Article on Tinnitus Mechanisms

[Louise]

I was sent this as part of something I was investigating and I think its really interesting. I need to re-read it to understand it fully. It suggests the answer to why some peoples T comes and goes. Apologies if everyone already knows this stuff.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904345/

 

[dan]

Very interesting article Louise, thanks.
So as I understand it, this article reinforces the TCD (Thalamocortical Disrhythmia) theory as the cause of hearing tinnitus. TCD being the end result after the limbic/paralimibic gating mechanism has failed.
I think tinnitus can be cured in 3 ways:
1)By curing the lesion in the peripheral system (stem cells)
2)By boosting the gating mechanism using drugs
3)Ablating the final tinnitus destination (at the cortex level)

Method#1 would be the best and easiest choice but bureacratic barriers prevent it from happening sooner.
Method#2 is too difficult with uncertain results and side-effects, lack of funding, too many problems.
Method#3 if it works will be the best short term option until stem cells cure all what ails us. That IF it works. Again lack of funding is preventing any research. Why isn't the ATA/BTA supporting this?

 

[Louise]

I need to re-read it but it does seem to be saying that the gating mechanism fails and that's why (maybe one reason why) we hear it. Did you notice as well that its suggesting serotonin levels could be why the gate fails?
I think we can forget Method 1 for a very long time. Method 2 should be doable surely? Method 3 we already have dont we? (that other thread on HIFU surgery) but it costs 40K. Its good that this article also seems to point to the thalamus as being involved, sort of backs up the ablation surgery.

I dont know what the ATA & BTA are supporting (other than Soundcure), maybe they just dont have enough funds? I think 20 years from now there'll be a lot in place for T sufferers. Interest in it seems to really be gathering pace.

 

[dan]

HIFU is still in trials. There are no official results efficasy stats anywhere on the internet.
Its still not available to the general public yet, according to Daedalus. I know of at least 5 people who would pay $40K if it
had a 95% success rate. Which just don't know yet. I mean what's $40K compared to the gift of silence?

 

[Louise]

Its nothing if you have it and if I had it I would gladly give it, like yesterday.

I thought I had read that they had done this procedure for a few T people.

 

[Markku]

I guess some people would be able to get a loan for that $40K.

I'm not in a high-paying job but I could get that amount of money from the bank. Of course with interest I'd end up paying a lot more than the $40K, but that is an option.

A new car is quite expensive (in Finland the automobiles are taxed crazy high) and I'd rather have no tinnitus than a shiny car.

I'm just saying that while $40K is a lot of money, more than I currently make in a year, it's just within the window of possibility for some among the middle class.

Still, $40k is so much that I really would need to be sure it is effective. Tinnitus in and of itself can be a lot to bear but if you go and pay that much money and it doesn't help or makes it worse and you end up with that amount of debt, well yea. Screwed is one word that comes to mind.

However, there's always the early adopter fee and if the treatment is effective and becomes popular, then the cost will undoubtedly drop.

Ah but figuring out the finances can wait until such time when this is available to the public & more experiences have been recorded.

No doubt the best situation would be if the public health care system covered the treatment. Finland's is pretty good, but they don't generally cover anything experimental or too new. Covered treatments have got to be like standard procedures and used widely in health care, and of course must be indicated for the treatment of specific thing.

A long road ahead I suspect, but things are looking brighter and brighter as time goes by. Quoting Louise: "Interest in it seems to really be gathering pace." - it's ah so great!

 

[joejunior]

I dont think anyone should be fixated by the cost. Its more important to get something that works, then cost will look after itself.

 

[mock turtle]

thanks Louise

great article with lots of information clearly implicating the brain and related central structures major role in tinnitus, and clearly demonstrates how complex tinnitus perception is

im drawn to this quote way down the article

"Although reorganization of auditory cortex and thalamus in response to peripheral deafferentation may be necessary for the tinnitus perception to arise, it is almost certainly not sufficient. First, if peripheral hearing loss results in central auditory reorganization, which leads to the tinnitus percept, why is it that only a subset of patients with noise-induced hearing loss (between 20 and 40%; (​

Hoffman and Reed, 2004​

)) develop chronic tinnitus?"​

maybe this is good news in that a chain can be broken at any link?​

​

and i wonder if re growing damaged stereo cilia causes the brain to be plastic again and undo what it did to sense tinnitus in the first place ​

...or it is a one way trip​

thanks again​

mt​

 

[Louise]

Hi Mock,

Who knows the answer to that one? But, I am sure if the inner ear went back to its pre-damaged state that the brain could easily be coaxed back to normality.

The answer to that quoted bit is that for some people who experience damage to the cochlear, they dont perceive T because their 'Gateway' (in the Thalamus I think it was) is functioning properly. Its about this voltage controlled gateway that fails in some people and thats why the noise gets through and is perceived in the end. This gateway functioning properly is also linked to Serotonin in the article.

My question is, if the Gateway can be put right then would the brain reorganise?

Hope you're feeling better from the detox MT.