Posted on 05/08/2018 1:26:57 PM PDT by Red Badger
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Tinnitus affects 50 million Americans. It’s commonly called ringing in the ears, but it can bring other sounds like whooshing, hissing, whistling, buzzing and humming, and there’s no cure for the annoying, sometimes debilitating problem.
But there’s now new technology that is helping alleviate the symptoms.
Nick Stein says he has tried just about everything to relieve the ringing in his ears.
“Having to have a fan on when I went to sleep, or having a machine that makes sounds, like the sound of rain or a burbling brook,” Stein said.
So his doctor suggested he try the Levo System. Dr. Yu-Tung Wong of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles says the recently FDA-cleared therapy trains the brain to ignore the ringing.
“It’s very difficult to say that you are going to be able to make the sound disappear completely. What you’re trying to do with most tinnitus treatments is make the sound more tolerable,” Wong said.
The technology mimics the sound of a patient’s tinnitus. The patient then listens to the sound on an iPod while sleeping for 90 nights non-stop. The brain becomes more accustomed to the sound over that time.
“At nighttime when you’re sleeping your brain is more plastic. It’s more receptive to these kinds of changes,” Wong said.
Stein said his perception of the ringing sound has been reduced by 50 percent.
“My mood has improved. My focus has improved,” he said.
And he said he’s grateful he can now go for days and hardly notice his tinnitus.
Conventional tinnitus-masking systems produce sounds that distract the sufferer. The Levo system may actually re-wire the brain so that it can ignore the tinnitus. It’s not a cure, but it could be a relief.
I’ve heard some buzz about this...
(Hangs head in shame.)
My doc told me it’s from being old, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it. ;)
I had a typewriter tapping away in my left ear for almost a year. It sounded exactly like an old fashioned typewriter clacking away in an office down the hall of an old marble walled courthouse. It finally went away after using a steroid nasal spray faithfully, every night. I also took claritin twice daily. In my case, I’m pretty sure it was fluid build-up, or it wouldn’t have responded to the treatment.
I’ve had it for years too....guns, heavy equipment/machinery, airplane engines......but 98% of the time I ignore it....focused on whatever I’m doing or on trying to hear (30-40% deaf too).....
Rarely the volume increases to where I cannot ignore it, but that doesn’t last.
If I stop to listen to it at any time - it’s quite loud. But even when in total quiet, I simply ignore it most of the time. It never bothers me like it does so many, for which I am very grateful.
I know someone who got very loud tinnitus from allopurinol. After stopping the alloprinol...tinnitus went away. Tinnitus is listed as a rare adverse effect for allopurinol in large pharmaceutical grade references.
Same here, plus loud stereos during my youth..
I’ve had since I was around 30. I am 60 now...
I have it and can tune it out. Motörhead at the Warfield in San Francisco, 1983. Lemmy did it to me. :)
I wonder if they have recordings of women nagging.......
What medication do you take for your BP?
Part of my growing up years we lived next to a railroad track.
I can sleep thru a hurricane.................
three, atenolol, amlodipine, and hydrochlorothiazide.................
Yes, they do!
It’s called “The View”......................
Black Sabbath......Ozzy did me in in 1973.................maybe I could sue?.................
It may be the ‘combo’ effect..........
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