The Gastrointestinal Tinnitus Connection

[Blackbird26]

Alot of people don't realize they have too much acid from initially not producing enough acid...Like my doctor explained to me when Inwas a teen..I was having break outs like most teens do..well she explained that because my skin was dry my body would over produce oil and thus lead to break outs..so to use moisturizer along with acne wash...It's all about creating a proper balance..She was right and my skin cleared up and I still have nice skin at 37....Anyways for a proper balance to create a neutral environment use Apple Cider Vinegar.

PPIs can lead to serious side effects. .Put it this way, the acid in your stomach is killing of bad bacteria and if there isn't enough of that acid from using a PPI that bacteria starts to build up in your intestinal track. Ailments like SIBO or leaky gut syndrome can occur and then your body will cease to absorb important vitamins and minerals plus cause a myriad of very uncomfortable symptoms..

 

[Natalie Roberts]

a connection between the gallbladder / kidneys / liver and the vestibular pressure people have in their ears. There is a lot of conversation online these days about this connection, with people on herbal supplement communities noticing improvements to one of these systems impacts another, to even medical practitioners talking about the connection between alkali vs. acid-producing foods and their general allergic and inflammatory responses. For Eastern Medicine, there are several approaches to dealing with Tinnitus that is caused by G.I. disturbances:

1. Acupuncture, to alleviate ear, neck, and head muscle pressures aggravated by acids and chemicals.
2. Nutritional supplements, to improve the function of the kidneys, gall-bladder, and liver.
3. Sleep, diet, and exercise.

I just saw a Dr of Acupuncture and herbalist for the first time a few days ago and she told me with all my other symptoms (some of which include chest pain & palpitations) that my gallbladder/liver and gastrointestonal systems probably weren't working as well as they should be. She did the points on my legs, head and ear to work on my digestive system and gave me supplements Beta-TCP and Hydro-Zyme both by Biotics Research Corporation. She told me she believed she could help all of my symptoms with the supplements and continued acupuncture. Now, I don't know if she's right and I haven't started the supplements because I need to check with my OB-GYN first BUT it matches what the article above says..

Ingredients of Hydro-Zyme are:
Vitamin B6
Betaine Hydrochloride
Glutaminc acid
Ammonium Chloride
Pancreatin 4x
Pepsin

Ingredients of Beta-TCP
Vitamin C
Taurine
Pancrelipase
Oraganic Beet concentrate
Superoxide Dimutase (From vegetable culture)
Catalase

Both supplements are for gallblader/digestive health and to make sure you have enough good acid in your stomach.

 

[Ordgar]

Hello GI/tinnitus community, I just thought I'd share how I healed my gallbladder. Please note I'm not a doctor so this is not medical advice, I'm just sharing my experiences.

I too have both GI issues and tinnitus, in addition to hematuria. I now know that I have leaky gut syndrome and gut dysbiosis as diagnosed with testing by my naturopath and integrative doctor. I also know that I have over 20 food allergies as identified by my allergist, which probably arose from the leaky gut. However, when I first got sick I had no clue what was going on with me.

I went on the Atkins diet back in 2011 and I lost weight rapidly, losing about 20 lbs over 2 months but then that's when my problems started. I started hurting all over, my gut, my flanks, groin, and especially my gallbladder and the area of my back behind my gallbladder. My stools turned into a tan color, had undigested food in them, and floated. I knew I was in trouble.

I went to the doctor, where he found the hematuria. Another doctor ordered an ultrasound, but the ultrasound didn't find anything. So I probably didn't have gallbladder sludge, but from the tan stools that floated and the gallbladder pain it was obvious that something was wrong with my gallbladder and something had to be done with it. I'm guessing it probably is a lazy gallbladder, but I it's based on what I just described and not a diagnostic test or anything.

I tried googling it and found Julia Chang's tinctures for healing gallbladder disease. Some of the herbal tinctures include coptis, curcoma, and gentian. I took these tinctures and 2 days later I developed tinnitis, a condition I still have 4+ years later. I immediately stopped taking the tinctures thinking that it gave me the tinnitis.

