DIY Brain Hacking & Tinnitus (tDCS)

This form of biohacking is indeed growing. Are there any DIYers here who experiment with tDCS and their tinnitus?

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/reviews/the-latest-diy-craze-brain-hacking

Reddit seems to have tDCS & tinnitus experimentes... http://www.reddit.com/r/tDCS/comments/1f2ffa/cathode_placement_for_tinnitus_treatment_with_tdcs/

 

Review of the Foc.us headset - http://gamerant.com/focus-tdcs-headset-reviews/

 

"Then he strapped on the electrodes of a device made by his Edmonton company, and zapped his brain’s auditory cortex with a mild dose of electricity. The result, he claims, was a dramatic improvement in his ability to hear pitch, including the sour notes he produced himself."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/12/transcranial-direct-current-stimulation-tdcs-technology/

 

"Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, a rare condition that causes complete color blindness. He’s also the first person in the world to have a cyborg antenna implanted in his skull, which allows him to translate colors into sounds. Then, one day, he started to dream in colors…"

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/191246.html

 

The Verge about biohacking... http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/8/3177438/cyborg-america-biohackers-grinders-body-hackers

 

I like the idea of self hacking. But the equipment must be safe and the protocols established. For tinnitus, the best self treatment is neurofeedback. The technique is safe and more efficacious than tDCS. (But right now, there is no medical grade neurofeedback equipment available to the public.) Unfortunately, tDCS has not been successful for tinnitus. Few people benefit, and the relief is short term. In addition, I don't believe a do-it-yourself kit is safe. Or, if safe, then it's probably not strong enough to be therapeutic.

But if you do try it, please let us know everything.

And did you try to contact bluethundr from the reddit post?

Please read the following article. Below is an excerpt:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/science/jump-starter-kits-for-the-mind.html?_r=0

Dr. Kadosh also warned that electrically juicing one area of the brain might degrade function in another part. “What we’ve found is brain power is like a blanket,” he said. “You pull it over to one side and something else is not covered.”

Because studies have shown that tDCS may be useful in treating people debilitated bystroke, Parkinson’s disease, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, clinicians fear that in addition to competitive healthy people, severely compromised people may be tempted to experiment with brain stimulation at home.

“There’s a growing body of literature about tDCS, but there’s still so much to learn,” saidDr. Sarah Lisanby, a psychiatrist and director of the brain stimulation and neurophysiology division at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.

“People should not be tempted by devices they can order online,” she said, nor buy do-it-yourself tDCS devices — no matter how often they’ve lost at Halo.

​

 

Halo, The Brain-Improving Wearable, Raises $1.5 Million - http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/01/halo-the-brain-improving-wearable-raises-1-5-million/

 

Muse - the brain sensing headband. This might very well be helpful for T sufferers who want to learn mindfulness and/or medidation to calm their mind and body.

http://www.choosemuse.com/

 

Hi all, just registered to tell my story and experience with tDCS.

I have recently been diagnosed with a tumor in my neck on my vagus nerve. The doctors think the risk is too great at the moment to operate, so I sit with a lot of symptoms, from my face being paralyzed on the left side, to my eyes just falling closed by themselves, and impossible to open them again, to severe tinnitus in my one ear.

Out of desperation, I started experimenting on myself. I first discovered if I pinched really hard on a couple of places on my face, I could open my eyes normal, but I had to keep the pressure up. So, I pinched a clothespin below my left eye, and as long as that pin was hanging there, I could use my eyes normally., but of course, it is quite painful, so I started thinking about stimulating the nerves electrically... I was desperate, anything to keep my eyes open I would have been happy with. First I started by hooking a signal generator up to 2 electrodes, stuck them above my eyes, and see if it has any effect. Signal was a 1Hz square wave with a 10% duty cycle, 3Vpp... great was my surprise when I immediately regained use of the left side of my face and my eyes.

Then I started thinking about the possibility of making a portable device, that I could wear permanently exciting those nerves. with further experimentation, I built a small, programmable system that worked. Then I discovered if I applied a very small DC current, after applying it for around 3 minutes, the effects would last longer. googled a bit, and then I discovered what I was doing, was tDCS.

I hook myself up for 1 hour in the morning, and for 10 hours I have almost full relief. After the second day, and a couple of burn marks later because I was still trying to come up with better electrodes, I discovered that my tinnitus also disappeared.


So, for me, tDCS is working. I cannot say it will/will not work for you, but for me it took me from being unable to open my eyes, paralysis on the left side of my face, severe tinnitus to a (almost) normal state.

P.S. I am an electronic engineer and have also studied human physiology, so I have a fair idea what I am doing, lol....

