Takeaway
- Tinnitus is a ringing or buzzing in the ear generated by the brain. The noise does not come from the external environment.
- Tinnitus is caused by a lesion of the cells in the eardrum. These cells are “connected” to neurons that interpret the information the ear sends them. When there is no more information to be received because the cells died, the neurons “create activity” by themselves. That’s tinnitus.
- While the medical community pretends that tinnitus cannot be cured, hundreds, if not thousands of people have managed to cure it with various methods, from TRT, to diets.
- Roughly 350 million people worldwide live with tinnitus.
What you are about to read is informational and educational content. It is not medical advice. Always consult a licensed professional before undertaking any changes in lifestyle.
This article shows all the (known) options to treat tinnitus.
Update 13th of September 2024: I went to an ostheopath yesterday after I hurt my back muscles carrying heavy weights. He cracked my back and gave me a neck massage. I felt a bit better and lighter afterward.
I went to work the next day and shortly before noon, noticed that the tinnitus was significantly lower than usual. I did a quick Google search and realized I wasn’t the only one having this experience.
So, what happened?
On the one hand, the neck massage and back cracking got me to relax – and we all know how tinnitus is louder under stress.
On the other hand, the back cracking may have also fixed some emotional issues. 70% of the tinnitus came from some sort of emotional crisis I suddenly got in mid-November 2016.
30% came from staying in a nightclub for too long.
I don’t want to scream victory too fast – also, it’s not completely gone. I plan on calling the osteopath in a few days to see if the results will remain. I’d like to ask him for more information about it and if he can’t do a full body check and crack whatever needs to be cracked.
Update 17th of September 2024: I had always noticed that tinnitus was stronger when I woke up later and lower when I woke up earlier. After doing some research, I found out that the body triggers cortisol, the stress hormone, to wake you up. If you sleep later, it seems that all of the cortisol remains in your body and increases the tinnitus…and the other way around. I am particularly sensitive to cortisol. If it’s low, the tinnitus is hardly audible. If it’s high, it’s loud. Thus you might also want to experiment with this.
I had also noticed that taking magnesium supplements decreased tinnitus by a lot. Guess what magnesium also decreases? That’s right: cortisol.
Things that help you decrease cortisol:
- Vitamin C
- Magnesium
- Omega 3 fatty acids
- Ashwagandha
- Rhodiola Rosea
- Holy basil
- Ginseng
And then the usual (sports, people, etc).
What Is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a permanent ringing in the ear due to a lesion of ear-drum cells after exposure to loud noises.
This leads the brain to “hear” noises that don’t exist.
Tinnitus is thought to be in most cases, a cognitive problem.
The general position on tinnitus is that it doesn’t go away, but this is incorrect. There have been hundreds of cases of people that managed to get rid of their tinnitus after special sound therapies (TRT) or taking psychedelics.
The problem is that the cause of tinnitus and subsequent treatment depend a lot on the individual, so different remedies will help different people.
How I Got Tinnitus
I walked into a club, got drunk, spent 3 hours inside, and when I woke up the next day, I had tinnitus in the right ear.
It subsequently decreased the next 2 weeks or so.
Then in November 2016, I got an emotional shock and tinnitus came back louder. I have been having it ever since.
So I changed my lifestyle. I stopped smoking weed, stopped drinking, and shifted to a zero-carb diet.
44 Ways to Decrease the Volume of Tinnitus
1. Decrease stress: in my case, tinnitus is directly linked to stress. The following points explain what I have done to decrease its level.
2. Get some sleep. The more I sleep, the lower the tinnitus is. Sleeping for +9 hours enables me to wake up and experience about 5 seconds of silence.
3. Exercise: it positively impacts your brain, strengthens your body, releases endorphins that make you happy, helps you sleep better, and decreases stress. No need to say more. I noticed that the noise was loud when I had not moved all day, and low when I am physically tired.
4. Cut out sugar entirely: sugar has ZERO positive impact on your body. When I cut it out, I first switched to a ketogenic diet (which helped a lot at the beginning) and I went carnivore after 5 months or so.
After two years of experimenting, my diet is now made out of beef, porks, butter, and olives.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I have increased energy, rid of brain fog, considerably reduced anxiety and depression which in turn have helped to deal with it.
I have heard a story of a woman who got rid of tinnitus with the lion diet (only beef), but it didn’t work for me.
5. Cut off alcohol entirely. Tinnitus comes from your brain, not from your ear. Taking care of your brain is the first step you should take if you want to lessen the noise.
