Intermittent Fasting for Tinnitus Relief

[Lisa88]

Myself and others with tinnitus have seen huge benefits with intermittent fasting. T fading and almost gone in some cases.

There is science behind this that shows detox and the brain/gut connection can relax the central nervous system, as well as improve brain chemistry itself.

The 5:2 diet is a great example of intermittent fasting. One example of this is fasting for 24 hours on 2 non consecutive days per week, i.e. dinner to dinner the next day, and on that next day only eating 500 calories. On the 5 other days of the week, eat normally.
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/

Some of the science:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...lp-live-longer-long-stay-away-superfoods.html

 

[steinamo]

I just watched that whole thing. I'm definitely interested in this diet, just for a general health and lifestyle change.

 

[RaZaH]

Myself and others with tinnitus have seen huge benefits with intermittent fasting. T fading and almost gone in some cases.

Really ? Never heard of that

 

[Sarah Russett]

Can you describe in more detail the improvement you and others have seen?

 

[Path Maker]

This was fascinating and worth the time to watch. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Lisa88]

Gut/Brain connection is well documented if you search online.
For me, it took two months on the diet to notice a difference in my t. Noticeable drop in volume, and longer periods of not hearing it even when listening out for it. I no longer monitor my t now, so it is difficult to say. And have been off the diet the last 4 months. Going to start back on the diet this May. Don't knock it til you try it. The science behind it makes sense.

 

[valeri]

Great links, thanks @Lisa88!
Can you briefly describe your avarage eating day and fasting day? What foods did you eat?

 

[Zorro!]

Not to piss in the punch bowl but I've been doing Intermittent Fasting for several years now and haven't noticed it having an effect on my hearing issues or tinnitus. Don't get me wrong, I personally think it's a healthy thing to practice in general but I don't know that it can do anything specifically for the ears and auditory nerves. For some people it may have a calming effect but, again, I haven't seen that myself. If anything I get more amp-ed up and energetic when I'm fasting and my sleep cycle is somewhat negatively impacted. (I definitely find it harder to fall asleep when I've got an empty stomach.)

 

[Lisa88]

That's the weird thing with t. What works for some, does not work for others. And nobody yet understands why. One of the reasons t has been difficult to treat. For me (as with others), intermittent fasting was one thing that really helped. So I encourage people to try it for themselves and see if it works for them. I had to be on the 5:2 diet for 2 months before I noticed improvement of t.
@valeri There are different ways to do it. I personally think that 24 hour fasting is better than eating snacks throughout the day. So after dinner on a regular day around 6pm, I would eat and drink nothing until dinner the following day around 6pm, giving my body complete rest. And for that dinner on my fast day I would have salmon, vegetables and salad followed by yoghurt and fruit. It seems easier to achieve because you know the following day, you can eat pretty much what you like. Although there are guidelines to the 5:2 diet on the link above and elsewhere online.

 

[undecided]

I would agree with @Zorro!.
I've done the diet thing for almost a year and didn't notice any change whatsoever as far as t goes. If anything, I believe it got slightly worse but that is probably unrelated to the diet.
But the diet certainly had its benefits and I'm thinking about restarting.

 

[Cheza]

Myself and others with tinnitus have seen huge benefits with intermittent fasting.

Thank you for posting this excellent video. I cannot do 5:2 because I'll slack off, but today I've started an every-other-day fast/feast routine. It's fairly easy for me because food is not that important to me, but I'll admit that right now I'm hungry even though I had a 172 calorie breakfast.

The most salient part of the video is Michael's interview with Professor Matson. It intrigued me so much that I transcribed it and am posting it here. It's best to watch the entire video to gain a proper foundation for why fasting is important to overall health, but the growth of new neurons in the brain astonished me. If the same mechanism appears in humans, it means more gray matter, and hopefully that gray matter occurs in the prefrontal cortex, giving it more control over the tinnitus signal pathway. That may not be true, so I'll need to contact Professor Matson to get his opinion.

Video excerpt, Michael's interview with Professor Mark Mattson, a leading expert on the aging brain.

