Solsaem Clinic (Dr. Minbo Shim) Experience

[Jack Straw]

Any additional changes?

 

[GlennS]

I'm actually super surprised I was the first one of us to go try this procedure.

Not everyone has the money to burn on something that untested.

 

[Ecip]

I called two ENTs. One ignored me, the other was an idiot. I asked the secretary to give him a message which was "I just went to Korea and got a procedure done that may restore my hearing and alleviate my tinnitus. HE IS THE ONLY PERSON DOING THIS IN THE WORLD. I'd like to ask the doctor if he knows if injecting PRP into human ears is regulated here in the US." The secretary called me back and said, "Sir, I talked to the doctor and he said we don't do that here." No duh. That wasn't even my question.

My coworker has a friend that is an ENT and he is going to eventually introduce me to him.
I'm really just kinda waiting to see what my overall results are.

Here's an update on my situation:

I've been waffling back and forth daily between my baseline tinnitus and days of almost no tinnitus in which it is just a faint hiss that doesn't bother me in any way shape or form. With the bad days, I can't hear speech in noise very well, as was always the case before the treatment. With the hiss days, I can hear very clearly, I can tell my right ear is very clear, and music sounds normal and good. Before this treatment, I never had the hiss sounds. That is entirely a new phenomenon. Last fall, when I was taking curcumin I was experiencing days of almost silence. Then I went to a coworker's church and it was so loud that I got a terrible month long spike. That was right when I stopped taking curcumin. When that subsided my overall baseline tinnitus was a little worse. So this hiss thing is an interesting change. I still have at least a month to realize the full effects of this, according to Dr. Shim, so I'm holding out hope that good things are happening. Like right now, I'm having a super low tinnitus day and there is only the hiss. If this were to become my new baseline and stay this way, I would be blown away. Only time will tell though.

One thing these changes are doing is confusing the crap out of me about exactly how and why our brains are making these sounds. It cannot be as simple as "Our auditory cortexes are missing input and creating noise where there is none." How does that explain spikes and fluctuations? Is the limbic system involved in fluctuations? Is the damaged parts of my cochlea generating noises to? Maybe someone here knows something I don't.

I'd like to think that it's in the brain, because then, devices like MuteButton would have a good chance at working.

But I fear that it is truly my ears that are somehow fucked... would these devices then still work?

 

[Tom Cnyc]

lol, TDS is real.

Given all the meme-ing, I'd assume you'd have a better sense of humor.

Exchange Trump for Kim Jong-Un with the same joke if it makes you feel better.

 

[JohnAdams]

On this forum you mean? I thought Dr. Shim was quite experienced in this procedure. It seems the ones that had IT stem cell injections have not posted too much about any major improvements in their tinnitus, which would seem to be bad news.

Yeah, the first from the Tinnitus Talk forum. I'm definitely the first American to try it.

 

[Bam]

Yeah, the first from the Tinnitus Talk forum. I'm definitely the first American to try it.

Some of us have pissed away far more money than you gave to Minbo on idiotic crap and total scammers to try and cure this.

You did the right thing John whatever the outcome. You gave yourself hope and a shot at getting your life back and you did it bravely amidst a chorus of naysayers.

I really hope it works mate...... You deserve a good result. But if not. Fuck it. You can still feed your family. You still have a job and a roof over your head. You're still in the game for some bimodal action.

 

[JohnAdams]

Any additional changes?

That's pretty much it. One thing I forgot to mention is that beforehand, I had basically lost the ability to discern the direction that a noise was coming from and that has improved. My right ear feels like it is almost completely recovered. We will see if this feeling is reflected on my audiogram. Something is definitely happening.

One thing I am wondering about is this: Things are sounding clearer, but I keep getting a few days here and there where I will get spikes for no apparent reason and it will feel like I'm back to square one and I'm wondering that if my hearing is being restored, is my brain still creating the tinnitus signal because it just has for so long and it has to get used to the inputs again and rewire itself to chill out when there is no input?

 

[Bam]

That's pretty much it. One thing I forgot to mention is that beforehand, I had basically lost the ability to discern the direction that a noise was coming from and that has improved. My right ear feels like it is almost completely recovered. We will see if this feeling is reflected on my audiogram. Something is definitely happening.

One thing I am wondering about is this: Things are sounding clearer, but I keep getting a few days here and there where I will get spikes for no apparent reason and it will feel like I'm back to square one and I'm wondering that if my hearing is being restored, is my brain still creating the tinnitus signal because it just has for so long and it has to get used to the inputs again and rewire itself to chill out when there is no input?

Minbo's pimped the ears. Now you just need to reboot the brain. Maybe get your kid to whack you over the head a few times. Or ask your wife to run you over.

 

[JohnAdams]

Maybe get your kid to whack you over the head a few times.

