Vitamin A Deficiency Linked to Tinnitus

[cantletgo]

I've had Tinnitus for over half a year now. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's mostly been in the 3-4 range, spiking up to 5-6 for a couple weeks every other month. It started out of "nowhere" so I'm sure it wasn't noise damage. I attribute it more to chronic alcoholism.

Anyway, I recently started supplementing with vitamin A (1500 mg RE / 5000 IUs) a day because daylight started literally killing my eyes, so I thought I'd do something about it. After just a few days of taking vitamin A, I noticed that my T has almost disappeared! Then I researched this phenomenon, of course, and came across this article: http://knowledgeofhealth.com/lack-of-vitamin-a-may-be-overlooked-root-of-tinnitus-and-hearing-loss/

"The body of scientific reports involving vitamin A and hearing loss can be confusing. A three-decades-old report stated that cochleas (spiral-shaped snail shell-like structure of the inner ear) of vitamin A-deficient rats examined under an electron microscope concluded that "vitamin A does not have an important function in the inner ear.

In that same year 50-percent of 59 chronic alcoholic patients without a history of ear infection, noise exposure, use of oto-toxic drugs or a family history of hereditary deafness were found to have a hearing deficit that correlated with low blood levels of vitamin A and zinc.

Another report said: "morphological (form and structure) experiments reveal different and in some ways contradictory results, but they showed that vitamin A seems to be essential for inner ear morphogenesis."​

Very interesting stuff. Vitamin A is very cheap, I just hope this isn't just a temporary result. I also supplement with vitamins D and C but they haven't helped my Tinnitus so far. Have any of you supplemented with vitamins? Which ones? Did it work for you?

 

[DebInAustralia]

Does your t normally fluctuate?

 

[cantletgo]

Yes, there's a pattern to it. It'll be in the 3-4 range for a month or two, then I'll have a week or two in the 5-6 range. But it's never been this low since I developed it, and I'm attributing that to vit. A.

 

[Ecip]

I've tried Vitamin A, hasnt helped me. Glad it works for you. Eat more carrots.

 

[Azariah]

Have any of you supplemented with vitamins? Which ones? Did it work for you?

Thiamine Pyrophosphate improved my T by 85%.

I started a whole thread on this in the Alternative Treatments forum.

Thanks for sharing this info on Vitamin A. VERY interesting research.

(BTW, carrots don't give you Vitamin A. Carrots give you beta carotene, which is converted into Vitamin A in the body. However, not all people can do this well. So, if anyone is going to try supplementing Vitamin A, it is worth supplementing the actual preformed Vitamin A, NOT beta carotene.)