Tinnitus Expert Doesn't Think My Tinnitus Is Related to Orgasms

[mick]

@Penelope, my thoughts are simply this: its your body and you know more about what happens within it than anyone else in the world. If you believe that there is a connection between your excessive self pleasuring and your tinnitus, then I believe you. That's not to say that I think that everyone who masturbates, even excessively, is taking a high risk of getting tinnitus.

I think a key point is that you are not helping yourself by beating yourself up over it. We all make mistakes and have to live with them.

I'll add that I wouldn't waste any time trying to convince a doctor or any other medical professional that masturbation caused your tinnitus. Its not mainstream, and they are very unlikely going to be able to do anything with that information. They will likely try to do as most people have done that you have mentioned this to: try to tell you that such connection is highly unlikely. Clearly that doesn't help you either.

I'm glad to see you post about this, and express your belief. Maybe someone will also make the same connection as you at some point in time and figure this whole mess out because of it.

Were you taking antidepressants to treat your depression during this time of excessive pleasuring? There is a strong connection between SSRI medications and sexual urges and arousal. For some people it kills their libido. For others it increases it - particularly early on in the treatment. In the pre-Viagra days, SSRIs were commonly used (and probably still are) by pornography stars to allow them to do multiple takes of their scenes and delay orgasm. There is a balance of when and how much of such drugs to take that each actor found for themselves through trial and error. Too much of the drug and things went dead, so to speak.

mick

 

[Penelope33]

@Penelope, my thoughts are simply this: its your body and you know more about what happens within it than anyone else in the world. If you believe that there is a connection between your excessive self pleasuring and your tinnitus, then I believe you. That's not to say that I think that everyone who masturbates, even excessively, is taking a high risk of getting tinnitus.

I think a key point is that you are not helping yourself by beating yourself up over it. We all make mistakes and have to live with them.

I'll add that I wouldn't waste any time trying to convince a doctor or any other medical professional that masturbation caused your tinnitus. Its not mainstream, and they are very unlikely going to be able to do anything with that information. They will likely try to do as most people have done that you have mentioned this to: try to tell you that such connection is highly unlikely. Clearly that doesn't help you either.

I'm glad to see you post about this, and express your belief. Maybe someone will also make the same connection as you at some point in time and figure this whole mess out because of it.

Were you taking antidepressants to treat your depression during this time of excessive pleasuring? There is a strong connection between SSRI medications and sexual urges and arousal. For some people it kills their libido. For others it increases it - particularly early on in the treatment. In the pre-Viagra days, SSRIs were commonly used (and probably still are) by pornography stars to allow them to do multiple takes of their scenes and delay orgasm. There is a balance of when and how much of such drugs to take that each actor found for themselves through trial and error. Too much of the drug and things went dead, so to speak.

mick

Maybe I should have been on drugs to kill sexual urges! You're the first person to really believe me in my cause thought. Sometimes the human body sucks ..... Pleasure = pain :-( suppose moderation is really key.

 

[jchinnis]

It could possibly be the spinal fluid leak. Tinnitus often appears some time after the cause. A leak can definitely cause tinnitus, though yours sounds minor.

It's even possible the tinnitus came from the MRI noise. It happens, and that can appear days or weeks later.

I do know a woman who had Meniere's disease who reported that she could avoid having attacks of tinnitus, hearing loss, and vertigo by having an orgasm. In her case, it seemed to be protective, and kept her almost symptom free for about a day.

There's been some research on the endocrine changes that occur following orgasm. An example is:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10367606

Tinnitus just happens. Most people develop it for reasons unknown, and they tend to want to attribute it to whatever was happening at the moment. I'm not sure I would blame the tinnitus on anything you did, despite your observing the tinnitus climb and develop during your depression and masturbation sessions. Mine appeared suddenly one gorgeous Spring day while I was standing on my front step looking out at a sunny, delightful day. I was on top of the world at the time.

Further, it's very unlikely that--if you knew what caused your tinnitus--it would make any difference at all in what you could do about it.

Jim

Replying to my own post here.

I just remembered that in grad school I worked briefly with a somewhat famous guy named James Olds. He had mapped out areas of the brain that resulted in a sensation of pleasure when electrically stimulated. He had essentially found a particularly hot place where stimulation essentially produced an instant orgasm. There were lab rats with electrodes permanently implanted in their "hot spots." They had buttons they could press to deliver stimulation.

It was interesting to watch. A rat would spend most of its day pressing the button. It would stop only briefly to eat or attend to other bodily functions.

Those rats were visibly healthier than controls. They also lived longer. We never noticed any complaints about tinnitus.

Jim