What Can I Do About It
The most important thing you can do about your tinnitus is discuss it with your physician. Often you will be sent for a hearing test, because most tinnitus is associated with some degree of hearing loss. The hearing test will often provide additional information to the physician about whether further tests are necessary.
If it is determined that tinnitus is caused by any of the conditions previously noted, treatment aimed at those conditions may offer relief. If there is hearing loss, hearing aids may help both hearing and tinnitus. Distraction techniques such as a white-noise machine or background noise may also help, particularly during sleep.
One of the challenges in treating non-pulsatile, benign tinnitus is that there are few medications that reliably resolve symptoms. It is also difficult to find medical therapies for tinnitus, because we are still working to identify a specific location where tinnitus originates. Despite this challenge, there is new research showing effective non-medication approaches to tinnitus, One example of this is neural stimulation techniques, which have shown promise in appropriate patients.
The most effective treatment for non-pulsatile, benign tinnitus is cognitive behavioral therapy. Specific behavioral therapy, called tinnitus retraining therapy, has consistently been shown to reduce tinnitus compared to other treatment modalities. This can also aid in addressing any underlying stress or anxiety about the condition.
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What Can I Do To Relieve My Tinnitus Stress Around Coronavirus
Whether youve been a patient of ours for years or if youre new to tinnitus and our clinics, please reach out. Weve implemented new, HIPAA-compliant video appointments so we can stay in touch with you in a healthy and safe way. These appointments do not require you to download any programs or subscriptions.
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Your Hearing Healthcare Professional Can Help
If youre not hearing as well as you used to, make an appointment to see a hearing healthcare professional. One of the very first things they will do is get to know your personal hearing health and medical history, along with any concerns you may have. After your hearing health history is complete, they will administer a non-invasive hearing evaluation to determine whether or not you have hearing loss. Based on your history and the results of your hearing evaluation, youll work together to create a customized treatment plan based on your budget, lifestyle and hearing expectations.
Foods Can Make Tinnitus Worse For Some People
Tinnitus is a warning sign. Often its telling you that something isnt right. That something could be noise, stress, medications, or something else.
Oftentimes, it might just be the foods youre eating or not eating. To find out if your diet is the cause of the ringing in your ears, try keeping a food journal. Note days when its worse and youll likely find that you have some triggers. For instance, many people find that artificial sweeteners and caffeine make it worse.
Some people may find that the ringing in their ears is worse because theyre not getting enough iron in their diet, which may lead to iron deficiency anemia. This condition makes the blood pump harder throughout the body to make sure all the organs get the oxygen they need and can often result in a rushing sound in the ears.
Because tinnitus can be affected by blood pressure, salty foods can also affect your tinnitus.
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Anxiety And Your Hearing
by Aspire Hearing | Sep 16, 2020 | Hearing Loss Articles
Anxiety comes in two varieties. Theres common anxiety, that sensation you get when youre coping with a crisis. And then theres the type of anxiety that isnt really attached to any one worry or event. Regardless of whats happening in their lives or what theyre thinking about, they often feel anxiety. Its just present in the background throughout the day. This sort of anxiety is usually more of a mental health concern than a neurological reaction.
Both kinds of anxiety can be very damaging to the physical body. Prolonged periods of chronic anxiety can be especially bad. When its anxious, your body releases a myriad of chemicals that heighten your alert status. For short durations, when you really need them, these chemicals are a positive thing but they can be harmful if they are produced over longer time periods. Over time, anxiety that cant be dealt with or brought under control will begin to manifest in certain physical symptoms.
Youre Still Smoking Yes This Affects Your Hearing Too
Smoking rates have declined over the years, yet there are many people who are still smoking. It can be very hard to quit if youve been smoking for much of your life.
In any case, heres one more reason to re-double your efforts to kick the habit: It may be making your tinnitus worse. In fact, one study found that smokers are 15 percent more likely to suffer from hearing loss than non-smokers. The chemicals in cigarettes can harm the inner ear and constrict the blood vessels that carry blood to your ears, which leads to ringing in the ears.
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A Link Between Tinnitus Anxiety And Sleep Issues
If youve suffered from tinnitus, you know that it can be frustrating! That annoying ringing in your ears, which may also appear as a whooshing, rushing, screeching or clicking sound, is the most common health problem for veterans returning from active duty. It is also estimated to affect 1520% of the general population.
While it is frequently associated with hearing loss, it does often appear on its own. While there is no cure for tinnitus, the good news is that there are ways to manage and reduce it.
Anxiety and Sleeplessness
Tinnitus can be consuming. While many people say their tinnitus will come and go, others have a constant ringing in the background. Trying to sleep while your ears are ringing can be frustrating and interrupt your sleep patterns. Most people with tinnitus that affects their sleep say they use sound masking to help them drift off. By using a sound masker, it helps your brain take attention off of the tinnitus you hear to make it less noticeable. For example: utilizing a sound machine that is programmed to play relaxing sounds or simply using a louder box fan to help drown out your tinnitus. William Shatner has famously suffered from tinnitus ever since an explosion on the set of Star Trek and has said that masking is the only way he gets any relief.
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See Your Doctor
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Ear Ringing Can Also Create Anxiety
While there are various theories regarding tinnitus, many researchers and doctors do agree it appears that anxiety can cause tinnitus on its own . It is highly likely that it is a combination of many different factors. For example, anxiety is known to put the body on “high alert” for danger. This could potentially affect a persons ear health, and if it does, a slightly damaged inner ear may respond with ringing. Of course, there are several possible factors that could be involved.
