DMSO Cured My Unilateral Tinnitus?

Ruby Gray

Member
Author
Feb 24, 2025
1
Tinnitus Since
2006
Cause of Tinnitus
ENT infection. Temp deafness on 6 takeoffs & landings.
I have suffered from constant tinnitus for nearly 20 years. It started after I caught a painful strep throat infection while flying from Australia to the United States. The infection went untreated.

On the return trip, I endured six takeoffs and landings, which left me completely deaf. I could see people's mouths moving but heard nothing. No jet engine noise, nothing at all.

Back home, I experienced vertigo and a strange hollow sound when I tapped my skull. Then, tinnitus developed. Where I once enjoyed listening to frogs singing outside at night, now those frogs were all inside my head.

I never heard of a reliable cure for tinnitus, nor did fellow sufferers.

Recently, I developed polymyalgia rheumatica, which caused excruciating pain from bursitis and synovitis in all my hip and shoulder joints. The pain was crippling and incapacitating. On good days, it would ease enough by late afternoon for me to get a few small chores done.

I heard about DMSO as a pain reliever and decided to try it. I applied 100 percent pure DMSO topically, covering the skin around my right shoulder, which was by far the most painful area. I spread it from the right side of my neck, over and around my shoulder, and down my arm to the elbow. I repeated this for three consecutive days.

The pain in my right shoulder lessened, but then it returned with a vengeance. The discomfort, combined with the strong garlic odor from DMSO breakdown products exuding from my skin, discouraged me from continuing its use.

Later, I came across a reference suggesting that DMSO might help with tinnitus, though it provided no details on how it was used. A few days after my initial DMSO applications, I tried to assess the tinnitus in both ears. This was difficult, as the shrill sound is hard to localize.

However, I soon realized something surprising. While the high pitched whine in my left ear remained unchanged, the noise in my right ear was gone.

Cupping my ears with my hands made the ringing in my left ear more pronounced, but I could not hear it on the right side. Plugging each ear in turn produced the same result.

It has now been about three weeks since I used DMSO. I am working up the courage to treat my left side, though I am wary of the garlic odor issue. My plan is to apply DMSO to a wide area of skin on the left side of my neck and shoulder, hoping for a similar outcome.

It seems too good to be true, but so far the results suggest this might work and I could finally be free of tinnitus.

I did note that some medical trials combined DMSO with other drugs, including steroids, and applied the mixture inside the ear canal. However, I used pure DMSO alone, applied over a wide area of skin below my right ear.
 
Cautiously optimistic: after two "chemotherapy" applications using Dimethyl Sulfoxide (topically on the head, neck, ears, mastoid area, and face) and Sodium Thiosulfate Parahydrate (both topically and orally), my tinnitus is still present and still loud, but my hearing seems less "delicate."

My worst complaint has always been the tenderness of my hearing—how my ears constantly felt figuratively raw, bloody, and injured. Compared to that, tinnitus alone, without the hyperacusis, would almost be manageable. Hyperacusis is truly hell.

The change I've noticed is subtle. The tinnitus is still loud as ever, but it seems less reactive to sound. If that observation is accurate, it could be significant.

For the first time in years, I am cautiously listening to music (!)—Durutti Column, Can, and Holger Czukay, if you're curious—on my real system. The volume is still very low, and it's early days. I also have a conditioned fear response to anything louder than a whisper, which I may need to unlearn.

Hyperacusis was what made me afraid of the future and brought on suicidal thoughts. Tinnitus I can live with. I hope I'm right.
 
Cautiously optimistic: after two "chemotherapy" applications using Dimethyl Sulfoxide (topically on the head, neck, ears, mastoid area, and face) and Sodium Thiosulfate Parahydrate (both topically and orally), my tinnitus is still present and still loud, but my hearing seems less "delicate."

My worst complaint has always been the tenderness of my hearing—how my ears constantly felt figuratively raw, bloody, and injured. Compared to that, tinnitus alone, without the hyperacusis, would almost be manageable. Hyperacusis is truly hell.

The change I've noticed is subtle. The tinnitus is still loud as ever, but it seems less reactive to sound. If that observation is accurate, it could be significant.

For the first time in years, I am cautiously listening to music (!)—Durutti Column, Can, and Holger Czukay, if you're curious—on my real system. The volume is still very low, and it's early days. I also have a conditioned fear response to anything louder than a whisper, which I may need to unlearn.

Hyperacusis was what made me afraid of the future and brought on suicidal thoughts. Tinnitus I can live with. I hope I'm right.
Great to hear, Trespath. If I understand correctly, you've treated your first shoulder three times with topical applications of DMSO and have now treated your second shoulder twice.

I'd love to know what dosage you've used, as I'm planning to try this myself and share my results.

Good luck!
 
If I understand correctly, you've treated your first shoulder three times with topical applications of DMSO and have now treated your second shoulder twice.
You may be thinking of @Lane, who has been approaching this much more methodically than I have. The post above was my first one about DMSO—and actually, my first post here. I've been lurking for a long time. I was on the verge of quitting my job because of how far my hyperacusis had progressed.

