tinnitus treatment?

[Bird]

Mike, when you use the headphones, doesn't that cut off the regular sound or speakers so that others in the room cannot hear it? Several years ago, my mother was getting hard of hearing and was in a nursing home so she couldn't turn her TV sound up loud enough without disturbing others. So I bought some of the wireless headphones from Radio Shack. They worked very well, but unfortunately she just could not learn to use them properly. Instead, I got the hardwired headphones and she could use those.

 

[Olmike]

Bird, If your TV is less than 10 years old there are jacks in back for left out & rt out.The work independently of the TV speakers.They're for surround & such.I can turn the TV volume down to 0 when the wife goes to bed & not disturb her. Mike

 

[Bird]

Ah, yes, Mike. Of course now we have flat screen TVs that are less than 2 years old, but the Panasonic TV I bought for my mother in the nursing home was in 2002, and I don't think it had those jacks. That Panasonic TV died before its warranty was up, and instead of getting it repaired, Circuit City just gave me another new one. Anyway, the second one lasted just fine, and when my Mother died in 2006, I just left the TV for the nursing home.

 

[mrutkaus]

The more I read this thread, the worse mine gets!

There's a new "treatment" that figures your frequencies out, then programs music with those frequencies missing (sort of like a karoke recording, everything but the singer), then when you listen to the music, your internal stuff fills it in. Something I just read about.

Mike

 

[6thgpSF]

Opti-Mist,didn't mean to leave you out, welcome home brother. Herd.yes those ARVN's were a very sorry bunch.I could never get used to seeing them holding hands.The chohois made me very nervous.My Dad fought the Japs in the Phillippines, he had an eardrum busted bya Jap frag and as he got older his hearing got worse were we would literally yell so he could hear us.After my mom died he got to turning his big screen tv all the way up and leaving it up.Alot of times he would fall asleep in his chair and if someone tried to call or visit we were out of luck till he woke up.One of my sisters bought him this little transistor radio sized ampfiler with an earphone.It worked OK cept hed forget to use it. russ

 

[Opti-Mist]

I have a Sony Model MDR-IF-120 wireless headphone system which when the transmitter is plugged into a set of jacks on the tv allows me to listen with the tv sound muted or turned down. It an older infra-red model. I also had a Jantzen that I wore the headphones out on.

6thgpSF, we're good.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Here's some good stuff:


Tinnitus: Causes and Treatment

 

[jimmer2880]

Here's some good stuff:


Tinnitus: Causes and Treatment

That is some excellent reading! Thank you for posting it.

 

[atgreene]

I'm in the same club. I can recall laying in bed a a young kid (3 rd grade?) trying to listen for Santa Claus and his reindeer and being so frustrated that the air noise prevented me from hearing if he had arrived.

Took me years to realize what I had. My fathers Mcculloch chainsaw was a killer and I suspect that is what started it for me. Once I started logging and driving truck, the chainsaws and jake brakes did me in for good.

Mine is definitely the high freq buzzing with a little high freq humming thrown in for good measure.

The sawmill and any John Deere 2 cylinder will really aggrevate it, but the Q is the worst. The Federal Q 2 mechanical sirens here at work are pure h:ll. I wear hearing protection anytime I'm using anything at home. I have radio headsets everywhere just so there's no excuse, but here on the fire engine it's nearly impossible to listen to the radio traffic and wear headsets. The Q while responding to a call will really agrevate it.

I met with the cities hearing doctor years ago. He said he could install a couple hearing aid like devices in my ears to match the sound. After a year or so my brain would eventually readjust what it thinks it is hearing. He said there was a 50-50 chance it would work and I'd have to fork out about $4k to do it. I decided I would live with it.

Sure wish I could have heard Santa Claus though.

 

[JIGBUILDER]

I was diagnosed with Menieres in my left ear in the late '60s. Went through the vertigo thing and thank god I haven't had any more vertigo issues since the early '80's. Growing up on diesel trucks and tractors/hunting/busting rivits/flight ramps/aircraft manufacturing has taken its toll. My FT 60 is extermly loud. When on the tractor mowing all day I wear ear plugs and ear muffs. It helps somewhat.

The auditory nerve in my left ear is usless and isn't a canadate for a hearing aid. My Tinnitus sounds like a air hose with a bad leak (cut in half).

Ive found nothing that can get rid of the noise. It gets louder when I'm stressed/loud radios/just about anything thats loud. My wife and her three sisters have my ears screaming after a hour around them.

I wear a hearing aid in my right ear which has been a great help as I can hear my two youngest grandaughters now. Their very soft spoken.

I imagine many of you depend on your wife to be your ears out in public. I have to.

You young guys that aren't wearing hearing protection or even listen to loud music/chainsaw/gas trimmer or blower/etc need to start now. I'm 68 years old and had normal hearing till 'the early '70's. This ain't fun.

 

[ray66v]

I was diagnosed with Menieres in my left ear in the late '60s. Went through the vertigo thing and thank god I haven't had any more vertigo issues since the early '80's. Growing up on diesel trucks and tractors/hunting/busting rivits/flight ramps/aircraft manufacturing has taken its toll. My FT 60 is extermly loud. When on the tractor mowing all day I wear ear plugs and ear muffs. It helps somewhat.

