http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retigabine
Posted on 06/14/2013 10:28:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
Pennsylvania scientists have discovered the cause of the chronic disorder known as tinnitus, and have also found a way to treat it. Their goal is a preventive strategy for individuals whose work situations could cause them to be exposed to very loud noise.
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers found that an epilepsy drug known as retigabine prevents tinnitus in animal models, according to ScienceDaily. They published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Strictly speaking, tinnitus isn't a condition, but a symptom of some type of disorder, like hearing loss related to age, a circulatory system ailment, or an injury to the ear, the Mayo Clinic reports. Tinnitus sufferers describe the buzzing, ringing, roaring, hissing, clicking, and other sounds it creates in their ears as annoying to varying degrees. For some, it's debilitating. Since there's no cure for tinnitus itself, doctors attempt to identify and treat the underlying cause.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders, about 25 million Americans have suffered from tinnitus. Among those who are at least 65, the disorder affects about 14 percent of women and more than 12 percent of men.
Knowing that tinnitus is incurable and that hearing aids don't help some patients, the Pittsburgh team sought to first find the underlying cause, then a way to treat it. They knew from prior work with mice that a connection exists between tinnitus and overactive dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) cells in the brain through which potassium ions travel. They found that hyperactivity of DCN cells is the result of a reduced level of activity in structures known as KCNQ channels.
The researchers conducted experiments that exposed mice to regulated amounts of noise, then identified those that had developed tinnitus.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retigabine
Tinnitus RING LIST! Ping!.........................
Just as long as they do not run that annoying radio commercial again.
This helped some people who suffer - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2792703/posts
Good news but it is of no use to people who have it due to diabetes.
I think I would prefer to keep the ringing over epilepsy (jk)
Tinnitus has turned me from the bad-tempered curmudgeon I have been since the age of 11, into a liberal-stalking FReeper!
Do I need to fake epilepsy in order to get this wonder drug? BTW, that "Quietus" product they advertise on my crystal set ain't worth a shiite.
thanks!
Occasionally, it goes away for a while and things will be quiet, then suddenly turns on. There can be several frequencies at the same time. Sometimes I like using a keyboard to figure out which notes are being sustained.
Sometimes I think it might be a spiritual language I haven't learned yet or that I'm pulling in one of the God channels on my mental receiver, but my decoder is out of cal or my beat frequency oscillator isn't stable or is off harmonic.
Weird, this thing called life. I can't hear, but everything sure is loud all the time, even when it's quiet.
Lost most of my hearing to things that go “BANG!” I suppose I’m lucky. I’ve grown so accustomed to the chirps and whistles as I try to sleep at night, that it’s become like sleeping the in the jungle. I just wish those danged voices would stop telling me to clean and load the guns.
I know what tinnitus is, and I’ve figured this out myself. Tinnitus is caused by a breakdown in the myelin sheath that covers the nerves. As a result, ‘traffic’ going through the nerves leaks out through the sheath and it is the sound of this ‘traffic’ or impulses or frequencies that is picked up by the ear canal and is heard as a ringing sound or high-khz radio frequency sound that is called tinnitus. Simple as that.
ping to self to review the epilepsy drug info later.
Thanks for posting this. Please add me to your ping list. I didn’t know you had one. Tnx.
http://www.starkey.com/hearing-loss-and-treatment/identify-hearing-loss/Online-Hearing-Test
I wanna double dose as soon as it’s on the market.
Sometimes my tinnitus sounds like Gregorian chants and sometimes it sounds like a round going overhead. Mot of the time it sounds like crickets on a summer night with a few frogs thrown in for good measure.........
Animals have models?
I guess they do.
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