Wanted ringing ear remedys

[Red Dog Don]

I have had tinnitis most of my adult life (no 72 yrs young). Last time I checked with a Doc (maybe five years ago) I was told there is no cure. Mine comes and goes but it's there most of the time.

Red Dog Don

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Yep!

Damaged WAY beyond normal.  My right ear more than the left - and all due to ignorance, but simply an accident - I was standing about 5 feet behind and 10 feet to the left side of an M 60 A3, 105 mm Tank at about 3 AM.  The tank crew didn't know I was there, and they hadn't fired at all since about 4 the previous afternoon!  BOOM!!  That did it:  I can't hear ANY frequency over 600 Hertz until it goes over 100 decibels!  And NO freqs above 16K Hz at ANY volume!

For the 1st five years after it happened (1978) I had to sleep with the stereo on or I'd stay awake listening to those damn bugs!

The left ear, believe it or don't, survived fairly intact and is only about 30% - 35% worse than what would be normal for a man of 56 years.

[audioruss]

Sounds like you had an inner ear infection or possibly a rupture of one or more of the small vessels that supply blood to the inner ear. The tinnitus you are experiencing is a symptom of the damage.  The damaged hair cells of your inner ear are producing an aberrant signal that the brain is interpreting as the “ringing.” Unfortunately, there is no magic cure.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I am an audiologist when I am not playing cowboy!

Hoss

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[Kinda Sudden]

There is no known cure for tinnitus which is nerve damage, but some changes in your lifestyle may help if your ringing is severe. Some people think that caffeine may aggravate it, so you might try cutting it out. Most people with Tinnitus know that it is especially bad after a nap. Kinda strange in that sleep doe not increase the ringing but after a nap it will be worse. So if you are lucky enough to be taking daily naps, you might try skipping them. If your ringing really is severe, by all means get some help as they do have a hearing aid type device that emits a tone that cancels out the ringing. It really does work. Along time ago, Cadillac had a system in their car that emitted a tone from under the rear seat that would cancel out road noise. The technology is sound so there is help. Some have said that with the hearing aid device, they hear nothing, a good nothing that is no ringing. Others have said that while it helps they still hear the emitting tone. There is a American Tinnitus Association that has free literature and lots of information available.

  http://www.ata.org/abouttinnitus/index.php

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Sounds like you had an inner ear infection or possibly a rupture of one or more of the small vessels that supply blood to the inner ear. The tinnitus you are experiencing is a symptom of the damage.  The damaged hair cells of your inner ear are producing an aberrant signal that the brain is interpreting as the “ringing.” Unfortunately, there is no magic cure.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I am an audiologist when I am not playing cowboy!

Hoss

Don't know about any ear infection, but the Army Docs said my severe tinnitus was a result of damage from that one blast.  I didn't have any blood, (or since) but it WAS painful!  I DO get a LOT more wax build up in the right ear as well - don't know if it's related, but...  VA has just gotten me a new digital hearing aid that is WAY better than my first one, but it's not a noise-canceling one, nor is it made by Bose. 

There is no known cure for tinnitus which is nerve damage, but some changes in your lifestyle may help if your ringing is severe. Some people think that caffeine may aggravate it, so you might try cutting it out. Most people with Tinnitus know that it is especially bad after a nap. Kinda strange in that sleep doe not increase the ringing but after a nap it will be worse. So if you are lucky enough to be taking daily naps, you might try skipping them. If your ringing really is severe, by all means get some help as they do have a hearing aid type device that emits a tone that cancels out the ringing. It really does work. Along time ago, Cadillac had a system in their car that emitted a tone from under the rear seat that would cancel out road noise. The technology is sound so there is help. Some have said that with the hearing aid device, they hear nothing, a good nothing that is no ringing. Others have said that while it helps they still hear the emitting tone. There is a American Tinnitus Association that has free literature and lots of information available.

  http://www.ata.org/abouttinnitus/index.php

Good info, Kinda S, thanks.  I don't notice any extra noise after a nap OR a soda, but I can tell when my blood pressure is up 'cause the ringing gets louder!


Audio Russ and Kinda Sudden, this is good info to have.  I'm WAY past help, but perhaps your words can help someone else.

[Jersey Jones]

Interesting topic I stumbled upon!
Nice to hear... others share the same ringing as I do.
Been a carpenter around loud power tools for almost 25 years now and there is that loud rock music of course. 

I most times can block it out but when it is quiet it seems quite loud.
It sucks gettin' old.

-Jake

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings, All!

