tinnitus treatment?

jimmer2880 · Jan 23, 2010

I'm posting this here, because I bet I'm not the only one who's been around too many tractors, machine shops & guns without hearing protection while growing up.

Has anyone had any success in treating their tinnitus?

ToadHill · Jan 23, 2010

I was told Ginko Baloba works, it may for some but it hasn't for me.

IH3444 · Jan 23, 2010

If you are having trouble sleeping with it, I believe that there is a machine which generates a background tinnitus canceler. It plugs into the wall outlet. Sorry to hear you have it. It's suppose to be a bear to live with. A friend who worked in a sheetmetal shop for decades has it.

jimmer2880 · Jan 23, 2010

I'm not having trouble sleeping (yet). I've been living with it for a couple years, but it is getting worse. A year ago, I finally got religious about hearing protection.

However, I've been hearing commercials about an over-the-counter med. Then I saw that apperently, there is some med-free treatment. Don't ask me what the treatment is, it's in a book that you have to buy. That got me thinking that I bet there are probably a lot of people on this site who have tried just about everything.

Thanks for the quick replies.

jbunkley · Jan 23, 2010

I have it and my Dr says there is no cure or anything to help. I found that having the TV on really helps. Now I can't sleep without the TV. Probably any noise will work as long as it cancells out the ringing.

Opti-Mist · Jan 23, 2010

I've had it since 1968 as a consequence of a lot of gunfire (quess where). I've been much better about hearing protection and avoiding loud music (that's the easy part). Mine has not gotten worse but there are times when that one note serenade gets a bit old. I've been evaluated at the University of Michigan Hospital with no specific recommendation. I've just lived with it and expect to continue to do so.

Cocre · Jan 23, 2010

I went to sleep one evening twelve years ago with perfect hearing and woke up the next morning mostly deaf in the left ear except for the constant sound of an air leak. I puked for the next 36 hours (too much information) due to vertigo and I could not climb a ladder for the next several weeks. I adjusted to that and actually gained back some (very little) of my hearing, but the air leak continues. The Doc says growing old ain't for sissies and to live with it.

PILOON · Jan 23, 2010

Don't know if what I have from time to time is the same thing, but if I lack sleep I will get that 'ringing' or hissing as well.

Maybe it is always there and only worse, or more obvious, when tired.

Also if I concentrate I hear it but generally when busy I don't realize it exists.

Alan L. · Jan 23, 2010

About 20 years ago my tinnitus started. I went to the ear doctor, then audiologist, then had an MRI looking for an acoustic neuroma (benign tumor in your head that can cause this).

I comes and goes, and I think I kind of outgrew it as it seldom happens anymore. When my ear is ringing I can't hear out of that ear much at all, but then the sound eventually comes back the ringing goes away.

We sleep with an electric fan 12 months out of the year, its helps with the noise.

herd · Jan 23, 2010

Opti-Mist said:
I've had it since 1968 as a consequence of a lot of gunfire (quess where). I've been much better about hearing protection and avoiding loud music (that's the easy part). Mine has not gotten worse but there are times when that one note serenade gets a bit old. I've been evaluated at the University of Michigan Hospital with no specific recommendation. I've just lived with it and expect to continue to do so.

I too have it and at times it is severe, almost like a million crickets in the room with me. As did Opti-Mist, excessive exposure to gunfire and munitions did me in; I was Infantry and eventually blown up by a grenade. There is no cure, there are "snake doctors remedies" but no cure. There's even a hearing aid that can be programmed to mask the tinnitus. The VA doesn't recognize any of these as cures.

Some medications, like heavy dosage Ibuprofin (600 mg on up) can heightnen the effects. I learned how to live with it by staying very active, but yeah, some nights are really bad, sleepless as I wait for the crickets to go to sleep and the ringing to cease fire.

Opti-Mist--you do know that tinnitus is a compensable Service-Connected VA disability at 10%, don't you. If you were an 11B or other MOS around a lot of gunfire, it's a slamdunk.