If you suffer from tinnitus, then you know as well as I do that there are a ton of junk information sites out there that bury genuine information. I suffer from mild tinnitus, and hope that if you find this article beneficial or helpful you share it with your friends, print it out and hand it to people if you have to! I am not selling anything here, and I’m just speaking from my lens of experience. I’d like to point out first and foremost that I am by no means a doctor. Before trying any of the treatments discussed here, it is advisable to speak with a doctor or other medical professional.

What Causes Tinnitus?

Rock concerts, loud noises, viruses, and other medical conditions right? … Right. So what? How does that help me? If you do the research you’ll find that hundreds of things cause tinnitus and all of them could apply to you. How do we know what caused our tinnitus? Doctors will tell you that there’s no way to know, no way to treat it other than to learn to cope with it. A tip, learn how to cope with it. That truly is the best way to start out.

What I’ve learned is that the inside of the ear contains these little “hairs” that transmit sound to nerves connected to your brain. These little hairlike structures are flexible and they vibrate as your ears encounter sound waves. The means through which sound is transmitted as electrical signals from these physical structures, to your brain is through a neurotransmitter called glutamate. I want you to remember glutamate, and I want you to make it your goal to read as much about it as possible.

Research indicates that too much glutamate causes our brains to perceive sound that does not exist. Now it doesn’t matter what your physical components in your ears do, if there isn’t glutamate then it cannot be transmitted to your brain. It’s this transmitter that has become our enemy, and our body’s reaction to it.

Of course, I can’t say this for certain, because I am not a doctor, a scientist, and even doctors and scientists are not sure. But one thing I am sure of is that when I focused on things that are known to inhibit or antagonize glutamate, the constant feedback of tinnitus has diminished, at some points to the point of not hearing it at all.

Sudden Tinnitus and Viruses:

From anecdotal accounts I’ve found online, many people who claim to have a low risk profile for tinnitus, IE do not work with heavy machinery, near jet engines, or listen to excessively loud music, have a sudden onset of tinnitus.

The viruses that I suspect causes most of these cases are part of the cytomegaloviruses, which is a type of herpes virus. Research indicates that this virus is just about universal, meaning that almost everyone has had it at one point or another. Some viruses stay in our bodies forever, in a stage called latency. Cytomegalovirus or HCMV while many times is largely without symptoms, stays with you for life.

As I was preparing this section, I began to suspect that cytomegalovirus could have caused a secondary condition known as labyrinthitis, which is an inflammatory disorder of the inner ear. This is due to the fact that when I first went to the doctor for my tinnitus, I was told that my inner ears were inflamed. I found this report linking Cytomegalovirus to labyrinthitis.

According to the linked report by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Oh:

“Only two groups have performed major prospective studies along with systematic and careful periodic audiologic evaluation in cytomegalovirus congenitally infected children. Their findings demonstrated significant hearing loss in 33% to 48% of symptomatic patients and in 6.9% to 13% of asymptomatic children. There also was evidence of progressive hearing loss in some of these children. Vestibular dysfunction is less well characterized. The long-term sequelae may include Meniere’s syndrome. Acquired HCMV infection in children and adults has not been demonstrated histopathologically, although it has been associated with sudden deafness and acute labyrinthitis. This observation is based primarily on serologic data.”

What this means is that in children, HCMV causes deafness and may lead to meniere’s syndrome, and that HCMV has been associated to sudden deafness and acute labyrinthitis.

Part of my self-styled treatment program has been to incorporate anti-viral herbs, spices, and fatty acids found in coconut oil.

Tinnitus Treatments That Help (Zinc, Magnesium, Ginko, N-acetylcysteine)

By a large margin these supplements have helped me the most. Here is the run-down of my personal experience.

Zinc for Tinnitus

I have taken zinc on and off for years. It seems to help sometimes, and other times to not really make a big dent. I feel like it’s kind of a balance. If my body needs more zinc, then it helps, if my body is good on zinc and something else is off, zinc isn’t going to help. Zinc is known to inhibit glutamate production or at least it’s use in your body.

If you’re treating your tinnitus with zinc, then the good news is that I haven’t had any side effects. It doesn’t upset my stomach, it doesn’t make me feel any different at all. It pairs well with selenium and N-acetylcisteine for other health benefits, mostly the production of Glutathione which has been shown to help heal damaged ears after exposure to extremely loud sounds – if administered quickly. In addition to the tinnitus diminishing effects and the additional glutathione, if you’re a man, it improves sperm quality.

