Found Something That Works for My Tinnitus, Hyperacusis and Dizziness. Hard Work.

I've posted quite a bit on this forum about my theories and treatments so far but I'm still new to all this so having given up on the medical industry and doctors who are just drug dealers, I've been thinking thinking, doing my own trials, tests with various supplements, diets and the like just like many of you here. This is the ONLY thing that works for me 100% of the time to knock out my tinnitus, hyperacusis and minor dizziness along with anxiety and slight depression.

My tinnitus started after I had the flu along with swelling inside my ear that lasted for several weeks. After the swelling and fullness went away, I was left with slight tinnitus that was distinctive to my left ear that eventually spread into full head tinnitus. Several months after my symptoms started around Jan 2018, my anxiety levels were through the roof due to my tinnitus to the point that I lost my appetite almost completely. Being overweight and a big eater all my life, this was not expected. This resulted in my losing quite a bit of weight, lowered my blood sugar and my blood pressure (tested all these before and after for proof). This new diet of time (which was not by choice by any means) resulted in some relief but I had treated anxiety and depression by regularly working out int he past so I decided to default to that again.

I signed up to the gym at the end of Jan 2018 and started going religiously on a daily basis. I started light with weight training and mostly cardio. I can't tell you exactly when but a couple of months in I had completely forgotten about my tinnitus. To the point where I thought it had just ran it's course and I was healed from this nightmare. The only time when I could notice my tinnitus was at night and even then it was so minor that vaguely recalled always hearing a slight buzz all my life so I figured that I'm just noticing it now since I know about it where as before I knew what tinnitus was, it was just normal.

Fast forward to Oct 2018. I got hit with a string of bad luck. I hurt my back during my workout at the gym which caused me to rest for a couple of weeks. That followed by regular cold flu, followed by tonsillitis which was the worst experience of my life I thought I was going to die due to my 105 fever. It was during this time where my tinnitus came back in full force. It was equal if not worse than when it first started. The head tinnitus was so severe that I physically felt the buzzing. Between Nov 2018 to the end of Jan 2019, I suffered the worst anxiety I have ever experienced in my life. Nothing was important or enjoyable for me. Hobbies and interests that I've had all my life were meaningless and didn't interest me. I even pulled away from my family and two young kids which is the absolute worst because they are the last people I want to hurt.

During these 4 months, not only was I not working out but my diet had gone to sh*t as well. My unhealthy lifestyle was back full of eating fast foods, junk foods and the like. This even further fueled my tinnitus and during these past 4 months, I also developed slight hyperacusis and this light-headed dizziness where everything seems like it was in slow motion like watching a movie in 15 frames a second all the time.

I had my doubts if the regular workouts I had started back in Jan 2018 was what was keeping my tinnitus and other symptoms at bay but what did I have to lose besides some time and effort? Late last week I went back to my regular workouts. I think this is my 5th day and I can say for certain that my tinnitus level for the past 5 days has been 1 or 2, this morning I had no hyperacusis and I know because the sound of my crying toddler for the past couple of months was very painful in the morning and this morning to my surprise, the noise did not bother me at all. The slow motion/dizziness is also almost completely gone.

Were some of my symptoms due to anxiety alone? Maybe. I recently read that having that slow motion effect means that your body is in a state of fight or flight and your brain actually slows down the perception of time similar to how thing slow down during an accident which makes sense. Perhaps the hyperacusis is a similar mechanism but for hearing but whatever it is, it has improved my quality of life by leaps and bounds.

I now have to look at my tinnitus as warning signal to something not being right and that I need to make improvements to my health and diet. I know none of us want to hear about having to do hard work to make improvements. We are all looking for a magic pill or device that solves our problems. Myself included so I can understand people reading this and rolling their eyes. I'm not claiming exercise will work for everyone but if you are overweight, have a unhealthy lifestyle, unhealthy diet, suffer from the typical conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes along with tinnitus, I would suggest you try exercise to see if get any improvements. The worst that could happen is your health will improve. If you are already health conscious, exercise regularly and find that it does nothing for your symptoms then obviously this won't help you. I can only speak for myself and the two times that I have started exercising while suffering from tinnitus, it has improved it to the point where I can forget about it and it does not affect the quality of my life.

The only supplements I'm taking right now are Creatine. This helps me with recovery and prevents muscle soreness. I have no idea if this has any positive effects on tinnitus or not. maybe?

My exercise routine if anyone is interested include both weight training and cardio. I work on a group of muscles each day for about 20-30 minutes then do about 20 minutes of cardio. I walk on the treadmill on an incline to get warmed up then do cycles of jogging and walking.

I forgot to mention that the type of tinnitus I have is the type that is affected by certain movements such as turning my head to one side as far as a I can or pressing on my cheek bone all of which result in the level of my tinnitus spiking until I stop. It's somehow connected to my muscles/nerves which maybe another reason why exercise works for me as it relaxes the muscles and depletes the energy reserves? I forgot what this type of tinnitus is called but I know that it gradually morphed into this as when it first started it was very distinct to my left ear.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone who is in a similar situation. I plan on continuing my exercise routine and will report back on this thread as to my symptoms.

 

@Nick M
I'm assuming this post was done before you started your Turmeric + supplement regime? I’m starting mine tomorrow; I received all the supplements but want to have someone in the house with me at all times, as I’m a bit nervous of side effects.

As far as heavy exercise, it’s a double-edged sword for me. In the short term, it helps relieve the tinnitus but then returns worse than ever. I guess we’re back to everyone reacts differently. Brisk walking seems to be the best exercise for me. I have changed my diet completely. I’ve given up sugar & starchy carbs and am doing Keto now. It does help with inflammation, which I thought would help the tinnitus. But so far, not so much.

 

Hey there! Yep this was way before I have tried the supplements. I had tried taking Ginkgo alone but with no results. It’s good to be concerned starting anything new but these are all natural food based supplements so the worst that can happen is getting a mild allergic reaction to one of the ingredients. Things like itching, rash or other kind of mild reaction.

When I made this post, I emphasized exercise more than diet but for me, diet has more of an effect on tinnitus than exercise. Exercise helps with mental state!mood and energy and tinnitus loves to feed off of poor mental state so this is where exercise helps me. Let us know how it goes for you on my other thread. Best of luck!

 

Bumping this thread after reading an anecdotal case of someone seeing improvement in hyperacusis symptoms from supplementing creatine (while also working on neck muscles). I know creatine was made as a passing comment in this post but wondering if there could be something more to it, particularly given that creatine helps muscle cells survive hypertonicity, which is a problem for those of us with TTTS (the tensor tympani is normally a hypotonic muscle, but TMD and other problems can make it hypertonic, leading to hyperacusis):

Creatine as a compatible osmolyte in muscle cells exposed to hypertonic stress