Category Archives: Help for Tinnitus

16 Tinnitus Facts You Didn’t Know

Tinnitus facts to consider. Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed with tinnitus or struggling with tinnitus noises for years, it helps to know the facts. Scientists are constantly researching new ways to treat tinnitus, so it’s important to stay up to date on the facts about tinnitus.

16 Tinnitus Facts You Didn’t Know

Tinnitus facts and myth-busters

  1. Tinnitus is Latin for to tinkle or to ring like a bell. It is pronounced ti-night-us or tin-ni-tus, and either way is correct.
  2. Tinnitus can occur in one or both ears, or it can occur in the head.
  3. Tinnitus is a real neurological condition, not a mental or emotional problem. Even though subjective tinnitus ringing sounds perceived by the brain don’t actually occur in your external-ear environment, they are not an acoustic hallucination.
  4. Tinnitus is not an illness, but rather a condition caused by an underlying illness. For that reason, the best tinnitus treatments are those that target the disease causing tinnitus, rather than just alleviating the symptoms.
  5. Tinnitus can sometimes be triggered by stress, loss of sleep, and sodium.
  6. Smoking cigarettes can also worsen tinnitus, as it reduces the amount of oxygen reaching your brain and the nerve cells of your inner ear.
  7. Tinnitus sounds vary per individual; they are described as hissing, roaring, whistling, ringing, whooshing, clicking, chirping or any of a number of unusual noises.
  8. Tinnitus noises can range from high to low pitches, loud to whispering, or multi-tonal to noise-alike.
  9. Tinnitus is very common; about 10% to 15% of adults experience tinnitus. About 50 million US citizens have tinnitus to some degree, out of which about 12 million have it badly enough to seek medical help.
  10. In most cases, only the tinnitus patient can hear tinnitus sounds. In rare cases, tinnitus noises can be heard observed by a physician. Objective tinnitus occurs in 1% of all tinnitus patients.
  11.  Forty percent of tinnitus patients have hyperacusis, meaning that they are hypersensitive to certain sounds, or that all sound is over-amplified, perceived as uncomfortably loud.
  12. Tinnitus and hearing loss usually occur together. Only about 18% of tinnitus patients have no degree of hearing impairment.
  13. Noise-induced hearing impairment is the most common type of tinnitus is people who are not senior citizens.
  14. Tinnitus and hearing loss sometimes result from a vestibular disorder causing dizziness, vertigo, and nausea. Meniere’s disease is one such disorder.
  15. Many drugs can cause or worsen tinnitus. Ototoxic medications include NSAIDs, antibiotics, diuretics, aspirin, quinine, and others.
  16. Pulsatile tinnitus causes a rhythmic pulsing noise in your ears that beats in tune with your heart; what you are hearing is the sound of your blood vessels. Pulsatile tinnitus can result from hypertension
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15 Causes of Tinnitus

Symptom Checker from Health Line has put together a resource of 15 possible causes of tinnitus, including head trauma, ear infections, and nerve damage.

15 Causes of Tinnitus

Common Causes of Tinnitus

If you’ve ever had tinnitus, then you know just how difficult life can be.  Constant merciless ringing in the ears that lasts for days, months or years is enough to drive anybody insane.

To treat tinnitus, first you have to know how you got it in the first place.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is usually neurological- it happens from nerve damage to the cells of the inner ears (cochlea.) But like other ailments, there are several possible explanations for tinnitus.

What are the symptoms of tinnitus?

Basically, tinnitus is a constant noise that you hear in your head- nobody else can hear it. Tinnitus sounds differ for each individual. Variances include volume, pitch, severity, and location.

Tinnitus can occur in one ear constantly, or it can switch from one ear to the next. Many hear ringing or whistling sounds in both ears at the same time.

People often describe their tinnitus using the following adjectives:

  • Ringing
  • Whistling
  • Buzzing
  • Whooshing
  • Buzzing
  • Chirping
  • Static
  • Hissing

Causes of tinnitus

Vestibular disorders are some of the most common causes of tinnitus. Some other reasons for tinnitus may require immediate emergency care, so please visit a doctor if tinnitus becomes a constant problem.

Sometimes, tinnitus can be helped easily by addressing physical or psychological conditions that trigger tinnitus, such as high blood pressure, anxiety, or insomnia.

  1. Meniere’s Disease (Disorder)
  2. Hypertension
  3. Excess earwax
  4. Concussion
  5. Head injury
  6. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
  7. Noise-induced hearing loss
  8. Labyrinthitis
  9. Bell’s palsy
  10. Burst eardrum
  11. Insertion of foreign object
  12. Preeclampsia
  13. Neurofibromatosis (NF)
  14. Acoustic neuromas (benign tumor)
  15. Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Do you have any questions or suggestions? Please leave your comments below.

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Why do Tinnitus Supplements contain Ginkgo Biloba?

Check the label on most tinnitus supplements, and you’ll find ginkgo Biloba (not gingko) as one of the main ingredients. And for good reason- ginkgo biloba is one of the most heavily researched natural herb recommended for promoting healthy circulation in people with tinnitus and age-related hearing loss.

Why do Tinnitus Supplements contain Ginkgo Biloba?

