I've posted here a little bit. Tinnitus started all the sudden one night in fall of 2015. while I was sleeping, loud enough to wake me up. It was really bad and got worse. It would change sounds, change volume, switch from ear to ear. I was so anxious I couldn't sleep or eat, lost twenty pounds in two weeks. Went to an audiologist, MD, DO, and Neurologist.
They essentially said that since it came on out of the blue, not noise-induced it might go away on its own, too. In the meantime, nothing much they could do.
Over the course of the next two months it got worse. It started reacting to sound, getting louder like it was competing with outside noise, then It started echoing certain pitches, and my own voice sounded like i was talking through a kazoo. I was getting pretty desperate. I tried the hearing-aid type noise generators, and that seemed to help tone it down a bit, and the echoing and kazoo effect went away. Then I got sick with encephalitis. After that it was a bit quieter most of the time, but would still get very loud sometimes It developed a pattern of a few quiet days followed by a few loud days.
That's where it was summer of 2016, when I was talking to a guy I know who had three very profound NDE's. He has been alarmingly psychic since then. He has told me things that no one had any way of knowing, and given me advice that ignored and ended up regretting. He's also been wrong about some things. He isn't infallible. Anyway, we were talking about my health. Before I could tell him much about it, he told me that the noise comes and goes (correct, and I didn't tell him) and that it wasn't trauma induced.(correct, and I didn't tell him.) He told me that he was getting the idea that it was due to mineral deficiency. He advised me to get mineral supplement drops, mix it in with the vitamins I take every day and see what happened. I don't know if I can give brand names. I was taking a daily vitamin that comes in powdered form. You mix it with water and drink it. It's supposed to be easier for your body to absorb that way. The mineral supplement drops come from a company in Salt Lake City and can be found in a lot of health food stores or ordered on line.
He told me to try doubling up on my vitamin intake, being careful not to overload on vitamin B6, and to add the mineral drops. He said I should see difference in about 40 days. I did. I'm about 50 days into it, and the T is still present, but overall much quieter. On quiet days I'm barely aware of it. Occasionally it disappears completely for a while. Even the loud days are much quieter. Maybe this is just coincidence, but I'm going to stay on it.
I know this sounds pretty woo-woo, but like as I said, the guy has been right on enough things he shouldn't have known that I though it was worth a try. I checked with my PCP before beginning the regimen just to be safe. She was in favor of it.
Here's what I've been doing:
This does seem to be helping, and I'll try to update once a month. If I'm allowed to post the brand names I will.
I've also noticed that if I get at least 6 hours sleep it tends to be quieter.
I know a woman who had almost exactly the same experience I had. Her doctor put her on 25 mg of amitriptyline at bedtime. She said it allowed her to sleep and mostly made the T stop. She says she still hears it sometimes, but at a much more tolerable level. I couldn't try it because I'm on medication that can't be mixed with it, and I don't want to try drugs like that if I can avoid it. I read that one study showed a 90% success rate in reducing or eliminating T with it, but that study has never been duplicated, and I believe most doctors dismiss it these days. I also read that amitriptyline is notorious for causing T, so I'd rather not risk it, personally.
They essentially said that since it came on out of the blue, not noise-induced it might go away on its own, too. In the meantime, nothing much they could do.
Over the course of the next two months it got worse. It started reacting to sound, getting louder like it was competing with outside noise, then It started echoing certain pitches, and my own voice sounded like i was talking through a kazoo. I was getting pretty desperate. I tried the hearing-aid type noise generators, and that seemed to help tone it down a bit, and the echoing and kazoo effect went away. Then I got sick with encephalitis. After that it was a bit quieter most of the time, but would still get very loud sometimes It developed a pattern of a few quiet days followed by a few loud days.
That's where it was summer of 2016, when I was talking to a guy I know who had three very profound NDE's. He has been alarmingly psychic since then. He has told me things that no one had any way of knowing, and given me advice that ignored and ended up regretting. He's also been wrong about some things. He isn't infallible. Anyway, we were talking about my health. Before I could tell him much about it, he told me that the noise comes and goes (correct, and I didn't tell him) and that it wasn't trauma induced.(correct, and I didn't tell him.) He told me that he was getting the idea that it was due to mineral deficiency. He advised me to get mineral supplement drops, mix it in with the vitamins I take every day and see what happened. I don't know if I can give brand names. I was taking a daily vitamin that comes in powdered form. You mix it with water and drink it. It's supposed to be easier for your body to absorb that way. The mineral supplement drops come from a company in Salt Lake City and can be found in a lot of health food stores or ordered on line.
He told me to try doubling up on my vitamin intake, being careful not to overload on vitamin B6, and to add the mineral drops. He said I should see difference in about 40 days. I did. I'm about 50 days into it, and the T is still present, but overall much quieter. On quiet days I'm barely aware of it. Occasionally it disappears completely for a while. Even the loud days are much quieter. Maybe this is just coincidence, but I'm going to stay on it.
I know this sounds pretty woo-woo, but like as I said, the guy has been right on enough things he shouldn't have known that I though it was worth a try. I checked with my PCP before beginning the regimen just to be safe. She was in favor of it.
Here's what I've been doing:
- Morning- 20 drops of mineral drops mixed in with powdered multi-vitamin & 1 magnesium malate capsule.
- Noon- 1 multi-b vitamin capsule, 1 magnesium malate capsule.
- Evening - 20 drops of mineral drops mixed in with powdered multi-vitamin & 1 magnesium malate capsule.
This does seem to be helping, and I'll try to update once a month. If I'm allowed to post the brand names I will.
I've also noticed that if I get at least 6 hours sleep it tends to be quieter.
I know a woman who had almost exactly the same experience I had. Her doctor put her on 25 mg of amitriptyline at bedtime. She said it allowed her to sleep and mostly made the T stop. She says she still hears it sometimes, but at a much more tolerable level. I couldn't try it because I'm on medication that can't be mixed with it, and I don't want to try drugs like that if I can avoid it. I read that one study showed a 90% success rate in reducing or eliminating T with it, but that study has never been duplicated, and I believe most doctors dismiss it these days. I also read that amitriptyline is notorious for causing T, so I'd rather not risk it, personally.