I noticed that my tinnitus was extremely loud when drunk and got the occasion to confirm the relation with a doctor. In fact, she told me that any addictive substances would increase the noise.
Therefore, I have cut all of them out.
6. Cut off weed: same point as above.
7. Cut off porn: porn is overly stressful (for both men and women), messes up your sex and social life, and increases relationship expectations which leads to disappointments and…more stress. Cutting it off enabled me to decrease stress and enjoy sex more, after which I rarely think about tinnitus.
8. Spend time touching people: when the quarantine started, I stopped seeing my friend and family and stopped touching people on the same occasion.
I noticed that staying home all day and not seeing anyone increased my stress level.
After a while, I was feeling so bad mentally and it was so loud that I said f*** it, and started hugging people again. It made me feel better, happier, and decreased the noise in my ear.
9. Have sex: See above.
10. Don’t spend your time alone: being social with people helps me focus on other things. I noticed the tinnitus was almost quiet after I spent an evening playing board games with my sisters.
11. Avoid screen time as much as you can: I am actually considering quitting my office job to go work as a barista. Spending so much time in my chair in front of a screen increases stress, prevents me from sleeping well and the fact that I work from home makes me put on some music not to hear the noise, which is annoying and extremely tiring.
12. Be happy: I have noticed that being sad increased the noise in my ear, but that being happy lessened it (which has subsequently been confirmed by science).
Now, of course, no one can choose to suddenly be happy and full of energy, but you still have a share of control over the way you interpret your reality. If you’re positive about life, you’ll naturally start being happier. I know it is hard, but it is worth it.
13. Spend time in nature: spending time in nature enabled me to breathe some fresh air, decrease stress, and be surrounded by noises that naturally cancel the noise in my ears. Furthermore, being back in our natural environment is always comforting and stress-decreasing.
14. Listen to a tinnitus sound therapy on Youtube: some videos really helped me as they matched some frequencies. Personally, my tinnitus is weird as it keeps on evolving after 5 years. Sounds are different, patterns are different and frequencies are different. These sound therapies also help me fall asleep.
Here are a couple of them:
- This link will take you to all of the videos from the Art of Zen, a channel made by someone who cured tinnitus by making canceling noise videos for himself. Choose the video that matches the noise in your ear, and listen to the video at a volume just lower than your tinnitus.
- This video helped me.
- This video helps me sleep
- This video as well.
Spend time on Youtube looking for different videos and find the one that suits you the most.
15. Stop using headphones: it seemed to me so natural that I forgot to add it to the list originally. Headphones only weaken your eardrum cells. NEVER wear them again.
16. Stop consuming media content: I did this challenge randomly one day to try if it would impact my mood, stress, and noise, and OH BOY, IT DID.
I am naturally competitive and always compare myself to others (even to presidents and prime ministers and yes, I know, it is stupid).
For a week, I didn’t read the media, didn’t read any business articles, and didn’t read about stories of more successful people than I am.
I was not only happier but less stressed. Suddenly, the world outside my city did not exist anymore. No global warming, no protests, no virus, no economic downturn, no wokeness, no nothing. I felt much better, happier, and lighter and as a result, the noise decreased.
17. Delete ALL of your social media accounts: they are worse than the media. No need to explain why.
18. Don’t leave your house if you are not carrying your earplugs with you: no activities, not even meeting the Queen of England, is more important than getting my earplugs. Treat your ears as the number one health priority in your life.
19. If you need to wear earplugs, leave immediately: I used to still go to nightclubs with earplugs on, and leave the venue every 30 minutes or so to rest. Unfortunately, the noise would always come back louder the next day.
The alcohol and lack of sleep didn’t help.
Since I value my health above anything else (sad that I had to end up with tinnitus to do so), I leave immediately when the sound is too loud.
Once, I actually asked the guy in charge of the music to decrease the volume. He kindly did.
And I don’t care if 1000 people will have less fun because the volume is lower.
My ears > the entire fate of the universe.
20. Take care of your mental health: I found myself at a point in my life where I had to follow cognitive-behavioral therapy. It helped me deal with stress in my daily life and lessened the noise. My therapy took 2 years and a half, a lot of effort, and unpleasant moments. But, it was worth it.
21. Move to a sunny place: it boosts vitamin D, decreases chances of being depressed, and overall is excellent for you.
22. Stay hydrated: go figure why.
23. Massage your jaw: since it is connected to your ears, it may help decrease the pressure inside it if your tinnitus is somehow caused by physical pressure against your eardrum.
