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

Believe it or not, it goes in yer bellybutton. Hold it in place with a CLEAN tampon.

Dude......

I've had tinnitus for probably 40 years or more, attributable for the most part to shooting without hearing protection. A couple of years ago I was at a timbersport competition taking photos for a newspaper. I forgot to take my ear defenders with me for the hot saw competition. I was standing less than 10 feet from a couple of competitors with souped up chainsaws. When they fired those things up, I could feel it in my ears every time the spark plugs fired. Thankfully it took less than 10 seconds for them to make the required three cuts, but in that time, there was some serious damage done. My tinnitus has been worse since then. The worst part is the fact that the frequency is slightly different in each ear.
The biggest problem with tinnitus is if you think about it, it seems to be worse. All you can do is ignore it as best you can.

I got it also, will almost drive you insane.

It's not a matter of thinking or not thinking about it. When you reach the point that you never hear silence, you will understand. I haven't heard complete silence for 30 years or so, or crickets chirping, or birds singing, or any number of sounds that I once took for granted. Hearing aids helped me hear those sounds for the first time in years.

When you've had it permanently for more than 5 years, let me know how it's not a big deal and how mental you think it is.

+1,P!!

I MISS the sound of silence.

I have tuning forks in both of my ears. As I kid I had constant bouts of tonsilitus and as a result drank tanker loads of anti-biotics. The antibiotics and the infections themselves took their toll on my ears.

Of course concerts, loud music, power equipment and unprotected shooting didn't help matters either.

It sucks... I've been aware of it since high school. Genetics also come into play regarding tinnitus. One reason I like forums like the campfire so much... I never have to say Huh? or feel like I'm missing out on a conversation.

My employer screens us for hearing loss once a year. Its sad to see how much deafer I get each year. I'll be in hearing aids by 40, and most likely totally deaf by 70.

I've had mine so long that the ringing doesn't really bother me, you just tune it out after a while.

I went in to get my hearing checked a few years ago when I was 29 and the doc said I was right on the verge of needing hearing aids then. I have shot A LOT starting as a child, but almost alway wore hearing protection, so not sure if that is the cause. Haven't been back to have it checked since, but would be tough to do my job without being able to hear, which is the reason I refuse to use or shoot around anybody using a muzzle break.

Thyroid also has something to do with it.
Because my thyroid keeled over, I chew snoose, drink coffee, and hoover aspirin. Ring a ding ding.
Always been deaf, scarlet fever did me a number, but my ears are physically sensitive to loud sounds too -- so have always worn hearing pro, even before it was cool.
I find that the "noise I could never hear otherwise" comes and goes. When I'm thinking hard about something else, or engaged in something complex, life is pretty quiet inside my head.
But then I'll be laying in the sack ready to keel over and think to myself, hey, my $(*%&#($^ ears aren't ringing. Five seconds later they are.
Hard not to obsess about it. Haven't really heard the silence since maybe 2000.

Hearing aids sometimes help. Masking with some noise helps. Otherwise, nothing much helps.

Here is a product that has helped me:
http://www.lipoflavonoid.com/Pages/LipoHome,

I was getting desperate and the Dr. was no help. I ran across a magazine article by a Dr. that recommended various products for various problems that he had found usefull. I was skimming the article because I didn't have any of the problems addressed until I came to Tinnitus and he recommended "Lipo-Flavonoid" by DSE Healthcare Solutions. I was skeptical, but the writer didn't sound like a quack that was being paid off. I figured it was worth a try. The writer said it would take about six weeks to see results. The bottle says to take 3 tablets a day, one after each meal, and "for best results, use for at least six months".

Well, it worked for me. After about six weeks I woke up one day and realized about 80% of the Tinnitus was gone. By the six month point about 90% was gone. Then I dropped down to two tablets a day, One morning, one night, and the relief has stayed the same. I have been taking it for over two years now.

The ingredients are several B vitamins, vitamin C, bioflavinoids and inositol, whatever those are. I found the best place to purchase these is WalMart, for $24.89 a bottle of 100 caplets. The chain drugstores that have it all charge about $30. At WalMarts it is always located pretty close to and a couple of shelves below the Centrum Silver vitamins.

I am very glad I stumbled onto someting that helped me. They even taste good. I never tried any other products, but I know this one helped me. Best of luck to all of you.

I have it 24/7 but mine sounds like crickets or cicaidas.

I love the sounds of insects on a summer night so I use mine on cold winter nights to put me to sleep.

As a fringe benefit I frequently don't hear what my wife is saying.

Inositol is extracted from the testicles of male Indonesian Spotted Frogs. Actually, this species of frog is hermaphrodite. In China Inositol is used to improve sexual function & is combined with ground rhino horn. One side affect is sudden growth of ones wang. Probably with increased sex & wang growth the ringing in the ears becomes unimportant.

EH? My $3000 listening devices help me hear the wife, if I looking at her when she speaks, I haaven't tried the drugs, I've found that busy minds & low stress activities (like hunting or shooting) help. It won't help the ringing, but I've found that after several adult beverages they at least get in tune & sound better (and I don't care as much) been 50 years + now
MC

It depends on the severity of your tinnitus. I have permanently damaged my left ear due to killing a deer with a ported Marlin guide gun. Its so bad that if I have a non-compressed powder load in a case, I can't hear the powder move if I shake it next to my left ear, but I can easily hear it in my right. Frankly, I think this is the price of doing gun business. I do my best to ignore it, but some nights, it gets pretty loud. Other than removing salt and alcohol (where's the fun in that?), there is little that can be done to lessen its affects. If you can, try to ignore it best you can.

My wife is a speech-language pathologist. She uses me as a test case for vets with damaged hearing. Turns out that few hard core RIGHT-HANDED shooters that grew up prior to using hearing protection doesn't have significant left-ear hearing loss above 2000 Hz. The ringing just tells you that you did it right.

I've had it since I was a little kid following my dad around in the deer woods, trying to" G-- D----t BE QUIET! Probably from catching one upside the head when the muzzle of my empty .22 went astray. I called it a "blue" noise and couldn't understand why no one else could hear it.
I've sort of gotten used to it after all these years but sometimes now it's bothersome. At these times I find a little Jack Daniels helps.

I hope to prove my theory for 100% cure. When I die, it will stop.

After 48 years with guns and 39 years with bass guitar, I accept what is, and what can never be.

JW

Thanks again for all the helpful comments. I was taking a full sized aspirin each day just because its healthy for the heart. Aspirin was listed as a contributor to tinnitus, so I quit it about a month ago.....the crickets are there but the drum & bugle corps has left the building, so that is a step in the right direction!

Thanks!