Ask Barry Questions on Tinnitus

Dear Marcia,

Diabetes and Hypothyroid are both common causes of tinnitus so I believe they may be the initial triggers of yours. However, all the medications you are taking also have the potential to cause tinnitus. I would not advise you to discontinue any of them; that is a decision for you and your doctor. But, you should discuss this with your doctor and see if you have some alternatives.

Arches Tinnitus Formula can be helpful in reducing this type of tinnitus and reversing some of the ototoxic effects of the medications.

The thyroid medications you mention, Thyrar, Nathroid and Westhroid, are all considered to be Armour Thyroid products. They have been safely used since the 19th century and were only replaced when synthetic drugs came out. There are far fewer side effects from Armour Thyroid than the synthetics. I recommend you discuss with your doctor the potential of changing this. Please view our article on Thyroid Dysfunction and Tinnitus.

Hearing your heartbeat in your ear is called pulsatile tinnitus. This is caused by turbulent blood flow in an artery close to the cochlea or the nerves leading to the auditory cortex. There are many possible causes of this condition. If the exact cause can be found, there is generally a treatment for it. I hope this is helpful and you can reduce your tinnitus.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Perry,

I’m very sorry this happened to you. I know the discomfort of GERD (gastroesphageal reflux disease) and the severe heartburn it can cause. I have been taking omeprazol (trade name Prilosec) for years and, fortunately, it does not increase my tinnitus. It does for others however and you seem to be one of them. Taking Arches Tinnitus Formula may help keep the tinnitus down while you are using this medication.

Unfortunately, all medications for GERD have the potential to cause or worsen tinnitus. The real solution is to get to the root of the problem and prevent heartburn in the first place. Contrary to popular opinion, heartburn is not caused by an excess of stomach acid but by not having enough of it. Taking hydrochloric acid pills during meals can help but there are certain precautions you must take.

Neil Bauman, PhD, is an excellent source of knowledge about drugs that can cause tinnitus. Dr. Bauman has a page on GERD and what can be done to reduce or eliminate it. He has listed 10 different strategies that can be utilized to combat GERD and everyone who has it should be aware of this.

I hope this is helpful for you.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Venkata,

The answer depends on what caused the tinnitus in the first place. About 75% to 80% of people with tinnitus have it due to noise exposure and/or hearing loss and/or . This type of tinnitus is due to nerve damage in the cochlea and, unfortunately, is not curable.

The remainder is due to other medical conditions and a number of prescription medications, many of which cause tinnitus. If the underlying medical condition can be cured, tinnitus often follows. There are a lot of possible medical causes of tinnitus.

If tinnitus is due to hearing loss and/or noise exposure, it is not curable but it can be treated and managed. Many therapies are available, from stress relief, to acupuncture, biofeedback, hpynotherapy and others. Arches Tinnitus Formula has been shown in clinical trials to be effective in reducing tinnitus in 60-75% of cases where it was caused by hearing loss. It can take up to three months to become fully effective so we recommend Arches Tinnitus Starter Kit, which is a three-month supply.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Pat,

It is quite possible statin drugs have contributed to your tinnitus. Statins, used to reduce cholesterol, destroy Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) which is necessary for the production of energy for all cellular and biological functions in the human body. CoQ10 is a fat-soluble compound and is found in virtually every cell in the body. It has been found that low CoQ10 levels lead to many neurodegenerative diseases, such as tinnitus. It is possible that after years of statin usage your CoQ10 levels have been reduced to the point where tinnitus has set in.

The connection between statin drugs and CoQ10 deficiency is so convincing that in 1989 Merck, the pharmaceutical manufacturer, applied for and received a patent for a combination of statins and CoQ10. Since then, Merck has neither produced this combination nor allowed others to manufacture it. Most doctors are not aware of the connection.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Kristi,

You may be experiencing Middle Ear Myoclonus in which a muscle inside the middle ear is in spasm. This can create several different kinds of sounds including something like static.

