Tinnitus Help - Stop the Ringing in Your Ears

The joint that keeps our jaws moving is called the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).  If this joint doesn't work quite right, thrown out of alignment through tension and unconscious teeth-grinding as you sleep , you may have something called temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD or TMD). Your dentist should be the first stop on your list of medical professionals to visit if you're feeling jaw pain. What has your TMJ got to do with tinnitus?  Well, you may not have tinnitus at all if the noise in your head tends to come and go.  If the buzzing or ringing in your ears seems to start (or stop) depending on what you're doing at the time (like crunching an apple) or the position in which you're holding your head, for instance, you should get your jaw alignment looked at. One person who was suffering headaches (along with tinnitus) made the connection, and says that he eliminated at least 80 percent of the problem simply by avoiding crunchy and chewy foods and by being awa

A U.S.-based company called NeuroSystec has developed a new medicine (NST-001) to combat tinnitus. Overactive nerves thought to cause tinnitus are calmed by the drug, administered by using a drug pump implanted in the ear. Although tinnitus has many causes including damage from loud noise(s) as well as adverse side effects of ototoxic medications (including aspirin), the bottom line is the resulting release of a brain chemical (glutamate) causes nerve cells to become hyperactive . The affected nerves in the ear then send faulty messages to the brain, resulting in tinnitus. The new drug "is thought to block the production of excessive glutamate, in turn reducing this rogue nerve firing. Researchers claim it may even result in the elimination of tinnitus." There's been "a small pilot study on human volunteers in Germany, [and] the majority of patients given the drug reported a significant reduction of tinnitus." However, "when the treatment ended, the

At the age of just 24, Jack Wershler suddenly woke up with tinnitus, and it's been with him ever since. He had his hearing checked and was diagnosed with minor hearing loss which he now realizes is from years of listening to loud music in cars and concerts and on ipods.  Like most of us, he'd simply taken his hearing for granted. He wrote an article about his experience, which does not seem to be available online anymore. However, its lesson should not be lost.  E ducation on tinnitus should start (in an age-appropriate manner) at the elementary level. Although not everyone who has the condition got it through noise-induced damage, certainly a large majority of tinnitus sufferers do -- and they just didn't know any better. Noise-induced tinnitus is avoidable , and that's what we need to teach our children. Musician Tony Di Gregorio, who has tinnitus, was quoted in the article as saying that while it can be frustrating talking to people about tinnitus, he is trying

Researchers report that tinnitus sufferers who listened to custom-tailored music over the period of one year reported a significant improvement in their tinnitus — the ringing was not as loud — compared with others who listened to music that was notched at frequencies not corresponding to their ringing frequency. The music technique makes use of recent findings about a possible cause of tinnitus: that noise exposure actually rewires that part of the brain responsible for perceiving sound, and that behavioral training may reverse the problem. Patients simply chose their favorite music. Researchers modified the music by filtering out any frequencies in the music that was the same as the tinnitus noises. Patients then listened to this "notched" music for about 12 hours weekly over the period of one year. Read the full article here . Try Quietum Plus

Teens develop a 60-second cure for noise-induced tinnitus. Two Irish physics students have invented sound therapy for temporary tinnitus. Awarded runner-up prizes at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this year, their project for the exhibition was to test their sound therapy (a 60-second low frequency tone administered through head phones) on 250 subjects who were experiencing temporary tinnitus. The therapy had a 99 percent success rate. Temporary noise-induced tinnitus is a type of tinnitus that is caused by exposure to loud noises. It usually goes away on its own within a few hours or days. The loud noise causes damage to the inner ear and causes a ringing, buzzing, or hissing sound in the ear. Since it goes away anyway by itself, what's the big deal about this sound therapy? It takes a much shorter time to alleviate symptoms -- and it may point to a "cure" for long-term sufferers. One of the inventors says: "After coming out of discos or listenin