So far, I've done five applications of DMSO, treating the outer ear, mastoid area, cheeks, forehead, sides of the head (close to the auditory cortex), neck, shoulders, and once directly inside both ear canals. My hyperacusis has improved to the point where I'm beginning to consider expanding my activities—driving longer distances (still wearing 3M Peltors out of habit, with foam earplugs), actually going places, and maybe even eating out.

DMSO was a last-ditch effort for me, because my life had started to feel prematurely over. And I still have a lot of living to do—or at least, I hope I do.

An interesting side note: after applying DMSO, my hearing acuity seems to improve a bit. I have a few hours free today, so I'm planning to give myself another treatment.
 
It has been working for me for a week now. I've experienced placebo effects three times in my life, and they have never lasted more than a few days—two or three at most—before wearing off and being followed by despair.

DMSO has helped. I have less pain from hyperacusis, and my hearing acuity has improved. I've regained some frequencies and clarity. I can keep my job, which I was afraid of losing, and I may be able to drive slightly longer distances. However, my tinnitus still flares up after sound exposure. There is less immediate pain now, which tricked me into easing up on ear protection—but I've learned I still need to protect.

It has given me an improvement, just not a miraculous one. I feel like if I can find the right topical substance to combine with DMSO, they might work together and bring even better results.

This is the only thing I have ever tried that has helped at all. Everything else has just been a waste of money.

I have also taken DMSO internally twice—a teaspoon in distilled water. It tastes like very strong raw garlic. At this point, I am no longer even slightly afraid of DMSO. I've used it topically at fairly high concentrations and taken it internally. It's safe for me. It helps with hyperacusis and hearing clarity. But in my experience, it is not a cure for tinnitus.
 
It has been working for me for a week now. I've experienced placebo effects three times in my life, and they have never lasted more than a few days—two or three at most—before wearing off and being followed by despair.

DMSO has helped. I have less pain from hyperacusis, and my hearing acuity has improved. I've regained some frequencies and clarity. I can keep my job, which I was afraid of losing, and I may be able to drive slightly longer distances. However, my tinnitus still flares up after sound exposure. There is less immediate pain now, which tricked me into easing up on ear protection—but I've learned I still need to protect.

It has given me an improvement, just not a miraculous one. I feel like if I can find the right topical substance to combine with DMSO, they might work together and bring even better results.

This is the only thing I have ever tried that has helped at all. Everything else has just been a waste of money.

I have also taken DMSO internally twice—a teaspoon in distilled water. It tastes like very strong raw garlic. At this point, I am no longer even slightly afraid of DMSO. I've used it topically at fairly high concentrations and taken it internally. It's safe for me. It helps with hyperacusis and hearing clarity. But in my experience, it is not a cure for tinnitus.
Thanks for all the info. I'm glad to hear it has helped you, even if just a bit!

I noticed Gary Brecka mentioned that his advice has helped some people reduce their tinnitus, so that will be my first point of exploration.

By the way, I was wondering what concentrations you've used topically. I have a 70% solution in the fridge and I'm curious if it's safe to apply to the skin around my ear.
 
I know nobody here asked for my opinion, but as a former biochemist and someone who worked with DMSO for years. Please be extremely careful with topical application.

DMSO at lower concentrations (much lower than 100%) is FDA-approved for certain conditions, but only under the supervision of a medical doctor. That approval does not extend to unsupervised or off-label use. In the lab, we avoided skin contact with DMSO as much as humanly possible. It's a powerful solvent and can carry substances directly through the skin into the bloodstream.

Genuinely serious stuff. Please treat it with caution.
 
Honestly, I'm a lot more afraid of what hyperacusis is ultimately going to do to me than I am of DMSO. I followed Amandha Vollmer's recommended protocols and have taken it internally. DMSO doesn't frighten me.

L'hyperacousie est le diable.
 
Well, I guess it was the placebo effect after all. It has almost completely worn off, and I'm back to square one. Every sound hurts.

This is devastating. Hyperacusis feels like it's going to kill me.
Sorry to hear that, but thank you for keeping us updated. I really hope you find a cure soon.
 
From my research, you should not use 100% DMSO. It needs to be diluted. You should also mix the diluted DMSO with castor oil, and the castor oil should come from a glass bottle, not plastic.
 
It triggered a very convincing placebo effect in me, which *fooled* me into thinking it was working for my hyperacusis. But to be as clear as possible, it didn't change the way I felt; my mind's natural placebo effect did that. If I only knew how to turn on that placebo effect and sustain it, I wouldn't be contemplating Dr. Herbert Silverstein's surgical procedure for hyperacusis right now.

I think DMSO is not snake oil; it is the real deal if you have arthritis or an injury, or any number of health conditions. But it didn't work for my tinnitus and hyperacusis.
 
It's incredible how the body can create so much suffering. Who came up with this? /rantover

Gary Brecka said his methylation test helped some people with their symptoms. I ordered a basic version from 4Gold. It was expensive, but if it helps, it's worth it. I'll keep you all in the loop.
 
@kayaker88, this is a genuine question, no snark—how does understanding your personal patterns of methylation (or single nucleotide polymorphisms, or specific gene loci being transcribed/not transcribed) lead to helping with tinnitus symptoms?
 
Very good question to which I don't have the answer. Gary only briefly mentioned it on the Joe rogan show… and to be with no cure I'm open to trying many a thing
 

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