Tinnitus

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/23/13 at 3:27pm

Does anyone else suffer from this? It's driving me INSANE!

[artscallion]

Posted: 1/23/13 at 3:31pm

Do you have a white noise machine to sleep to? I don't have tinnitus. But I hear they can help. I use one just because I find the silence deafening at night and can't sleep without the machine. I don't know what you can do during the day.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/23/13 at 3:43pm

Thanks, hon. We do use a machine at night. I remember reading about something you can take for it, but now I can't remember what it was.

Posted: 1/23/13 at 3:47pm

Listening to David Archuleta's music cures tinnitus, as well as athlete's foot, urinary tract infections and carpal tunnel.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/23/13 at 4:04pm

I have had it since I was7 years old in my left ear. All I can hear in that side is the ringing. Most times I am not aware of it but like now when I think of it, it drives me crazy/ There are some herbs and vitamins you can take to keep it at bay, a HealthFood store would be the place to check.
My deafness in that ear was caused by mumps as a child and my father's obsessive use of fire arms around us children.

Updated On: 1/23/13 at 04:04 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/24/13 at 2:46pm

Some tips. Not sure how useful they are.
Tinnitus Remedies

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/24/13 at 3:18pm

My sympathies, I hear it's awful.

Did y'all see they're making an album to raise awareness of the condition? Chris Martin, Black Eyed Peas and more will take part. I just read this today, by coincidence.
link

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/25/13 at 11:13pm

Tinnitus is an auditory phantom percept with a tone, hissing, or buzzing sound in the absence of any objective physical sound source. Two forms of low-intensity cranial electrical stimulation exist for clinical and research purposes: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). In a recent study, it was demonstrated that a single session of tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (anode over right DLPFC) yields a transient improvement in subjects with chronic tinnitus and that repeated sessions can possibly be used as a treatment. In the present study, the effect of a single-session individual alpha-modulated tACS and tDCS applied at the DLPFC bilaterally is compared with tinnitus loudness and tinnitus annoyance. A total of fifty tinnitus patients were selected and randomly assigned to the tACS or tDCS treatment. Our main result was that bifrontal tDCS modulates tinnitus annoyance and tinnitus loudness, whereas individual alpha-modulated tACS does not yield a similar result. This study provides additional insights into the role of DLPFC in tinnitus modulation as well as the intersection between tinnitus and affective/attentional processing.

Exp Brain Res. 2013 Jan 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Comparing immediate transient tinnitus suppression using tACS and tDCS: a placebo-controlled study.
Vanneste S, Walsh V, Van De Heyning P, De Ridder D.
Source
Brai²n, TRI and Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650, Edegem, Belgium, [e-mail].

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/25/13 at 11:15pm

J Otolaryngol. 2001 Oct;30(5):300-3.
Efficacy of amitriptyline in the treatment of subjective tinnitus.
Bayar N, Böke B, Turan E, Belgin E.
Source
Ear, Nose, and Throat Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale University, Turkey.
Abstract
We investigated the effect of amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, on patients with subjective tinnitus. The study group consisted of 37 adult patients admitted to the Ear, Nose, and Throat and Audiology Department of Hacettepe University. The amitriptyline group consisted of 20 patients and the placebo group consisted of 17 patients. All of the patients were evaluated using a questionnaire, audiologic evaluation, high-frequency audiometry, impedancemetric tests, auditory brainstem response, tinnitus frequency, and loudness matching assessed by audiometric methods at the beginning and end of the study. The patients in the amitriptyline group received 50 mg/day amitriptyline in the first week and 100 mg/day for the following 5 weeks. In the placebo group, the patients received tablets consisting of lactose starch for 6 weeks, with a dosage of 1 tablet/day. The subjective complaints of the patients in the amitriptyline group decreased, and the "present" symptoms resulted in fewer complaints. The severity of tinnitus decreased in the amitriptyline group by means of subjective and audiometric methods. In the placebo group, no significant change was observed. The success of treatment was 95% in the amitriptyline group and 12% in the placebo group. Amitriptyline therapy was concluded to be effective.
PMID: 11771024 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/25/13 at 11:21pm

