Poll: What Effect Does Alcohol Have on Your Tinnitus?

[JohnK]

Just curious, so I thought I'd do a poll.

 

[Falconfox]

Goooood Question. haven't tried yet out of fear but it's on my list of things to do, I didn't realize until I stopped what a useful social tool alcohol is.

 

[Sailboardman]

I drink when I want and say screw it! There are so many restrictions with tinnitus, you just have to let go once in awhile and enjoy what you can.

 

[Mark P]

Mine seems to rage when I drink beer! Very clearly worse.

 

[NineNails]

Alcohol often reduces my tinnitus (reactive, multiple noises) to one single eeeee noise. But other times it has absolutely no effect or makes it just worse. It's a gamble.

 

[Richard zurowski]

I enjoy a drink but even more so with this tinnitus giving me torture 24/7 . Lowers my tinnitus in the evenings. This is my way of getting some relief.

 

[AfroSnowman]

I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.

I have pretty bad 24/7 tinnitus and using alcohol is the only thing that has consistently made my tinnitus quieter. I know many people experience the opposite, but even the next day I don't have any spike from drinking, I have never been a big drinker, a couple drinks a week, but now I find that I must really check myself from the urge to self medicate. For the first couple months I drank much more than I usually do so I've had to consciously cut back; no alcohol during the week, just the weekend. I don't want to end up fat and with an alcohol problem on top of tinnitus.

The thing that sucks is that it actually consistently works in decreasing my tinnitus.

 

[Tex]

I don't notice much difference while drinking some beer. But the T much is worse the next day.

 

[Mister Muso]

It changes from its normal somatic hissing to a more steady and somewhat pleasing ringing sound. Not sure if that's a good thing or if I just don't care as much!

 

[MattS]

I've found there to be mostly no effect so far.

One could argue it lowers the tinnitus in the moment, but most likely this is just because you're getting drunk, not noticing things.

And one could argue it is worse the next day, but this is probably because while you're drunk you don't protect as well. For this latter reason, I always proactively put in ear plugs if I'm going to have more than one drink outside the house.

-Matt

 

[cj5suzy]

I had a beer the other day. My tinnitus got louder. On a scale of 1 to 10 it's always around an 8. After the beer I could hear it over the shower. When it's really loud I put on 2 box fans. 1 on one side of the bed another on the other side and my air purifier on turbo. Damn this is ridiculous, I shouldn't have to live like this I think to myself! What I wouldn't give to hear absolutely nothing at all.

Those people that drive insanely loud cars and motorcycles not to mention the ones who you meet at traffic lights or coming down the road driving in their cars with music blasting so loud it hurts my ears from inside my car. Can you imagine doing that? I would die on the spot!

 

[friend74]

Dunno really. At least it makes me care a bit less about it.

 

[Fifth Business]

Voted somewhat better. On the other hand, if I suffer a mild hangover and get poor quality sleep that night just forget it the next morning

 

[TheDanishGirl]

No effect usually. But I very rarely drink.

 

[BriannaLong84]

So to give a background 34 y/o Female. Experiencing pretty bad tinnitus in my right ear since around 06/2018. My inside of my ear gets sore occasionally but had my local Dr. check it out and she said it's just tinnitus. I have been a smoker on and off since 17 y/o but have been tobacco free for 9 months up until two weeks ago.

I have been a heavy drinker most of my life... what can I say I like to party lol so anyways I have hardly ever drank wine or been a wine drinker.

Well as of 4 days ago I have exclusively been drinking Pinot Noir which is a deep red wine. My tinnitus was gone after the second night of having red wine, unfortunately today it has come back on slightly but will be continuing to imbibe a few glasses each night and see if this is actually helping me or if it's just a coincidence.

 

[Elmer B Fuddled]

Hmmm this reminds me of Sam Boha who said " I have a diet plan that I've been working on."
"And what would that be I asked with sincere couriousity?"
"Very simple diet he replied, a fifth of whisky for breakfast, a fifth for lunch then a sensible dinner."
Unfortunately it doesn't work as planned.
Now my tinnitus stays the same with a few drinks, when I do drink, but with diabetes the alcohol doesn't work.

 

[JasonP]

See... this is a great example of what works for some people for tinnitus, might not work for others, and sometimes can make it worse.

 

[Benjaminbb]

It changes from its normal somatic hissing to a more steady and somewhat pleasing ringing sound. Not sure if that's a good thing or if I just don't care as much!

I have this! What do you think causes your somatic hissing? I'm unable to work it out. But it seems like it's more of an audible physical sound like you're saying.

 

[Megatron]

It changes from its normal somatic hissing to a more steady and somewhat pleasing ringing sound. Not sure if that's a good thing or if I just don't care as much!

Just wondering, why do you write "somatic hissing"? Do you think "hissing sound" comes from somatic tinnitus?

All the best,
Troels

 

[Mister Muso]

Just wondering, why do you write "somatic hissing"? Do you think "hissing sound" comes from somatic tinnitus?

All the best,
Troels

And also @Benjaminbb — I've been told by an ENT that he thinks my tinnitus is linked with jaw issues/bruxism. However, there is a definite noise-related factor which was the trigger for a significant ramp-up in my tinnitus on a few occasions.

My tinnitus consists of a hissing sound for 4-5 days a week, and a more continuous solid ringing sound for the other 2-3 days.

I could be using the word "somatic" incorrectly though, in which case I'm happy to be corrected.

You can see more about how my severe tinnitus started in my "Introduce Yourself" thread.

All the best.

 

[Brooklyn NY]

Certain beers don't spike my tinnitus. Miller Lite and Budweiser don't bother me. The stronger beers made with better ingredients seem to affect me more.

 

[Benjaminbb]

You can see more about how my severe tinnitus started in my "Introduce Yourself" thread.

Thanks! I tried to look back through your posts. I saw a lot of your story but didn't see the intro post to how it all started, mind linking me?

 

[DRobi]

Alcohol has no effect on my tinnitus. If anything, it makes me relax and not care about it so much. Caffeine also does not affect my tinnitus. I am not a big believer in food and drink effecting tinnitus. It does what it wants to do, and I have never been able to correlate it to anything.

 

[Mister Muso]

Thanks! I tried to look back through your posts. I saw a lot of your story but didn't see the intro post to how it all started, mind linking me?

Yep I've been busy haven't I! Here's my first post:

Music-Induced Tinnitus and Pyrotechnics

 

[arcanesystem]

Alcohol occasionally reduces all my sounds to a hiss. Not sure if this is because I'm relaxed and my mind is somewhere else or if it's the impacted circulation. A few times I had spikes completely disappear after alcohol. Only once did I have a 'reaction' after a drink - my right ear had persistent fleeting tinnitus which calmed down into the evening.

 

[Gandalf]

Drinking alcohol has thus far not affected my tinnitus at all; in fact, it tends to improve the symptoms a bit. As someone who doesn't do recreational drugs of any kind, having a drink (one) or a couple of glasses of wine clearly eases the stress related to my recent-onset tinnitus. It's whatever helps or exacerbates your particular symptoms; in my case a little booze helps.

 

[Stenis]

I kept thinking about this today when I went out with friends. My tinnitus somewhat spikes when I drink but I do find it more tolerable, since the worst sound I have is this super high pitched electric sound (17 kHz ish) that is annoying when sober, but when I drink, I get more of a 1-2 kHz tone that drowns out and takes over the super high pitch which I find a lot easier to accept. Makes me wonder if I have to become an alcoholic to make it last or if it will make my symptoms worse in the long run.