DIY Low-Level Laser Therapy for Tinnitus on a Budget — LLLT Under 100,-

I've not used the torch for almost 2 weeks. I got some crazy spikes a few times during the first fortnight of using it, so I decided to have a little break. I'm not sure if this was from the torch or not. I'm planning on starting to use it again though. I haven't noticed any improvement in hearing, ear fullness or T. H is up and down.

 

I'll probably stop soon using the torch. We don't know what we are doing, it's frustrating.

 

Think of LT as being like steroids
It will help in some cases but only in the days or week after trauma.

So keep your lamp ready for the next accident that may happen.

I had a very loud car engine backfire explosion today - my T is up and hearing is a bit muffled in one ear - but I was able to start with steroids as soon as got home and same goes for LLLT, extra NAC dosage etc

This time with all the knowledge and hours spent gathering info and supplies I feel a lot better prepared than the first time

Keep those lamps , keep some steroids at home , NAC so you don't have to run to some ENT and buy stuff and so loose precious healing time

 

what dosage of steroids you gonna take for how long?

 

It's usually 1mg/kg for 4 or 5 days after an acute noise trauma.

 

@Bobby B When you're referring to the short time limit you mean improvements T. Is there a short time limit for this treatment for improvements in H.

 

In the Zazzio study on LLLT for hyperacusis, all of the patients treated were deemed to be chronic. The length of time they were suffering from H ranged from six months to 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19821704

 

the 3 independent studies we have on rats, acoustic trauma and hair cell regeneration showed that LT did help rescue hair cell much better than the control group but this only worked in the first week or so.

So for T the window of opportunity is small.

If the H is due to nerve damage or chronic inflammation of the inner ear, then the window is longer I guess and that's why LT and maybe steroids work better in the long run.

 

I took 50mg first thing in the morning, will do 3 days on 50 then taper down over a week

I already did 2 courses of prednisone in the past and had no major side effect besides some sleeping issues but I guess the loud T at first was also to blame.

 

No need to taper down after 4 days.

 

I topped the Prednisone with an extra 10mg for the road in the afternoon so that's now 60mg a day and the steroids are starting to kick in by now, my T is super low in fact even lower than usual.

I read some posts where people noticed a temporary lowering of T while on steroids even years after traum so maybe that's it.

And I did triple the LT sessions I do everyday and took 2000mg of NAC and more magnesium and L- carnitine so that should nail it down hopefully.

Yesterday after the explosion T was super loud for the whole day.

 

As Lymbyte already mentioned, the Zazzio study didn't show any difference in length of time among the patients. I also think the Otoclinica study which used pretty much the same protocol as Zazzio (minus the rTMS and antioxidants) also had chronic patients and got very good results (almost too good if you ask me). This person went to Otoclinica as a chronic sufferer with success: http://hyperacusisresearch.org/low-level-laser-therapy/

 

@Bobby B Do you think this model of light is much better than the ilauke for LLLT?

 

No it's the same basically
Same 5w
And the beam is even wider so it may be even less powerful per cm2
Better to get higher wattage led off eBay

 

Something like that
This is 20w but the radiant power is 1.8 to 2w

http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...7721&category=71536&pm=1&ds=0&t=1490572030780

 

Is that just the LED though? what device would you use it with? you have to build your own?

 

Look up how pumkinate build it on these forums

 

Yes they are both 5W. But this actually uses a 3.7V battery compared to the 1.5v battery.

And it's easy to see in the last picture that the beam is much stronger and more visible compared to the weak 1.5V light.

So obviously, it more than likely has much power than the smaller one due to the battery (185000 li-on?). And the dispersion is not that wide, the lens hood can focus the beam into a much narrower (but still large) beam.

The heat difference is immediately apparent. You can feel the heat of this thing on and in your ear way more than the other light.

 

How tight can you focus the beam - what is the beam diameter in cm at 2cm distance using the narrowest settings ?

 

I don't have anything to measure with.

But just eyeballing close to a wall.

Retracted


Fully extended

 

Ok it seems that the lens on this larger lamp is about 3 cm wide so that beam 2 cm diameter at about 2 cm distance right ?

 

So since I started using the new light a week ago or so. Been getting this strange pain in my ear
Mostly with louder sounds here and there.. Which I thought was odd. No H that I know of. Haven't been around terribly loud sounds, so nothing to induce anything. Then just now, when I went to use the light, after a minute or so when I got it at a certain angle ,I got sharp pain in my ear. Also, slightly watery eyes. The same pain as mentioned above. Very strange.

 

dunno mate, you listed so many causes for your T maybe its ETD who know

 

My Red Light Man (RLM) device arrived last week. I ordered the $100 "Infrared Light Device Mini" model which has two light wavelengths, 760 nm / 830 nm :

https://redlightman.com/product/infrared-light-device-mini/

I have seen no studies published about this device or anything close for inner ear disorders, so I have no idea if it will be effective. To the best of my knowledge, all the studies on light therapy for T and H were done with laser, not LED. However, these studies are becoming mostly older studies, and LED seems to be supplanting laser for light therapy (due to lower cost and better eye safety). My sense is that most people, such as Dr. Michael Hamblin, seem to be saying that LED is equally effective as laser when the comparison is apples-to-apples (same wavelength and same power as measured in mW per cm 2).

