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 ...
Hopefully your ringing doesn't interfere with the hearing tests using tones.
It seems like for every hearing test, my ears are ringing at the same frequencies as the test tones, but my inner sounds are MUCH louder than their outer test tones, so they think my loss is even worse than it is.
If the hearing aids are then calibrated to this higher power level to compensate for that perceived loss, they seem to do a little more damage every time I use them and I end up worse off than when I started, money-wise and hearing-wise.
The hardest part is the loss of contact. I have to work so hard to have a conversation, that I end up being more reclusive and avoid situations that would force people to compensate for my loss just to talk with me or where I just smile and nod without a clue. It's an odd sort of quandary.
This getting old stuff is a lot harder than it looked when I was younger.
That sure is true, old age is not for the faint of heart..LOL Its like that old saying......if I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself...I've decided that at social events, I don't run off at the mouth like I use to. But being in the middle of a sentence and forget for a few seconds what I was talking about drives me nuts....GG
Mine, which I trace back to many hours of earphones and Morse Code ‘blasting’, ‘breaking’ my sinuses in the Submarine School free ascent, 105’ escape tank in New London, is normally always a steady carrier or squeal, sometimes so loud I swear people standing next to me should be able to hear it.
When Ciccado’s are ‘in season’ the constant droning chirp does nothing to stem my shriller tinnitus but it does provide a contrast...but you seemingly do get ‘used to’ it, as I will be sitting around and marvel at the quiet - then it starts up again, not knowing if it really stopped or had I ‘overcome’ it for a bit.
Annoying at the least, definitely uncomfortable.
However, I still ‘copy’ Morse Code through pitches in electric motors, so maybe the posters thought that this is a ‘message from beyond’ is not all that far off...
Copied Morse for many a year and it didn’t bother me a bit
DIDIT DIDIT DIDIT ?
But ‘Quietus’ isn’t.......
Done!........
Done!............
Implanted sensors checking auditory Nerves continuously being stimulated.....
Thanks!
Please add me to the ping list. Hopefully a pinging can help get rid of the ringing.
Done!..........
Can you put me on your Tinnitus ping list if you are still running it? I am going nuts here, it’s gotten much much worse for me since last time I read this thread and I’m wondering if they made any advances in treatments since then. Like an idiot last week I went and saw a rock band in a club and didn’t bring any ear plugs, and even though I stayed for only 30 minutes when I walked out all the sounds I heard felt like I was hearing it through ripped cellophane, as if my ears drums ripped and although that weird effect stopped the next day, my tinnitus is much worse especially this morning when I woke up it sounds like a high pitched loud whistle constantly blowing in my ear. That is it with me and any loud noise, if this gets any worse I’m going to end up in a straight jacket.
DONE!.........
I know exactly how you feel! Been this way since the 70’s..............
Wow since the 70s?? Holy cow, with me it’s been just 10 years. Did it get worse for you with age? Oh God I hope not, I’m at the point now where it pretty much drowns out all sound in my left ear it’s so loud. I’m 51 now so I hope it’s as bad as it will ever get. Im going to see a doctor next week but I don’t know if he can do anything. I read one thing that was interesting that said shots of lidocaine in the ear canal shuts it off but for only 20 minutes I guess because the tinnitus is caused by nerve damage and the lidocaine shuts off the nerve. Well thanks anyway for putting me on the list!
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