Thanks for your reply. I already thought the brain area is of much importance in regards to the Alzheimer link. I thought recent studies have shown that a lot of different brain areas can be involved in creating the Tinnitus perception through hyperactivity. Could it be that a link to Alzheimer (or perhaps other neurodegenerative diseases) could depend on the brain area the Tinnitus is generated in? The heterogeneity of Tinnitus might prevent making a direct causal link to Alzheimer's, but it might be that there's still a link depending on the etiology of the condition and the hyperactive brain areas involved.
Also, links between two other neurodegenerative afflictions (Epilepsy/Alzheimer) have been hypothesized before.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
Many diseases share some underliyng mechanisms, as you know, in fact, many diseases share most symptoms. I would be very carefull to interpret the word "link", particularly with brain disorders which share some of several mechanisms but many others are different and unknown. I'm aware that T involves several hyperactive brain regions, mind that most of them are a consequence and not a cause of, it's a cascade effect. Most, if not every, brain activitiy work this way, a causal impulse (endogenous or exogenous, psychological, neurological or physical) triggers many others in different correlated areas. Studies have proven that a non T-group exposed to very loud sounds that are perceived as threatening will trigger most of the same areas that T does.
To my aknowledge, based on reading studies, states that most overlap with T is thalamocortical dysregulation , which is strongly linked to anxiety disorders, more than a cause-effect it's a mutual influence, in particular if I recall correctly the somatosensory focused obsession (can't find the study on ncbi). Mind that, as a symptom, T may have different causes, subgroups could share some hyperactive brain areas but it is not a clue about cause. For instance, focusing on treating-managing-curing anxiety or mood issue is usually of big help for every T sufferer, still just minority of this people will see their T disappear (or almost disappear), if it is because they didn't really fix their anxiety-mood D or not is impossible to know, but I would argue just that if hyperactivity is caused by anxiety issues, T could disappear since the cause has been fixed, but for others where the cause is different (i.e. hearing loss), treating anxiety and mood disturbance, which are naturally linked to T, could be of huge relief (lowering perception will make the sound lower, and it won't trigger mood or anxiety issue, which, in general is the culprit of suffering) but T won't disappear because these areas, in this case, are not the causal ones, so T will still persist even if hyperactivity in limbic system is addressed. Fortunately we have a good indirect control on modulating and training limbic system activity to some extent, even if it's very ancient, but unfortunately we don't have much control (or not at all) on other brain areas.
So, going back to your question, if T could lead to alzheimer or epilepsy, would mean that anxiety and mood disorders could lead to alz or epilepsy too. Well, I guess it's no more than a risk factor just as much as a wrong lifestyle can lead to these disorders and many other (i.e. obesity, cardiovascular, diabetes, and many other) based on individual predisposition, but the link is unlikely to be direct.
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