Michael narrating: "So, what's going on? Well, when they examined the brains of the fasting mice, they found something extraordinary. These green objects (indicating on monitor) are newborn brain cells. Sporadic bouts of hunger actually trigger new neurons to grow."

Michael: "Why should a brain start to generate new nerve cells when you stop feeding it?"

Mark: "Well, if you think about this in evolutionary terms, it makes sense if you're hungry, you better increase your cognitive ability. That will give you a survival advantage if you can remember where the location of the food is, and so on."

Michael narrating: "It seems that fasting stresses your gray matter the way that exercise stresses your muscles."

Michael: "So hunger really does make you sharper."

Mark: "Yes, we think so."

Michael narrating: "Mark's research is starting to point to a simple conclusion."

Mark: "Alternate day fasting has better effects on the brain than does a lower amount of daily calorie restriction."

Michael narrating: "It's true of mice, but he needs to do proper human studies to prove it's true in us."

 

[Lisa88]

Thanks, @Cheza That's helpful.
I encourage people to try it to see if it works for YOU.
Yes, look up intermittent fasting and neurogenesis. Intriguing stuff.

 

[Path Maker]

@Cheza

I watched the entire video and you definitely honed in on the heart of it! Thanks for that!

The presumption used to be, years ago, that neuroplasticity was primarily seen in the very young. That has all changed!

Without getting overly technical, I believe (and science has borne out) that adult brains are certainly plastic too, and can and do undergo regenerative changes, among other kinds of change.

Just think: whenever we learn ANYTHING new, new neural connections are created to add that information. And these connections are strengthened by continued experience and repetition. That in itself is a very upbeat fact.

So much of this is unexplored. But it creates a great reservoir of hope and worthiness in taking any action designed to increase brain function. And having great nutrition supports this in a foundational way, since the body needs proper "raw ingredients" to make the best changes.

I see a LOT of positive potential in this intermittent fasting. If it works in any beneficial way, great! Even if the positive changes come years/decades ahead, of science having every little detail about how the process works named and tagged and identified (pick one! That was redundant! ), getting positive changes now, in our lives, would be worth the journey!

I also simply appreciated the changes that WERE tested and measured in Michael's blood work. Excellent results.

(One thing I personally wouldn't do is eat all that bacon <<--well, of course I wouldn't, as a vegetarian . But I think that eating more healthily is a foundation. Add the intermittent fasting and perhaps we are giving our amazing, inventive, creative, knowledgable wonderful bodies a tremendous boost. And yes, as the video claims, see your doctor before undertaking any fast, etc. in light of any medical conditions you might have, etc.)

 

[Lisa88]

Just want to copy/paste what I wrote to @valeri on another thread:
I did this diet in conjunction with trying to stay away from constantly monitoring t. See Back to Silence threads, and my fake it til you make it posts in that thread.
Also did Yoga to stay disconnected from head and t.
Then once in a while would check in and find t hardly there or not there at all.
So just a heads up to monitor t in a close way, because of the way the brain is wired - may end up not working.
But a trial without closely monitoring t would be a great thing to do. Think many would find positive results

 

[Purple Parrot]

I haven't tried fasting but I went on the Clean Gut diet for 3 weeks and it resulted in a noticeable reduction in volume.

 

[Ecip]

I'm trying to intermittently fast every so often now. I definitely haven't made it 3 days, or not even 48 hours, but what I do is eat a late lunch and have a light supper, and then not eat again until late afternoon/supper.

 

[mintblue]

I've fasted a few days this week inadvertently due to schedule conflicts and I've noticed my tinnitus has been way quieter on those days. Anyone else have experience with fasting and tinnitus? I've read that fasting can reduce epileptic seizures and that tinnitus and epilepsy are closely linked to the same part of the brain.

 

[mrdude1234]

I might give it a try. I do confess that my tinnitus isn't THAT terrible, but I'd rather it be gone than not.

 

[erniej]

I find my tinnitus get worse after I eat a heavy meal.

 

[suze]

According to the anti aging researchers at USC, neurogenesis in the brain is found ON DAY THREE of the 'fast mimicking diet'.....at least in mouse brains. They are studying humans now. Google 'Valter Longo' or 'fast mimicking diet'.

