GABA CALM for Tinnitus

I take mine first thing in the morning (usually my highest anxiety moments). It does not make me drowsy and it helps calm the racey thoughts.

I've always had some kind of anxiety, before T. So my thoughts are usually "omg is it going to get worse today?" etc.. But now its more like "its more common than you think, life has to move on, get out of bed and do something productive."

Whatever it is I definitely feel my anxiety is controlled with the pills. I just take one and I'm pretty calm all day.

 

I used a different brand of GABA supplement. The first night, I took 1 750mg pill. I slept well. I didn't notice any change in T. Last night (the second night), I took 2 pills. I slept well. I woke up one time, and T sound was a little more unpleasant than normal. Today T is a little worse, and sometimes I hear that unpleasant pitch. This is most likely natural variation of T (my T keeps changing, and I often get these "bad days"). But I think I will be too afraid to take GABA again...

 

This must have just been coincidence, because my T has been back to it's normal tortuous level the last couple days. Bummer. I'll finish the bottle off though.

 

I realized that even though I slept well those two nights, I went to bed late. So it is possible that I had my spike as a result of not sleeping long enough on the night before. I will wait a week or so and try taking GABA again.

 

I don't believe T can be just switched off on the spot. People who have recovered, describe a long process of T getting quieter, then louder, then quieter, and so on. It is possible that GABA works for you, and is making the Average T volume to (slowly) decrease.

 

I hope this is the case! Maybe GABA or L-Theanine or other supplements mentioned can take the edge of what is really a long, slow, healing process.

 

GABA alone doesnt do anything as it can't cross the blood brain barrier... according to russian scientists, if you add Niacin, it does.

 

I took my first one last night, and while I was lying in bed I noticed my whole body and head was tingling in sensation after taking this GABA supplement. Does that mean it is working? I haven't noticed a reduction in my T but I did notice in the middle of the night while I was lying in bed, it was fluctuating up and down for a good amount of time. I woke up in the middle of the night with a huge spike and it then settled down gain. Then I went back to sleep. Woke up this morning with high T level. Not too sure if I should continue this or not.

 

Just an update guys...

I'm now onto my 5th month my tinnitus journey.

I stopped taking Gaba supplements all together about a week ago. I found that it was too much of a downer for my general mood for the long term. It definitely helped take the edge off in the beginning, with similar effect as pharma grade benzo without all the nasty side effect. I think its best used as an anti anxiety treatment and works very well to calm you down, which in-turn can calm your tinnitus volume. But only in moderation

My current bed-time concoction which works very well and allows me to sleep like a baby.
3 mg of Melatonin, L-Theanine, Magtein (Magnesium L-Threonate), herbal tea with Valarian root.
I also listen to soothing ambient noise like, pink or brown noise, and nature sounds.

These two in combination are my favorites.

Sleep Machine | Soothing Brown Noise Helps You...

Bamboo Water Fountain + Tibetan Bowls | White...

These days my tinnitus has lowered significantly in volume but has changed to higher frequency somewhere between 9-10k hrz. Oddly enough my brain seems to have adapted well to this frequency, its not as distressing to me for some reason, its more of an annoyance.

Ive actually been experimenting with what I believe is called neuro-modulation? or a form of it...
A musician actually developed his own method using some free downloadable software combined with a breathing exercise which is supposed to stimulate the vagus nerve. He based his techniques off a study that was used to eliminate tinnitus in lab rats, but was never approved for human trials by the FDA, allegedly. I've tweeked his method after reading the article he refers too.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/rebooting-brain-helps-stop-ring-tinnitus-rats

In his video he says to match the tone of your tinnitus and play that tone.
But according to the article, the scientists played tones that were close to the tinnitus tone but not the exact same frequency. The idea behind this theory is to draw the neurons away from the tinnitus tone and reset them to a different tone in the brain. First I'll play my tinnitus tone for a few seconds to stimulate the associated neurons, then I'll play tones lower or higher alternating between them for the rest of the exercise. Stimulating the vagus nerve is the key for this to work.

There is definitely something to it because I've been doing it for the past few days now, and it definitely messes with my T in a positive way. I even woke up this morning with very low to no tinnitus for a couple hours, it sounded more like a soft hiss rather than a tone. It came back as the day went on, but I'm definitely sticking with it.

I'm also not using headphones.
I feel that may be too intrusive for my ear. instead I just plug my good ear with my finger while I listen to the tone from my laptop at a low volume.

Here is the link to his youtube video.

Home Tinnitus Cure with Music Software Based...

God Bless!

 

Thank you for posting your story . Also be sure to checkout this - http://generalfuzz.net/acrn/ a lot of people have had assistance with this from the forums.

