Tinnitus anyone?

ANDYVH said:

Anyone have any success with the miracle cure vitamin/drugs available online? I really doubt any of it is effective in the least way, but I am curious if it does anything to reduce the effect?

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There are some medical causes (illness) for tinnitus, as opposed to that caused by noise exposure, though noise damage is by far the most common cause. Some medical instances can be helped by the "miracle cures". Again, your Dr. will be able to help you with that issue.
Marketing will sell alot of that stuff!

Yeah, I guessed as much. I have no blood pressure issues, no trauma issues, only noise I really subjected myself to was 42 years of riding, much of that behind windshields and wearing a full face helmet. So the ringing has been with me for 20+ years. Given what other people have to deal with in life, I can't complain.

Mine is a constant high pitched tone that was greatly exacerbated one 400 mile day two years ago on the RT with shield down due to hot weather, and no earplugs. It took 6 months for it to settle down and for the ears to lose the hypersensitivity. I realized after that how damaging the wind noise coming off a fairing is. That constant roar is very damaging.

Surprised no one has mentioned that excessive salt intake or caffeine will make it worse. Very obvious to me and my ENT confirmed. Probably due to BP increase.

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Lots of good info, Hey where is the guy with the cure??
There has been lots of attempts for a cure through "quackery" doctoring. Some of the so-called cures are really medieval.
Almost makes me want to change the name of this thread to Tinnitus-everyone.

jrbelknap said:

Surprised no one has mentioned that excessive salt intake or caffeine will make it worse. Very obvious to me and my ENT confirmed.

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I'm doomed...more so on the java...whatdidja say?

My ears have been ringing for years due to hammers and air chisels in body shops. I had mu worse hearing problem a few years ago when I went to the NASCAR night race at Bristol and forgot my ear plugs. Couldn't hear right for 3 days. Last race I attended even though the track is only 50 or so miles from me.

Bobmws said:

There are some medical causes (illness) for tinnitus, as opposed to that caused by noise exposure, though noise damage is by far the most common cause. Some medical instances can be helped by the "miracle cures". Again, your Dr. will be able to help you with that issue.
Marketing will sell alot of that stuff!

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I had to go to both an AUD and ENT to do just that. Rule out or rule in a medical reason which they may be able to treat.

jrbelknap said:

Mine is a constant high pitched tone that was greatly exacerbated one 400 mile day two years ago on the RT with shield down due to hot weather, and no earplugs. It took 6 months for it to settle down and for the ears to lose the hypersensitivity. I realized after that how damaging the wind noise coming off a fairing is. That constant roar is very damaging.

Surprised no one has mentioned that excessive salt intake or caffeine will make it worse. Very obvious to me and my ENT confirmed. Probably due to BP increase.

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Both the AUD and ENT went over that too with a verbal and written questionnaire about the salt and caffeine. BP is very good. There was also a battery of blood tests they did to look for medical reasons that might cause the tinnitus. When you find out some of the things on the list that can cause it, you're glad to find out it's likely from noise exposure over the years and can be treated with noise generators/hearing aids.

Many of us with milder forms of tinnitus can ignore it much of the time. (I sure have enough exposure to guns and loud music to explain while it is always there.) When I think about it, especially in a quiet room, "the sound" is always there - EXCEPT TONIGHT. In replying to this thread, I suddenly realized that annoying tone (mostly in my left ear, a little in my right) WAS GONE. I sat around for a few minutes waiting for it to come back and it hasn't. Other than a few glasses of wine this evening and not exposing myself to loud noises during the day (both normal for me) it was a normal day.

Be interesting if this tinnitus break continues, and wonder if any of you other sufferers have experienced something similar to my break. It seems to be a more mysterious problem than loss of hearing from repeated exposure to loud noise.

I've never experienced a break unfortunately. Mine is there pretty much full time with varying degrees of volume, or perhaps I just perceive it to be louder at times.

Sometimes in the night it may even sound like a chorus of crickets! It really is maddening...

Firenailer said:

I've never experienced a break unfortunately. Mine is there pretty much full time with varying degrees of volume, or perhaps I just perceive it to be louder at times.

Sometimes in the night it may even sound like a chorus of crickets! It really is maddening...

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Well, that "soft hiss" in my left ear is back as I type this - not blissfully gone as it was last night. But I didn't even notice it today until I saw the thread and remembered I'd replied to it. I completely understand the pain of you who have much louder tinnitus that never lets up.

