Tinnitus "Fixes" ?

[pgoat]

I have assorted ear plugs now, from really wispy ones with a Noise reduction rating of 5-10 db to this nasty blue clay you essentially caulk up your ears with. I save that for jackhammering and so forth.

My favorites are a pair made for musicians - they are great and let more of the highs in, plus you can sing easier with them in.

But for everyday, I just carry a pair of the drug store foamy ones with me everywhere I go (you squish 'em into a rolled shaped, stick em in and they expand to form a seal.). They're inexpensive, good for several uses if you want to (cheap enough to dispose of though) and I would use them anywhere you have trouble holding a normal conversation (ie, club, trains, etc.). They are sold in different ratings; I'd suggest getting 20db or so.

Figure a normal conversation with someone a few feet away is about 75-80 db. If ambient noise is drowning your voices out, your ears are being subjected to >80 db, which can cause trouble, especially if you already have tinnitus.

 

[Nick D]

I have a problem with ear plugs, I can't wear them for a long time. When I have need of ear protection, it's usually shotgunner's ear muffs.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i just abused my ears a little white ago ripping some wood for framing...not smart...my right ear drum was perforated some years back from an ear infection so it has been sensitive since and i know it took some strain today...dumb me...shakeshead

 

[pgoat]

Happens to us all...that's why its great to stick a small pair in your pocket and just keep them with you at all times just in case.

 

[Idledame]

Mine is from 5 concerts a week in the 60's. And the Who were probably the loudest and in L.A. alot. We would laugh about how funny it felt after the concerts.

I recall reading an article about someone who went and measured the hearing of older people living in the jungle, where the loudest sounds are thunder and waterfalls. Tribe members in their 50s and 60s had the hearing of teenagers in big cities. They proved that hearing loss is not just a natural part of getting old.

I too carry earplugs in my purse at all times. But why do they make them neon colors? I want flesh colored! I went to a dinner show on the QM and was right in front of the stage and thought it would look rude to put in my neon orange earplugs as the performers are singing but the ringing was horrendous for weeks afterwards. My son tells me it's quite common now to see earplugs handed out at rock venues. And I always put them in for the previews at movie theaters.
Are there any pain relievers that don't make tinnitus worse?

 

[SamMarlowPI]

make sure to wear ear plugs to drag races too or you get, "that was a good race." ... "what??"

 

[RudyN]

I now have to wear hearing aids for higher frequency sounds. It was my fault because one time I went to an indoor pistol range and forgot my ear plugs and was to lazy to go back and get them. Luckily in a quiet room I can get along without them as long a someone is looking directly at me when they talk. However if I want to hear higher frequencies in they go. All I can say is take care of your ears as much as you can.

 

[pgoat]

Just in case musicians on the FL are reading this, you probably already know, but the new thing for pros is in ear monitors - basically block out the high dbs while giving you the board mix right in your ears at a reasonable volume - a great idea, and too bad it wasn't around all those years ago!

There really is no 'need' for concerts to be so loud, but I know from personal experience volume can be intoxicating. As a musician I was in some fairly loud bands - but nothing compared to things I've heard since. There's loud, and then there's LOUD (as in brain damage, melt paint off the wall, stupid loud).

I really do believe I can pinpoint my tinnitus to general cumulative volume over the years, but I definitely exacerbated it with my Walkman/Discman/ipod (always on "11" to compete with din of the subway or airplane), and a few weeks of intensive playing through loud amps in an empty room (too much live reverb, amp facing my ears, something I was always careful to avoid after a painful session with an amp at 14. I've had the 'fuzzy ears' syndrome after some concerts as a teen, but NEVER got that after playing myself.

Allergies have definitely not helped - when your eustachian tubes get stuffed up it boosts the ringing noticably....ugh

 

[pgoat]

I now have to wear hearing aids for higher frequency sounds. It was my fault because one time I went to an indoor pistol range and forgot my ear plugs and was to lazy to go back and get them. Luckily in a quiet room I can get along without them as long a someone is looking directly at me when they talk. However if I want to hear higher frequencies in they go. All I can say is take care of your ears as much as you can.

Sorry to hear that Rudy - at least you are taking care of them now. I had no excuse for playing music with out protection - I was a speech therapist for years when playing in bands, so I did know better and I still never brought plugs to gigs, let alone wear them....:kick: :kick:


This is exactly what I was talking about in the other thread.

It's just like going to the beach, forgetting the sunblock and getting burned.....could just be ha ha red, ouch and peeling a bit...or it could be a melanoma. Things happen, of course, but if it is easily preventable, why not make the effort?

 

[Bourbon Guy]

My doctor tells me there is no cure for tinnitus. However, I did go to an ENT guy to have my hearing checked, and he pulled big plugs of ear wax out of each ear. It was like someone just cranked up the treble. Still have the ringing, but no longer going "What?"

See an ear doctor.

 

[Rachael]

we have reached the point where we are learning ASL in my home. The mister has complete hearing loss in his right ear, and extreme tinnitus coupled with hearing loss in his 'good' ear. I do my best to stay on his left and in crowds I do the talking. And yes, we've been to doctors and tried hearing aids. He decided a few years back that it wasn't worth the frustration or the money to keep looking for a fix that isn't there.

So it's just something you deal with. I would expect there to be some sort of support group for those who suffer and for their partners.

 

[RedPop4]

I'm having a bit of it right now, but I think I have an ear infection.
My mother, however, has Meniere's, of which tinnitus is a symptom, and the louder the tinnitus, the worse dizziness, nausea an diarrhea she has. Excessive fluid is an issue with tinnitus, thus the low-salt/no-salt diets make sense. The doctor, just this last Thursday, told her to stay off of salt if possible to try and combat the tinnitus, and thus ameliorate the rest of they symptoms.

