Tinnitus: How to prevent tinnitus from disturbing your sleep and making your life a misery

Tinnitus gets its name from the Latin word for to ring and is commonly known as ringing in the ears. This problem is suffered by one in every ten adults in the UK and can actually be any persistent noise in the ears. As well as ringing, it can take the form of whining, buzzing, whooshing or hissing. 

This distressing condition can seem unbearable as it interferes with both your sleep and your normal everyday activities and can be accompanied by vertigo and nausea. Fortunately, there are many effective natural alternatives to drugs and surgery that can bring considerable relief and help you cope.

Exposure to loud noise is one major cause of tinnitus, since it wears down the delicate hair cells in your inner ear that translate sounds into nerve impulses. Tinnitus can also be a symptom of Menieres disease, which causes fluid to build up in your inner ear and cause vertigo and loss of hearing.

Other possible causes could be high blood pressure, head injury, ear infections, high cholesterol or an aneurysm (ballooning of an artery), which causes an obstruction to the blood flow to your inner ear. Frequently, though, tinnitus is a symptom that accompanies age-related hearing loss with no other obvious cause.

The side effects of conventional treatments can be far worse than the problem itself

Doctors commonly prescribe the drug betahistidine, or Serc for tinnitus. This is also used to treat Menieres disease and works to reduce the pressure in your inner ear however, its side-effects include nausea and stomach upsets. Antihistamines are also used to reduce mucous production and let your inner ear dry out but they can cause drowsiness and blurred vision.

Antidepressants and tranquillisers have also been given to tinnitus sufferers, in an attempt to help them cope with the intolerable persistence of the sound they hear. However, such drugs have serious side-effects, including insomnia, anxiety, palpitations, nausea, stomach pain, and dependency and, ironically, they can even make your condition worse.

Surgery may be a last resort, especially if blood vessel abnormalities or a problem with the temporo-mandibular joint (the hinge between your skull and jaw) are suspected, to remove swollen blood vessels or abnormal bone growth. However, surgery has a low success rate and can actually worsen tinnitus or even result in complete deafness.

Try these simple diet and lifestyle changes first

Tinnitus can be made worse by nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and large doses of aspirin. Nicotine and caffeine constrict blood vessels, increasing the force of blood through veins and arteries. Alcohol also increases the force of blood by increasing the speed of blood flow. Cut down on salt, too, since it can increase fluid build-up in your inner ear.
Stress also seems to make tinnitus worse. Learn how to relax with stress management techniques like relaxation therapy, biofeedback, or exercise. Regular exercise may also provide relief in another way by increasing blood circulation to the head.

You could also use an electric fan or soft music to help cover the noise of tinnitus. Tinnitus maskers are another option and are similar to hearing aids in appearance, but they produce a pleasant sound, such as ocean waves, to help cover the unwanted noise.

Ginkgo and niacin can relieve tinnitus by improving blood supply

Nutritional and herbal supplements may be able to provide complete relief if your tinnitus is a recent problem, or they may reduce long-standing symptoms.

Ginkgo biloba is a herb best known for treating memory loss, but it has also had good success in treating tinnitus by improving the blood supply to the inner ears. In a placebo-controlled clinical trial, doctors in Hamburg, Germany, found that patients with chronic tinnitus experienced a significant improvement of symptoms after taking 160mg of ginkgo biloba extract each day for 12 weeks (Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther 2002; 40(5): 188-197). None of the patients experienced any adverse side-effects.

Other studies have used up to 240mg of ginkgo biloba extract a day and have found that symptoms of vertigo and nausea, which often accompany tinnitus, are also reduced (Fortschr Med Orig 2001; 118(4): 157-164).

Deficiencies in B-complex vitamins can be a cause of tinnitus and one study found that almost half of sufferers were deficient in vitamin B12 (Am. J. Otolaryngol. 1993; 14(2): 94-99). Try taking 400mcg of B12 a day.

Niacin, a form of vitamin B3, can also be beneficial, as it opens up your blood vessels and allows more oxygen and nutrients to reach your inner ear, as well as stabilising the nerves in your inner ear. Because niacin causes a characteristic temporary flushing and tingling of the skin, placebo-controlled studies have not been possible, but there is plenty of evidence from individual case trials that it can make a real difference to tinnitus symptoms. Start with 50mg twice a day, as part of a balanced B-complex supplement, and increase to 100mg a day after two weeks, if there is no improvement.

Zinc reduces tinnitus noise while melatonin aids sleep

The cochlea or spiral organ of the inner ear has the highest concentration of zinc in the body. A placebo-controlled study in Turkey found that 31 per cent of patients with chronic tinnitus were deficient in this mineral. After taking 50mg of zinc a day for two months, almost half of the treatment group (including the patients with no zinc deficiency to start with) had a reduction in tinnitus loudness of 10 decibels or more. There was no significant reduction of symptoms in the placebo group (Otol Neurotol 2003; 24(1): 86-89). Take 30mg to 60mg of zinc a day.

One natural treatment that is only available on prescription in the UK is the hormone melatonin, which regulates sleep. In a recent study, when US researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine gave tinnitus patients 3mg of melatonin a day for 4 weeks, they found that both tinnitus symptoms and sleep quality improved (Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2006; 134(2): 210-3). Discuss with your doctor whether melatonin might be a suitable treatment for you. 

Because tinnitus has so many possible causes, you may need to try a few of these natural remedies before you find a treatment that works for you. The main thing is not to give up hope and dont listen to people who tell you its something youve just got to live with.