Also interesting is that many people report their tinnitus causes them extreme anxiety. The constant ear ringing serves as a major disruption in ones ability to enjoy life, and in some cases, can harm ones ability to get restful sleep. The stress associated with the way tinnitus can affect a persons life tends to add up, and contribute to even more anxiety.
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Typical Causes Of Tinnitus
When medical professionals and subject matter experts discuss the causes of tinnitus, stress and anxiety is not usually on the list. Typical causes of tinnitus include:
- Hearing loss. Age-related hearing loss and hearing loss caused by damage to the ear are both believed to be causes of tinnitus.
- Head or neck injuries. Head and neck injuries, including cases of traumatic brain injury, can cause tinnitus. When the cause of the tinnitus is an injury, the sound and volume heard may vary more than other types of tinnitus.
- Certain medications. Some medications can cause tinnitus. Symptoms usually go away when the medication is discontinued.
- Blockages. Ear canal blockages, caused by ear wax, dirt, foreign objects, hair and even head congestion can cause temporary tinnitus. The sounds go away when the blockage is removed.
You Really Need To Turn The Tv Down: Loud Noises Are Bad For Tinnitus
Its nearly impossible to avoid loud noises. Thats a fact. It doesnt matter whether its part of your job, youre mowing the lawn, enjoying a fireworks show, or just listening to the TV a little too loudly.
These and other loud noises cause permanent hearing loss. For many people, tinnitus, which is characterized as a ringing in the ears, is an early sign of hearing loss.
The good news is that you can take steps now to prevent further hearing damage from loud noise. You can start by wearing protection for your ears such as earplugs or earmuffs if you work in a loud environment or spend a lot of time at loud concerts. When you have a choice, try to spend less time in noisy places like nightclubs. And most importantly, never try to drown out noise with music, because that really just makes things worse.
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Physical Symptoms Of Anxiety
Some symptoms of anxiety are:
- Feeling like something terrible is about to occur
- Queasiness
- Loss of interest and depression
- A racing heart or shortness of breath typically associated with panic attacks
- Feeling agitated or irritated
But persistent anxiety doesnt necessarily appear in the ways that you would anticipate. In fact, there are some fairly interesting ways that anxiety might actually wind up affecting things as seemingly obscure as your hearing. As an example, anxiety has been connected with:
- Tinnitus: Are you aware that stress not only worsens the ringing in your ears but that it can also be responsible for the onset of that ringing. This is known as tinnitus . In some situations, the ears can feel blocked or clogged .
- Dizziness: Persistent anxiety can sometimes cause dizziness, which is a condition that could also be related to the ears. Remember, your sense of balance is governed by the ears .
- High Blood Pressure: And then there are certain ways that anxiety impacts your body in precisely the way youd expect it to. Elevated blood pressure is one of those. Known scientifically as hypertension, high blood pressure can have many negative secondary effects on you physically. It is, to use a colloquialism, not so great. Dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus can also be caused by high blood pressure.
Can Anxiety Cause Ringing In The Ears
Fifteen to twenty percent of people experience the sensation of a ringing sound in their ears. This buzzing or humming, also known as tinnitus, is not a condition itself, but a symptom of something underlying. There a several conditions that can cause this ringing, and it can be challenging to diagnose at times. But can anxiety cause ringing in the ears?
While this condition is not usually a sign of something more serious, it can be incredibly annoying. Some people only experience mild symptoms, but tinnitus can overwhelm others. Treatment and relief are possible, but there is no concrete cure.
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Frankie Says Relax: Stress Makes Tinnitus Worse
In todays fast-paced world, many of us have forgotten how to relax. We feel unproductive if were not always on the go, or we let unmanaged stress eat away at us instead of attending to our needs or addressing the underlying causes.
Take some me time. Do something you love. Allow yourself to take time off. Learn to meditate and exercise more to help manage stress naturally.
If these things arent helping, you might want to consider speaking with a mental health professional. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a treatment used to great success by many mental health counselors to help patients manage their tinnitus. While CBT doesnt cure tinnitus or get rid of the ringing, patients learn how to recognize the negative thoughts associated with tinnitus and use the tools given them by the mental health professional to put a positive, realistic spin on those thoughts.
What To Do To Relieve Tinnitus
There are a lot of things that you can do to relieve tinnitus. Here are just a few:
- Sound therapy: The most common way of overcoming tinnitus is by masking the disruptive sound. Tinnitus sufferers used different sounds to mask the tinnitus sound. White noise machines also offer relief. Smartphone users can find apps that even allow you to create customized sound palettes to counteract your specific tinnitus noises.
- Meditation: The idea behind meditation is a brain retraining. The therapy works by preparing the mind to consider tinnitus and come to terms with that. The method is the opposite of conventional methods that seek to prevent the tinnitus problem altogether.
- Get your hearing checked. Tinnitus is often the first symptom of hearing loss. For some people, tinnitus could be the creating sounds missing from your auditory system due to a hearing loss. If you have a hearing impairment that can be treated with hearing aids, several options have built-in tinnitus relief. These are ideal for people who are suffering from any of these problems, and for many patients, they have had great results. If you havent checked your hearing yet, a hearing aid might be the most effective method for alleviating your tinnitus symptoms.
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