Do we have to 'get' the Sun to rise in the morning? Or 'get' the seasons to change?

 

[Ray552]

Hey @JohnAdams how much longer do you have till you do your final audiogram post Minbo shim treatment?

 

[JohnAdams]

Hey @JohnAdams how much longer do you have till you do your final audiogram post Minbo shim treatment?

Like a month.

 

[JohnAdams]

Minbo's pimped the ears.

I seriously hope so.

 

[JohnAdams]

A word of caution: matching my minimal volumed tinnitus frequency is what accentuated and then brought on my current and more chronic condition. I would play the frequency loudly on the piano and be tinnitus free for up to an hour. Then, while utillizing ear buds, I fed a raw audio file of my tinnitus frequency in to my ears at a medium/high volume for about 30 minutes. Oh, you better believe my tinnitus in that area is nearly gone, along with my life.

So what do you think about ACRN then?

 

[Jazzer]

Back to hearing aids... if you like... do they damage one's ears? A good question, I believe...

From my own perspective Daniel:

Being a pro musician I was obviously in the firing line.
I was playing 4 to 5 nights a week for over 50 years - 3 to 4 hours a night
I was still doing okay until one day in mid 2014 when a musician blasted off very loud in my face for just a few seconds.
That acoustic trauma destroyed my hearing.
My life would never be the same again.

Now - knowing that 'volume' caused my acoustic trauma - why on earth would I choose to amplify anything going into my cochleae.
Absolutely no way would I do that.
I have two good sets of hearing aids which I know I will never use.
My actual hearing is not bad.
I never struggle with speech.
Just my view Daniel. x

 

[grate_biff]

Now - knowing that 'volume' caused my acoustic trauma - why on earth would I choose to amplify anything going into my cochleae.

I agree, but you could just use the sound generator part of the hearing aid to mask or try to mask!
I would never amplify anything into my ears either. That's crazy!

 

[Daniel Lion]

On this forum you mean? I thought Dr. Shim was quite experienced in this procedure. It seems the ones that had IT stem cell injections have not posted too much about any major improvements in their tinnitus, which would seem to be bad news.

Nobody had intratympanic stem cell treatments, they had stem cell treatments... Very different.

 

[Daniel Lion]

From my own perspective Daniel:

Being a pro musician I was obviously in the firing line.
I was playing 4 to 5 nights a week for over 50 years - 3 to 4 hours a night
I was still doing okay until one day in mid 2014 when a musician blasted off very loud in my face for just a few seconds.
That acoustic trauma destroyed my hearing.
My life would never be the same again.

Now - knowing that 'volume' caused my acoustic trauma - why on earth would I choose to amplify anything going into my cochleae.
Absolutely no way would I do that.
I have two good sets of hearing aids which I know I will never use.
My actual hearing is not bad.
I never struggle with speech.
Just my view Daniel. x

Thanks bro... Makes sense to me... That was my question and of course I am biased since I agree with your answer.

 

[Daniel Lion]

This sounds like a speech about Trump, paid for by Trump.

Was just being honest man... sorry if you found my words sophomoric or melodramatic... was not my intention.

 

[Ervin64]

Back to hearing aids... if you like... do they damage one's ears? A good question, I believe...

According to my 18 years experiance with them they do not.
I don't have much confidence in allopathic doctors regarding hearing loss and tinnitus, since they are unable to find solution, but still I think they would not suggest hearing aids for poeple with hearing loss if they would further damage our hearing.
I may not be aware of cases of people loosing their hearing due to hearing aid or research that suggest this, but if someone knows please point to it.

 

[Daniel Lion]

According to my 18 years experiance with them they do not.
I don't have much confidence in allopathic doctors regarding hearing loss and tinnitus, since they are unable to find solution, but still I think they would not suggest hearing aids for poeple with hearing loss if they would further damage our hearing.
I may not be aware of cases of people loosing their hearing due to hearing aid or research that suggest this, but if someone knows please point to it.

Thank you kindly for your input... much appreciated.

 

[another sean]

I think they would not suggest hearing aids for poeple with hearing loss if they would further damage our hearing.

If doctors can suggest CT scans which cause cancer, then doctors can suggest hearing aids even though they can cause hearing damage. Many Doctors focus on the immediate solution and ignore the future reproductions of their treatments because by then, you will be out of their office, out of their hands and someone else's problem. Same with pharmaceuticals. Like Xanax, sure it will lower you anxiety, but, oh wait, death is a side effect. Well at least you won't be stressed out if you die from it but hey, the doctor did his job and lowered your anxiety at least.

