if I got relief or not. You sound just like a doctor. I recently consulted 2 specialists at MT. Sinai hospital here in New York a suppossedly pretty reputable place. I asked the first doctor why I had such a remarkable positive reaction to a certain drug that lasted for a week and then stopped. The immediate reply was it was the placebo effect. I went to the next specialist and the exact same reply came about the placeb effect. I stared the guy straight in the eye and said "come on" He looked sheepishly at me and said, "we say placebo effect when we don't know what it is"
I'm not the kind of person to be satisfied with a doctor telling nothing can be done about my tinnitus. There are answers for everything....you just have to keep asking questions. |
Khaki8...The placebo effect does certainly exist, but this is not to say that it explains every unexpected result.
Pbb...They don't know how to cure it at the moment, but don't despair. The stomach ulcer cure that I cited on 2/29 should give us hope. |
There is always hope. In the meantime, accepting the condition is one thing that reduces one's stress level and makes the mind focus on something other than the noise in the head. That is more than half the battle won just there.
Khaki8, no contradiction, reread my post. Anything that does not cause more grief is ok by me: I simply think that having tinnitus should not be compounded by false hopes or side effects. |
PBB I don't have false hopes or side effects. I have less noise in my ear! |
I don't know whether the bioflavinoids (dietary supplements) will help but just a word of caution, I believe thay can interact with some medications. As far as eardrops probably not. That old ulcer thing, eat bland food and avoid stress blah, blah. blah. How many doctors have recited that over the years? Caused by h-pylori, treatable with antibiotics. |
I too suffer from a ringing in my ears. I have been trying to discover what makes it worse. So far I have found that alcohol, carbohydrates and music louder than normal speech all increase the ringing. The latter is a real bummer for us rock fans! Fortunatley the increase is not permanent. |
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Sean,
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Nature's Way makes a product call Fisol (you can get it through "The Vitamin Shoppe" at a store or on line. It is an Enteric coated capsule that opens up in your intestine and you don't get any of the fishy repeat that regular fish oil capsules can often give.
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I also like Escimo Oil capsules made by Tyler.
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I take both the Fisol and Escimo Oil Capsules daily in addition to ground flax seed (that I grind in a nut/seed/ coffee grinder).
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Rgds,
Larry
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I too have been diagonosed with Meniere's Disease in the left ear and suffer tinnitus that comes and goes, and some low frequency hearing loss. The ENT prescribed medicine for fluid build up that I've taken for over a year. If you visit the sites you can find with Google, you will discover that symptoms vary from time to time in severity, and this is a rich opportunity for nostrums. Most days, the tinnitus is so subdued it doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of stereo, even my favorite Bach and Correli CDs.
db |