There are two muscles inside the ear. They are both attached to the bones of the middle ear that conduct sound from the eardrum to the cochlea. These muscles are protective; they tighten down when loud sounds are present and mute them. But when they are in spasm, they can create annoying sounds.

If this is the case, they can sometimes be heard by someone on the outside. An observant ENT may notice the eardrum vibrating. There are several treatments for this including a zygomatic hand pressure technique (see link above), anti-anxiety medications, acupuncture and biofeedback.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Beth,

I think you are doing the right things to get your tinnitus under control. I do have a couple of comments.

I’m not sure why you wouldn’t want to start with Arches Tinnitus Formula along with other treatments. There are no counter-indications and, to my mind, being proactive and doing everything you can raises the probability of reducing the sound level. Many physicians recommend a multi-modality treatment. If you want to know which the best treatment is, you can always start cutting back on them after tinnitus is reduced. You’ll figure out what has been working and what hasn’t.

Be very careful of Valium and other benzodiazepine drugs like it. I used Valium successfully when my tinnitus was at its worst. Some people get hooked by it though and the consequences can be pretty dramatic. You have to keep increasing the dosage over time or the problem you took it for in the first place becomes worse than before. I don’t recommend you stop using it but I do want you to know the downside so this doesn’t happen to you. You should only use it for a few weeks at a time, then take a break. Please read our article on Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Syndrome and Tinnitus.

Hearing aids with a tinnitus masker is a great way to reduce the annoyance of tinnitus.

NAC won’t help to bring the tinnitus down. NAC, however, will help to protect your ears from loud noise and ototoxic medications so it doesn’t get worse. I take it every day and recommend 1,000 mg daily. It’s quite inexpensive and a great antioxidant.

I hope this is helpful and you’re able to bring down the sound level.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear David,

The dietary supplement, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a powerful anti-oxidant and is an excellent supplement to take for people with tinnitus. Tinnitus researcher Richard Kopke has done a lot of work with this on returning soldiers suffering hearing loss and tinnitus. He found that, if administered within 2-3 days after noise exposure, NAC can prevent a lot of the damage that occurs and reduce the amount of hearing loss. The key to this is it must be administered shortly after exposure.

I don’t believe NAC will do a lot of good for people who have had long-term tinnitus. However, it is a great compound and one I take every day. It will prevent future damage from blast and noise exposure and also from ototoxic drugs. It’s interesting to note that NAC is the treatment of choice in hospitals for treating Tylenol overdose. Tylenol is toxic to the liver and overdose can be deadly. NAC, due to its antioxidant activities, helps prevent the damage.

I recommend taking 1,000 mg twice daily for general protection. It is inexpensive and found in most health food stores.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Ruben,

Hyperacusis is the collapse of sound tolerance by the brain. Everything sounds much louder than it really is. There is nothing you can take that will cure this. There are, however, several ways to bring it under control and reduce the discomfort. What you don’t want to do is avoid all sound, wear ear plugs or stay inside, avoiding sound. This provides a false security and leads to phonophobia, an overwhelming fear of sound.

Treatments such as Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and pink noise therapy can be helpful.

Arches Tinnitus Formula can be helpful in lowering tinnitus, which often accompanies hyperacusis.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate

Dear Mary Ann,

There is the possibility that Namenda can help with tinnitus. However, it is also on the list of medications that can cause tinnitus. Also, as you mentioned, there are a lot of side effects. Namenda is a synthetic drug and all synthetics come with numerous side effects.

Namenda may work because it can block glutamate, an excitatory transmitter in the brain that is the chief villain in tinnitus. A natural compound that does the same is Ginkgo biloba. This is a powerful glutamate antagonist and has been shown to be helpful for tinnitus in numerous clinical trials.

We have developed an Ginkgo biloba extract that is extremely high in the compounds that block glutamate. It is the primary ingredient in Arches Tinnitus Formula, which we recommend for tinnitus. You can read more about our proprietary ginkgo extract for tinnitus, Ginkgo Max 26/7.

It requires three months to get the full effect from Arches Tinnitus Formula. We recommend Arches Tinnitus Starter Kit, a three-month supply.

Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate