I have this much Tinnitus

[mr. moon]

I heard an ad for a product on the radio that is supposed to treat tinnitus, called "Quietus" Anyone try it or should we all just assume it is snake oil?

 

 

Snake oil, most likely. From what I understand, there's no way to repair the cilia within the inner ear once they have been damaged.

 

However, I could be wrong...

[cratz2]

None for me. Occasionally a little after a particularly loud concert but I'd say I don't have any hearing damage at all. I still hear high frequencies just fine and hear better than almost anyone else around me.

[scolfax]

 

Snake oil, most likely. From what I understand, there's no way to repair the cilia within the inner ear once they have been damaged. However, I could be wrong...

 

 

I also believe that this is snake oil, however I want to reiterate that Tinnitus does not equal hearing loss. It is true that hearing loss is often is often accompanied by Tinnitus. And hearing loss can be caused by damaged hair cells in the inner ear. But you can also have ringing in your ear and have no hearing loss.

 

Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease by itself. It can be caused by high blood pressure, problems with the jaw muscles (aka TMJ), and as a side effect to many prescription drugs.

 

It would be incredible for one type of pill or drop to be able to address all of these potential causes.

 

Also, for those of you who have recently started suffering, don't freak out when you hear people say that your inner ear hairs are damaged and will never grow back. Whether or not that is true, the volume of the Tinnitus can go down over time. Mine went from unbearable to a significantly more tolerable level in less than a year.

[DonK]

I don't have tinnitus, but I get it if I take aspirin for a couple of days; it's a known side-effect for some people. I only discovered by chance that I was one of them, as I've rarely used aspirin as an analgesic. I could see from that limited experience how tinnitus could be extremely annoying.

[DonK]

I heard an ad for a product on the radio that is supposed to treat tinnitus, called "Quietus" Anyone try it or should we all just assume it is snake oil?

I've only heard that ad on American Left and America Right (XM), and its always sandwiched among ads for Kevis 8 (baldness "cure"), gold coins (the sky is falling), and credit card relief scams. Given the company it keeps, I don't attach much credibility to it.

[Orange Jackson]

Snake oil. I asked my doctor at the VA and he said the only cure for Tinnitus was to get use to ignoring it.

[scolfax]

[YOUTUBE]E7bL9BhESYA[/YOUTUBE]

 

He's just asking for donations to an organization, but I am always surprised at how many famous people have Tinnitus. It doesn't matter how much money you have, a real, permanent cure just isn't out there yet.

[strtdv]

I don't have tinnitus, but I get it if I take aspirin for a couple of days; it's a known side-effect for some people. I only discovered by chance that I was one of them, as I've rarely used aspirin as an analgesic. I could see from that limited experience how tinnitus could be extremely annoying.

 

 

Yep. It's probably best not to take aspirin then, as tinnitus is one of the signs of toxicity and you might be quite sensitive to it.

[ΨWindingΨ]

Play louder, it'll drown out the ringing in your ears.

[sadgit]

I have had tinnitus for about a year. I am 59 so perhaps age is an issue. First it was the right ear only, now the left too!! I had lots of wax in the right ear some months before the tinnitus began and I used olive oil to remove it. Sadly I also used rolled paper tissues to help get the wax out. I might, I hope, have pushed some wax into the inner ear. The left is waxy lately too. I have an appointment at my local ENT department.

 

I am told that tinnitus is simply the brain searching for input which it is not getting for some reason. Hearing is a two-way process along the hearing nerve. I note too that some deaf people have tinnitus. Also sometimes others can hear the tinnitus - it can be audible!

 

I find that mine is worse when I am tired. I did some of those frequency tests and found I have deafness between 10-12KHz - maybe my tinnitus frequency range. Outside of that my hearing is fine. I can hear 22KHz sounds fine which is good for 59 years.

 

Best way to cope with it is to distract yourself. There is all kinds of noise in the background around us even at night (freezers, teles, etc) which our brains seive out and ignore. So you need to categorise it as that sort of noise. It helps to think of other things - nice ladies or a new guitar or both!! One's brain can only consciously hold one train of thought at a time so it will forget about tinnitus if you distract it. There are some people who have tinnitus but are not aware of it...

[scolfax]

This past week I've noticed a big drop in the volume of my Tinnitus for no apparent reason. So from the time I originally got Tinnitus in late 2008 until now, my T has dropped from:

"My ears ring loudly all the time / keeps me up at night / driving me crazy"
to
"There's a tiny bit of ringing if it's really quiet and/or I stick my fingers in my ears "

Wow!

[Poker99]

Oh yeah, wanted to add that I've started wearing my musician's earplugs to movies now. I saw Star Trek, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes with the plugs in, using the 15db attenuators. The movie sounds perfectly fine. When the credits roll I take the plugs out and am astounded at how loud the movie was.

 

 

Same here! Its incredible how loud they are now. Its crazy.

 

I have really minor ringing in my ears when its really quiet. But a couple of years ago I noticed my ears were becoming more and more sensible to loud music/sounds... Now I can't stand a movie/gig/practice/live show... My ears are sore for hours/days after... So I always wear my ear plugs. (alpine). It makes quite a difference when I practice with my band, and I hear myself enough.

 

My brother has a really bad case of tinnitus.

[bsman]

I have no tinnitus, but I have certainly damaged my hearing. I frequently can't discern all the dialog on TV and ask folks to repeat themselves (or just nod and pretend I understood). It's really starting to annoy my family -- insensitive jerks!

[Willyguitar]

between slight ringing and ringing all the time, but i mostly only really notice it late at night or in bed when it's quiet. Quite a bit of it actually is from going to gigs in small venues where the band are playing too loud. there is one (very good) but notoriously loud band where I live that caused my ears to ring badly for two days on two different occasions, so I suspect most of it is due to that.

[Flatspotter]

I have constant ringing in both ears, but I don't ever notice it even when it's quiet, unless I think about it.

[Xenoanthropus]

I've been to a few really loud concerts (last ungodly-loud one was in January, Agalloch) and after that one, I decided to start wearing earplugs whenever I'm playing live, watching bands play, and basically any time I'm around live music and I'm not wearing my headphones. Seeing as how I make my money doing live sound and studio work, I'd prefer to keep my hearing now.

[kayd_mon]

My ears ring constantly. It's not too loud; usually quiet enough to be covered up by white noise, air conditioners, etc.on good days. Other days it's louder. But I got it from physical damage, not loud noises. It's been ringing since I was 8 or 9.

[Minnie The Moocher]

It's quite a miracle considering I've been to many very loud concerts (AC/DC and the likes, especially in my youth, late seventies/early eighties - no volume limitations) and I've played on stage for twenty years without even knowing what was an earplug ... but no tinnitus at all.

[craigny]

if there is any decrease in sound i can hear ringing....being a drummer for 15+ years, playing guitar now, and blasting music for 25+ years, running a jackhammer for like 10 years, and riding motorcycles....man, i gotta take better care of my f****n ears!!

[MuyLoCo444]

I don't hear any ringing, but there are periodic times where my ears are cloudy and feel like I've been under water for too long. But these come and go. If I ever go to a concert or get back into gigging, I'll make it my first priority to use plugs.

All I have to say is that last August Slayer/Megadeth show was loud as {censored} and my ears haven't been the same since.

[shadesofcraig]

Pretty much the reason why I never played ear splitting loud... Been playing 37 years and my ears don't ring at all and I have never used ear plugs...