I told yet another doctor about the pain and he suggested I try yoga at least for the back pain. It was wonderful, it took away 60% of my pain and my gallbladder would stop hurting for a couple hours afterwards. It was only temporary relief from the gallbladder pain but it was more than welcome.

Then I tried googling some more. I found that pectin was good for gallbladders. I went straight to the source and ate apples, which also temporarily relieved the gallbladder pain. However, I desired a more permanent solution.

More googling searching revealed that a couple people stopped the gallbladder pain with a year's worth of weekly acupuncture. That sounded good to me! So I went straight to the acupuncturist and saw her every week. I could tell it was working because the pain and the stools would gradually get better. About a year and a half later the gallbladder pain went away!

However, I would notice the gallbladder pain would come back every few months so I would go back to the acupuncturist every now and then.

Then I was tested for and diagnosed with food allergies, leaky gut, and intestinal dysbiosis. After I avoided the foods I was allergic to and started taking probiotics and digestive supplements, I got rid of not just the gallbladder pain but all the other pain for good.

Hopefully this was helpful. Now I just have to get rid of this tinnitus...

 

[bjl]

I hope folks are still monitoring this thread. I also have GI problems + tinnitus. My tinnitus is pretty light and sometimes includes a light clicking sound which doesn't bother me all that much. Although it is a constant reminder that something is wrong. I'm told the clicking sound is a classic symptom of muscle spasms somewhere in the auditory canal. I also suffered from heart palpitations (arhythmias) that were clearly related to GI issues since I almost always had a "gurgling stomach" during the times I had heard palpitations. The palpitations were picked up by a Holter monitor, but the cardiologist said they were minor "vagaly mediated" palpitations and were nothing to worry about. I pointed out the correlation with my GI issues and he said that there was definitely a correlation between reflux and palpitations that is not well understood yet. I haven't experienced the palpitations for quite some time.

At this point, I'm having difficulty putting my finger on what my GI problems actually are. The worst part is waking up multiple times during the night with some chest pain and some anxiety. And sometimes the reflux feels like it has reached my throat. Even when I don't feel that, I usually wake up with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'm working with a functional medicine doctor who has determined that I have gut dysbiosis. I've been working on correcting that for a while now although it hasn't improved my GI symptoms much.

I noticed a number of posters mentioned gallbladder issues. How was it determined that your gallbladder function may have been a problem?

I'm also in the Boston area by the way...

Thanks.

 

[Res]

I haven't read all the thread, apologies if replicating information.
My tinnitus came on after using aspirin, it's decreasing now after using red light. Ray Peat PhD has been quoted as saying high serotonin and endotoxin are necessary for tinnitus (at least in some instances). Endotoxin is produced in the GI tract from certain bacteria, it has many correlations to chronic disease. Serotonin is increased as an inflammatory defense against endotoxin, it flushes the gut. Aspirin causes tissue permeability, including in the ear. Endotoxin cause damage to the inner ear. To lower endotoxin eat easily digestible foods, limit starch and undigestible fibres. Citrus bioflavonoids like naringenen protect against endotoxin damage, as does the antihistamine cyproheptadine. In worse cases antibiotics might be beneficial *some may be linked to tinnitus*.
http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/detalhe_artigo.asp?id=156

 

[Lisa88]

Some good results on t with intermittent fasting in terms of detox and relaxing CNS/rebooting system.
See thread on this forum.

 

[Purple Parrot]

Yes there is DEFINITELY a connection in some people between GI tract and tinnitus.

I did the "Clean Gut" diet by Alejandro Junger for 3 weeks and in that time, the tinnitus piped right down. It is an elimination diet which gives your gut a chance to heal, by removing potential inflammatory foods from the diet temporarily and introducing supplements. It is similar to a paleo diet, although pea protein, lentils and quinoa are permitted in moderate quantities, whilst coffee, alcohol and most fruits (excepting berries) are not.

