Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => Complementary Medicine => Topic started by: Hadrian on 15/03/2006 13:32:12
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Tinnitus
Tinnitus can be described as "ringing" ears and other head noises that are perceived in the absence of any external noise source. It is estimated that 1 out of every 5 people experience some degree of tinnitus. Tinnitus is classified into two forms: objective and subjective
Objective Tinnitus
Tthe rarer form, consists of head noises audible to other people in addition to the sufferer. The noises are usually caused by vascular anomalies, repetitive muscle contractions, or inner ear structural defects. The sounds are heard by the sufferer and are generally external to the auditory system. This form of tinnitus means that an examiner can hear the sound heard by the sufferer by using a stethoscope. Benign causes, such as noise from TMJ, openings of the eustachian tubes, or repetitive muscle contractions may be the cause of objective tinnitus. The sufferer might hear the pulsatile flow of the carotid artery or the continuous hum of normal venous outflow through the jugular vein when in a quiet setting. It can also be an early sign of increased intracranial pressure and is often overshadowed by other neurologic abnormalities. The sounds may arise from a turbulant flow through compressed venous structures at the base of the brain.
Subjective Tinnitus
This form of tinnitus may occur anywhere in the auditory system and is much less understood, with the causes being many and open to debate. Anything from the ear canal to the brain may be involved. The sounds can range from a metallic ringing, buzzing, blowing, roaring, or sometimes similar to a claanging, popping, or nonrhythmic beating. It can be accompanied by audiometric evidence of deafness which occurs in association with both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. Other conditions and syndromes which may have tinnitus in conjunction with the condition or syndrom, are otosclerosis, Menier's syndrome, and cochlear or auditory neve lesions.
I suffer from a sever form of subjective Tinnitus. It can be very intrusive even during everyday actives. I had this since I was a child I have learnt to live with it. I like to meditate and Tinnitus prevents me from fully achieving a silent environment so it takes a bit longer to achieve a state of meditation. I love to be free of it or at least for a short time if altogether was not possible.
What can you tell me that might help?
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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Dear Hadrain;
Sorry; i am 59 and I have had tinnitus all of my life, most dylezisa's have it. and there is not anything that can be done for it.
Ed
"Learn the facts and go on from there, and never stop asking questions."
Admiral Rickover
If it disagrees with experiments it is wrong!"
Dr. Feymann
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Cant accept that, to fatalistic for me to buy into . we may not know how today but someday? The has to be someone working on it somewhere.
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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I found the following abstract very interesting. I have a patient who is going to try this. It's worth a try. FYI, this is actually the second study showing these same results, the first one was published in 1998 and was done by different researchers in Florida.
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Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006 Feb;134(2):210-3.
The effects of melatonin on tinnitus and sleep.
Megwalu UC, Finnell JE, Piccirillo JF.
Clinical Outcomes Research Office, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
GOAL: To determine if melatonin improves tinnitus and if this improvement is related to improvement in sleep. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective open-label study of 24 patients with tinnitus. The patients took 3 mg of melatonin per day for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of observation. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were administered. RESULTS: The mean THI score decreased significantly between weeks 0 and 4, and between weeks 0 and 8. The mean PSQI significantly decreased between weeks 0 and 4 (P < 0.0001), and between weeks 0 and 8 (P = 0.0003). The change in PSQI was significantly associated with the change in THI between weeks 0 and 4. The change in PSQI was not significantly associated with the change in THI between weeks 0 and 8. The change in the PSQI in the first 4 weeks was associated with the initial PSQI. There was no association between the initial THI and the change in the THI in the first 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: Melatonin use is associated with improvement of tinnitus and sleep. There was an association between the amount of improvement in sleep and tinnitus. The impact of melatonin on sleep was greatest among patients with the worst sleep quality, but its impact on tinnitus was not associated with the severity of the tinnitus. SIGNIFICANCE: Melatonin may be a safe treatment for patients with idiopathic tinnitus, especially those with sleep disturbance due to tinnitus.
Duane
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"In a double-blind trial, people who had difficulty sleeping as a result of tinnitus were better able to sleep if given 3 mg melatonin per night for one month rather than a placebo.21 Although melatonin did not reduce overall symptom scores for tinnitus, people in this trial with higher symptom scores did appear to obtain some benefit."
i must look in this thanks.
has anyone else come across this or other information
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/body_soul/tom15.html
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What about trying ginko biloba?
http://www.utmb.edu/otoref/Grnds/Tinnitus-030122/Tinnitus-030122.htm
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Thanks for the links
have used ginko biloba befro myself it reduce it a little but it may have been wishful thinking on my part.
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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quote:
Originally posted by deepthinker
What about trying ginko biloba?
http://www.utmb.edu/otoref/Grnds/Tinnitus-030122/Tinnitus-030122.htm
I been using this for some weeks now and there is a small improvement especially at night I am going to go off it at the weekend for a week and see if I can tell if there is any increase in the noise.
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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Well my buzzing in back a loud as ever so I think I will go back on the ginko biloba again and see what happens
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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Hello,
I'm 22 years old, and for the past 3 years I have been experiencing chronic tinnitus.
It all started 3 years ago, when I came out of a nightclub and got in the car to go home, my ears were ringing really loud. The next morning I woke up and they were still ringing at the same volume they were when I had went to bed. They rang all that day, and then the following morning of the 2nd day I woke up and it was much better... almost not even noticeable. I didn’t realize how lucky I was at that point in time. The tinnitus was very faint, I could only hear it when it was extremely quite. Even when I went to bed at night, I could barely even notice the tinnitus because I have a computer constantly running in my room, which was just enough noise to cover up the sound of the tinnitus in my head.
Well, I hadn’t been to any club since then, or around any other extremely loud noises for that matter... up until last Saturday night. I went out to the nightclub not even thinking about my ears! It had been so long that I completely forgot what had happened last time I went. It started out as a stag, the music really wasn’t loud during this time and we were all enjoying ourselves. At 10:00 the stag ended and the 'normal' club opened up. This is when of course the music became very loud and we stayed right until closing which was at 2AM. As soon as I walked outside, as we were leaving I instantly heard the ringing and instantly remembered what happened the last time.
Well 4 days later now, and its still ringing just as loud as last Saturday night [:(] It's quite depressing to know this sound in my ears may never go away. I'm looking and willing to try anything that has worked for others.
Hadrian: Any update on the results with the ginko biloba?
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First off it is relative early day to things that it is preferment. I suggest you go to your doctor and get a proper test and check up. You may have damaged you hearing (nerve) but how badly is the question. You may end up with reduced hearing with or without ringing but it is more likely that you will make a full recovery. But needless to say avoid doing anything like it again or indeed any loud noises for sometime to come. Just like any injury you need to rest the injured organ. You can get preferment from repeated exposure to loud noise. Put in ear plugs if you are in any danger of being exposed again. (Keep a set with always. I do)
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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What's a doctor going to be able to do? There's no fix...
So are you back on the ginko biloba? And how's it working?
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There is always the possibility that what you experiencing is caused by some other underline condition. No mater how remote this is, it is always to prudent rule out everything else as some conditions are time critical. I have seen to many coincidences in my life to be ever certain of anything with full investigation.
I have been getting some reduction in the noise since taking ginko biloba again. I still think it to early to be 100% certain that it is the cause of this improvement as I am actively doing in deep mediation programme that may also be the source of this improvement.
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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I have a sort of whooshing type noise in my ears - it started about two months ago when I was lifting my dog up (He is quite heavy) and sometimes it is very load and other times not very noticeable - I find having another noise in the room at night, like music, helps