Do You Hear a Ringing in the Ears?
Welcome to our site about “Tinnitus” or ringing in the ears. The goal of this site is to provide quality information that you can use to make informed decisions about learning to deal with tinnitus and how to stop the ringing in the ears. Inside, you’ll find tons of useful articles and information as well as reviews of different products and techniques so you can discover what has and hasn’t worked for people just like yourself.
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We’ll begin with a general overview.
What is Tinnitus? If you’ve never experienced the pain and agony of constant ringing in the ears, chances are you’ve never heard of Tinnitus. Tinnitus comes in many different forms and symptoms can be different from one person to the next. In a general study, it was discovered that roughly 12% of the population struggle with varying degrees of tinnitus. In a nutshell, tinnitus is the perception of sound in the ear when there is no external sound. Basically, it’s when there is a ringing in the ears for no apparent reason. Let’s look at some of the different characteristics of this condition.
If you are hearing ringing in both ears, this is called bilateral tinnitus. People experiencing ringing in only one ear are said to have unilateral tinnitus. Both, however, are equally annoying and are very frustrating to deal with. The actual sound that you hear can also differ greatly. While most people hear a ringing in the ears, many also report hearing a buzzing/humming sound , a whining, or even hear what sounds like their heartbeat(this is referred to as pulsatile tinnitus).
Tinnitus can come and go, but many times it will be constant. Some days will be better than others, but lots of tinnitus sufferers report hearing at least some ringing in the ears all of the time, with bedtime being the hardest to deal with. Sleeplessness and irritability are some of the most common side effects of this condition as well as headaches, depression, and in extreme cases suicidal behavior.
Here are some more explanations of different terms that you’ll hear.
Subjective tinnitus is when the person who is hearing the ringing in the ears is the only one that can hear it.
Objective tinnitus is when somebody other than the victim can hear the ringing. In some instances, a doctor or family member can hear an actual sound coming from the person’s ears and this is usually caused by muscle spasms around the ears.
So why are you experiencing a ringing in the ears? Let’s talk about some of the different causes. The most common cause of tinnitus is noise induced. Listening to loud music for extended periods(especially with inner ear headphones)or working around loud machinery consistently are the most frequent reasons people experience or develop this condition. In fact, if you have ever gone home with a ringing in the ears and still experienced it the next morning could mean you have already caused some permanent damage.
What if, however, you don’t listen to loud music or work around loud machinery all day long? Why would you be hearing a ringing in the ears? Other causes are not so obvious. Ototoxic drugs can cause subjective tinnitus by itself and can actually increase the damage done by loud or excessive noise.
Ototoxicity means damage to the ear by a toxin. Ototoxic drugs include certain antibiotics such as gentamicin and tobramycin,loop diuretics like furosemide, and also Platinum-containing chemotherapeutic agents, including cisplatin and carboplatin. Aspirin, in high doses, has also been known to cause tinnitus which can be reversible upon stopping its use.
Other causes can be from ear wax buildup, age related hearing loss, meniere’s disease, mercury or lead poisoning, head injuries, metabolic disorders, depression, anxiety, stress, fibromyalgia, Vasculitis, Lyme disease, muscle tension and sleep paralysis.
So how can you treat this ringing in the ears. There are as many different “treatments” of tinnitus as their are causes. What works for one person may have no effect on another person. For the sake of this overview, we will mention the different types of treatment options available while going into further detail in different articles. Different treatments for ringing in the ears include:
Surgery
Cleaning of the ear canal
Using a neurostimulator
Drugs and nutrients such as lidocaine(this is injected into the ear for brief relief from tinnitus)
Benzodiazepines(in low amounts)
Avoiding caffeine
Avoiding alcohol
Avoiding nicotine
Zinc supplemant
Electrical stimulation
Sound Therapy
The herb Ginkko
Prevention of tinnitus can really be broken down into a few common sense steps. If you are ever going to be listening to loud music or going to a concert, be sure to wear ear plugs. Ear plugs will greatly reduce the damage that can be done without taking away from the experience. Also, if you are working with loud equipment like lawn mowers, drills, air compressors, etc. or things like vacuum cleaners or hair dryers, ear protection will go a long way.
Be sure to have your physician pay close attention to any medications with the potential to cause ototoxic damage as the amount of ototoxicity is cumulative between medications and can worsen any damage already done by noise. This can be enough to put you over the edge as far as not hearing ringing to experiencing ringiing in the ears.