Recommended Listen: BBC Longing for Silence

[erik]

I recommend listing to this radio program about tinnitus. I listened to it three times. It is 28 minutes and produced by the BBC about Tinnitus and various treatments. It is a few years old but I think still relevant since much of what is discussed is in use or in trials today. It is the journey of Kate Cook, tinnitus sufferer and mother, who speaks with various top leading tinnitus experts including Berthold Lagguth, David Baguley and Dirk DeRidder on treatments and cure for tinnitus. It was treatments I had already heard of but it is nice to hear the actual researchers giving their perspectives on them and tinnitus.

Topics discussed:
-Origins of tinnitus
-medications
-Transcranial magnetic stimulation to normalize audio cortex (Lagguth)
-Transcranial magnetic stimulation with implanted electrodes (DeRidder)
-CBT and Mindfulness (Baguley)

Longing for Silence

 

[daedalus]

Just a little word: The rTMS Langguth does is to normalize the activity of the cortex, not hearing cells.

 

[erik]

Thanks daedalus

 

[David King]

It was quite interesting maybe if only to raise awareness. It is from 2008 though, so only old news Looking on the bright side, we are only 16 years from a cure now ;P

 

[erik]

Yes, David, the broadcast is a few years old but I think still relevant today. Research in the field of T is very slow and the ideas discussed in the broadcast now have a few years of practice and further research behind them. CBT is still widely recommended part of the course of treatment for T and in the case of rTMS, there is much more research going on today worldwide. Even the ATA is supporting it as evident in this Summer 2012 article.

An actual cure may still be far off but effective treatments could be much sooner. Right now, I am not holding out for a cure since there are rarely cures for any condition especially neuro-based ones. However, effective treatment are in the pipeline and getting to this point is much more realistic.

 

[David King]

Indeed, I am also somewhat hopeful. I read this recently http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23121658 , and as I regularly keep an eye on what's going on I would agree that things are beginning to move faster. Just take a look at the graph to the right and see the exponential growth of the number of articles containing the word "tinnitus" in the title! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=tinnitus[Title]
When large pharmaceutical companies start tackling this issue things will surely start moving even faster.

 

[Waldo Bracamontes]

Is their any update on how the lady on the BBC podcast ended up treating her Tinnitus.?

 

[Paul D]

Good listen. Mike Sadlier's comments about changing the fear and stress responses mirrors one of the ways I've been learning to deal with the onset of a period of unusually high T levels. It does seem to help. "Can I modify my own response to reduce the severity of the situation?" Getting control of one's own reaction to situations, not the situation itself, makes sense; I've utilized similar coping mechanisms in working through other problem areas of my life.

As per above...any news on what's transpired with Kate Cook since the recording was made in 2008?

 

[Roger Cloutier]

I recommend listing to this radio program about tinnitus. I listened to it three times. It is 28 minutes and produced by the BBC about Tinnitus and various treatments. It is a few years old but I think still relevant since much of what is discussed is in use or in trials today. It is the journey of Kate Cook, tinnitus sufferer and mother, who speaks with various top leading tinnitus experts including Berthold Lagguth, David Baguley and Dirk DeRidder on treatments and cure for tinnitus. It was treatments I had already heard of but it is nice to hear the actual researchers giving their perspectives on them and tinnitus.

Topics discussed:
-Origins of tinnitus
-medications
-Transcranial magnetic stimulation to normalize audio cortex (Lagguth)
-Transcranial magnetic stimulation with implanted electrodes (DeRidder)
-CBT and Mindfulness (Baguley)

Longing for Silence

Thanks for this link. I especially could relate to the narrator's claim of, ''living in a therapeutic waste-land'', this production really demonstrates how medicine, healing etc.,is such a big fragmented monolith. We can receive certain cures in specific countries, who may be more ahead of others, in research or in the manner in which they deliver health care etc., It makes me think that the world is still flat when it comes to tinnitus. I too, like the narrator in the BBC production, traveled to other cities, like a modern day Columbus, to find an answer and a cure. I just want to wake up one morning, pick up the newspaper and see on the front page, ''Cure for tinnitus found''.

It's wonderful that some forsee a time in the near future ( 20 yrs ?) when a drug for tinnitus will be found. I'm heartened when I hear that the drug companies are interested in finding a cure now more than ever, mostly because I suppose they see profits coming their way. I guess it also has something to do with the American govt/military being interested now that most of their soldiers are returning from the middle east with tinnitus, and other problems which of course costs them billions.

Mostly I would like to thank ''tinnitus talk'' for being there for me, so I can rant and rave on, and be a place that I can go to. Tonite was a bad nite for me tinnitus-wise, until I received an email from ''tinnitus-talk''.

In finnishing, has anyone ever heard of ''tDCS'' i.e., Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.'' Sorry I don't have a link, but there is a doctor Giriraj Singh Shekharat who endorses the treatment. It looks like ''rTMS'' but isn't quite the same. There is also a scary side, in that treatment involves the use of some equipment/box, cap etc., that one can buy for under $400, and one can do the treatment on one's own. I live in Canada, and tried to get an rTMS treatment at a hospital here and the doctor/psyhchiatrist wouldn't do the procedure because he was afraid that the treatment protocol for treating depression wasn't the same as treating tinnitus. Need I say more !

Roger

 

[Bill Cowherd]

Thanks a lot sharing this, Erik; I find that I have another kindred spirit named Kate Cook... we live on opposite sides of the "pond", but we're hearing the same sounds! I had a break for about 2 hours last week when I didn't hear anything at all... it almost brought tears to my eyes... then it returned with vengeance. I've accumulated a collection of MP 3's of white, pink, purple, etc., noises, rivers, brooks, fountains, and rain storms of various intensities... longing for silence and wishing the people in my life could understand what it's like.

 

[carlover]

This is Kate cook In 2011 ,like all of us still struggling

http://www.deafnessresearch.org.uk/...nnitus-for-25-years-is-tough-says-mum-of-two/

 

[amandine]

This is Kate cook In 2011 ,like all of us still struggling

http://www.deafnessresearch.org.uk/...nnitus-for-25-years-is-tough-says-mum-of-two/

Hi Carlover, Was looking at this to have a listen but cant find Kate Cook article you mention. Could you have a look for me please and send me the link ?
thanks