 

[Ervin64]

If doctors can suggest CT scans which cause cancer, then doctors can suggest hearing aids even though they can cause hearing damage. Many Doctors focus on the immediate solution and ignore the future reproductions of their treatments because by then, you will be out of their office, out of their hands and someone else's problem. Same with pharmaceuticals. Like Xanax, sure it will lower you anxiety, but, oh wait, death is a side effect. Well at least you won't be stressed out if you die from it but hey, the doctor did his job and lowered your anxiety at least.

Hi,
In my case with very long period of using hearing aid there was no further damage to my hearing. That is why I am interested if somebody maybe know of any such cases or research.

 

[just1morething]

Nobody had intratympanic stem cell treatments, they had stem cell treatments... Very different.

I'm pretty sure they all had stem cells injected through their eardrum as far as what I recall. In Asia as well as one in Europe. What good would stem cells do if not injected Intratympanically? I had IT injections of steroids at Paparella and Shea in the past.

 

[Jazzer]

We absolutely know to our cost that noise damage (volume) causes stereo cilia nerve death, and creates Tinnitus.

Having Tinnitus, as we do, does anybody out there think it's a great idea to increase the volume?

Really ??

 

[JohnAdams]

I'm pretty sure they all had stem cells injected through their eardrum as far as what I recall. In Asia as well as one in Europe. What good would stem cells do if not injected Intratympanically? I had IT injections of steroids at Paparella and Shea in the past.

Who are you even talking about?

 

[Artemis2K]

Exposure to noise above 80 dB has been proven to cause hearing loss. Depending on the volume, it doesn't matter even if it was brief exposure within a 24hr period. If you don't give your ears rest, and allow them to get out of the temporary threshold shift stage caused by loud noise, you are basically rebooting the temporary threshold shift time length and leading yourself into permanent hearing loss because of the loud noise exposure. Temporary threshold shifts can last days, weeks, and even a month or two in some cases. Hearing aids are not an exception to that rule.

In addition, we found out that there is less such thing as temporary hearing loss than we thought because of the synaptic ribbons degrading over time. Partial regenerative can only go so far.

It is a logical thing to say that hearing aids can cause hearing loss, because they are amplifying the sound, and too much exposure to loud noise will always cause hearing loss.

 

[just1morething]

Who are you even talking about?

Everything gets kinda buried. Some of these people from Tinnitus Talk had stem cell treatment, but not all through the eardrum.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/unique-access-medical-in-thailand.21525/page-2#post-
328328

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/unique-access-medical-in-thailand.21525/page-2#post-325439

 

[GregCA]

If doctors can suggest CT scans which cause cancer, then doctors can suggest hearing aids even though they can cause hearing damage.

Doctors suggest a CT scan when they assess that the risk of ionizing radiation is worth taking vs not having the imaging data and running a higher risk somewhere else.

Any procedure carries a risk. If you're not comfortable with it, don't move forward with it, but it's the doctor's job to tell you what they would recommend. If you feel you know better than them, you can absolutely override them. They will not force you into a CT machine.

That being said, imaging technology such as X-Rays, CT, MRI, etc... have done wonders to save people from really bad outcomes by giving doctors the ability to see what is going on "inside a person" without having to open them up.

Anecdotal evidence: the CT scan of my temporal bone was a key element in my diagnosis of otosclerosis. My hearing (and most likely tinnitus) would undoubtedly be in a much worse shape if I hadn't gone through that imaging process (and found an experienced doctor capable of reading it correctly).

It is a logical thing to say that hearing aids can cause hearing loss, because they are amplifying the sound, and too much exposure to loud noise will always cause hearing loss.

Here's something you should know to rethink that logic: hearing aids do not amplify all sounds. If a sound is already loud it doesn't amplify it. They are configured to keep whatever power they emit under a certain threshold, specifically to avoid the dangerous condition you describe.

What is true, however, is that certain amplifiers that are sold over the counter as "hearing aids" for very little money do not have this safety circuitry and can be dangerous. However, I am not aware of any audiologist (or any professional working in official health channels) offering devices that do not have this safety measure.

 

[JohnAdams]

Everything gets kinda buried. Some of these people from Tinnitus Talk had stem cell treatment, but not all through the eardrum.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/unique-access-medical-in-thailand.21525/page-2#post-
328328

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/unique-access-medical-in-thailand.21525/page-2#post-325439

Whoa you had a hole burned into your eardrum? What did they put in there?

 

[just1morething]

Whoa you had a hole burned into your eardrum? What did they put in there?

Dexamethasone at Paparella in the Twin Cities. Dr. there just used some numbing agent I believe and then a needle syringe (hurt like hell) Shea Ear Clinic in Memphis TN used a laser to make the holes (very little pain) Not exactly sure what they injected at Shea (probably dexamethasone, lidocaine etc.) but it was injected into left ear only at both places. I had a high pitched whine in my left ear.

I would suppose Shea would be close to where you live but I don't think they do IT injections for tinnitus anymore. This was in July 2011.