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Natural tinnitus Treatment
Tinnitus is when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears. The
noise you hear when you have tinnitus isn't caused by an external sound, and other people
usually can't hear it. Tinnitus is a common problem. It affects about 15% to 20% of people,
and is especially common in older adults.
Tinnitus is usually caused by an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, an
ear injury or a problem with the circulatory system. For many people, tinnitus improves with
treatment of the underlying cause or with other treatments that reduce or mask the noise,
making tinnitus less noticeable.
Natural tinnitus supplement
Symptoms
Tinnitus is most often described as a ringing in the ears, even though no external sound is
present. However, tinnitus can also cause other types of phantom noises in your ears,
including:
● Buzzing
● Roaring
● Clicking
● Hissing
● Humming
Most people who have tinnitus have subjective tinnitus, or tinnitus that only you can hear.
The noises of tinnitus may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it
in one or both ears. In some cases, the sound can be so loud it interferes with your ability to
concentrate or hear external sound. Tinnitus may be present all the time, or it may come and
go.
In rare cases, tinnitus can occur as a rhythmic pulsing or whooshing sound, often in time
with your heartbeat. This is called pulsatile tinnitus. If you have pulsatile tinnitus, your doctor
may be able to hear your tinnitus when he or she does an examination (objective tinnitus).
When to see a doctor
Some people aren't very bothered by tinnitus. For other people, tinnitus disrupts their daily
lives. If you have tinnitus that bothers you, see your doctor.
Make an appointment to see your doctor if:
● You develop tinnitus after an upper respiratory infection, such as a cold,
and your tinnitus doesn't improve within a week.
See your doctor as soon as possible if:
● You have hearing loss or dizziness with the tinnitus.
● You are experiencing anxiety or depression as a result of your tinnitus
Best Tinnitus Treatment
Causes
A number of health conditions can cause or worsen tinnitus. In many cases, an exact cause
is never found.
Common causes of tinnitus
In many people, tinnitus is caused by one of the following:
● Hearing loss. There are tiny, delicate hair cells in your inner ear
(cochlea) that move when your ear receives sound waves. This
movement triggers electrical signals along the nerve from your ear to
your brain (auditory nerve). Your brain interprets these signals as sound.
If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken — this happens as
you age or when you are regularly exposed to loud sounds — they can
"leak" random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus.
● Ear infection or ear canal blockage. Your ear canals can become
blocked with a buildup of fluid (ear infection), earwax, dirt or other foreign
materials. A blockage can change the pressure in your ear, causing
tinnitus.
● Head or neck injuries. Head or neck trauma can affect the inner ear,
hearing nerves or brain function linked to hearing. Such injuries usually
cause tinnitus in only one ear.
● Medications. A number of medications may cause or worsen tinnitus.
Generally, the higher the dose of these medications, the worse tinnitus
becomes. Often the unwanted noise disappears when you stop using
these drugs.
Medications known to cause tinnitus include nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and certain antibiotics, cancer drugs,
water pills (diuretics), antimalarial drugs and antidepressants.
Other causes of tinnitus
Less common causes of tinnitus include other ear problems, chronic health conditions, and
injuries or conditions that affect the nerves in your ear or the hearing center in your brain.
● Meniere's disease. Tinnitus can be an early indicator of Meniere's
disease, an inner ear disorder that may be caused by abnormal inner ear
fluid pressure.
● Eustachian tube dysfunction. In this condition, the tube in your ear
connecting the middle ear to your upper throat remains expanded all the
time, which can make your ear feel full.
● Ear bone changes. Stiffening of the bones in your middle ear
(otosclerosis) may affect your hearing and cause tinnitus. This condition,
caused by abnormal bone growth, tends to run in families.
● Muscle spasms in the inner ear. Muscles in the inner ear can tense up
(spasm), which can result in tinnitus, hearing loss and a feeling of
fullness in the ear. This sometimes happens for no explainable reason,
but can also be caused by neurologic diseases, including multiple
sclerosis.
● Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. Problems with the TMJ,
the joint on each side of your head in front of your ears, where your lower
jawbone meets your skull, can cause tinnitus.
● Acoustic neuroma or other head and neck tumors. Acoustic neuroma
is a noncancerous (benign) tumor that develops on the cranial nerve that
runs from your brain to your inner ear and controls balance and hearing.
Other head, neck or brain tumors can also cause tinnitus.
● Blood vessel disorders. Conditions that affect your blood vessels —
such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, or kinked or malformed
blood vessels — can cause blood to move through your veins and
arteries with more force. These blood flow changes can cause tinnitus or
make tinnitus more noticeable.
● Other chronic conditions. Conditions including diabetes, thyroid
problems, migraines, anemia, and autoimmune disorders such as
rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have all been associated with tinnitus.
Risk factors
Anyone can experience tinnitus, but these factors may increase your risk:
● Loud noise exposure. Loud noises, such as those from heavy
equipment, chain saws and firearms, are common sources of
noise-related hearing loss. Portable music devices, such as MP3
players, also can cause noise-related hearing loss if played loudly for
long periods. People who work in noisy environments — such as factory
and construction workers, musicians, and soldiers — are particularly at
risk.
● Age. As you age, the number of functioning nerve fibers in your ears
declines, possibly causing hearing problems often associated with
tinnitus.
● Sex. Men are more likely to experience tinnitus.
● Tobacco and alcohol use. Smokers have a higher risk of developing
tinnitus. Drinking alcohol also increases the risk of tinnitus.
● Certain health problems. Obesity, cardiovascular problems, high blood
pressure, and a history of arthritis or head injury all increase your risk of
tinnitus.
Complications
Tinnitus affects people differently. For some people, tinnitus can significantly affect quality of
life. If you have tinnitus, you may also experience:
● Fatigue
● Stress
● Sleep problems
● Trouble concentrating
● Memory problems
● Depression
● Anxiety and irritability
● Headaches
● Problems with work and family life
Treating these linked conditions may not affect tinnitus directly, but it can help you feel better.
More Information
Prevention
In many cases, tinnitus is the result of something that can't be prevented. However, some
precautions can help prevent certain kinds of tinnitus.
● Use hearing protection. Over time, exposure to loud sounds can
damage the nerves in the ears, causing hearing loss and tinnitus. Try to
limit your exposure to loud sounds. And if you cannot avoid loud sounds,
use ear protection to help protect your hearing. If you use chain saws,
are a musician, work in an industry that uses loud machinery or use
firearms (especially pistols or shotguns), always wear over-the-ear
hearing protection.
● Turn down the volume. Long-term exposure to amplified music with no
ear protection or listening to music at very high volume through
headphones can cause hearing loss and tinnitus.
● Take care of your cardiovascular health. Regular exercise, eating right
and taking other steps to keep your blood vessels healthy can help
prevent tinnitus linked to obesity and blood vessel disorders.
● Limit alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. These substances, especially
when used in excess, can affect blood flow and contribute to tinnitus.
Tinnitus: Ringing in the ears and what
to do about it
Constant noise in the head— such as ringing in the ears—rarely indicates a serious
health problem, but it sure can be annoying. Here's how to minimize it.
Tinnitus (pronounced tih-NITE-us or TIN-ih-tus) is sound in the head with no external
source. For many, it's a ringing sound, while for others, it's whistling, buzzing,
chirping, hissing, humming, roaring, or even shrieking. The sound may seem to
come from one ear or both, from inside the head, or from a distance. It may be
constant or intermittent, steady or pulsating.
Almost everyone has had tinnitus for a short time after being exposed to extremely
loud noise. For example, attending a loud concert can trigger short-lived tinnitus.