I read an article in a medical journal a week ago that said they've had success treating some inner ear issues, including Meniere's with prednisone, the steroid. A radical treatment is to do surgery, and place "packs" of prednisone around the nerve, and it would help the problem. The packs are a timed-release type thing.

 

[pgoat]

My doctor tells me there is no cure for tinnitus. However, I did go to an ENT guy to have my hearing checked, and he pulled big plugs of ear wax out of each ear. It was like someone just cranked up the treble. Still have the ringing, but no longer going "What?"

See an ear doctor.

word

people are always afraid of going to dentists, audiologists, etc.
please - get checked out and get help.

I knew a woman who had a daughter in grade school and the poor kid was getting left back. She was having issues in school, and the parent was resistant to having speech therapy, audiological exams etc.....why? who cares. There was no good reason

FINALLY the kid was checked and it was a simple wax buildup which caused impeded hearing acuity - once her ear canals were cleaned, bingo - child was back on track, did well in school - she's recently graduated from USMC boot camp and is a totally gung ho grunt with eyes to do all sorts of big things with her life after the service.

Just one story, but point being, hearing loss and other issues can be caused by sensorineural problems, but they can also be conductive - usually requiring a simple and painless fix. either way it's worth finding out what the cause is and taking care of it.

 

[scotrace]

For awhile, I had a weird chirping with mine, but that has gone. Whew.

 

[LocktownDog]

For awhile, I had a weird chirping with mine, but that has gone. Whew.

Look out the window. Its called "Spring".

 

[*martini*time*]

Tinnitus and the muscles in your neck

As a massage therapist, sometimes i get people who come in to see me and complain of ringing in their ears. Sometimes if you get a massage or see a chiropractor on a regular basis, it can help significantly. I know some people are not into chiropractic care, but don't take chances with your ears. Sometimes accupressure or accupuncture can work too. These things have worked for me in the past because i don't like to put toxins in my body (like tylenol or advil)
But i do drink tim hortons like it's going out of style. lol

 

[SamMarlowPI]

the two guys i went to the range with on saturday didn't bring ear protection...

i did

their ears were ringing after the first shot and they kept on shooting away...the ride home was, "what?" "huh?"

really dumb...

 

[Undertow]

I've spoken to a few tinnitus sufferers who claim that drastically reducing the sodium in one's diet can really help - almost to the point of eliminating it. I'm not a sufferer, so I can't vouch for the method's effectiveness, but I will say that on days I've consumed a great deal of processed or salty food, I have noticed that my ears tend to ring quite severely, so it's possible these tinnitus sufferers didn't have tinnitus at all, but rather an over-salted diet.

-Dave

I'll tell you right now, this may just work. Don't know why and doctor's haven't been able to quite put their fingers on it either, but my significant other swears by this.

 

[Undertow]

I'd like to relate an interesting tidbit I've seen lately.

I work with a very large health insurance company and I see things, etc. Perhaps it's coincidence or perhaps faulty logic, but it appears that there has been a steady rise in phone calls from doctors wondering about hearing tests and vision tests all related to an unknown source of dizziness, tinnitus or both.

Pehaps it is the same problem the honey bees are experiencing. Perhaps it's something to do with a new/current technology of which we haven't quite determined side effects. In any case, we likely won't know; our great grandchildren might.

 

[Lillemor]

I've been gone for a while because I suddenly acquired tinnitus and it was really affecting me to the point of depression. Now I'm sort of coping. Booked myself an ear appt. 4th of May just to see if there's anything to see though I doubt it. I've always been hearing impared, I'm even in doubt as to whether I've ever really experienced complete silence.

My experience is much like that of those of you who notice it most in the evening around bedtime when it's completely silent fx. and occassionally after intaking too much sodium/salt in my diet during the day. What suddenly spiked the T was having a cup of coffee late one evening as I've often done before in the middle of March. It hasn't gone away, it's just not affecting me that badly most of the time.

After reading everything I could find online I found out that the reasons are often unknown and very different from person to person as is how they experience it and what provokes the T to get worse for some people in periods. There are no cures or fixes and only coping tools as far as I can understand and giving any general advice is of little use for the above reasons. There are claims and counter claims to what works, what doesn't and whether whatever actually improves or actually makes tinnitus worse; In other words no one has a clue. Great!

I feel a little guilty to find out that I'm not the only one on FD with tinnitus. I apologize for my negative tone. It's not my intention to blight anyone else's hopes. It's just still early days for me.

I've had inner ear infections in the past few winters until this winter where I "only" had a real bad case of outer ear infection. Sure I've listened to loud music, there's shouting and screaming in this house occassionally with three boys, I'm sure there were loud noises in my school days, there were regular drive-by shootings in one of the neighborhoods I lived in. I've sat at large dinner parties where the music's been too loud, I've had three babies scream in my ears. I can think of a million reasons other than noise that could be to blame. It might not be one single thing that's to blame for my T.

I've completely cut out coffee and get a low dosis of caffeine through green tea because completely cutting out coffee is supposed to worsen tinnitus. I haven't tried gingko-biloba yet...I find just accepting I have it, distracting from it during the day and realizing what might occassionally spike my T makes it easier to live with it so I don't suffer anxiety attacks if I think: "yeah, the food was too salty/it may be those sweets/I'm stressed and tired".

One thing I won't give up is listening to music with earphones on. But they're on and not in my ears and the volume's way down. The family doesn't always appreciate my taste in music. This is a good excuse for wearing vintage clip earrings too - keeps the earphone muffs a bit off my ears too.