Zinc has been linked to a decrease in tinnitus and to inhibit glutamate.

Magnesium For Tinnitus

When Zinc doesn’t help, I add 250mg of magnesium, which is another glutamate inhibitor. Magnesium seems to help much more than Zinc, but it does have some side effects. Namely nausea if taken with the wrong foods or supplements. Some people aren’t sensitive, and some people have side effects when it’s added to the wrong thing. For me it’s N-acetylcisteine. If I’ve taken an NAC pill within the last six hours, magnesium is not a good idea. For information on Magnesium, see the list of NMDA modulators on wikipedia linked below.

Ginko for Tinnitus

Ginko is by far the most effective treatment I have tried. Like most people the tinnitus doesn’t really bother me unless I’m in a very quiet environment, such as my bedroom. I take Ginko and the other stuff before bed so as to have the highest amounts of it in my body as I lay down to sleep.

Ginko doesn’t taste too bad, is supposed to be good for your memory, and has few side effects. Some people report headaches or other minor things. If you have questions, you should speak to your doctor.

Some people have said that Ginko has not helped them with tinnitus. If any of these suggestions haven’t helped you, please share your suggestions in the comment box.

There have been at least two studies done on Ginko and Tinnitus. One found that it may be beneficial, the other that it may not be. It’s cheap medicine, so give it a shot and see if it works for you.

 If you decide to try Ginko, go for the tincture. You’ll have to ingest less of it. I usually take about two droppers full of it in a splash of water or juice 2-4 times per day.

N-Acetylcisteine and Tinnitus

According the the OCFoundation, which is an International OCD foundation, NAC is another Glutamate inhibitor and has been used successfully to treat OCD. There is evidence linking an excess of glutamate in the brain to OCD disorders.

NAC can cause an upset stomach if taken in excess. It has also been linked to pulmonary hyper tension in rats. The dose that I take is 600mg, Whatever risk there is to it, I believe that it is small and I’m willing to chance it for all of it’s other myriads of benefits.

There are other ways to boost Glutathione, the antioxidant produced by your body which n-acetylcisteine is turned into once you ingest it. The other ways to do it are with undenatured whey protein and the second is Liposomal Glutathione. I have not tried either of these options.

Tinnitus can be worsened by ear congestion. I have noticed that at times my ears do become kind of plugged up and painful. When my tinnitus was at it’s worst, my doctor told me that my ears appeared to be inflamed and red and that I should take decongestants that will thin out the mucus. I took Mucinex and was advised to take the stuff with actual Sudafed in it. NAC is also used to thin mucus, so you can try either of those if you think your tinnitus may be tied to those things.

NMDA Antagonists and Tinnitus:

As was mentioned above, tinnitus is linked to glutamate. This paper  indicates that salicylates found commonly in Aspirin are potent inhibitors of an enzyme that deals with the inflammatory response known known as cyclooxygenase. This inhibition is believed to alter the metabolism of arachidonic acid which increases the power or effect of NMDA receptor currents. This relationship may have something to do with tinnitus. Therefore, even if you, like myself, struggle to understand what this means … the study ends up leading to the conclusion that:

“NMDA antagonists may thus constitute an attractive candidate
for the treatment of tinnitus in humans”

Here is a list of both NMDA Antagonists and Modulators from Wikipedia. Huperzine A is probably the most attractive. It’s found in moss, called Huperzia Serrata – or Northern Firmoss. This moss is used as a nootropic or cognitive enhancer. It also contains proteins known as Nerve Growth Factor. Since tinnitus involves the nerves, a supplement that contains Nerve Growth Factor and acts as an NMDA antagonist, sounds worthwhile to investigate. Huperzine-A is being researched as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and is currently sold as a memory supplement.

Things that May Help Tinnitus

I have tired a number of things that are in general good advice but haven’t been especially effective

Diet and Tinnitus

Diet can play a big role in the severity of tinnitus, this I can tell you first hand. While it hasn’t necessarily cured me, it has improved it, and I haven’t been perfect with my diet.

Foods That Improve Tinnitus:

I haven’t found any foods that directly improve my tinnitus, at least not in a short span of time. I have noticed that a cleaner diet does help reduce tinnitus flare-ups however.

I try to eat organic green vegetables as many of these have tons of pesticides on them. According to What’s on my food, which took information from an FDA study on vegetables prepared for eating, non-organic kale contains traces of 55 chemical residues. 9 of which were known carcinogens, 27 of which were suspected hormone disruptors, 10 of which are neurotoxins, and 10 of which are developmental or reproductive toxins. In comparison, organic kale had traces of 2 chemical residues. The study does not indicate in which quantities the toxins were found, but it’s reasonable to assume that the non-organic not only had a wider variety but more actual chemical residue than the organic.

