Decaffeinated Coffee — Effect on Tinnitus?

[William Johnson]

Does decaf coffee help cut back on the tinnitus noise?

 

[addot]

Yes, in the sense that it doesn't spike tinnitus, unlike regular coffee. Caffeine is the main culprit here.

 

[Michael B]

I always thought so and drank decaf exclusively. Turns out it didn't make much difference for me one way or another.

 

[PeteJ]

Yes, in the sense that it doesn't spike tinnitus, unlike regular coffee. Caffeine is the main culprit here.

I agree. I haven't experienced a change in tinnitus/tinnitus tones with decaf coffee. I have cut down on consumption though mostly because I don't have the money to buy it these days.

Imho, decaf probably doesn't have enough caffeine to affect tinnitus but I am only guessing and offering my personal experience.

 

[Auron]

Caffeine doesn't effect me whatsoever.I really wonder why some people get spike's so easily, vs other's that don't.

 

[GregCA]

I've never noticed any change in my tinnitus due to diet. I've tried to cut down on many different things (salt, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, etc) and it has made zero difference. YMMV.

 

[addot]

For what it's worth, coffee does affect my tinnitus, but not so much that it becomes unbearable. It also affects my H and this bothers me more, though the increase in sensitivity is also slight.

After my T became worse a couple years ago, I quit coffee cold turkey and switched to decaf. Lately, I've been slowly reintroducing coffee to my routine, and the effects have been largely positive. I do not drink it daily, only when I need a little pick me up. One major positive I hadn't really considered is that it significantly improves my mood and helps with my depression.

I can't say what will or won't work for you, but if you're like me and stopped drinking caffeine for fear that it would drive your T nuts, I encourage you to at least try it again for a few days. Living with T means constantly weighing the pros and cons and adjusting to things that seem trivial to others (coffee, changes in diet, going to that loud restaurant/movie theater, etc). I was afraid the cons of coffee would far outweigh the pros in my case. I was scared of even trying it again, to be honest, but when I did I found out it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I still alternate between regular and decaf though.

 

[erik]

Decaf is not good for you because the decaffeination process involves soaking and washing for hours with chemical solvents to remove the caffeine. At that point, caffeine is the least of your worries.

 

[hulagirl]

Erik, you can drink water processed de-caf and not worry about all those chemicals. I was reading another post of yours, and you talk about using 5-HTP. How much do you take and what brand? I have been taking Jarrow, but their lowest dose and I do think it helps. I have never taken an anti-depressant, but have often thought I need one since my tinnitus started in 2007. If I try to drink regular coffee, it makes my heart race.

 

[elPuritan]

I've been experimenting with different sources of caffeine to see how they impact my tinnitus. I found that regular coffee spikes my tinnitus significantly, so I switched to decaf. The decaf I drink contains only 0.3% caffeine, and it has helped tremendously. Occasionally, I slip up and think everything is fine, so I have a regular coffee—only to end up suffering for a couple of days afterward. So, it's decaf for me, permanently. It's better than nothing!

 

[RunningMan]

Regular coffee never seemed to affect my tinnitus, but I cut it out almost entirely because I thought it might be affecting anxiety or sleep. Well, it didn't make a difference with that, either. But, I'm sticking to primarily decaf, anyway, for now.