Posted on 07/17/2015 12:11:24 PM PDT by Red Badger
Robert Folmer of the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center gave people with chronic tinnitus transcranial magnetic stimulation as part of a study. Participants found their symptoms decreased by about a third. (Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center ) =================================================================================================
Imagine dealing with stresses of every day, juggling the demands of family life and deadlines at work, with a constant ringing in your ears?
That's just what millions of Americans who suffer from tinnitus face.
Hope could be on the way. New research by the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University found that a noninvasive technique involving stimulation of the scalp can help.
The study involved 70 patients suffering from tinnitus, a condition that affects up to 15 percent of adults in the United States. Patients hear sounds that have no apparent source. It can be a buzz, hum or whistle that they hear in one ear, both ears or in their head.
Some of the study participants received a placebo treatment and the others underwent a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS, which involves delivering electromagnetic pulses through a coil to the scalp. Researchers have proposed low frequency rTMS, which reduces brain activity in the stimulated regions as a treatment for medical conditions associated with increased cortical activity, including tinnitus.
Those who received the treatment were zapped with 2,000 pulses per session on 10 consecutive workdays. Others got a placebo treatment. No one withdrew from the study because of adverse effects.
Assessments were done at successive intervals. At 26 weeks, those who had received the treatment reported about a third reduction in the ringing. The placebo group reported a 7 percent reduction.
Robert Folmer, the lead investigator, said researchers hope to conduct a larger, multi-site clinical trial in the future. If effective, the stimulation should be adopted as treatment for chronic tinnitus, the authors said.
The study was published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.
I have had it for years...It doesn’t bother unless I am in total silence otherwise I can ignore it...unless I start thiking about it...Thanks alot now Its all I can hear.
I’d be like that guy who sued McDonalds for making him fat! Could work actually...
every now and than I notice, no ringing in my ears...It stops at times. Wow, its silent....thats nice.....
I developed mine from working the flight deck on aircraft carriers...
I hear the high pitched whine of jet engines..
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