Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Tinnitus about to drive me insane....anyone found something that helps?

All that shooting and drug music has taken its toll...the ringing is constant, and more annoying in the last few months than it ever has been. I am 52 and figured that if anyone should have a trick that works it should be one of us.

I see all the pills advertised....anyone have any luck with them?

I guess I will eventually need to get hearing aids as my sweet wife says I am about deaf now...I wonder if they can program them to cancel out the ringing?

Any thoughts, suggestions, are sincerely appreciated...just shout 'em out to me ok? Thanks!

Just put Jeff O on mute...

My neighbor swears the only thing that made life bearable for his tinnitus (he had lost all his hearing due to kidney disease) was hash brownies.

But, then again, you don't live in B.C. a land where the law doesn't care too much about people using cannabis.

I have never been diagnosed with anything like that but I have some times when my ears really ring. Seems like it's almost always at night. My occupation is pretty noisy and I'm sure the shooting over the years hasn't helped.

I wish you well.

good luck!

I've had it short-term before, but not forever.

IME, it's not really that big of a deal until you start thinking about it. Once that happens, it's far more mental than physical....

Horseradish, and lots of it.

57, I have full time 24/7 tinnitus. Some days the ring seems louder, some not. Always there though. What made it full time was a shot from a .44 revolver in a quiet winter woods about 10 years ago. Back then the ringing only showed up when I exposed myself to excess noise. The sound pressure pulse from that one shot was severe enough to finally damage the inner ear hair cells. some c/p info: The inner ear contains the sensory organs for hearing and balance. The cochlea is the hearing part of the inner ear. The semicircular canals , the utricle and the saccule are the balance part of the inner ear.

The cochlea is a bony structure shaped like a snail and filled with fluid ( endolymph and perilymph ). The Organ of Corti is the sensory receptor inside the cochlea which holds the hair cells , the nerve receptors for hearing.

The mechanical energy from movement of the middle ear bones pushes in a membrane ( the oval window ) in the cochlea. This force moves the cochlea's fluids that, in turn, stimulate tiny hair cells. Individual hair cells respond to specific sound frequencies (pitches) so that, depending on the pitch (frequency) of the sound, only certain hair cells are stimulated.

Signals from these hair cells are translated into nerve impulses. The nerve impulses are transmitted to the brain by the cochlear portion of the acoustic nerve (VIII cranial nerve).

The acoustic nerve carries impulses from the cochlea to a relay station in the mid-brain, the cochlear nucleus, and on to other brain pathways that end in the auditory cortex of the brain. At the cochlear nucleus, nerve fibers from each ear divide into two pathways. One pathway ascends straight to the auditory cortex on one side (hemisphere) of the brain. The other pathway crosses over and ascends to the auditory cortex on the other side (hemisphere) of the brain. As a result, each hemisphere of the brain receives information from both ears.

end c/p. IMO, there is nothing that will remove the damage done to the inner ear, therefore the ringing will remain. I've simply learned to live with it.

Godogs57,

I'm in the same boat. I started legally duck hunting when I was nine years old and began shooting before that. I remember having a hearing test in the fall at school and failing it or having problems. Later I had a test in the springtime and didn't have any issues. Should have been a warning, but no. Between shooting without ear protection, loud music and later working as a mechanic exposed to schrill ginders and such - I caught the ringing. I've had to live with it for the last 30 years.

Whad ja say? ? ?


fish head

Sad, but true. I've lived with mine for 30+ years. There has been some reliable medical research using magnetism treatments that has some promise.

I've lived with it for 50 years. It is not a minor deal. It is thought that tinnitus might be the number three reason for suicide, to put it in perspective.

Regrettably, there is no cure - yet. The quack cures you see advertised are scams, as far as I know. About all you can do is to play a "white" noise like static, waterfalls or surf at night to help you sleep (as I sometimes do) and try to not think about it. Some of the most cutting-edge hearing aids might help with it, so do ask when you're tested.

Things that make it worse: noise, alcohol, caffeine, nuts, chocolate, aspirin and fatigue.

I hunt with an Ear Nose Throat Dr. I have tinnitus myself and was asking him about it one time. He said that he recommends this stuff http://www.tinnitusformula.com/

He said that he has a very good success rate with it. I'm wanting to say that he said it was over 75% to patients that took it.

They're advertising a treatment called "Quietus" on TV. I don't see how it can help, but it's probably worth a try.

I've had it for 30 years or so. Doc told me it's not curable, but that was some time ago. Who knows?

Excuse me, I think I hear the phone ringing.

Rocky's got it covered. I used to have a fan running on low when I went to sleep at night to cover up the ringing. A CPAP does the same thing...

Huh!

ya I got it, thousands and thousands of shotshells at doves since I was a tadpole. I used to love dove and quail hunting, haven't been in years, cringe thinking about it.

Constant ringing, volume is not an issue, high pitch and certain consonants are. Women are hard for me to understand... think there is a joke in there somewhere.

Kent

It was tacky to make the horseradish comment. I apologize. However; horseradish would at least take your mind off it for a few minutes, but who knows if it might make it worse later.

Doc explained to me what causes it with a big drawn out medical reason. He said that there is no cure for it but there are certain things that do lessen the volume and pitch of the ringing.

He went on to mention the very same things that Rocky noted also.

I have it, and I don't hear a ringing in my ears. I hear a high pitched tone. When it's quiet it drives me crazy. Any little noise bothers me. The tv on too loud, the neighbor's dogs, cars going by with their stereos on... I have an Ipod and Bose earphones on now turned on as low as it can go. If I turn it off, I hear a high tone. I pretty much always have a radio or tv on softly at home and my Ipod goes everywhere I go. Loud noise makes it worse, so I wear ear muffs over my earphones landscaping. I even fall asleep with earphones on sometimes. Always on it's lowest setting though.

I've had it for many years....one of my friends that also has it says for him salt sends it into overdrive...I just try and not think about it cause it's always there, so I think about hunting...works everytime!

That's high frequency hearing loss, and tinnitus is a symptom of that. Way my doctor explained it, the ringing is nerve damage and your brain interpreting that.

I didn't know what it was until I read this thread - now I'm convinced I have it. Ignorance can be bliss.