 

Brilliant stuff @hfleming!! How did your tinnitus start? I assume it was related to the tumor?

 

yes, all my symptoms are due to the tumor that compress not only the vagus nerve, but all other nerves in the area of the jugular foramen.

 

You might want to also read the thread here about vagus nerve stimulation. I have personally experimented a bit with tVNS device myself...

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-vagus-nerve-stimulation.31/page-5#post-48396

 

found this abstract about tDCs and tinnitus , but I see I cannot post the link yet.

for me tinnitus was the least of my symptoms, bothersome yes, but not nearly as big a problem as me not being able to open my eyes, lol

 

^ yeah, I can imagine that. Wow, what a story and personal effort you have showed!

 

early days yet, been using it now for exactly a week...

 

Reddit also has subredits on these topics. I assume you have found them already?

 

yes, I am still scouring the web, trying to find all I can about tDCs. I see many people are quite sceptical, but all I can say is that it improved my condition a lot..... from not being able to open my eyes to being able to use my eyes for 10 hours after an hour session, lol ..... and I did blind tests too, it is not a placebo effect or the effect from the headband holding the electrodes in place.

 

found this abstract about using tDCS for tinnitue:
http://nnr.sagepub.com/content/27/2/164.abstract

 

Can you supercharge your brain?

http://mosaicscience.com/story/can-you-supercharge-your-brain

 

They are doing that in Auckland!, Might see if I can get in one of these trials I think.

 

Brain Hacking Is Having Incredible Effects And It's Just Getting Started

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brain-hacking-having-incredible-effects-131836274.html

 

I have had tinnitus now for 3 years, I recently built a tDCS device that I pulled off of www.reddit.com/r/tDCS/

I have just started the experiment to relive my tinnitus so I will post results as they happen

 

Keep us posted @sdtimpson!

 

Hmm. I have an opportunity to try tDCS with a Yale Associate Researcher who happens to live and work nearby part of the year. I'll have to discuss costs. He says he's never had a tinnitus patient but has discussed protocols with colleagues in Europe.

 

Some people do get relief with tDCS, but, so far, the effects are temporary. In addition, you must be very careful about electrode placement. You can damage yourself with this technology.

Besides carefully reading the literature, I'd probably find a doctor to help you with it. At least, they could help for a few sessions.

In the US, there is an anesthesiologist who dose this procedure:

http://www.transcranialbrainstimula...-transcranial-direct-current-stimulation-tdcs​

Here is a more recent tDCS study for tinnitus and the abstract links to the full free text:

Neural Plast. 2014;2014:930860. doi: 10.1155/2014/930860. Epub 2014 Apr 10.

Polarity specific suppression effects of transcranial direct current stimulation for tinnitus
Joos K1, De Ridder D2, Van de Heyning P3, Vanneste S4.

Abstract
Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an external auditory stimulus and affects 10-15% of the Western population. Previous studies have demonstrated the therapeutic effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left auditory cortex on tinnitus loudness, but the effect of this presumed excitatory stimulation contradicts with the underlying pathophysiological model of tinnitus. Therefore, we included 175 patients with chronic tinnitus to study polarity specific effects of a single tDCS session over the auditory cortex (39 anodal, 136 cathodal). To assess the effect of treatment, we used the numeric rating scale for tinnitus loudness and annoyance. Statistical analysis demonstrated a significant main effect for tinnitus loudness and annoyance, but for tinnitus annoyance anodal stimulation has a significantly more pronounced effect than cathodal stimulation. We hypothesize that the suppressive effect of tDCS on tinnitus loudness may be attributed to a disrupting effect of ongoing neural hyperactivity, independent of the inhibitory or excitatory effects and that the reduction of annoyance may be induced by influencing adjacent or functionally connected brain areas involved in the tinnitus related distress network. Further research is required to explain why only anodal stimulation has a suppressive effect on tinnitus annoyance.​

Reference:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24812586
​

See also this article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23032310​

 

It is a doctor I'd be going to. Thanks for the article. If I do go, I mean to walk in the room talking about neural plasticity and whether it's better to aim at inhibition or disruption of hyperactive processing - jump in an be part of the process.

 

This new TDCS company has an impressive founder + VC list...

http://haloneuro.com/#section2

 

@sdtimpson Did you try tDCS?

 

I am considering ascending to the top of a mountain during a fierce thunderstorm and getting my brain hacked by a lightning bolt to see whether it can help my T

 

Neuroscience - Warning over experimental brain boost

http://www.theguardian.com/science/...st-equipment-research-oxford?CMP=share_btn_tw