Upon reintroducing foods I normally eat into my diet I discovered I had an intolerance to wheat. Unpleasant gastro symptoms and...ringggggggg....

I virtually never hear my tinnitus these days, but eating anything containing wheat will set it off.

Actually, I haven't had tinnitus all week and for lunch today I made the mistake of having a pita bread kebab (with normal wheat flour). Tinnitus has been spiking all afternoon/evening as a result...urrrrgh.

 

[valeri]

I haven't read all the thread, apologies if replicating information.
My tinnitus came on after using aspirin, it's decreasing now after using red light. Ray Peat PhD has been quoted as saying high serotonin and endotoxin are necessary for tinnitus (at least in some instances). Endotoxin is produced in the GI tract from certain bacteria, it has many correlations to chronic disease. Serotonin is increased as an inflammatory defense against endotoxin, it flushes the gut. Aspirin causes tissue permeability, including in the ear. Endotoxin cause damage to the inner ear. To lower endotoxin eat easily digestible foods, limit starch and undigestible fibres. Citrus bioflavonoids like naringenen protect against endotoxin damage, as does the antihistamine cyproheptadine. In worse cases antibiotics might be beneficial *some may be linked to tinnitus*.
http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/detalhe_artigo.asp?id=156

What about juicing? Good or not really?

 

[Res]

IF could reduce endotoxin, not how I would go about it though even if I miss the cortisol high. Seeds and legumes will increase it.

What about juicing? Good or not really?

Depends on the juice and the person, orange juice will have some of the citrus flavinoids. Raw green juices are generally anti-thyroid.

 

[Jaybilarydyskin]

Hello!

This thread is a conversation about symptoms, treatments, and approaches to dealing with Tinnitus that is caused or aggravated by gastrointestinal issues (especially those afflicting the gallbladder, liver, pancreas, and stomach).

Background

Because Tinnitus is a symptom, and not a cause, many medical practitioners encourage us to find the causes of our Tinnitus and address it whenever possible; most causes of Tinnitus are very difficult, if not impossible, to diagnose because Tinnitus is a neurological response to some sort of aggravating biological condition. And while the causes of Tinnitus are open to widespread disagreement in the medical community, there has been considerable scholarship about how to narrow down what is causing your Tinnitus -- as elucidated in the flowchart provided by @Fish in this thread.

Inflammation, a Personal Case Review

This thread focuses on inflammation and how to address through treatments, protocols, and regimens the various causes of inflammation. In my case, I've successfully diagnosed and begun treating chronic inflammation and/or infection as at least exacerbating causes of my Tinnitus, and I've been responding well to traditional treatments designed to help lessen this inflammation (antibiotics and steroids - namely, amoxicillin and prednisone). For more information about these approaches, please check out @engineerLA's protocols and supplements thread. But what actually set all of this off still left me wondering: what happened? Was this really just an ear infection that went inflammatory? It got me thinking, researching, and evaluating, and I'm starting to think there's a connection that I had previously dismissed. Aside from being generally 'unhealthy' (physically inactive, sedentary, and working in a high-stress job), the only medical conditions that I had for about 30 days prior to acquiring my Tinnitus on November 2, 2014, was a case of gallbladder "sludge" (gallbladder bilary dyskinesia) that has been causing heart palpitations. These episodes were pretty awful back in October -- they robbed me of weeks of sleep and surged my stress levels to extremely high levels for over a month. When I awoke on November 2nd, I heard the familiar high-pitched ringing in both ears (though more prominently on the left) that many of us do now. I have largely dismissed my GI issues as being unrelated to Tinnitus, but as I've been learning what is causing my Tinnitus and the sorts of medications, treatments, and protocols to which I respond (things like anti-inflammatory medications, neti pot irrigation of my sinuses and Eustachian tubes, at least eight hours of sleep a night, diet and exercise, etc.), I'm beginning to notice common conversations among sufferers of inflammation-aggravated (either ETD or TMJD-driven) Tinnitus:

Gastrointestinal issues.

