Do Ears Ever Heal?

I'm not talking about having tinnitus go away. It has been 8 months onset of whatever hurt my ear and I feel like I keep injuring it by doing normal things like going to a restaurant. I am never anywhere that has dangerous decibal levels. Does this ever heal so that I am not reinjuring it? If so, how long does it take? What might i be doing wrong?

 

Have you had your ears checked by the doctor and an ENT? (ear nose throat specialist) You say your ears hurt?
This is not just tinnitus then. Get in touch with @glynis or @Michael Leigh when you get a moment. They may have more answers for your hurting ears and are both eager to help in any way possible to help you get to the bottom of this. Good luck and I sure hope this goes away for you soon.

Regards, Mike

 

They can heal to an extent but it depends how much damage has been done. Hair cell damage does not repair though. Which is a shame.

 

@MikeP505

I have seen 2 ENTs, 2 neurotologists, and a neurologist. None of them know what is wrong with me. I do have more than just tinnitus. I was also very dizzy. Prednisone takes away my dizziness. No one can figure out why. I am seeing a Dr at Mass Eye and Ear soon. Hopefully, they will at least be able to figure out what is wrong.

 

I hope you can find some answers. This really is something that needs to be investigated.

 

It might never be 100% again. MIGHT.

 

What exactly does "healing the ears" mean? Always avoid loud noises and have some sort of sound/white noise on? Avoid silent environments?

How exactly do ears heal, scientifically/biologically speaking?

For those with somatic tinnitus, do we need to be as careful with our ears?

@Michael Leigh @GSC @PureNoise tagging you here since you have used the term heal the ears a few times. Thanks.

 

Unless you're a duck.

 

Perhaps if man mates with a duck or goose our offspring won’t have this dreadful condition? I don’t understand how our ears heal either. An ENT told me he thought the ear hair cell dies off.

 

This thread is depressing.

 

Birds can heal...humans can too but only to an extent.

 

No dude. Have hope.

 

I think I know exactly what's going on here.

Our inner ears can heal. This has been proven experimentally. A small handful of humans, including myself have experienced this using new medical interventions. There are switches to tell our haircells to regrow, which in turn causes the hearing cells to signal the nerves and the nerves regrow and make new connections. The switches in our inner ear stem cells aren't only activated by lab chemicals like ly411575, but also with proteins called growth factors that are already present in our body, in our blood, in platelets. There is a barrier, much like the blood brain barrier, called the blood labyrinth barrier, that separates the inner ear fluids from our systemic blood flow. There is no blood in the inner ear, it is a clear fluid called endolymph. I think that the blood labyrinth barrier is blocking the platelets from reaching the inner ear and activating the stem cells. Either the size of platelets in birds and other vertebrates are smaller and can pass through the blood labyrinth barrier or their barriers are more permeable, thus allowing the platelets to pass.

This barrier is needed however to protect our inner ears from toxicity and drugs that are causing ototoxicity are made of molecules that are small enough to pass through the barrier.

There is a substance called manitol that increases the permeability of the barrier, but there is another path to the inner ear called the round window membrane and the oval window membrane. The oval window is mostly blocked by the stapes bone. The growth factors are small enough to pass through the round window membrane, which is exactly how the drug fx-322 is administered.

I'm pretty damn sure that's the answer. These researchers can't see the forest for the trees and the government needs to let us have injections of PRP.

Oh wait, PRP is not regulated. Any ENT or otolaryngologist with a medical license and the know-how to do intratympanic injections can do this today if they want. They just need PRP kits and a centrifuge.

 

What do you mean by new medical interventions? Have you been on medical trial?

 

Tinnitus fading.

Not sure why you would want to avoid quiet environments.

 

A few times here I read that it is best to avoid quiet/silent environments and always have white noise on.

 

I have been seeking quiet/silent environments and I am happy about the outcome of my choices.

 

My concern is tinnitus becomes louder over time. Since the tinnitus is much louder in silent/quiet environments, the brain may register the high volume as the new normal.

Does this happen?

 

I think she means lack of sound enrichment and when you have hyperacusis. A lot of new sufferers, as you know, have hyperacusis... so what do you mean by quiet/silent environments. I know after your H was gone, you slept with ear plugs, or was that before then. When did you start implementing ACTUAL silence into your day if you don't mind me asking?

 

It is not Actually louder, it is easier to hear in quiet environments.

Unless one gets a new acoustic trauma, a lot of the time T naturally fades over time.

It hasn't happened to me, and I don't recall reading too many (any?) testimonies of people blaming being in silent places as a cause of their spikes.

I've been wearing earplugs to bed before I got T. About a year after the onset of my T, I began to wear earplugs to bed again. During some of the weeks during that 12 months initial period, I played sound enrichment during the night. The rest of the time I didn't have anything. I didn't see any impact on my T. In other words, the enrichment is there to give you something else to listen to, besides T. Based on my personal experiences, it doesn't contribute to healing (and the lack of sound enrichment doesn't interfere with the healing).

 

Interesting. Well, I think I'll keep up with sound enrichment and natural sound enrichment, because I think without it, I wouldn't have been relieved of H. I think I might still have hints of it here and there in certain frequencies, so it's a balance to decide to rest your ears from it, or gradually build them up to tolerate the noise - even though I have been doing the former most of the time... and the latter very very veeeeeeeery slowly. Thank you for the information!

 

of sorts...

 

I believe @Michael Leigh says you shouldn't be in complete silence, but I could be wrong. Sorry if I've mis-remembered Michael...

 

@Tanni

That's correct tanni, silence is not good for people with tinnitus especially when intrusive. It's a good idea not to sleep in a quiet room. Use a sound machine by the bedside or other device for sound enrichment (not music) and set the volume slightly below the tinnitus.

Michael

 

How do you know this, Michael? My personal experience doesn't seem to support the above. Also, I don't remember reading any posts where people had regretted being in silence.

 

He went to South Korea and had a doctor inject stem cells into his inner ear.

 

It is what is written in tinnitus books and what my ENT doctor told me many years ago and also my personal experience, that quiet rooms and surroundings are not good for people with tinnitus especially at night. I have written about this extensively in many of my posts which are available on my started threads. If you prefer quiet surroundings then that's fine.

Michael

 

Wow. @JohnAdams Found any difference or help in tinnitus? Stem cells are interesting, when we can grow whole cochlea out of cells in our fridge ^^