Been suffering from it for more than 30 years now and I’ve been reluctant to try gimmicks and snake oils

Wondering if anyone has had actual success in reducing the aggravation

Nope. Mine comes in the form of Meniere's Disease. It got so bad in my mid-thirties, I swear to you that there were times when death would have been preferable.

I'm long past the insane spells of vertigo. When it bothers me these days, I just think of all the maladies I don't have.

For Meniere's, they can put in a shunt, or they can simply sever the auditory nerve. The way they cut you for this, you risk partial facial paralysis. It's not worth it IMO.

For tinnitus due to other causes, I couldn't tell you.

I have a Navy buddy that's still in (35 years active) and he is starting to suffer from it due to years of working in and around the propulsion plants. He said he was looking into some hearing aids that cancelled out the high frequency hum. He hasn't gotten them yet but it might be something to look into.

I am starting to get it myself but it comes and goes. As long as I have some white noise, it doesn't bother me.

JP

I've had mild tinnitus for about 20 years. According to every doctor or audiologist I've ever asked, there's nothing that can be done to treat or fix tinnitus.

But there are thing that will aggravate your tinnitus, which you can avoid.

For example, tinnitus volume is commonly associated with blood pressure spikes, so ensure that your BP is well controlled, watch your salt intake, use stimulants like caffeine in moderation, and try to avoid stress.

Similarly, staying hydrated seems to help with my tinnitus, as it's more noticeable when I'm dehydrated.

Also, ensure you're not clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth, which can aggravate it. If you are, there are exercises and mouthpieces that can help with that.

And wear hearing protection whenever you can. It will help prevent your tinnitus from getting worse. I even wear ear pro when mowing/weedeating.

I've had it bad for so long I don't even remember when it started.
I just got used to it, sorta.

Camping out in the woods is the worst, pretty much have to sleep with music or such going.
So loud it's almost oppressive like a weight.

At home I have a fan by the bed that helps drown it out a bit.

Have it in both ears due to gunfire in the service since about 1990
I use a noise machine to sleep with. Have an app on my phone and pad for when I’m out of town.

Nothing helps. I’ve just gotten used to it. I did get a hearing aid for the worse ear in ‘20. It doesn’t help with the ringing but I can hear people talking with it in.

Sorry, I don’t have good news.

quote:

Originally posted by jprebb:
I have a Navy buddy that's still in (35 years active) and he is starting to suffer from it due to years of working in and around the propulsion plants. He said he was looking into some hearing aids that cancelled out the high frequency hum. He hasn't gotten them yet but it might be something to look into.

I am starting to get it myself but it comes and goes. As long as I have some white noise, it doesn't bother me.

JP

I have had severe tinnitus for over 30 years. I have had hearing aids for around 20yrs. I can say that the aids do help. Mine do not cancel out the "noise" that I know of. I have been told that, in my case, that the screaming sound is created by signals to the brain to replace lost frequency's.
If I leave my aids out for a couple days, the tinnitus gets really extreme. The aids help in recovering some sound that I can no longer hear, replacing the tinnitus as well.
Everyone is different as far as damage to hearing goes, I have never heard from anyone saying the "snake oils" worked for them.

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
I have had severe tinnitus for over 30 years. I have had hearing aids for around 20yrs. I can say that the aids do help. Mine do not cancel out the "noise" that I know of. I have been told that, in my case, that the screaming sound is created by signals to the brain to replace lost frequency's.
If I leave my aids out for a couple days, the tinnitus gets really extreme. The aids help in recovering some sound that I can no longer hear, replacing the tinnitus as well.
Everyone is different as far as damage to hearing goes, I have never heard from anyone saying the "snake oils" worked for them.

This is my experience. The hearing aids do nothing for the tinnitus, but I hear everything else so much better that I don't notice the ringing near as much.

I have never discovered relief. I have only found distractions.

Well my Tinnitus started in the Army in the early 70's. I also have Bilateral Hearing Loss. The VA gave me hearing aids for my hearing loss and I find that my Tinnitus is better when I have the in my ears. They also gave me a sound machine to use at night to sleep.
With all the talk about the Cicadas coming out now it's funny I've been hearing them for over 50 years. My Tinnitus sounds like Cicadas and a tone. I don't like being where it's real quiet that's when I really notice it.

I’ve had it for a long, long time. It mostly affects my hearing ability. I have to focus in order to hear. My wife of 40 years doesn’t seem to get it, she’ll just start talking and expect me to hear every word, even if I’m reading SigForum. Somehow, I seem to tolerate it as far as sleep. An audiologist tried to talk me into hearing aids several years ago with no guarantee it would help at all. I said, “no thanks.

Web-sight or app I ran across a few years ago let you tune it in to identify exactly what pitch your Tinnitus is on the musical note scale.

Interesting for about 30 seconds... but still useless.

My Doc only suggestion... reduce your caffeine intake.

quote:

Camping out in the woods is the worst, pretty much have to sleep with music or such going

That's what my tinnitus reminds me of, like insects out in a field that make noise all night long!

Mine is like power lines that make noise in a pulsating fashion. Nothing helps but I am kind of used to it. I've been told playing in a band and shooting guns is what caused it.

I've had it for decades, remarkably loud sometimes. I've come to ignore it out of necessity, I think I'd go nuts if I dwelled on it. I wasn't thinking about it until this thread, now, yeah....

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:
Mine is like power lines that make noise in a pulsating fashion. Nothing helps but I am kind of used to it. I've been told playing in a band and shooting guns is what caused it.

I get pulsating when my BP is way too high. Might want to check it if you haven’t.

Otherwise is fairly constant. Caf makes it worse. Dehydrated makes it worse; even a few extra glasses of water through the day help.

For the dizziness that accompanies tinnitus, I stumbled on Lipo Flavonoid. I knew it would probably have no effect on the tinnitus but decided it was cheap enough to try. The dizziness was incorrectly diagnosed as anxiety attacks by some quack doctor who told me to see a shrink, but several years of seeing a couple different ones led to no diagnosis and no cure.

Turns out the Lipo Flavonoid did the trick, cured the dizzy spells in a few weeks, and I continued to take it for several years just-in-case.

The ringing in my ears is still there, as bad as ever but no worse.

I have been suffering since around 1990. It was caused by a loud concert. I forgot my orange squishies that night. Been ringing non stop ever since. I notice it more when I think about it. Thanks to this thread I'm thinking about it right now.

Have you ever seen the movie "Baby Driver"? Like the guy in that movie listing to music is about the only thing that helps me. Just don't listen too loud.

Dr. Mandall
( Motivationaldoc)
On the You Tube has a dozen
Vids on the subject , you might look into.


This may sound nutsey coo Koo to most.

But since I ve been wearing muffs while mowing , blowing and using loud power tools,
Even the vacuum .

I swear my tinnitus has diminished by 90 %
Over the last 20 years.

Call me whacky but in my particular circumstance, noise abatement seems to be working


Even driving with the windows closed helps.

I got rejected for the draft in 1971 because of tinnitus. Tried many "cures" including hearing aids.
Nothing worked.