Ginkgo Biloba- Help for Tinnitus

Ginkgo biloba is one of the most widely-franchised natural supplements for tinnitus and other health conditions throughout the United States and Europe.

In addition to tinnitus, ginkgo biloba is also beneficial for people with memory loss, clogged arteries, and acute hemorrhoids.

The goal of tinnitus supplements

There’s no “miracle cure” for tinnitus, despite what hundreds of Google search results may indicate.

However, if you suffer from tinnitus (constant ringing in the ears) or other auditory problems, it is possible to achieve a level of hearing health by nourishing the body with vitamins, herbs, and minerals that target the nerve center responsible for hearing, and by sustaining normal blood flow near the head- a frequent factor in chronic tinnitus.

By eliminating tinnitus triggers, you improve your chances of living the rest of your life without a constant barrage of ear ringing, whistling, pounding, and buzzing sounds.

Many natural ingredients such as ginkgo biloba can help you achieve that goal by promoting healthy, normal functioning in areas where deficiencies exist.

Ginkgo biloba for tinnitus

Tinnitus is often a neurological response to damaged nerve cells of the inner ear. This can happen for a number of reasons. Where ginkgo biloba is suggested for tinnitus, it is because of reduced blood flow to the ears, resulting in poor oxygen in the brain. To keep your nervous system working properly- in this case, the part responsible for hearing- it is important to sustain healthy blood pressure.

Ginkgo biloba contains potent antioxidants that support good circulation by sustaining ideal blood vessel dilation and optimal blood texture. Where blood clotting or hypertension may damage the nerve cells of your inner ear’s cochlea, ginkgo biloba can have a therapeutic, normalizing effect.

Several studies have led researchers to believe that ginkgo biloba can significantly increase blood flow to the brain, proving helpful for people suffering from constant tinnitus and poor circulation, such as hypertension.

Besides ginkgo biloba, do you know of any other natural ingredients used in tinnitus supplements? Please comment below!

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Vitamin B12 for Tinnitus- There is Hope

A new study on the cause of tinnitus leads sufferers to hope that vitamin B12 may be an essential key in reversing frustrating ear ringing and phantom sounds caused by noise-induced tinnitus. Here are the results of the study, which focused on damaged nerve cells of the inner ears.

Tinnitus cure on the horizon

We know that exposure to dangerously loud noise decibels is a frequent cause of tinnitus. Now, researchers from University of Leicester’s Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology understand more about the kind of nerve cell damage that occurs when people listen to loud music or work in a noisy environment, and how it may be treated by promoting the myelin sheath, which is supported by vitamin B12.

This is great news for people who have been suffering from chronic tinnitus for years, as there are currently no conventional drugs or treatments available to cure tinnitus symptoms.

Vitamin B12 and myelin

Your nerve cells are coated with myelin, a fatty substance that shields them from harm and enhances intercellular communication. According to this study, noise exposure may damage the myelin which surrounds the nerve cells of your cochlea (inner ear), leading to tinnitus that occurs when the dorsal cochlear nucleus sends mixed signals to the brain.

So, by building myelin, researchers hope to possibly repair the ear’s nerve cells, encourage healthy nerve signals to the brain, and ultimately reverse tinnitus symptoms.

Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for your entire nervous system, as it helps to support continuous myelin production while also maintaining many other crucial mechanisms of your brain’s network of nerve cells.

In fact, one of the most devastating symptoms of pernicious anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency is a general breakdown of the nervous system due to demyelination- loss of the precious myelin layer. In addition to tinnitus, other signs of nerve damage caused by loss of myelin include immobility (loss of motor control), delayed nervous reactions, autonomous impairment (i.e. digestive problems), and cognitive problems (brain fog, memory loss).

For nerve cell health, doctors recommend vitamin B12 supplementation.

Vitamin B12 is the basis of all supplementation for nervous system integrity, as it is the best proven method to promote myelin production.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a condition that results from nerve damage of the inner ears. Symptoms include a variety of disturbing noises that are heard only by the sufferer; constant ear ringing, whooshing sounds, buzzing, clicking or whistling are just a few of the types of phantom sounds that occur with tinnitus.

In most cases, tinnitus happens as a result of acoustic overexposure to very loud noises, such as music, machinery, explosions, or constant hammering. Over time, nerve damage to the ears becomes more pronounced, leading to incessant ringing in one or both ears. Tinnitus can last more months or years, and may come and go in phases.

Help for tinnitus

If you suffer from constant tinnitus, then the first step is to boost your intake of vitamin B12 through supplementation. Even if you don’t have vitamin B12 deficiency, you may benefit greatly from the extra vitamin B12. Many people who take mega-doses of vitamin B12 regularly report feeling more energetic and mentally focused.

If you have tinnitus caused by ear damage, then continued use of vitamin B12 supplements will provide the best possible support for myelin production needed to sustain healthy nerve cells.

Related products

Tinnifree, Vita Science’s hearing support formula

Vitamin B12 Patch, containing 1000 mcg. of vitamin B12

Maxasorb, vitamin B12 cream

Sources

Could there be a drug to avoid tinnitus?               

Mechanisms contributing to central excitability changes during hearing loss

Research into hearing loss after exposure to loud noises could lead to the first drug treatments to prevent the development of tinnitus.