Eastern Medicine and Tinnitus

@engineerLA first came across inflammation as one of the underlying causes that had given him 6 months of Tinnitus (which he later cured through a powerful anti-inflammatory regimen of norepinephrine) in this thread on Tibetan medicine's take on Tinnitus, wherein he outlines some of Eastern Medicine's take on possible causes of Tinnitus and how to address them. An underlying theme here is a connection between the gallbladder / kidneys / liver and the vestibular pressure people have in their ears. There is a lot of conversation online these days about this connection, with people on herbal supplement communities noticing improvements to one of these systems impacts another, to even medical practitioners talking about the connection between alkali vs. acid-producing foods and their general allergic and inflammatory responses. For Eastern Medicine, there are several approaches to dealing with Tinnitus that is caused by G.I. disturbances:

1. Acupuncture, to alleviate ear, neck, and head muscle pressures aggravated by acids and chemicals.
2. Nutritional supplements, to improve the function of the kidneys, gall-bladder, and liver.
3. Sleep, diet, and exercise.

While often dismissed by mainstream medical practitioners, Eastern Medicine has been known to help a lot of people and even cure people of chronic conditions. Some in the American Tinnitus Association suspect that there are underlying biological processes that most ENTs and Neurologists don't really understand that Eastern Medicine addresses through the lens of non-medical terms (such as "balance," "disturbances," "wind," and "chi"). And so, I'd like to start a conversation around how we can try and figure out what G.I. issues might be connected with inflammation and Tinnitus, and whether there are approaches to dealing with both of these through the same lens.

Questions:

• How many of you with inflammation have tried Agar-35, Bimala, or any of the other extract supplements that @engineerLA has previously discussed? Did you notice significant improvements, like he did? I am tempted to try this, because antibiotics and prednisone may not be enough to definitively resolve my Tinnitus, so I'm looking to find ways to more readily silence it.
  
  
• Has anyone else noticed a connection between G.I. and Tinnitus? Is there any good reading, scholarship, or research that you can point me to?
  
  
• What about chiropractors or acupuncture? Have any of you had success with these, while also having underlying G.I. issues? I am considering seeing an Acupuncturist and Chiropractor to work on my inflammation issues, because many of these are connected with muscular tension and acids or chemicals in the body.
  
  
• Following the diagnosis of my gallbladder "sludge," I will soon be seeing a surgeon for a consult on potentially removing my gallbladder (though I hope that won't be necessary and there might be other ways to resolve this disorder). Does anyone know anything about the connection between gallbladder issues / gallstones and Tinnitus?

Thanks for your thoughts. I would love to hear if anyone else has done research, thinking, or even treatments/experimentation on this vein of work the way that others have.

Thanks!

@Kaelon,
Nice to see your message. I have non working gallbladder with ejection fraction as 0%. I do have ringing in ear for 5 seconds once in a week. Did you remove the gallbladder?

 

[Kaelon]

@Kaelon,
Nice to see your message. I have non working gallbladder with ejection fraction as 0%. I do have ringing in ear for 5 seconds once in a week. Did you remove the gallbladder?

Hi there! No, I have not had my gallbladder removed (and I believe, if memory serves, my ejection-fraction was in the very high teens when I had my first real gall bladder crisis). I still have palpitations every day when I lay down, but if I don;'t eat anything after 2 pm, I don't. Not a problem, though, as I have gotten used to it. Tinnitus is entirely habituated for me, but improvements to my lifestyle have led to further reductions in the volume. I am convinced that the GI connection with Tinnitus -- either inflammatory, chemical, or both -- is real. It may take time for us to adjust our lifestyles to bring the body back into healing mode.

 

[ali_r]

Can I just add my two cents to this thread.
I have some form of enteropathic arthritis caused by leaky gut / dysbiosis (and high blood count of rheumatoid factor), and haven't knowingly eaten gluten for four years now. Being gluten free means that I can walk without pain. I am also hypothyroid (i.e. by symptoms), but euthyroid according to the docs. And I am overweight. All of these things are linked in some sort of endocrinological nightmare, I believe.