Some medications (especially aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
taken in high doses) can cause tinnitus that goes away when the drug is
discontinued. When it lasts more than six months, it's known as chronic tinnitus. As
many as 50 to 60 million people in the United States suffer from this condition; it's
especially common in people over age 55 and strongly associated with hearing loss.
Many people worry that tinnitus is a sign that they are going deaf or have another
serious medical problem, but it rarely is.
Most tinnitus is subjective, meaning that only you can hear the noise. But sometimes
it's objective, meaning that someone else can hear it, too. For example, if you have a
heart murmur, you may hear a whooshing sound with every heartbeat; your clinician
can also hear that sound through a stethoscope. Some people hear their heartbeat
inside the ear — a phenomenon called pulsatile tinnitus. It's more likely to happen in
older people, because blood flow tends to be more turbulent in arteries whose walls
have stiffened with age. Pulsatile tinnitus may be more noticeable at night, when
you're lying in bed and there are fewer external sounds to mask the tinnitus. If you
notice any new pulsatile tinnitus, you should consult a clinician, because in rare
cases it is a sign of a tumor or blood vessel damage.
The course of chronic tinnitus is unpredictable. Sometimes the symptoms remain the
same, and sometimes they get worse. In about 10% of cases, the condition
interferes with everyday life so much that professional help is needed.
While there's it often becomes less noticeable and more manageable over time. You
can help ease the symptoms by educating yourself about the condition — for
example, understanding that it's not dangerous. There are also several ways to help
tune out the noise and minimize its impact.
Protect yourself from the damage of chronic
inflammation.
Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer
that contributes to cardiovas­
cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other
conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy -- from Harvard
Auditory pathways and tinnitus
Sound waves travel through the ear canal to the middle and inner ear, where hair
cells in part of the cochlea help transform sound waves into electrical signals that
then travel to the brain's auditory cortex via the auditory nerve. When hair cells are
damaged — by loud noise or ototoxic drugs, for example — the circuits in the brain
don't receive the signals they're expecting. This stimulates abnormal activity in the
neurons, which results in the illusion of sound, or tinnitus.
What's going on?
Most people who seek medical help for tinnitus experience it as subjective, constant
sound like constant ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound in the ear, and most have
some degree of hearing loss. Things that cause hearing loss (and tinnitus) include
loud noise, medications that damage the nerves in the ear (ototoxic drugs), impacted
earwax, middle ear problems (such as infections and vascular tumors), and aging.
Tinnitus can also be a symptom of Meniere's disease, a disorder of the balance
mechanism in the inner ear.
Tinnitus can arise anywhere along the auditory pathway, from the outer ear through
the middle and inner ear to the brain's auditory cortex, where it's thought to be
encoded (in a sense, imprinted). One of the most common causes of tinnitus is
damage to the hair cells in the cochlea (see "Auditory pathways and tinnitus"). These
cells help transform sound waves into nerve signals. If the auditory pathways or
circuits in the brain don't receive the signals they're expecting from the cochlea, the
brain in effect "turns up the gain" on those pathways in an effort to detect the signal
— in much the same way that you turn up the volume on a car radio when you're
trying to find a station's signal. The resulting electrical noise takes the form of tinnitus
— a sound that is high-pitched if hearing loss is in the high-frequency range and
low-pitched if it's in the low-frequency range. This kind of tinnitus resembles phantom
limb pain in an amputee — the brain is producing abnormal nerve signals to
compensate for missing input.
Most tinnitus is "sensorineural," meaning that it's due to hearing loss at the cochlea
or cochlear nerve level. But tinnitus may originate in other places. Our bodies
normally produce sounds (called somatic sounds) that we usually don't notice
because we are listening to external sounds. Anything that blocks normal hearing
can bring somatic sounds to our attention. For example, you may get head noise
when earwax blocks the outer ear.