Australian researchers think that some forms of tinnitus can be successfully treated if action is taken immediately upon diagnosis. Basically, if the overactive nerve activity associated with tinnitus is calmed before the pattern becomes established, the condition can be corrected.  Professor Don Robertson of the University of Western Australia says the nerve activity can be dampened in three ways: by surgery on the inner ear; by "cooling down" the ear; and by use of nerve-impulse blocking drugs. From the onset of increased nerve activity, it takes only about six weeks for the brain to begin making the whistling and roaring noises on its own, "independent of input from the ears." Researchers say further work was needed to find ways to exploit this potential window of opportunity. Robertson adds that "although a lot more research needs to be done at this stage, it is a very exciting prospect." Read the full article here . Try Quietum Plus

If you answer YES to 3 or more of the following questions, it may mean that you have hearing loss and should be evaluated by an audiologist : - Does your family complain that you turn the TV volume up too high? - Do you have a problem hearing on the phone? - Do you often have to ask people to repeat themselves? - Do you hear better on one ear than the other when you are on the telephone? - Do you have trouble following conversations that involve two or more people talking at the same time? - Do you have trouble understanding women and children are saying? - Do you have to strain to understand a conversation? - Does it seem to you that a lot of people mumble (or don't speak clearly)? - Do you have trouble hearing when the background is noisy? - Do you have trouble hearing in restaurants?  - Do family members or colleagues often make remarks about the fact that you missed what's just been said? - Do you ever have dizziness, pain, or ringing in your ears? - Do people get annoyed

An article summary called " Haemodynamic profile of young subjects with transient tinnitus" from Audiological Medicine (dated December 8, 2009) says a study shows that people (between the ages of 18 and 40) with a history of transient tinnitus seem to have smaller cardiac structural characteristics than normal,  even though their ultrasounds were normal.  It makes sense that a smaller heart or valves can't pump or circulate blood quite as forcefully as a normal sized heart can.  And this comparatively poor blood circulation affects organs adversely -- including the cochlear in the inner ear -- with its adverse effect showing up as tinnitus .  The summary concludes that the observation indirectly supports the theory of a cochlear origin of tinnitus in a number of cases and is reminiscent of what happens in hypertension and heart failure. You can read an abstract of the report  or the summary .   Try Quietum Plus

Meniere's disease is a disorder of the inner ear that tends to affect middle-aged people (between the ages 40-50), with some 600,000 people in the U.S. alone being diagnosed with the condition.  In addition to ringing in one or both ears ( tinnitus ), people with Meniere's disease also experience dizziness (vertigo), hearing loss and pressure in the affected ear(s).  If you experience any of the following symptoms , together or separately, ask your doctor if you have Meniere's disease: Sudden and repeated dizziness with loss of balance. Loss of hearing (even if it's not permanent loss). Tinnitus (sounds in your head that no one else can hear). A feeling of fullness or pressure in either ear or both ears. UPDATE: "A very-low-salt diet improves symptoms for many patients. Diuretics - water pills - also help. Surgery that shunts fluid from the inner ear is another possibility.  For more on Menieres diseases, visit the Mayo Clinic .   Try Quietum Plus

Why are noises in your head so often linked to hearing loss?  Dr. Paul Donohue in The Herald Review reminds us that although hearing loss isn't the only cause of tinnitus (trauma to the ear or ear infections and even ear wax being other oft-noted culprits), it is one condition that does prompt the onset of tinnitus .   This is because the everyday assault of background noises to which we are accustomed and which " dampens noises generated by the brain and heard as tinnitus" is lost when hearing acuity diminishes. Without that auditory input, the inner noise becomes noticeable, and a person has tinnitus. This is why it is so important for people with tinnitus to have their hearing evaluated and to try different kinds of hearing aids. If the hearing loss is corrected, then the accompanying tinnitus -- caused by the loss of hearing the dampening background noises -- will also be corrected .  Read the full article here . Try Quietum Plus