The auditory nerve in my left ear is usless and isn't a canadate for a hearing aid. My Tinnitus sounds like a air hose with a bad leak (cut in half).

Ive found nothing that can get rid of the noise. It gets louder when I'm stressed/loud radios/just about anything thats loud. My wife and her three sisters have my ears screaming after a hour around them.

I wear a hearing aid in my right ear which has been a great help as I can hear my two youngest grandaughters now. Their very soft spoken.

I imagine many of you depend on your wife to be your ears out in public. I have to.

You young guys that aren't wearing hearing protection or even listen to loud music/chainsaw/gas trimmer or blower/etc need to start now. I'm 68 years old and had normal hearing till 'the early '70's. This ain't fun.

I always thought when you get older and need a hearing aid, at least you can turn them off, and enjoy the quiet when you wanted it.

Now, to think the ringing will still be there, not drowned out at least partially by other noise.....

 

[texbaylea]

I developed tinnitis from taking naproxyn sodium (Napersyn, Aleve) for arthritis pian in my hands when I was working. I stopped taking that stuff but that did not stop the ringing. It does not affect my sleeping but I do miss some conversation if I am not concentrating on it.

I do use hearing when I will be using PTO attachments on my Kubota. I normally operate at 1700-1800 rpm for other tasks and don't feel the need for that as it is suprisingly quiet.

Vernon

 

[ray66v]

I developed tinnitis from taking naproxyn sodium (Napersyn, Aleve) for arthritis pian in my hands when I was working. I stopped taking that stuff but that did not stop the ringing. It does not affect my sleeping but I do miss some conversation if I am not concentrating on it.

I do use hearing when I will be using PTO attachments on my Kubota. I normally operate at 1700-1800 rpm for other tasks and don't feel the need for that as it is suprisingly quiet.

Vernon

If your getting ringing for Aleve, the chances are asprin, all the other nsaids, and even some narcotic pain killers like Naprosyn, will do the exact same thing. As well as many antacids especially Pepto Bismol. I learned these are all metabolized the same way, so they will all usually give the same ringing. Tylenol is about the only common pain killer not on the list.

 

[SpringHollow]

How do you know it was the drugs that gave you the tinnitus if it did not go away when you stopped using them?

Curious because of my ringing and i use Ibuprofen.

Ken

 

[bobhead]

In Oct '08, my son (then 17) was sitting in class when his ear suddenly started ringing. He said the noise started so suddenly and was so loud that he actually looked around to see who was making the noise. Within a few hours, he had lost almost all of the hearing in his right ear. At first, his regular doctor thought it might be a severe ear infection but could see no sign of infection so she sent him to specialist. Diagnosis: idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (damage to the inner ear nerves of unknown cause). Basically, something damaged the nerves in the inner ear - probably an infection of some sort but we'll never know.

The only treatment is the steroid treatments someone else mentioned. He had about two weeks of oral steroids and 6 weeks of twice a week injections into the inner ear (hard to watch them poke that needle through your kid's eardrum but he said it wasn't that bad).

His hearing did improve some but even the doctors say it might have been the treatments or it might have just improved on its own. He started with about 90db loss in all frequencies and improved to about 15db loss in the very low and very high ranges with about 60db loss in the mid range. He's probably stuck with that for life.

He had all the symptoms described by others here. Dizziness and nausea (caused by the nerve damage to the inner ear with is also part of your balance system), constant ringing in that ear. As others have said, the thinking is that the ringing is your brain trying to make up for the loss of sounds signals from the ear. The nausea went away after a few days (doc says the body adjusts quickly to that, especially when you're young). He still has the ringing but it's not too bad now.

I'm posting this mainly for one reason. If you have hearing loss and/or tinnitus caused by long term exposure to noise, well, see your doctor and protect what you have left but there is, apparently, only so much that can be done.

BUT, if it happens suddenly - SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY. The currently thinking is that those steroid treatments have the best chance of helping if given very early. Make sure you are talking to a specialist. A lot of people wait to seek treatment thinking it will go away on its own. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

Here's a link:
What is sudden sensorineural hearing loss?

 

[mrutkaus]

Might do a little something, in any case it has real ingredients, not homeopathic, seems to have helped me a little bit:

Swanson Condition Specific Formulas Ear Essentials 60 Caps - Swanson Health Products

This is "ear essentials" from Swansons Vitamins.

Mike

 

[jimmer2880]

Might do a little something, in any case it has real ingredients, not homeopathic, seems to have helped me a little bit:

Swanson Condition Specific Formulas Ear Essentials 60 Caps - Swanson Health Products

This is "ear essentials" from Swansons Vitamins.

Mike

How long did you take it before you noticed a difference? Do you have the ringing in your ears, or only hearing loss?

Thank you for the link.

 

[kenmac]

WOW ! I can't believe all these people have this ringing in their ears ! I thought I was the only one. I went to several docs years ago. They all said just have to live with it. Maybe some day there will be a cure ( I hope)

 

[Casco1]

I too have a Mac laptop but cannot hear the purple except for tiny clicks at the start and end of the sample. Neither could my wife. I wonder....

This observation is a mite late but I think the purple doesn't make a sound.

I had my cat sit near me and tried all the sounds, they all made him turn except the purple.

four tests same results and I trust the cat's ears more than I trust mine.