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Tinnitus therapy possibilities
StoreTags: tinnitus, misophobia, hyperacusis
Author: Zanf on March 26 2008 Viewed 2548 times. 24 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: jogn, jdg, adcBicycle, mixedtape, Logo, license, DrexonField, astroid, greeezybear, breakscience, skab, yghartsyrt, bodo, cbit, daswesen, chimplogic, Unknownforce, mlbot, Moriarty, sAMsKi, monty, Ochre, jkn, oxymoron
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Over the last 48 hours, the tinnitus that I suffer in my left ear, has decided to go on a full rampage and I now have constant loud ringing going on.
The effects of this are that I have had nauseating headaches all day, Im stressed and angsty [oh yes, more than the usual ;) ], my eyes have been slow to focus and some things have been blurred [probably a knock on effect of the headaches] and Im at the point where I can really appreciate why some people feel suicidal through suffering tinnitus.
I doubt Im going to sleep well again tonight and will probably only do so when Im completely exhausted.
Im planning to stay off work tomorrow to go to my doctors to get an appointment with an audiologist and look at getting some professional tinnitus retraining therapy based on the Jastreboff model.
I have been reading his book [Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: Implementing the Neurophysiological Model] but I havent really got far enough into it to implement my own course of action - Im actually still on the section that defines tinnitus, hyperacusis, phonophobia and misophonia. [definitions: internal noise not related to external sources or somatosound/sounds made by the body, sensitivity to all sounds, dislike of all sound and dislike of certain sounds, respectively].
On interesting thing I learnt is that tinnitus is not subject to 'beating of tones' when a similar external sound is played to the sufferer of a slightly different frequency.
Through having a search for stuff, relating to what Im reading, I came across this site [linked from the company I brought my custom molded earplugs from].
They sell a laser tool that is meant to have good results in reducing tinnitus and stimulating hearing cell growth. As they put it on their on site,
"The laser beam even penetrates the deeper subcutaneous layers and works as curative bio-stimulation directly on the metabolism in the connective tissue. This leads to rapid regeneration of the hearing cells, stimulation of the immune system, acceleration of cell division and activation of specific defensive molecules."
If this tool actually works [they have clinical studies that seem to suggest - maybe the scientists among us can verify their results?], the possibility of actually recovering some of my hearing loss and reducing the tinnitus I suffer would be incredible and easily worth the £200 for the equipment. | |
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03/27/08
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prugelknaben
oh bummer! thats too bad, man. sorry to hear. i have a friend that suffers from this, and i understand that it is hell, especially when youre a musician.
i hope it has nothing to do with meeting me. i have a bad history of making ears go crazy. did i talk to much?
03/27/08
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dach
Be careful if you decide to suddenly drink lots of water, it can dilute your sodium levels and you can get hyponatremia and possibly die. Spread your water intake out over the entire day rather than, like jdg suggests, 6 glasses at a time. That's actually kind of dangerous
03/27/08
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Zanf
dach, a while back we had an incident in this country where a girl died, allegedly from ecstacy and she became the poster girl for the anti-drugs campaigners but the truth of the matter was that she died of hyperhydration.
Im well aware of the dangers of that but thanks.
Ive slept for about 2-3 hours and the tinnitus is exactly the same level. Off to the doctors in a bit.
Prugs: I think it was that - too much talk about the theatre for me. It was where you would get incredibly excited talking about it and go all ultrasonic like a 12 year old girl meeting her favourite boy band at started to make my ears ring ;)
03/27/08
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daswesen
arg dude :/ i hope it gets better. I'm starting to feel my ears getting quite sensitive too, mostly due to playing in a big band i think, I will definitely look into better ear protection...
03/27/08
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chimplogic
sorry about this man. i've had similar symptoms in my body now for a couple of years but never knew what the hell it might be. this blog has totally shed some light and now that i am gainfully employed again (health insurance, yeah!) i am definitely going to make an appointment.
i hope your symptoms ease for you soon. jdg's recommendations sound solid...we could all use some serious water cosumption/exercise/meditation i'm sure.
be well. keep us posted.
peace
03/27/08
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quip
man i feel for you. i am getting it more regularly in the past year since i have been doing more sound teching with stupid loud bands. kid606 anyone?
i wear plugs and have gone through lots of different styles.
its depressing cos i want to concentrate on my own music i get ringing when wearing headphones (i have neighbours!)
03/27/08
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Zanf
Ive just got back from the doctors and she said I have a healthy set of eardrums and normal blood pressure. She is printing me off a letter where I can book my own appointment with an NT specialist and I have the choice of a few different hospitals. [lewisham, kings college or guys]
I said I wanted to go to Guys at London Bridge because of 2 reasons: its near where I work and I know that at least one person there has trained under the Jastreboff model of TRT according to this list: link
Im going to try and relax for the rest of the day, even possibly go to the sauna and sweat it out for a bit.
03/27/08
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mlbot
There are some new treatments for tinnitus, including lidocaine and other drugs, which actually target the brain, not the cochlear hair cells.
This is interesting, because it supports a newish theory that tinnitus isn't always caused by dead hair cells in the ear, but could be a brain disorder.
This theory isn't totally new, since some deaf people suffer from tinnitus (double bummer to say the least), so dead hair cells can't be the problem if the cochlear nerves are non-functional.