Some drugs that can cause or worsen tinnitus
Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen (Motrin)
and naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn)
Certain antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin (Cipro), doxycycline (Vibramycin, others),
gentamicin (Garamycin), erythromycin (Ery-Tab, others), tetracycline (Sumycin),
tobramycin
Evaluate and treat underlying problems
If you develop tinnitus, it's important to see your clinician. She or he will take a
medical history, give you a physical examination, and do a series of tests to try to
find the source of the problem. She or he will also ask you to describe the noise
you're hearing (including its pitch and sound quality, and whether it's constant or
periodic, steady or pulsatile) and the times and places in which you hear it. Your
clinician will review your medical history, your current and past exposure to noise,
and any medications or supplements you're taking. Tinnitus can be a side effect of
many medications, especially when taken at higher doses (see "Some drugs that can
cause or worsen tinnitus").
Musculoskeletal factors — jaw clenching, prior injury, or muscle tension in the neck
— sometimes make tinnitus more noticeable, so your clinician may ask you to
tighten muscles or move the jaw or neck in certain ways to see if the sound changes.
If tight muscles are part of the problem, massage therapy may help relieve it.
Tinnitus that's continuous, steady, and high-pitched (the most common type)
generally indicates a problem in the auditory system and requires hearing tests
conducted by an audiologist. Pulsatile tinnitus calls for a medical evaluation,
especially if the noise is frequent or constant. MRI or CT imaging may be needed to
check for a tumor or blood vessel abnormality.
Your general health can affect the severity and impact of tinnitus, so this is also a
good time to take stock of your diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress level — and
take steps to improve them. You may also be able to reduce the impact of tinnitus by
treating depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain with medications or psychotherapy.
If you're often exposed to loud noises at work or at home, it's important to reduce the
risk of hearing loss (or further hearing loss) by using protectors such as earplugs or
earmuff-like or custom-fitted devices.Managing tinnitus
In addition to treating associated problems (such as depression or insomnia), there
are several strategies that can help make tinnitus less bothersome. No single
approach works for everyone, and you may need to try various combinations of
techniques before you find what works for you. If you have age-related hearing loss,
a hearing aid can often make tinnitus less noticeable by amplifying outside sounds.
There is no FDA-approved drug treatment for tinnitus, and controlled trials have not
found any drug, supplement, or herb to be any more effective than a placebo. That
includes ginkgo biloba, which is sometimes promoted for this purpose. Some
patients believe that acupuncture helps, but it too has been found to be no better
than a placebo.
The most effective approaches are behavioral strategies and sound-generating
devices, often used in combination. They include the following:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT uses techniques such as cognitive
restructuring and relaxation to change the way patients think about and respond to
tinnitus. Patients usually keep a diary and perform "homework" to help build their
coping skills. Therapy is generally short-term — for example, weekly sessions for
two to six months. CBT may not make the sound less loud, but it can make it
significantly less bothersome and improve quality of life.
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). This technique is based on the assumption that
tinnitus results from abnormal neuronal activity (see "What's going on?"). The aim is
to habituate the auditory system to the tinnitus signals, making them less noticeable
or less bothersome. The main components of TRT are individual counseling (to
explain the auditory system, how tinnitus develops, and how TRT can help) and
sound therapy. A device is inserted in the ear to generate low-level noise and
environmental sounds that match the pitch, volume, and quality of the patient's
tinnitus. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, treatment may last one to two
years.
When TRT was developed in the 1980s by neuroscientist Dr. Pawel Jastreboff, it was
designed to be administered according to a strict protocol. Today, the term TRT is
being used to describe modified versions of this therapy, and the variations make
accurate assessment of its effectiveness difficult. Individual studies have reported
improvements in as many as 80% of patients with high-pitched tinnitus.
Masking. Masking devices, worn like hearing aids, generate low-level white noise (a
high-pitched hiss, for example) that can reduce the perception of tinnitus and
sometimes also produce residual inhibition — less noticeable tinnitus for a short time
after the masker is turned off. A specialized device isn't always necessary for
masking; often, playing music or having a radio, fan, or white-noise machine on in
the background is enough. Although there's not enough evidence from randomized
trials to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of masking, hearing experts
often recommend a trial of simple masking strategies (such as setting a radio at low
volume between stations) before they turn to more expensive options.