24. Practice the “tambour céleste”: I could not find the name of this practice in English, so there it is in French. The tambour céleste is a sort of massage of the ear with some small noises aimed at making your brain and ear more relaxed.
25: Go to an ear doctor for a complete wax removal: my tinnitus at some point started increasing without me doing anything, so I went to an ear doctor which removed a big plug of wax from my ear. Tinnitus decreased afterward.
26: Go to the sauna: I don’t think the heat has any impact besides the fact that it is good for your body and relaxes you out.
27: Massage your neck, your skull, and your temples: some physiotherapists specialize in tinnitus treatment. They massage your neck and skull to relax the muscles and lower the pressure.
28: Speak or write: I have noticed that tinnitus is particularly loud when I have no social contact and keep all of my thoughts and emotions in my head. Writing, singing loudly, or talking endlessly help.
29: Take ginkgo: I started taking ginkgo and experienced good effects. I also supplement vitamin C daily which seems to help.
Update: the vitamin C helped more than the ginkgo, which I no longer take.
30: Adopt a lion diet: the lion diet (beef, salt, water) has helped some people. Others have noticed a decrease in the noise, but after one or two years on the diet.
31: Use a laptop booster: having your neck down creates tension which may increase tinnitus. Using a laptop booster forces you to sit up straight and look up.
32. Don’t eat too much salt: one day I ate a piece of pure salt (long story) and my ears rang loudly for 3 days.
33. Take supplements: I supplement with vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin C (NEVER take more than 100 mg of vitamin C, as your daily recommended dose is 75 mg. When I took too much vitamin c, my nose started bleeding).
Magnesium is by far the more important.
34. Stretch your neck: this video helped me massively.
35: Take a shower: simple, but efficient.
Mind that other strategies exist and that I still haven’t had the chance to experience yet.
36: Do these exercises. These exercises are good too.
37: Hypnosis: hypnosis worked! I didn’t get rid of the tinnitus directly, but it decreased by A LOT. From what I have experienced, tinnitus is partly caused by emotional trauma which, when solved, releases tension in the ear which decreases the volume. It’s also much easier to live with tinnitus after hypnotherapy. You can read about my experience here.
Out of all of these strategies, getting rid of unwanted thoughts and emotions, sun exposure, Youtube therapies, sports, stretching, talking to people, ears and neck massages, and taking supplements (magnesium) are the ones that have helped me decrease the noise the most.
38. Sunlight: one of my worse tinnitus crises was when I spent the winter in Estonia. This is because sunlight makes you happier and feel better, which positively impacts tinnitus. So if you live in a northern country, you may want to follow light therapy or move to a sunnier place.
There also are some techniques I have never tried.
These are:
39. Meditation: meditation is like running a marathon. If your legs are fine, it will strengthen them. If they are broken, it will damage them more. This is why I don’t meditate. It’s not for everybody.
40. Yoga: yoga has been reported as an efficient method to decrease stress, impacting both the mental and physical of your body. The few times I did yoga, it really helped me. I will go back soon.
41. Acupuncture: some people have reported benefits from acupuncture. I am not well versed in traditional medicine methods, but I believe it is still worth a try.
42. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT): TRT was developed by Dr. Pawel J. Jastreboff. It works by listening to 6-8 hours a day for 6 months to a year white or pink noise at a level below the volume of the tinnitus in order to “rewire” the brain. You can learn more about it on Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.
43. Having a girlfriend: I know it sounds stupid, but I think I’d be less stressed if I had someone to fall asleep next to every night. Loneliness is not good for stress. Love is better.
44. Psilocybin mushroom (penis envy): from what I have read on the Internet, some people got a very good experience with it. But for others, the noise increased. Be extremely careful and always do your own research!
45. Go see an osteopath: they may find some parts of your body particularly tensed and work on them.
The Bottom Line
Tinnitus, in my case, is mostly emotional. When I talk to people, feel appreciated, stretch my muscles to release emotions, write about my problems, relax, do yoga, or cry, tinnitus gets lower.
The way I interpret is that tinnitus is somehow “bad energy” that I need to get rid of.
After I do (talking, writing, stretching, sports), then the noise is not as loud.
Tinnitus is such a complex problem that we haven’t yet found a cure despite that it affects roughly 15% of the world’s population.
Fortunately, you can have a positive impact if you lead a healthy, stress-free lifestyle.
I hope this article will help you.
Don’t lose hope. Science advances every day.
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