Who knows what the actual harm is in consuming a cocktail of 55 chemicals, it may be that our bodies cope fine with this type of bombardment, but if you suffer from tinnitus, then something is wrong and it doesn’t hurt to give your body a hand up.

I also try to eat healthy meats, a wide variety of fruits and veggies and to drink plenty of water. I may put together a PDF of the other foods that I eat and how to eat them at a later date.

Foods that make tinnitus worse

Without a doubt, the impact foods makes on improving it is not nearly as great as the negative impact bad foods make on tinnitus. The worst foods for me are alcohol, artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame),  and anything that contains MSG.  If you remember, MSG is an abbreviation of Mono Sodium Glutamate.  As far as the other foods go, I have nothing to substantiate this, but you can test it out for yourself and see which foods in particular make it worse. As far as the MSG, it’s contains glutamate. There’s lots of evidence that MSG is bad for us, but not a lot of actual scientific research. While it probably won’t kill you, it’s my number 1 food to avoid for tinnitus management. Dozens of snack foods contain MSG as well as fast food products.

A Note on Tinnitus and Salicylates

Most of us know that vegetables, legumes, and grains are full of vitamins and minerals. Many of us do not realize that these plants also contain anti-nutrients. One of the ones that bothers me the most is Salicylates. Salicylates may remind you of another word, salicylic acid, the active component in Asprin. They’re related substances, and Salicylates are found in lots of foods that have tons of benefits.

If you’re having a problem with tinnitus, you might try cutting back on foods containing salicylates for a few days to see if it diminishes, but it’s practically impossible to avoid them and still eat anything healthy. I don’t think the trade off is equal here.

Tinnitus and Gluten

Gluten is a substance found in wheat and grain products. Many people agree that it’s an allergen, and I believe allergens can worsen tinnitus, but I also believe that certain parts of grain products are pretty much the only dietary source of vitamin e, that makes sense.

For gluten, I’d say if you can avoid it, do it. Things like snack crackers, bread, pasta, etc. Wheat germ and bran have tons of other nutrients in them, and they’re worth the gluten intake.

And while I can’t say that it’s good for everyone, you’ll have to see for yourself how different foods and supplements affect you.

Tinnitus and Stress:

One of the worst parts about tinnitus is that it stresses us out and causes extreme anxiety. For someone who already suffers from an anxiety disorder this can be a debilitating set of circumstances. Due to the fact that an excess of glutamate is linked to OCD and Tinnitus, and that tinnitus is made worse by anxiety and stress, it’s important to keep stress under control to reduce the number of tinnitus flare-ups.

This report indicates that tinnitus may be caused by damage done to the nerves, which is masked by the brain until a traumatic or stressful event unmasks it. This then increases stress and anxiety, which reinforces the tinnitus. Managing stress while struggling with tinnitus is critical.

Tinnitus and Anxiety Medications:

Drugs like Valium and Vicodin are some of the best relievers of anxiety, but unfortunately they’re ototoxic. This means that they can build and damage your hearing. Rush Limbaugh who abused these drugs for a number of years is a great example of the dangers of them. Some report an onset of tinnitus in just one dose of these potent drugs. Many drugs are ototoxic, and I look them all up before I take anything. For this reason I no longer take Ibuprofen or Aspirin containing products.

I have experienced first hand very loud tinnitus and I personally cannot accept the risk associated with these drugs and another bout of horrible high pitched noises.

Herbal Alternatives to manage anxiety and stress:

This post is getting too long, but check out valerian, california poppy, and ashwagandha. Ashwagandha has proven to be the most effective herb at my disposal, and anecdotal accounts from friends and family seem to agree. I found some information online that says ashwagandha may improve or worsen tinnitus depending on the person. Try to avoid taking it too late at night, as I and others agree that Ashwagandha will reveal your deepest fears, through the production of horrifying nightmares. Other than that it will cut anxiety down and it’s known as an adaptogenic herb, meaning that your body uses it where it needs it. Two other very powerful adaptogens are Ginseng and Jiaogulan. I’ve used all of these with amazing results. They boost immunity, relieve physical stress, and make you feel stronger and more energetic. I can’t prove it, but it’s been my experience.

These are the things that I have learned, I hope that you found it useful and share this information with as many people as you can.