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Best tinnitus Treatment.pdf

  • 1. Natural tinnitus Treatment Tinnitus is when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears. The noise you hear when you have tinnitus isn't caused by an external sound, and other people usually can't hear it. Tinnitus is a common problem. It affects about 15% to 20% of people, and is especially common in older adults. Tinnitus is usually caused by an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, an ear injury or a problem with the circulatory system. For many people, tinnitus improves with treatment of the underlying cause or with other treatments that reduce or mask the noise, making tinnitus less noticeable. Natural tinnitus supplement Symptoms Tinnitus is most often described as a ringing in the ears, even though no external sound is present. However, tinnitus can also cause other types of phantom noises in your ears, including: ● Buzzing
  • 2. ● Roaring ● Clicking ● Hissing ● Humming Most people who have tinnitus have subjective tinnitus, or tinnitus that only you can hear. The noises of tinnitus may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it in one or both ears. In some cases, the sound can be so loud it interferes with your ability to concentrate or hear external sound. Tinnitus may be present all the time, or it may come and go. In rare cases, tinnitus can occur as a rhythmic pulsing or whooshing sound, often in time with your heartbeat. This is called pulsatile tinnitus. If you have pulsatile tinnitus, your doctor may be able to hear your tinnitus when he or she does an examination (objective tinnitus). When to see a doctor Some people aren't very bothered by tinnitus. For other people, tinnitus disrupts their daily lives. If you have tinnitus that bothers you, see your doctor. Make an appointment to see your doctor if: ● You develop tinnitus after an upper respiratory infection, such as a cold, and your tinnitus doesn't improve within a week. See your doctor as soon as possible if: ● You have hearing loss or dizziness with the tinnitus. ● You are experiencing anxiety or depression as a result of your tinnitus
  • 3. Best Tinnitus Treatment Causes A number of health conditions can cause or worsen tinnitus. In many cases, an exact cause is never found. Common causes of tinnitus In many people, tinnitus is caused by one of the following: ● Hearing loss. There are tiny, delicate hair cells in your inner ear (cochlea) that move when your ear receives sound waves. This movement triggers electrical signals along the nerve from your ear to your brain (auditory nerve). Your brain interprets these signals as sound. If the hairs inside your inner ear are bent or broken — this happens as you age or when you are regularly exposed to loud sounds — they can "leak" random electrical impulses to your brain, causing tinnitus. ● Ear infection or ear canal blockage. Your ear canals can become blocked with a buildup of fluid (ear infection), earwax, dirt or other foreign materials. A blockage can change the pressure in your ear, causing tinnitus. ● Head or neck injuries. Head or neck trauma can affect the inner ear, hearing nerves or brain function linked to hearing. Such injuries usually cause tinnitus in only one ear. ● Medications. A number of medications may cause or worsen tinnitus. Generally, the higher the dose of these medications, the worse tinnitus
  • 4. becomes. Often the unwanted noise disappears when you stop using these drugs. Medications known to cause tinnitus include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and certain antibiotics, cancer drugs, water pills (diuretics), antimalarial drugs and antidepressants. Other causes of tinnitus Less common causes of tinnitus include other ear problems, chronic health conditions, and injuries or conditions that affect the nerves in your ear or the hearing center in your brain. ● Meniere's disease. Tinnitus can be an early indicator of Meniere's disease, an inner ear disorder that may be caused by abnormal inner ear fluid pressure. ● Eustachian tube dysfunction. In this condition, the tube in your ear connecting the middle ear to your upper throat remains expanded all the time, which can make your ear feel full. ● Ear bone changes. Stiffening of the bones in your middle ear (otosclerosis) may affect your hearing and cause tinnitus. This condition, caused by abnormal bone growth, tends to run in families. ● Muscle spasms in the inner ear. Muscles in the inner ear can tense up (spasm), which can result in tinnitus, hearing loss and a feeling of fullness in the ear. This sometimes happens for no explainable reason, but can also be caused by neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis. ● Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. Problems with the TMJ, the joint on each side of your head in front of your ears, where your lower jawbone meets your skull, can cause tinnitus. ● Acoustic neuroma or other head and neck tumors. Acoustic neuroma is a noncancerous (benign) tumor that develops on the cranial nerve that
