Tinnitus Help - Stop the Ringing in Your Ears

Living with tinnitus can be a daily struggle, a constant buzzing or ringing that disrupts even the quietest moments. For those of us who have dealt with this condition for years, the search for effective relief can feel like an endless journey. However, there's hope on the horizon in the form of neuromodulation – a groundbreaking technology offering new avenues for managing tinnitus. What is Neuromodulation? Neuromodulation, in simple terms, involves the use of electrical or magnetic stimulation to alter nerve activity. While the concept may sound futuristic, it's already making waves in the medical field, offering promising results for various neurological conditions, including chronic pain, epilepsy, and now, tinnitus. And What is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)? One of the most exciting developments in neuromodulation for tinnitus relief is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This non-invasive technique involves delivering magnetic pulses to specific areas of th...

The New York State Psychiatric Institute has been conducting a study, expected to be finished in 2025, testing the effect of ketamine on tinnitus. The human trial is based on previous studies that found "ketamine, which an antagonist at the NMDA receptor, increases GABA levels in the brain in participants with depression." Researchers theorize that many people with tinnitus also suffer from depression and anxiety. Since ketamine is known to reduce depression, which condition can unmask the symptoms of tinnitus, then perhaps relieving depression with ketamine can lessen the perception of tinnitus. The study's principal investigator, Diana Martinez, MD , Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, puts it this way: For many, tinnitus has an important affective component to it, with distress and co-morbid symptoms of depression and anxiety. The onset and severity of tinnitus can correlate with stressful events, and it has been posited that stress lo...

Exercise can have positive effects on tinnitus, mainly because it's a stress-reliever and stress can worsen tinnitus symptoms. However, all exercise is not created equal. Certain types of exercise, particularly high-impact activities like running or sports involving jarring movements of the head, can actually worsen your tinnitus. According to the  National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association , "the head jarring that typically occurs during high-impact aerobic workouts jars the otoconia, which are calcium crystals in our ears, out of place. The result is inner ear problems. If you have a lingering case of tinnitus, you may need to avoid or limit exercises that include jarring movements of the head like running, basketball, football, and soccer." Weightlifting too can worsen tinnitus.  The NESTA team writes: "Straining while lifting weights and any other kind of heavy exertion causes pressure within the brain, known as intracranial pressure, which also puts pre...

Research published Radiology shows that "patients with severe chronic tinnitus who underwent real-time functional MRI neurofeedback therapy showed reduced tinnitus burden 6 months after intervention compared with patients who received group cognitive behavioral therapy." That could be a game-change because right now, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the standard treatment. If this preliminary is right, then real-time functional MRI (fMRI) neurofeedback therapy may actually be more effective. So what exactly is functional magnetic resonance imaging? Neurofeedback therapy is a form of brain training that utilizes real-time feedback of brain activity as measured by fMRI scans to help individuals learn to regulate their brain function.  Here's how it typically works: fMRI Scanning : The individual undergoing neurofeedback therapy lies inside an fMRI scanner. The scanner monitors changes in blood flow and oxygenation in different regions of the brain, providing real-time...