it.To me it points at a central cause that T and H is a direct result of nervous system agitation or over excitability which would explain why lots of people experience T and H from withdrawel from medications that work on the central nervous system such as benzos.
Agreed.
One factor preceding my T was serotonin syndrome from a (6month) effexor taper.
The similarities with chronic pain are clear.
A meaningless phantom pain devoid of purpose.
An over-sensitized central nervous system typified by hyper-vigilance and exaggerated startle response.
We have 'damage' all the time, that's part of ageing.
It's the suddenness' factor that's overlooked.
I would therefore like to quote a post by
DAN in another thread called
'New Theory of Hearing Loss/Tinnitus?'
Read this, it's very good:
"I don't think that t will happen for certain if it were cured by say neuron ablation. This is because tinnitus emergence takes very strong triggers - emotionally and neurologically. Most of us with severe tinnitus had some sort of heavy stress and an abrupt hearing loss noise exposure combined before tinnitus onset. I think to prevent tinnitus one has to lead a stress free life and avoid loud noises - a hard feat in our day and age.
Nature has designed us with internal fail-safe mechanisms so as we normally age, our brains easily compensate for loss of input. It is when we put stress on that system, those of us who were susceptible had those filters break down. Let me give an example. Dr.Jeanmonod talks about a brain operation he did on a neurogenic pain patient in one of his interviews. The patient had a great improvement but at the 6month post-op, she had a death in the family and the pain returned full blast. After some counseling, she had eventually regained back her progress."
So combinations of stress and sound can feed into CNS overload.
Think about the language. Acoustic shock = acoustic + shock. Paired elements.
The stress/shock factor is multiple choice.....grief, work pressure, medicine, noise,etc. Being human.
Of course, gun blasts and the like bring both sound and shock to the table simultaneously.
Even lower-level sound experienced for too long can translate to fatigue, overload, slow-form shock.
As an analogy, both sudden shell-shock & prolonged combat fatigue will overtax the CNS on different timelines.
But the common factor is system stress. This sets the stage.
The clue to tinnitus genesis lies in the very same factor that makes tinnitus worse. Stress.
And of course T is self-harvesting. It creates stress to survive.
Read about anxiety and you will see it is like a new building with scaffolding, a distinct neural architecture, a body with its own emerging needs. A building you must demolish. because neural plasticity can go both ways. The brain doesn't judge, it follows you. Whatever road you take.
The concept of damage upsets people and can foster a mindset detrimental to recovery. People generalize about chronic T becoming more complicated after 6 months, involving more and more networks of the brain. Well, this doesn't mean your T is becoming forever entrenched. In plain English, you're just more upset about it. Even more sensitized. And more parts of you are lighting up in response to the condition. We become sensitized to our own T. Butthis is fluid and can change. Corners can be turned. By degrees. Its a process rather than a switch.
And habituation is not only possible, its a natural process. It could begin today, it might already have for you.
Many acute/short-term mild T sufferers see it vanish within a few weeks or months. I've met some of them.
'Damage' may probably have been contributory to genesis but it didn't stop these people getting well.
A big key to mild T is that it doesn't cause as much stress, so the CNS can recalibrate, let it go.
I think a lot of people with chronic T have a 'locked' CNS stress response which can be unlocked.
An over-sensitized CNS has invited tinnitus and the same apparatus keeps it. Part of getting well therefore means changing who we are to a degree, how we respond to the world.
People talk about habituation being a mind game. Well, its the ultimate mind game.
Through correct thinking, dowsing emotional responses, playing dead to the serial killer in the room,
we can feed the correct data to that deaf, dumb, blind primitive brain (we are its eyes and ears you know)
and permit it to alter the defcon status and reinstate filters which stop you hearing your own wheels.
Alternatively, ablate those neurons with HIFU and stay chilled to mute your limbic warning system.
Alternatively, go for the likes of smart drug Autifony which can apparently target naughty neurons.
I really wish we could all get better and shut down this forum, never need it again. Until that time,
I wish you all well and thank Dan for borrowing his informative post.
I know this thread is all about inner ear hair cell regen and don't want to steer it off-topic,
but it's important to realize that 'damage' is not an endgame. We talk about windows of
opportunity to heal after a sound-shock by taking powerful antioxidants, NAC, etc, because
there is indeed a cascade of chemical changes which knock out hair cells. We also hear about
cats and the like being re-exposed to loud sound to thwart that process. That gets you thinking too narrowly 'Oh man, its damage'. What we're focusing on here is the context of those changes because this opens the doors to other approaches and treatments.
ps. regarding Mark Mcdill's post on Acoustic CR Neuromodulation,
does anybody know of any successes from the DIY ACRN thread?
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