  • 5. runs from your brain to your inner ear and controls balance and hearing. Other head, neck or brain tumors can also cause tinnitus. ● Blood vessel disorders. Conditions that affect your blood vessels — such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, or kinked or malformed blood vessels — can cause blood to move through your veins and arteries with more force. These blood flow changes can cause tinnitus or make tinnitus more noticeable. ● Other chronic conditions. Conditions including diabetes, thyroid problems, migraines, anemia, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have all been associated with tinnitus. Risk factors Anyone can experience tinnitus, but these factors may increase your risk: ● Loud noise exposure. Loud noises, such as those from heavy equipment, chain saws and firearms, are common sources of noise-related hearing loss. Portable music devices, such as MP3 players, also can cause noise-related hearing loss if played loudly for long periods. People who work in noisy environments — such as factory and construction workers, musicians, and soldiers — are particularly at risk. ● Age. As you age, the number of functioning nerve fibers in your ears declines, possibly causing hearing problems often associated with tinnitus. ● Sex. Men are more likely to experience tinnitus. ● Tobacco and alcohol use. Smokers have a higher risk of developing tinnitus. Drinking alcohol also increases the risk of tinnitus. ● Certain health problems. Obesity, cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, and a history of arthritis or head injury all increase your risk of tinnitus. Complications Tinnitus affects people differently. For some people, tinnitus can significantly affect quality of life. If you have tinnitus, you may also experience: ● Fatigue ● Stress ● Sleep problems
  • 6. ● Trouble concentrating ● Memory problems ● Depression ● Anxiety and irritability ● Headaches ● Problems with work and family life Treating these linked conditions may not affect tinnitus directly, but it can help you feel better. More Information Prevention In many cases, tinnitus is the result of something that can't be prevented. However, some precautions can help prevent certain kinds of tinnitus. ● Use hearing protection. Over time, exposure to loud sounds can damage the nerves in the ears, causing hearing loss and tinnitus. Try to limit your exposure to loud sounds. And if you cannot avoid loud sounds, use ear protection to help protect your hearing. If you use chain saws, are a musician, work in an industry that uses loud machinery or use firearms (especially pistols or shotguns), always wear over-the-ear hearing protection. ● Turn down the volume. Long-term exposure to amplified music with no ear protection or listening to music at very high volume through headphones can cause hearing loss and tinnitus.
  • 7. ● Take care of your cardiovascular health. Regular exercise, eating right and taking other steps to keep your blood vessels healthy can help prevent tinnitus linked to obesity and blood vessel disorders. ● Limit alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. These substances, especially when used in excess, can affect blood flow and contribute to tinnitus. Tinnitus: Ringing in the ears and what to do about it Constant noise in the head— such as ringing in the ears—rarely indicates a serious health problem, but it sure can be annoying. Here's how to minimize it. Tinnitus (pronounced tih-NITE-us or TIN-ih-tus) is sound in the head with no external source. For many, it's a ringing sound, while for others, it's whistling, buzzing, chirping, hissing, humming, roaring, or even shrieking. The sound may seem to come from one ear or both, from inside the head, or from a distance. It may be constant or intermittent, steady or pulsating.