Last Sunday I went duck hunting and (unbelievably) forgot my earplugs. I'm sure the reason the tinnitus is worse in my left ear is because, as a right-handed shooter, that is the ear pointed toward the muzzle of the gun, and for years I didn't wear earplugs when hunting. Just stupid, since I did wear them at the gun club. I was actually GLAD the hunting was bad and I only fired five rounds. Went duck hunting again last Wednesday WITH earplugs and managed to get my limit of 8 mallards with 14 shots.

I wonder if all us older riders shake our heads when we read discussions about "how quiet is a helmet?" The answer: they are ALL quiet enough with good earplugs; NONE are quiet enough without them. The younger generations (and many older folks too) have certainly gotten the message about the dangers of smoking. I doubt if the message about hearing loss (and often accompanying tinnitus) when exposed to loud music, loud movies, gunfire, chainsaws, and wind noise when riding a motorcycle has gotten through with anything like the same impact.

OK, I confess. I am still addicted to nicotine. I AM NOT addicted to loud sounds. Loud pipes and wind noise in my ears hold no pleasure for me. Just wonder if for others these ARE pleasures that would be hard to give up - a noise addiction that is hard to kick, even though the loss of hearing is even more certain than the bad effects of smoking.

PS The hiss again went away a minute ago. Too weird.

Mine is thankfully intermittent. I discovered that I actually had hearing loss during an incident in court wherein the judge told me I needed to get my ears checked because everyone else in the courtroom could hear the witness just fine. The diagnosis was conductive hearing loss and it was hereditary. I had surgery and it helped, but I still have brief interludes of tinnitus every day. I usually wear soft earplugs or Arizona Al's molded earplugs on the bike. My Miata is noisier than my bike and helmet. I guess I need a new car.

Your "judge analogy" ticks me off! Whats the good to come from a public official making comments like that when it attacks a disabling condition? Many in our society would have us "pop a new ears pill"? as zero tolerance for others not hearing. When you view all the "accommodation stuff" (access,etc.) in our USA, when it comes to noise, there is more of a lean toward noise pollution than noise solution.
Might be a different & purposeful context if it's the teacher saying , "Johnny pay attention in class"! Otherwise it's plain old demeaning! In many ways(noise exposures I couldn't control) JUDGE-IT'S NOT OUR FAULT! Does the same judge make light of one legged folks that don't come to the bench fast enough? Off my box...

I just KNEW I shouldn't have read this thread a few weeks ago. Have had relatively minor problems with tinnitus for many years. Fire trucks, chainsaws, etc, etc.

5:30AM, awakened by a high pitch squeal that sounded like the smoke detectors going off. Then realized I couldn't really hear anything external to my thick skull. Scale of 1 to 10, about a nine.

Gosh, this sure ain't fun!

Ouch. Did you do something yesterday to trigger it? Loud noises? If not, get your blood pressure checked. I find mine gets worse when BP is raised.

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On MC's & hearing: Few days ago while in KS my cousin gave me a "Hallmark snow globe with a Harley inside". His wife worked in Hallmark factory there & had a case of them on the cheap. No instructions with it , just a switch on the bottom. I open the box, pull it out and wife says, "harley logo might come off & you can call it a BMW?" As she says that: the lights flash and the motor starts up and zoom zooms! I'm sitting at computer holding it & shout again- "Harley"! Lights flash & motor goes zoom zoom!
The damn Harley globe can hear you holler Harley!
I got a MC(well a snow globe MC) with hearing, how ironic huh?

FWIW, the cast metal bike looks like a Chinese Brit bike...

jrbelknap said:

Ouch. Did you do something yesterday to trigger it? Loud noises? If not, get your blood pressure checked. I find mine gets worse when BP is raised.

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Most likely trigger was a bunch of dental work, 2 hours in the chair last week prepping for a crown. Then a one hour appointment yesterday for a cleaning and charting. Can hardly wait for the final crown work next week!

Thanks for the BP heads up...my BP is watched like a hawk...nine heart surgeries in the nineties.

Cheers!

I've had it for about 4 years. What's strange is it happened so suddenly. Within one week I went from great hearing to not so good. I've had a life time of helicopter/jet noise and machine gun fire. I find that is even more important to wear plugs now. Loud noises drive me nuts. I cannot have a conversation with any background noise.

Those kids that drive around with there huge speakers and boomer music playing don't stand a chance. I made it to 61 before all this happened so I guess I can't complain.

BlackdogGS said:

.................. I cannot have a conversation with any background noise...............

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Classic hearing loss symptom, hearing loss in the range voices occur in. I finally got tired of missing so much of the conversations when in noisy places like restaurants that I went the hearing aid route....Very happy I did.

Best of luck with yours.

BlackdogGS said:

I cannot have an intelligent conversation with any RS rider.

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Made a slight change to this post.