And, LED may even be more effective than laser, because there is wavelength "bleed" - my RLM device is centered around 760 nm and 830 nm, but it bleeds into nearby frequencies too. Laser light does not do this, if you have a 760 nm laser you get exactly 760 (and not 759 or 761). Common sense wise, it seems logical that cells might be happier receiving a bit of variation in frequencies (that you get from LED), not just the exact one (that you get from laser).

The RLM lamp is about 4 inches in diameter and casts a big circle of light. My hope is that it may work in the way of the LLLT approach at the Lumomed and Wilden clinics. The attached photos show how they cast a big circle of light, they do not put a small device in the ear canal. The close up head shot photo is from Dr. Wilden's clinic, and the photo that shows the entire patient sitting in a chair is from the Lumomed clinic.

The RLM device seems to be of high build quality, it looks like it will last a long time. It is basically a fancy light bulb, so it will fit into any standard light socket. This can be helpful for purposes of aiming it. It ships with a socket on a cord that you can use with a hand-held approach.

The device seems very powerful - while the LEDs themselves remains cold, it causes tissue to heat up at a fair distance away. This is consistent with the specifications listed on the RLM website, which says the power at 10 cm distance is 200 mW / cm 2. The consumption power is 18 watts, but this is not relevant in terms of light therapy - what matters is the output power as measured by mW / cm 2.

While there are not studies of LED for inner ear disorders, there are studies that show effectiveness for other conditions. So, this device can be used to treat issues other than just the ear. For example, I very painfully stepped on a sharp rock a few days ago when I was not wearing shoes and got a bad bruise. Light therapy has been shown to be effective for this sort of injury, so I have been using my RLM device to treat it. I do not know for certain if my foot is now recovering faster than without light therapy, but it feels like it is, and the studies would suggest that to be the case.

So, I figured for $100 the RLM device was worth a shot, especially since it is helpful after stepping on sharp rocks. And other conditions too, there are treatment guidelines on the RLM website:

https://redlightman.com/blog/complete-guide-light-therapy-dosing/

For inner ear purposes, I am starting with 5 minutes per ear, twice a week. I hold the device about 5 or 10 cm away from the ear. RLM claims the device is eye safe but I wear a blindfold just to be extra cautious. I expect it will be months or longer, if ever, before I see improvements. But you can't win if you don't play.

I did try the Ilauke 5W lamp, which I returned to Amazon for a refund yesterday. I used it with a AA battery and do not recall if anyone on this thread ever figured out what the power of that lamp was in terms of mW / cm2 with just a regular AA battery. Unlike the RLM device, I felt no effect of the Ilauke lamp in terms of the tissue heating up from the light. Based on that, I am guessing the power was low.

 

Smart choice. The 830nm will be the most interesting frequency I suppose. 5 minutes might be short but you can build it up cautiously. Laser has also convertion which makes it more powerful than LED. Though I have a 100mw 808nm laser which I also use but it does not impress me. Maybe the beam is too narrow what makes aiming a difficulty.

 

@lymebite
Can you pls post a pic on how large the probe is in relation to the size of the ear

 

It is not really a probe, so not like the Lucky Laser with a small probe for the ear canal - it is basically a big light bulb that is about 4 inches or 10 cm in diameter. This website has a photo of someone shining it at their head, so should give an idea of scale. The second link is directly to the photo on the website.

http://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au...-joe-hollins-gibson-the-red-light-man-part-2/

http://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au/tnc/assets/red-ir-to-face.jpg

 

My original plan was to buy the pure 830 nm model but it was out of stock at the time. So I decided to try the 760 / 830 combination version.

 

Hi guys.

I want to warn you about my experience with infrared torches and light bulbs.
Now I'm sure, that IR torch, especially the wide setting and also IR lamp gave me eye glare.
Just like people report after having LASIK operation. It took me month to heal to OK condition and now after testing IR Lamp, it's back.

So my IR effects:
1. Eye glare.
2. T spike and bit of fullness.
3. Change of character of T, subjectively for the worse.
4. I used to hear better in the affected ear, now they seem equally bad today. (no audiogram, so can't prove it)
5. T is less reactive to certain sounds today.

I don't know, maybe my ears are getting better. But T sounds started to sound milder this week after vinpocetine and physiotherapies and now I feel I'm back to square one.

And I'm scared to do local LLLT scheduled in two weeks.

 

What torch/lamp are you using? Did you use the ilauke with AA battery? How did you use it? How often/how long, and did you hold it against your ear, or shine it from a distance? How did your eyes get affected?