 

[click]

I find my tinnitus get worse after I eat a heavy meal.

It's probably the salt.

Reduce the salt - radically - and there's no need to fast.

 

[SeekIngAlpha]

Fasting works becausee dopamine increases during fasts. High dopamine tends to suppress tinnitus

 

[bird]

Just wanted to drop in and report my seemingly very positive experience with a few cycles of once-weekly fasting of 20-44 hrs duration. I am nearly 2 years in from onset of moderately severe tinnitus of unknown (stress?, viral?, nutrient-deficiency over years?) origin. In my 40's and mild higher-freq hearing loss characteristic of genetic presbycusis and possibly noise exposure from headphones/car-stereo. (But I think the hearing loss was present long before the tinnitus onset)

I had been improving slowly since onset (which occurred getting worse over months.) Tried a lot of supplements and settled on (real, not beta-carotene) vitamin A, C, a little mixed natural E, and at least 300 mg of supplemental Mg per day. Also took phosphatidylcholine (from sunflower lecithin) All these have been found in many studies to be associated with some degree of hearing preservation.

I feel the Mg really helped a lot, (also with calmness too) over time. But the addition of the fasting seemed to result in substantial volume reduction which persisted for days afterward. (Note that I had done very low salt for a while in the past with apparently weak results)

I'm intrigued by the tinnitus-epilepsy connection, and the great results fasting produces for epileptics.

-Bird

 

[bird]

Just want to clarify that I have done about 3 months worth of weekly fasts (and these are serious zero-calorie fasts)...whereas the supplement regimen has be in effect for much longer, with various components added and removed over time. I feel the things which showed the most rapid and noticeable effect in reduction of tinnitus for me were the 300 mg of Mg and fasting. But I keep taking things like the vitamin A (~10000 IU per week from cod liver extract) due to the convincing epidemiology and bio-research indicating it's importance in preservation of hearing, and immunity and many other things. I also take vitamin D, but forgot to mention because it's pretty mainstream these days. Maybe some of these things have a synergistic effect with the fasting or each-other? My diet is otherwise very healthy and balanced, so I try to supplement only when I can make a case that I may be deficient (say vitamin A, since I don't eat liver...which seemed to help at least one other person on this board) or the item is fairly harmless (Mg) and will not induce another deficiency so I can use a little higher than RDA dosage.

By the way, Lisa88, I really want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. It's a fascinating and useful intervention, and not just for tinnitus.

(And of course a huge thank you to the people who run this place and the many long-time posters who fill it with such helpful information. I have been lurking here for over a year before setting up an account, and it has become clear to me that this is unquestionably the best tinnitus resource anywhere!!)

 

[valeri]

Just want to clarify that I have done about 3 months worth of weekly fasts (and these are serious zero-calorie fasts)...whereas the supplement regimen has be in effect for much longer, with various components added and removed over time. I feel the things which showed the most rapid and noticeable effect in reduction of tinnitus for me were the 300 mg of Mg and fasting. But I keep taking things like the vitamin A (~10000 IU per week from cod liver extract) due to the convincing epidemiology and bio-research indicating it's importance in preservation of hearing, and immunity and many other things. I also take vitamin D, but forgot to mention because it's pretty mainstream these days. Maybe some of these things have a synergistic effect with the fasting or each-other? My diet is otherwise very healthy and balanced, so I try to supplement only when I can make a case that I may be deficient (say vitamin A, since I don't eat liver...which seemed to help at least one other person on this board) or the item is fairly harmless (Mg) and will not induce another deficiency so I can use a little higher than RDA dosage.

By the way, Lisa88, I really want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. It's a fascinating and useful intervention, and not just for tinnitus.

(And of course a huge thank you to the people who run this place and the many long-time posters who fill it with such helpful information. I have been lurking here for over a year before setting up an account, and it has become clear to me that this is unquestionably the best tinnitus resource anywhere!!)

Good to hear fasting helps you!
Are you following ketogenic diet?