But... The thing that stops my tinnitus is to not eat starch. At all. I have only recently discovered this.

Starch is in almost all of the drugs / supplements you swallow. So all of mine have been tested with iodine and most have been chucked out (search the kickas.org forum for how to do this this, and also the link between arthitis and starch and klebsiella bacteria in the gut http://www.kickas.org/). Starch is obviously also in starchy foods like potatoes and rice and bread. And in just about any processed food you will find on the supermarket shelf.

I know that there have been links drawn between sugar or carbs and tinnitus, but I am not aware of much research having shown links between starch specifically and tinnitus. In my case the reaction is within half an hour of eating, and can last for days.

I know there are many different causes for tinnitus, so this will not be relevant for everyone. But it certainly works for me. The problem then is to stick to a starch-free diet. Gluten free is bad enough. It is not easy

 

[AlexY]

It started for me about 9 years ago at work it was before Christmas time. I had an ear infection and was taking antibiotics. Had to pop one capsule right after lunch at work. One day after few days taking this medicine - right after my meal with the pill - I heard loud pitch in my head... It lasted about 15 minutes and then it was gone. Then next day was the same thing - right after lunch and 15-20 minutes again and then gone. And so it was for about 5 days, and what noticeable is - by then I stopped taking the antibiotic but it kept doing it for me right after I was taking lunch. Then after total 8 days (maybe) it pitched again and never was off since then. Loud pitch about 10 kHz frequency in my head. It is in the head (not in the ears). I noticed sound frequency changes after I am taking meal to few kHz higher and then lower. It doesn't stop when I sleep, even if I wake-up at night 3 AM - it is loud as hell. I did chiro, acupuncture, checked my ears - no one has clue.
All I figured was - it is somehow tied to my meal taking process.

Regards,

Alex Y.

 

[Graham1234]

Do you have a suggestion for a good doctor to look at @awbw8 diet and nutrition?

Have a mix of tinnitus, silent reflux, inflammation of throat and neck and vocal chord issues. My hunch is they are all connected. I have had the Nessen procedure (surgery on esophogus) to prevent heart burn but symptoms continue.

Interested in finding capable doctor to advise on diet.

Tried Keto which seemed to be helping.

Hi @Kaelon

I think this is a wonderful thread. My doctor's mantra to me is "70% of your immune system is in your gut." My psychiatrist, "90% of your serotonin is in your gut." What I've learned from working with them is that everything is affected by the health of your gastrointestinal system.

If you've been thinking about acupuncture, I would definitely give it a go. I had unbelievable benefit from it for inflammation/pain twice in my life instances where western medicine just masked my symptoms or recommended surgery. I do not think acupuncture is a magic fix-all, but it has been nigh miraculous in those instances. I would make sure whoever you go to is truly, passionately trained in it though. An MD who took a short certification may not give you the same results as an expert who does only that. I do not think acupuncture is going to help a lot for T like mine (from noise exposure), but you might find benefit for yours and it's definitely extremely calming.

I'm not sure fasting is necessarily healthy, but a dedicated, researched, appropriate-for-your-body diet change can change your life and body. I was having some gastrointestinal and immune issues and my doctor put me on a diet that she developed in her research to support ideal liver function (and general body function.) She created the diet, the supplemental nutrients and walked me through a rather large binder of her supporting research and taught me about liver function. She tested me for food/chemical sensitivities that allergy tests wouldn't find. So I knew what was helpful to my body specifically. If you have a food sensitivity to brocolli - it's not healthy, no matter how healthy it is objectively.

I did this for 30 days and felt the best I have at any point in my life. Things that had been bothering me in small ways in my body all but disappeared and large issues were greatly calmed. My mood changed, my skin cleared, my energy was up, my tinnitus got a little quieter - all things were working in harmony. The diet wasn't restrictive of calories etc. it was a better way of eating for my body based on research and it was/is miraculous. Doing something like that might be extra beneficial for you, though I think it's good for anyone. Maybe also find someone who will do a food sensitivity or allergy test for you - you might be having minor reactions to things that you can't see, but your body notices and causes inflammation. Every little bit of new info helps.