   I've got tinnitis, as well as hearing loss. The tinnitis is fairly loud, but I can sleep ok; the Doc says I'm "legally deaf", whatever
that implies.
   Rock Music & firearms? Otosclerosis? Well, actually, I believe that I'M to blame for the first two; the last one is apparently inoperable/won't get better. I was, however, through my work, able to get the latest "state-of-the Art" digital/programmable hearing-aids {$4000.} for the sum of a $30 co-pay. WOW! I can hear the human voice range, and my friends don't poke fun anymore!!! These don't "amplify everything", either; only what needs a boost. If YOU CAN, See Your Doctor: Your Life Will Change.
   When I shoot, I don't wear ear plugs for anything bigger than .22short: I wear headphones, which, I am Informed, help muffle the vibrations travelling through the skull, as well as covering the ears. What do our Doctors out there say? Am I rightly instructed?
   I'm now 44 years old, and I have to wear these tiny, invisible hearing-aids; you all need to mind your ears, and don't use your .22 cleaning rods to dig stuff out of your ears, either!
   Take Care of Yourselves!

   Be Well, All! & Felicem Annum Novum!

                      M.T.Marfield:.

[Leo Tanner]

Call me a hippie if you will (but I'd preciate it if you don't) but the wife dragged me down to a gal who stuck a candle in my ear and lit it.  She showed me the wad that came outta my head afterward--unbelievable.  The ringing stopped.  I still get some wax after a day shootin, but the Emergency Broadcast Signal has stopped transmitten since the voodoo.  It's worth a try.


Leo

[Forty Rod]

Over the years I've been to dozens of audiologists.  They all tell me the same thing: "nerve damage can't be cured nor helped with hearing aids.  Wear protection from now on."

The ringing is constant.  I've learned to adapt but still can't hear in noisy environments, read lips a lot, avoid loud places (They are actually painful sometimes), and dream of the day when I can actually use a .45 to blow the speakers out of some kid's car.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

How Do Leo 

              My family has used and old remedy, for years now, that my Granddad and his granddad used , it's good for earaches, and ringing in the ears, and you don't have to light a candle and stick it in your ear, I remember having ringing in my ears after doing some shooting, over 40 years ago, and I couldn't get it to go away , and my Granddad said you didn't use any hearing protection did you , and being young and dumb , I said I guess I forgot, he said come with me , and he went to the medicin cabinet, and got a little bottle out ,and said follow me , he took me in the kitchen , and poured some of this stuff out on a teaspoon and heated it up over the stove until it was just warm,he poured some in each ear and put some cotton in the ear to keep the oil in , within three days, my hearing was back , and with no ringing in my ears, I had to repeat putting the oil in each day , you will find ear wax coming out after this too, earaches are usually gone over night, This Wonder Cure is called SWEET-OIL, it's been around forever, and you can have your drugest order it for you , for about 5 or $6 , Cheap cure for a big problem......

                                            Ten Wolves 

Call me a hippie if you will (but I'd preciate it if you don't) but the wife dragged me down to a gal who stuck a candle in my ear and lit it.  She showed me the wad that came outta my head afterward--unbelievable.  The ringing stopped.  I still get some wax after a day shootin, but the Emergency Broadcast Signal has stopped transmitten since the voodoo.  It's worth a try.


Leo

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Have tinitus myself.Shot some when I was  younger with out protection, but what really done it to me was a 150lb. air line break that I drove a forklift under to put a maintaenence guy up to turn off. Couldn't hear crapola for weeks after that. Recent test has me with more loss in the left than the right and certain freqencies are just about gone. The quieter it is the more I notice it. Do have wax problems, probably should have'em professionally cleared to see if that reduces it any.
 Get yourself to an audiologist and have'em checked..............Buck

[Single Action Six]

Well.. I'm just like the rest of you pards.  Went to a state certified audiologist.  Spent about a hour or more being tested there.

He gave me the usual visual ear exam, then the tone exam and finished up with the "see if you can understand these spoken words" exam.

After all the tests I found out I had "Severe" hearing loss in my left ear.. and "Moderate" in my right.  Tinnitis in both.  My left ear has "Cicada's", while the right has various types of tones.

Sometimes my right ear will go completely dead silent.. and then a tone will be heard which gets louder and louder.  I've had it get soo loud that the pain becomes unbearable for a few seconds.. and then it's back to the other tinnitis sounds.  What's really odd though, if I shake my head back and forth left to right fairly fast my right ear goes dead silant and all I hear is a "tone, tone, tone, tone" every time my head is at the extreme right position during the shake.

Like some of you, what I've got can't be fixed.. only helped along a little bit.

Single Action Six

Single_Action_Six@Yahoo.com

[Yul Catchum]

WHAT? Speak UP !

The WAX build up sometimes increases my Tinnitis ear ringing. My family all have it and I have made mine own worse by shooting 357 Magnums without ear protection too many times. This last Deer Season I fired an 8 3/8's S&W 357 out the window of my box blind and the ringing STILL hasn't subsided to the original annoying level. BUT I digress.

EAR WAX. Try Ear Candling. I know it sounds stupid but it works. I do it every 3 to 4 months and it helps. Call the Massage Therapists in your area they usually know who does it. Its expensive so i buy and do my own. New Age health Food stores usually sell them not GNC.