 

[bird]

Hi Valerie,

Funny you should ask. The short answer is no, not this time, and not for a while. The longer answer is interesting. In fact, I had a previous bout of moderately severe tinnitus, very similar to this one, occurring about 2 years prior. And amazingly, it just went away after about 10 months. I didn't know anything about tinnitus at the time and just figured it was some viral manifestation that would eventually resolve. I was dealing with IBS type stomach problems during the tinnitus, and was in the process of adopting a very low carb diet to treat this. The stomach issues and treatment were my main focus at that time, and somehow the tinnitus just slowly went away, and stayed away even when I terminated the diet about a year later. Looking back now I can't help but wonder if there was a casual relationship there, especially since I have read that ketogenic diets effectively suppress epileptic seizures by a different mechanism than fasting (obviously suggesting that we should combine the two interventions!)

(I should clarify that my tinnitus onset during that episode was similar to this one... unknown trigger, high pitched tone in both ears, but not symmetric, gradually ramping up over a few months until it became quite loud and constant, day and night. During that episode, I wasn't too worried about it because I just assumed it would eventually go away (hadn't found this site yet!))

Anyway, based on this info, I have been interested to test some combo of say 6 months of ketogenic diet, punctuated by several fasts a month, maybe 72 hours with no calorie intake, every other week. And maybe a 24 hr fast between those. Seems intense, but getting rid of the ringing would be well worth the struggle. As a bonus, the various other health effects of fasting seem amazingly positive.

-Bird

 

[Emmi]

@Lisa88

thank you very much for the information! I will try it and tell if I had any success. I just didn't understand completely what to do.. so you eat normally your dinner and then the next 24 hours nothing, meaning that you would just eat dinner the next day.. and then the following day you eat normal again and then you have your fasting day again and then you eat normal for the rest of the days? Is that correct?

thanks again
Emmi

 

[Basementx]

I am going to try fasting and I have some hope it will help. I have tinnitus caused from playing in loud bands since I was 14. I am 35 years old and noticed my tinnitus 7 years ago. I'm still a musician and teach piano lessons and perform music for a living. Coming home from a day of teaching lessons I am stressed from 4 four or more hours of the piano sound and my ears can become very sensitive to all sounds. My ears also turn red and start pulsing and though I wouldn't say they hurt, the tinnitus seems amplified. I guess because of these reasons I'm skeptical as to whether the fasting will work BUT I do notice drinking alcohol, coffee and excessive sugar makes my tinnitus temporarily worse so maybe diet does have some affect. I've learned to deal with it but the annoyance and fear that it will worsen is always in the back of my mind.

I think as a start to fasting I will not eat between 7pm at night and noon the next day everyday. Do you have insight about whether this kind of fasting is sufficient? Any other advice is welcome. Thank you.

 

[suze]

The point is to put stress on your body. The research studying multiple sclerosis on the Fast Mimicking Diet shows neurogenesis on day 3. The FMD diet restricts calories, isn't actually fasting. You can read the science by googling 5:2 diet or fast mimicking diet, also Kamal at examine.com or Dr Walther Longo at the antiaging institute in California. I found out calorie restriction decreased my T by accident. My husband wanted to try an every other day diet....we had a normal breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, then a salad about 2PM. We ate normally every other day for about a week. To my surprise, the T decreased significantly. I would love to try the fast mimicking diet. I dont think yor plan will put enough stress on your body. The stress makes it fix itself.

 

[Eric S]

Hey guys, I have some info I found that is highly relevant to all of this stuff-

Apparently a neurotrophic factor called NT-3 (neurotrophin 3) shows some promise in some capacity. It shows an ability to regenerate certain structures in the cochlea, including ribbon synapses (which seem to be an instigating factor in the onset of tinnitus). Check out the link -> http://www.nature.com/articles/srep24907

In addition, according to another study, NT-3 expression is upregulated endogenously through fasting in certain regions of the brain
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649682/

though I haven't gone over the study with a fine toothed comb, I can't find any explicit mention of expression in the cochlea, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Also, Upton Sinclaire had a lesser known book called "The Fasting Cure" published a century ago, in which he describes several instances of deafness being cured by fasting which, while farfetched, is oddly in support of this recent science. Worth a look at least.