Acetyl-L-Carnitine Effective for Tinnitus?

Efficacy of carnitine in treatment of tinnitus: evidence from audiological and MRI measures-a case study.

BACKGROUND:
Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is an extremely common ear disorder. However, it is a phenomenon that is very poorly understood and has limited treatment options.

PURPOSE:
The goals of this case study were to identify if the antioxidant acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) provides relief from tinnitus, and to identify if subjective satisfaction after carnitine treatment is accompanied by changes in audiological and imaging measures.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
Case Study.

PATIENT CASE:
A 41-yr-old female with a history of hearing loss and tinnitus was interested in exploring the benefits of antioxidant therapy in reducing her tinnitus. The patient was evaluated using a standard audiological/tinnitus test battery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) recordings before carnitine treatment. After her physician's approval, the patient took 500 mg of ALCAR twice a day for 30 consecutive days. The audiological and MRI measures were repeated after ALCAR treatment.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:
Pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, distortion-product otoacoustic emissions, tinnitus questionnaires (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire), auditory brainstem response, functional MRI (fMRI), functional connectivity MRI, and cerebral blood flow evaluations were conducted before intake of ALCAR and were repeated 30 days after ALCAR treatment.

RESULTS:
The patient's pretreatment pure-tone audiogram indicated a mild sensorineural hearing loss at 6 kHz in the right ear and 4 kHz in the left ear. Posttreatment evaluation indicated marginal improvement in the patient's pure-tone thresholds, but was sufficient to be classified as being clinically normal in both ears. Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions results showed increased overall emissions after ALCAR treatment. Subjective report from the patient indicated that her tinnitus was less annoying and barely noticeable during the day after treatment, and the posttreatment tinnitus questionnaire scores supported her statement. Auditory brainstem response peak V amplitude growth between stimulus intensity levels of 40-80 dB nHL indicated a reduction in growth for the posttreatment condition compared with the pretreatment condition. This was attributed to a possible active gating mechanism involving the auditory brainstem after ALCAR treatment. Posttreatment fMRI recordings in response to acoustic stimuli indicated a statistically significant reduction in brain activity in several regions of the brain, including the auditory cortex. Cerebral blood flow showed increased flow in the auditory cortex after treatment. The functional connectivity MRI indicated increased connectivity between the right and left auditory cortex, but a decrease in connectivity between the auditory cortex and some regions of the "default mode network," namely the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex.

CONCLUSIONS:
The changes observed in the objective and subjective test measures after ALCAR treatment, along with the patient's personal observations, indicate that carnitine intake may be a valuable pharmacological option in the treatment of tinnitus.


Link to Study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25751698

ANYBODY TRY ALCAR FOR TINNITUS?

http://www.amazon.com/Foods-Acetyl-L-Carnitine-500mg-Vcaps/dp/B000QSLINE/

 

Thanks. I was taking that and the dr. told me to stop. I don't know why I believe your thread is more viable than my dr.

 

Came across this pubmed a short while ago via Google and was going to share it here before I came across your thread

I might give this a try next month as I have surgery next week so want to avoid supplements a few weeks before and after anaesthesia. It looks promising and I wonder what if any additional benefits the subject would have had if they continued supplementation beyond 30 days. I noticed a thread earlier on on L-Carnosine and a quick search on Wikipedia reveals both carnosine and carnitine were discovered by the same Russian chemist. Not sure on supplementation of both carnosine and carnitine but it's something I might try.

 

I've been taking 500mg of Acetyl L-Carnitine twice a day for about a month. So far, there's been no change in my T condition.

 

Have you ever tried L-Carnosine or considered it? There's some more info on it in the other thread

 

No supplement works ,end of.

 

Look up Angelica it offers some relief for Anxiety, depression, Insomnia etc. etc.

 

No, I haven't. Thanks for the heads-up about the other thread.

 

Interesting to note that L Carnitine is a precursor to Acetylcholine (an important nerve signalling neurotransmitter)

 

I think a better statement is "no supplement works consistently for most people".