Thank you guys! For some weird reason it's not bothering me tonight. I think stress affects it. It's truly a pain in the ass.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/25/13 at 11:59pm

"I have had it since I was7 years old in my left ear. All I can hear in that side is the ringing. Most times I am not aware of it but like now when I think of it, it drives me crazy/ There are some herbs and vitamins you can take to keep it at bay, a HealthFood store would be the place to check.
My deafness in that ear was caused by mumps as a child and my father's obsessive use of fire arms around us children. "

That's a little creepy, SNAFU - your experience almost exactly mirrors mine, right down to the guns (except I was younger and it wasn't mumps). Since my onset was so young, I'm completely used to it and it doesn't bother me at all. At this point, if it went away, I think its absence might disturb me.

Sorry, Stockard. Do you know why you have it? You may be able to treat it better if you know the cause.

Updated On: 1/26/13 at 11:59 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 12:07am

Mine Ghostlight doesn't really bother me either except for when I think of it and actually begin to listen to it. I actually use it to sleep, good ear to the pillow and the whistling is almost a white noise at this point.
I have a very hard time in crowded restaurants and bars and I cannot tell the direction a sound is coming from. Makes answering the cordless phone in the shop a nightmare.
The only time it gets really intense is when I hurt myself, like when I stepped into a pot hole and fractured my ankle. It became a Harpy scream!

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 12:14am

i've had this since as long as I can remember... in fact it's all i know so i've never known a life without hearing ringing... i always thought everyone had it... when i'm in a small room (like say a bathroom) then the sound can get intense so i just try to make noise.. at night i always fall asleep with the tv or have a little noise app on my ipod touch that plays ambient sound...

additionally... things like sudden loud noises close to me can set the ringing off to a higher pitch... like a balloon popping can really make the ringing go louder... but i've also had sudden spurts of intense ringing that tend to make me lose slight hearing for a few seconds...

so yeah... that's more info then you need to know but i have major ear problems to begin with...

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 1:20am

Amazing how many people this effects! My 80 year old Aunt developed it in her 70's she has hearing in both ears but also the ringing. She was helped by hearing aids.

My left ear as I said is completely deaf except for the ringing, my right ear has pretty good hearing however as I get older, I find it deteriorating. You will not find me at rock concerts or listening to an iPod with ear buds!

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 9:53am

oy, I wasn't going to post about this because it has been aggravating me for years and I hate it so much that I didn't want to talk about it. But, I did research, saw ENT specialists, everything. This is what I came to understand-there are a plethora of causes for it, and it's pretty hard to determine what caused yours. there are also a plethora of treatments, of which none helped me. However, I'm happy to say that it usually doesn't bother me at all - BUT - Stockard - it gets worse with STRESS or anxiety, and also it gets a lot worse with seasonal allergies and/or colds and sinus problems.

You'll notice it more in a quiet room. Other noise helps and I always have other noise going on.

I also have hearing loss. I feel so bad when I have to keep saying "what?"

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 10:13am

Wow. You all put a name to something I've had for years and didn't know anything could be done about it, as it comes and goes.

Now I've got some reading to do!

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 2:44pm

I have tinnitus and bi-lateral hearing loss of unknown etiology. My tinnitus is primarily buzzing and some hissing. It waxes and wanes over days and months. It is an awful condition!

[Yawper]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 9:46pm

Recent research findings ~
New evidence touch-sensing nerve cells may fuel ringing in the ears

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 10:14pm

The only thing I can think of that may have caused it was that I worked the door at a club with live bands, and my left ear was right next to an amp. But it really does get worse when I'm stressed.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/26/13 at 10:20pm

Stockard, do you have it constantly or does it come and go?

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/28/13 at 6:14pm

does it affect you guys more when you fly? i always freak out when i fly because the take off can sometimes affect my hearing for the worse...

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/28/13 at 8:16pm

SNAFU, it definitely comes and goes. And it's usually only in my right ear.