So all I can say is that I think you hit the nail on the head with this - many roads lead to the gut.

 

[DebInAustralia]

Do you have a suggestion for a good doctor to look at @awbw8 diet and nutrition?

Have a mix of tinnitus, silent reflux, inflammation of throat and neck and vocal chord issues. My hunch is they are all connected. I have had the Nessen procedure (surgery on esophogus) to prevent heart burn but symptoms continue.

Interested in finding capable doctor to advise on diet.

Tried Keto which seemed to be helping.

I don't have a practioner's name in mind for you to refer to given we are probably in different countries.

However, I would start with your gut microbiome. I have had mine recently tested through an Australian lab and am being treated with specific probiotics, and gut herbs accordingly.

I have tested positive for MARcons (chronic infection in my sinuses) both bacterial and fungal. This heightens the possibility of a biotoxin illness. So I am additionally, taking antimicrobials/antifungals (herbs) to address this.

You could look at chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). Dr Shoemaker has written extensively about this phenomenon.

You probably know that the majority of your immune system lives in the lining of your gut, so it makes sense to rectify leaky gut first.

The diet is dictated by your microbiome profile, so it is hard to specify a universal one.

You need to question why inflammation exists in the first place. For me, it is chronic infection (lyme and coinfections). Many of my symptoms are secondary to the infection such as mast cell activation/histamine excess. By the way, histamine is inflammatory (difficult to test for, as is the enzyme that breaks it down - DAO - because it changes from moment to moment), and is capable of causing the symptoms you mention. You could trial some DAO and get on a histamine lowering diet. Some bugs can actually cause histamine excess, which is why gut microbiome testing is helpful. There is a product called toxaprevent, that helps to eliminate excess histamine and metals for your consideration.

There are tests available to examine your cytokines (pro inflammatory and inflammatory chemical messengers), which will help you determine if you are Th1 or Th2 dominant. This can then guide you in treating the inflammation. The other thing you could do is consider taking herbs that are known to reduce the cytokine cascade such as curcumin with piperine.

If I think of anything else, and you find this helpful, ill add to this thread later. x

 

[cbenny]

Looks like this conversation went dormant a couple of years ago but I just stumbled on it. I have GI issues stemming from mold exposure, H. Pylori, and parasite infection (all resolved.) My first symptom was tinnitus. Recently had a HIDA scan -- function is 4.8%, super low. I've noticed, however, that my tinnitus is much softer when I haven't eaten.

Deciding whether or not to try and heal the gallbladder or take it out.

I am curious how gallbladder treatment has affected people's tinnitus.

 

[Lane]

Deciding whether or not to try and heal the gallbladder or take it out

Hey @cbenny -- There are a number of easy ways to heal and restore normal gall bladder function. Unless it's massively infected and/or beyond healing for some reason (which I very much doubt), I think you'd be better off to forego any thought of having it removed until you experimented with some very simple things. If you go beyond the easy and simple, there are some other therapies that would likely work even better.

In case anybody is interested:

 

[bigfoot]

Looks like this conversation went dormant a couple of years ago but I just stumbled on it. I have GI issues stemming from mold exposure, H. Pylori, and parasite infection (all resolved.) My first symptom was tinnitus. Recently had a HIDA scan -- function is 4.8%, super low. I've noticed, however, that my tinnitus is much softer when I haven't eaten.

Deciding whether or not to try and heal the gallbladder or take it out.

I am curious how gallbladder treatment has affected people's tinnitus.

How did you treat your mold exposure and how was it diagnosed?

 

[Chris4663]

@Kaelon, I've been reading the gastrointestinal links you mentioned and I think I clicked on a different forum subject. I also have tinnitus that is bad in the morning but the next day will be at a 1-2. I've been writing down my sleep and food and can't find a connection either. Wondering where you're at with your research? Thank you.