Anyhow, I bring this up because 1) lidocaine isn't the only drug being tested, check around for some of the other therapies that focus on calming the brain
2) lasering your ears might do nothing if dead hair cells aren't the problem. I wont say anything about the efficacy of "laser beams" stimulating hair cell growth because I have no idea, but "laser therapy" can cure anything from broken backs to cancer here in the US, if you believe the non-regulated specialists who sell the equipment. Please look deeply into that treatment. I doubt you could do much harm to anything but your pocketbook, but still.
The TRT looks intersting... seems quite plausible, although all the information I found used words in quotes like "neuro-science (aka brain-science)" which seems very science-babbely (and not very accurate). Still, the hearing centers of the brain are quite plastic, thats why an audio engineers hearing is very different from Bubba Joe's hearing, which is very different from what Deaf-Betty uses that part of her brain for... i see no reason why you couldn't re-train a spastic portion of your brain to do something else.
I did a little searching, and Jastebroff has maintained a good amount of publications in the medical field... it would be very easy to sell a therapy to an unkown and uncured disease like Tinnitus, but Jastebroff seems to be trying to study it more than sell books /pyramid therapy schemes.
He's even done some work with ginko biloba and good blind/dose-dependent research.
Lastly, jastebroff publishes an awful lot with another person named Jastebroff... husband wife duo?
03/27/08
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mlbot
I think your TRT doctor would say that the laser beam is bogus, based on their model.
03/27/08
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Zanf
Married team?
Looking at this page, you would think so: link
Thanks Dr mlbot for stripping down about the laser stuff - last night I would have stuck a lemon up my nose if I believed it would calm the tinnitus [removes strands of lemon peel from orafactory orifice].
What I've got from Jastreboff so far is what you have deduced - that he is more interested in research and patient relief than selling shitloads of books, etc.
As for it not being a new theory, the model can be applied to pretty much anything - if you have a physical/psychological ailment, alter your reactions/feelings/perception to it, less depression/stress about situation.
Im starting to feel less stressed even though Im still very aware of the tinnitus as Im involving myself in doing stuff to take my mind off of it. At the moment, its like Ive spilt hot water on myself so it isnt going to go away suddenly but gradually Ill be less aware of it and ultimately the associated stress will dissapate.
03/27/08
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cebec
also: avoid caffeine, smoking, and stress... all three of these make my mild right-ear tinnitus worse. some medications, including over the counter stuff like the NSAIDs (ibuprofen, etc.) also make it worse.
03/27/08
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eyezenears
TINNITUS IS AGGRAVATED BY STRESS
it can go up and down. -sounds like this is the case for you. But sometimes like a friend of mine it can be brought on by a physical disalignment like your jaw.
Just the other night whilst worrying about it I jumped on the net and read up for over 3 hours. I've always half relied on science to find a cure in my life time and now that seems to be becoming a reality!
Basicaly there is a chemical that is created from loud noise that eventually disintegrates the ears hair follicles, not the noise itself as I thought. A Sydney company is currently working on implanting stem cells they get from your nose that re-build these hairs. They say they have just had success testing on a deaf rat, and I guess humans are the next step -I'll try and hunt down the site.
Recent blogs: Cleverhorse
03/27/08
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mlbot
Jastebroff is currently at Emory? And studied 8 yrs at Yale, then U. Maryland?
Thats what we in the industry call good credentials.
Zanf said: "As for it not being a new theory, the model can be applied to pretty much anything - if you have a physical/psychological ailment, alter your reactions/feelings/perception to it, less depression/stress about situation."
I would definitely not go that far... otherwise therapists would have cured depression, drug addiction, psychosis, blindness, deafness, paralysis, alzhiemers and anything else years and years ago.
The TRT theory suggests that tinnitus is an overactivity in the brain, a positive feedback loop, that can be cured through retraining, taking advantage of the plastic nature of the brain.
Just like you can cure a feedback loop in your music system by disconnecting the microphone, or the speakers, or applying appropriate EQ.
But if you blow a fuse in your mixer, or rip your speaker cones... no amount of rewiring or EQing is gonna help you.
03/27/08
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mlbot
eyezenears said: "
Basicaly there is a chemical that is created from loud noise that eventually disintegrates the ears hair follicles, not the noise itself as I thought. A Sydney company is currently working on implanting stem cells they get from your nose that re-build these hairs. They say they have just had success testing on a deaf rat, and I guess humans are the next step -I'll try and hunt down the site."
Sorry, you are right that stress impacts tinnitus, but this statement here is gobbledegook.
Loud noise created no chemicals.
Any nerve can poison itself with overactivity, i.e. too many "chemicals" stimulate a neve to keep its ion channels open, eventually letting in enough calcium that it reacts with the plentiful supply of phosphate inside the cell to create a precipitate, which will rupture and kill the cell if enough builds up
But stem cell therapy, like laser-beam therapy, will do nothing (above placebo effect) to those whose Tinnitus is centered in the brain, rather than due to ear damage.
03/27/08
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deltasleep
I know that low a sodium diet was recommended to me by my doctor after I started having vertigo and tinnitus. He also said low caffeine, but I just couldn't. I'm imagining that it was just because caffeine is a diuretic.
Just be really careful who you believe about conditions like tinnitus. It's like chronic pain, chronic fatigue, vertigo, etc. There are so many people who are desperate for ANY treatment that might work. That means there's a huge predatory industry of junk science that's dying to "fix" them up. I sure as hell wouldn't let them near me with a frickin laser beam.
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