Dear Barry,
I have been taking statins for my cholesterol. Do you think this is related to tinnitus? I only take this and nothing else. I have suffered with tinnitus for eight months but have been taking this medication for many years. I have tried everything including natural herbs nothing helps.
Thanks,
Pat L.
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
Hello Barry,
I have suffered with tinnitus for over 30 years. resulting from an inner ear infection. Until now I have adjusted and learned to live with the ringing. Recently, my right ear (only) has developed an intermittent, very harsh sound of static. This is very unlike any previous experience. No one, my MD or ENT specialist has an explanation or remedy. Have you heard of this symptom?
Thank you,
Kristi W.
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 Barry,
I’ve had tinnitus over seven months. I have a mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. I plan to start wearing hearing aids with a tinnitus masking feature next week. I’m also taking Valium as a treatment for tinnitus recommended by someone who had success with it. I purchased your Tinnitus Formula but did not want to start taking it due to the fact that I started to other treatments already.
My tinnitus tends to spike if I have a long day and stress is there anything I can do to reduce that tinnitus when it’s spiking? I listen to piano music with headphones and TV headphones. The Valium has helped somewhat, but I still have terrible days. Hopefully the hearing aids will help. I may try NAC as you suggested. Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Beth
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 Barry,
I found an article in the Academic Google talking about treating tinnitus and hearing loss using NAC … Could you give your opinion on the subject?
Gratefully,
David S.
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
Hola Barry,
Please, what can I use to help quell hyperacusis?
Thank you,
Ruben R.
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
Hi Barry,
I heard Namenda can help with tinnitus. It appears there are lots of side effects though. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mary Ann P.
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
Dear Barry,
My wife is suffering from sensation of sound “flowing” into her ear. This does not happen 24/7. It only happen at certain times, like when she feels stressed. We were blessed with twins recently. Please help. How can I help my wife to get this problem resolved?
Thank you,
Aravind
Dear Aravind,
Congratulations on your new babies! I have 7-year old twin granddaughters so I know the havoc and confusion that can reign with two new babies.
I don’t believe your wife has a serious case of tinnitus. If it only occurs when she’s stressed, it’s pretty mild. Stress is a major aggravator of tinnitus and always makes it worse.
I think she should be able to control her tinnitus through diet and exercise. It is very important to know which foods aggravate tinnitus and which are good for you. One study showed almost 90% of people with tinnitus have sugar metabolism disorders such as insulin resistance or even diabetes. People with tinnitus should avoid sugary foods and especially sodas, which contain more sugar than almost any other processed food. On the other hand, sugar substitutes are often harmful, with the exception of Stevia.
Salt intake should be avoided or minimized as it will usually make tinnitus worse. The ideal diet consists of whole foods, with a minimum of pre-packaged and canned foods. Prepackaged foods are always high in sodium as it is used as a preservative to increase shelf life. We have an article on Diet and Tinnitus that may be helpful.
Exercise is very good for reducing stress and your wife should take some time to go on long walks. This will settle the nervous system and improve tinnitus.
If her tinnitus remains after altering diet and exercise patterns, she may want to try Arches Tinnitus Formula Starter Kit. It can take up to three months to determine total degree of efficacy. I hope this is helpful and wish the very best for your family.
Wishing you and your wife quiet times,
Barry Keate
Hi Barry,
I just got tinnitus almost two months ago in my left ear, it’s led to a lot of anxiety and searching for answers. Not much out there except calming myself down and trying to ignore it. I started taking some Ativan .05 for anxiety mostly in the evening just to calm down. I was going through a lot of stress before and I’m thinking that is what brought it on. I will get some of your herbs to see if it can help. Are there certain foods that make it worse? Do you think the Ativan is hurting me?
Thank you,
Fay
Dear Fay,
There’s nothing wrong with taking some Ativan (lorazepam) for a period of time to calm down. The dosage you are using is the lowest available and should be OK. Please know though, that benzodiazepine medications, such as Ativan, can be highly addicting and need to be increased over time. If the dosage is not increased, the very symptoms for which it was taken will come back even worse than before. These medications are supposed to be used for a few weeks only.
I’m sure you do have a lot of anxiety and this is adding to the tinnitus. Stress is the #1 aggravator of tinnitus and will turn a level 3 (on a scale of 10) into a level 7 or 8. So the advice to calm down is right on. I know it’s hard to do, especially when you just got this, but it will help. B Vitamins are important to take daily when dealing with stress. Our Stress and B-12 formulas can be very helpful when taken with our Tinnitus Formula.
Most people will adjust to tinnitus over time and it will become moderated. Don’t panic as it will most likely get better.
There are definitely dietary concerns. Most people with tinnitus are insulin resistant or diabetic. Going on a diet suitable for Type II diabetics will help reduce tinnitus. In fact, it may even resolve it. If this applies to you, please investigate changing your diet.
Salt will also make tinnitus worse. It raises blood pressure, constricts the blood vessels and reduces blood flow to the cochlea. If I eat a salty meal my tinnitus will get worse for several hours.
Wishing you quiet times,
Barry Keate
Hi Barry,
My sister has been told by her MD that she will need to live with her tinnitus because there is nothing that can be done about it. I am very sad about that comment and believe that no doctor should ever tell a patient such negative comments about any medical problem.
Appreciate your thoughts on this.
Geraldine K.
Dear Geraldine,
I’m very sorry your sister had to hear that, especially since it is wrong. Doctors are like everyone else; there are some brilliant ones and there are some real knuckleheads. This just shows her doctor is not at all versed in tinnitus causes and potential treatments.
It is true that there is no “cure” for tinnitus but; for the type caused by hearing loss and nerve damage in the cochlea (the great majority of cases). That does not mean that nothing can be done to help reduce the noise.
There are many things that can help reduce the sound level. The ingredients used in Arches Tinnitus Formula have been shown in clinical trials to help reduce tinnitus for most people who have it due to hearing loss.
Other treatments involve everything from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to acupuncture, biofeedback, and yoga. All have been shown in trials to be quite effective in reducing, but not curing, tinnitus. Eating a healthy diet has a huge influence on tinnitus and can go a long way towards relief.
I hope this is helpful and gives your sister some hope for a better and quieter future.
Wishing your sister quiet times,
Barry Keate