  • 8. Almost everyone has had tinnitus for a short time after being exposed to extremely loud noise. For example, attending a loud concert can trigger short-lived tinnitus. Some medications (especially aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs taken in high doses) can cause tinnitus that goes away when the drug is discontinued. When it lasts more than six months, it's known as chronic tinnitus. As many as 50 to 60 million people in the United States suffer from this condition; it's especially common in people over age 55 and strongly associated with hearing loss. Many people worry that tinnitus is a sign that they are going deaf or have another serious medical problem, but it rarely is. Most tinnitus is subjective, meaning that only you can hear the noise. But sometimes it's objective, meaning that someone else can hear it, too. For example, if you have a heart murmur, you may hear a whooshing sound with every heartbeat; your clinician can also hear that sound through a stethoscope. Some people hear their heartbeat inside the ear — a phenomenon called pulsatile tinnitus. It's more likely to happen in older people, because blood flow tends to be more turbulent in arteries whose walls have stiffened with age. Pulsatile tinnitus may be more noticeable at night, when you're lying in bed and there are fewer external sounds to mask the tinnitus. If you notice any new pulsatile tinnitus, you should consult a clinician, because in rare cases it is a sign of a tumor or blood vessel damage. The course of chronic tinnitus is unpredictable. Sometimes the symptoms remain the same, and sometimes they get worse. In about 10% of cases, the condition interferes with everyday life so much that professional help is needed. While there's it often becomes less noticeable and more manageable over time. You can help ease the symptoms by educating yourself about the condition — for example, understanding that it's not dangerous. There are also several ways to help tune out the noise and minimize its impact.
  • 9. Protect yourself from the damage of chronic inflammation. Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­ cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy -- from Harvard Auditory pathways and tinnitus Sound waves travel through the ear canal to the middle and inner ear, where hair cells in part of the cochlea help transform sound waves into electrical signals that then travel to the brain's auditory cortex via the auditory nerve. When hair cells are damaged — by loud noise or ototoxic drugs, for example — the circuits in the brain
  • 10. don't receive the signals they're expecting. This stimulates abnormal activity in the neurons, which results in the illusion of sound, or tinnitus. What's going on? Most people who seek medical help for tinnitus experience it as subjective, constant sound like constant ringing in the ears or a buzzing sound in the ear, and most have some degree of hearing loss. Things that cause hearing loss (and tinnitus) include loud noise, medications that damage the nerves in the ear (ototoxic drugs), impacted earwax, middle ear problems (such as infections and vascular tumors), and aging. Tinnitus can also be a symptom of Meniere's disease, a disorder of the balance mechanism in the inner ear. Tinnitus can arise anywhere along the auditory pathway, from the outer ear through the middle and inner ear to the brain's auditory cortex, where it's thought to be encoded (in a sense, imprinted). One of the most common causes of tinnitus is damage to the hair cells in the cochlea (see "Auditory pathways and tinnitus"). These cells help transform sound waves into nerve signals. If the auditory pathways or circuits in the brain don't receive the signals they're expecting from the cochlea, the brain in effect "turns up the gain" on those pathways in an effort to detect the signal — in much the same way that you turn up the volume on a car radio when you're trying to find a station's signal. The resulting electrical noise takes the form of tinnitus — a sound that is high-pitched if hearing loss is in the high-frequency range and low-pitched if it's in the low-frequency range. This kind of tinnitus resembles phantom limb pain in an amputee — the brain is producing abnormal nerve signals to compensate for missing input. Most tinnitus is "sensorineural," meaning that it's due to hearing loss at the cochlea or cochlear nerve level. But tinnitus may originate in other places. Our bodies
  • 11. normally produce sounds (called somatic sounds) that we usually don't notice because we are listening to external sounds. Anything that blocks normal hearing can bring somatic sounds to our attention. For example, you may get head noise when earwax blocks the outer ear. Some drugs that can cause or worsen tinnitus Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen (Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) Certain antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin (Cipro), doxycycline (Vibramycin, others), gentamicin (Garamycin), erythromycin (Ery-Tab, others), tetracycline (Sumycin), tobramycin Evaluate and treat underlying problems If you develop tinnitus, it's important to see your clinician. She or he will take a medical history, give you a physical examination, and do a series of tests to try to find the source of the problem. She or he will also ask you to describe the noise you're hearing (including its pitch and sound quality, and whether it's constant or periodic, steady or pulsatile) and the times and places in which you hear it. Your clinician will review your medical history, your current and past exposure to noise, and any medications or supplements you're taking. Tinnitus can be a side effect of
  • 12. many medications, especially when taken at higher doses (see "Some drugs that can cause or worsen tinnitus"). Musculoskeletal factors — jaw clenching, prior injury, or muscle tension in the neck — sometimes make tinnitus more noticeable, so your clinician may ask you to tighten muscles or move the jaw or neck in certain ways to see if the sound changes. If tight muscles are part of the problem, massage therapy may help relieve it. Tinnitus that's continuous, steady, and high-pitched (the most common type) generally indicates a problem in the auditory system and requires hearing tests conducted by an audiologist. Pulsatile tinnitus calls for a medical evaluation, especially if the noise is frequent or constant. MRI or CT imaging may be needed to check for a tumor or blood vessel abnormality. Your general health can affect the severity and impact of tinnitus, so this is also a good time to take stock of your diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress level — and take steps to improve them. You may also be able to reduce the impact of tinnitus by treating depression, anxiety, insomnia, and pain with medications or psychotherapy. If you're often exposed to loud noises at work or at home, it's important to reduce the risk of hearing loss (or further hearing loss) by using protectors such as earplugs or earmuff-like or custom-fitted devices.Managing tinnitus In addition to treating associated problems (such as depression or insomnia), there are several strategies that can help make tinnitus less bothersome. No single approach works for everyone, and you may need to try various combinations of techniques before you find what works for you. If you have age-related hearing loss, a hearing aid can often make tinnitus less noticeable by amplifying outside sounds. There is no FDA-approved drug treatment for tinnitus, and controlled trials have not found any drug, supplement, or herb to be any more effective than a placebo. That
  • 13. includes ginkgo biloba, which is sometimes promoted for this purpose. Some patients believe that acupuncture helps, but it too has been found to be no better than a placebo. The most effective approaches are behavioral strategies and sound-generating devices, often used in combination. They include the following: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT uses techniques such as cognitive restructuring and relaxation to change the way patients think about and respond to tinnitus. Patients usually keep a diary and perform "homework" to help build their coping skills. Therapy is generally short-term — for example, weekly sessions for two to six months. CBT may not make the sound less loud, but it can make it significantly less bothersome and improve quality of life. Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). This technique is based on the assumption that tinnitus results from abnormal neuronal activity (see "What's going on?"). The aim is to habituate the auditory system to the tinnitus signals, making them less noticeable or less bothersome. The main components of TRT are individual counseling (to explain the auditory system, how tinnitus develops, and how TRT can help) and sound therapy. A device is inserted in the ear to generate low-level noise and environmental sounds that match the pitch, volume, and quality of the patient's tinnitus. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, treatment may last one to two years. When TRT was developed in the 1980s by neuroscientist Dr. Pawel Jastreboff, it was designed to be administered according to a strict protocol. Today, the term TRT is being used to describe modified versions of this therapy, and the variations make accurate assessment of its effectiveness difficult. Individual studies have reported improvements in as many as 80% of patients with high-pitched tinnitus.
  • 14. Masking. Masking devices, worn like hearing aids, generate low-level white noise (a high-pitched hiss, for example) that can reduce the perception of tinnitus and sometimes also produce residual inhibition — less noticeable tinnitus for a short time after the masker is turned off. A specialized device isn't always necessary for masking; often, playing music or having a radio, fan, or white-noise machine on in the background is enough. Although there's not enough evidence from randomized trials to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of masking, hearing experts often recommend a trial of simple masking strategies (such as setting a radio at low volume between stations) before they turn to more expensive options.