Many people... including myself... do note significant changes/improvements from specific supplements.

 

Is riboflavin effective for treating timnitis?

 

Tried it, didn't work, sadly.

 

Hi all,
I was driving in the car and listening to Jerry Hickey WABC radio. He started talking about Tinnitus. He said that taking ALCAR with ALA would help with Tinnitus. He didn't say it would cure it but that it would reduce the level and make it more bearable .. He also said that it would help to repair the little hairs that were damaged from noise exposure. I thought they couldn't be repaired. Anyone know anything about this?

 

What is ALCAR and ALA, please??

 

@grate_biff it is Acetyl-L-Carnitine, an acetylated version of supplement (L-Carnitine)

@Robert44 It may be useful just after acoustic trauma, but after months or years of t. I doubt that it could be beneficial... My opinion

 

Ala is Alpha lipoic acid

 

Why has everyone forgotten about the work of James Kaltenbach in the states, looking at ways to manipulate the cholinergic system? (he found cabachol eradicated the tinnitus signal but the side effects were too detrimental to justify its use in tinnitus) He is particulary interested in the effects of upregulating the muscarinic cholinergic receptors. I spoke to him last week, and mentioned my little experiment with L acetyl Carnitine 1gm/day (helping), and is very interested in this and wants me to continue to give him updates. Can we not conduct another informal trial on this supplement in the event this could help some subsets of tinnitus?

 

As it happens, a colleague of Prof. Moore (Prof. Gopal) has published a case study on that (Carnitine):

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25751698

 

Thanks...kaltenbach sent me link x

 

I did try L- Carnitine yesterday and indeed it does something . within one hour the sounds are more clear and my T has considerably dropped . I was having breakfeast alone In my quiet room this morning and could not hear much t , just a faint hiss and the sounds of the birds and noise outside was far clearer than before.
The research shows an effect for a person who had t and hearing loss for such a long time ,I only had both issues for one month so I guess the effect is even more striking.
Will keep on using it at various dosage and report back

Worth a try - of all the stuff I took this is what gave me the best immediate result beside the immediate minor improvement from prednisone on the first day.
I also use an anti oxidant (hydrogen) and minoxidil as ion channel opener and adenosine channel opener in combo.

 

I've been on it for a month and no change in T

 

One study says it works better as a combo with an anti oxidant like Nac

How much are you taking per day ?

 

Try taking B-12 2500 mcg and Astaxanthin 4mg or 12mg. B-12 is good for re-myelination of the nerves connected to the hair cells in your ears. Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant that contains n-t3 which is great for promoting nerve survival, regrowth, and the connection of synapses to hair cells in your ears. I've been taking both and it seems to help a good bit for me. My hearing is not like what is was before my hearing incident, but it seems to be running a bit smoother now than it was a month ago.

 

I take 2x500mg daily

 

My tinnitus is a pure consequence of acoustic trauma and hearing loss
All I am trying to do right now is to improve the loss - once this is achieved then some tinnitus reduction will happen naturally
I am not too worried about tinnitus at this stage - it's still too early to say as it goes up and down , was fine in the morning but in the afternoon in the stress of work the hissing goes up big time but at the same time I am hearing the high frequencies a lot clearer and stronger so I take it as a good sign that things are improving , but it's not a linear progression.
My tinnitus reacts to noise, if there are high frequencies this makes it worse temporarily but again tinnitus isn't the main worry I just want to be able to hear the same sounds as before , enjoy music again etc..

The past month music sounds like my speakers are broken this really is no fun as I am a big music fan too
But is does sound a bit better day by day so fingers crossed and let's see how much I can get back as time is limited I guess

 

How did you get your t - any hearing loss and for how long ?

 

From a damn cold 4 years ago!
Apparently no hearing loss in t ear!
Go figure...

 

I see the cause is different then perhaps it may not work - the study mentions hearing loss which is the cause of t for that woman .