 

@Nate Croteau

Interesting product

Offtopic: did you also try Vitamin B12? It's been talked about on this forum and yes it helped me.

 

@Nate Croteau Thanks for this most excellent and informative post! I'm going to look more into these and am listening to the Bamboo Water/Tibetan Bowls here at my desk at work! Rosemary

 

Yes, I take a B-complex vitamin containing B-12 as part of my daily regiment. Thank you

 

I tried taking CBD oil every day for about a month. Made no difference to my T at all.

 

here's another link to that Michigan study, really sounds ecouraging and when i tried the sound test links above, i did notice an affect, so this is really giving me the hope i/we need, thanks all
https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/lab-report/first-test-specially-timed-signals-ease-tinnitus-symptoms

 

I'm going to try this, with low hope.

How was experience?

 

I tried taking CBD oil with no THC and it just spiked my tinnitus. Everybody's different.

 

Can you share your benzo-tinnitus story?

 

Sublingual GABA almost completely eliminated tinnitus for me for a few hours/a day at a time but then rebounded louder than baseline later. It started making me kind of full body twitchy, too, for some reason.

I personally wouldn't recommend it even though the periods of silence were nice because the rebounds were really quite bad for me. I haven't taken it in many months but, like anything else, it probably varies from person to person. It's possible the fluctuations weren't even related to GABA since I hadn't had tinnitus all that long at that point but I'm almost positive the twitches were.

 

Hello.... Does the Gaba calm still work for you?

 

I know this thread is dead, but I want to ask the people who's T was lowered by GABA supplements if they also perceived a reduction from drinking a lot or beer/alcohol? I get silence when I have had around 6 or 7 beers. Alcohol does similar things to the brain as GABA from what I am understanding. Naturally I want to try to get the same results without slowly killing myself. FGG mentioned she has a "rebound" and spike afterward. I also have a spike the entire next day after drinking. I may be grasping for straws, but in my mind at least the dots are connecting.

 

Not me but... so my ex husband is an alcoholic, he hid just how much he drank so I can't tell you exactly but the amount i do know is it was at bare minimum 6-8 high alcohol IPAs a night with some shots of liquor too.

Anyway, he had a history of mild tinnitus since someone fired an air gun next to one of his ears he told me once but he never ever heard it anymore, even in quiet... except for one day when we had to be on the road for 14 hours. I distinctly remember him complaining about it that day. Never a single other day.

 

Yeah my tinnitus gets quieter when i take 2 or 3 beers. I'am going

 

@Johnny Karate -- This is true of benzodiazapine drugs as well. My understanding is that whatever a person uses to increase GABA levels in the body--including taking GABA supplements--there's a probability it will only provide temporary relief. And then if they're taken regularly for long periods of time (weeks/months, etc.) they can possibly reach the point where they no longer work unless larger amounts are taken. To avoid this, it's always best to not overly depend on them, and intersperse their usage in a way that minimizes some of the problems they can cause. Benzodiazapines in particular can cause extreme reactions if they're not monitored extremely carefully.

 

Thanks you guys for the info. I ordered some GABA from Amazon and started taking it yesterday and today. 750mg a pill. The NOW GABA brand. I have taken 1 in the morning and one at night on Sunday. I also took one this morning. It lowered my T by half and also "changed" the sound. It seems to be further in the distance in terms of perception. I usually cruise between an 8 and 6 out of a 10 and consider myself in the severe but not catastrophic category. This seems to make it a 4 or 5, which is amazing. From what I am reading from @Lane this wont last ??
...So should I only take the supplement at night daily or only use it for spikes? Will it become habit forming to where it could potentially make the Tinnitus worse like a benzo? Seems not worth it if there are real risks involved for my tinnitus. Am I way off the mark with the dangers considering its just a supplement?

 

@Johnny Karate -- Of all the ways to increase GABA levels, it sure seems to me the safest is taking the supplement. Since it's working so well for you (congratulations on that!), I'd stick with it. Maybe do it daily for a week or so, and that may calm down your overall tinnitus to the point where you don't need to take it every day.

I think the operative word is "experiment". See how missing a day affects your tinnitus. The more you can miss days without a problem, the less likely you'll have to deal with some of the problems of overdependence. -- Please don't let some of my words of caution in my earlier post overly sway you. My take is you should feel pretty close to ecstatic for making your recent discovery. And it seems highly likely to me you'll be able to fine tune your usage to gain long-term benefits. -- All the Best!

 

@Lane Oh okay! Thank you so much for the advice and words of encouragement. I will continue to try it out.

 

Nate Croteau

The two strains of weed are sativa and indica.

 

I stopped taking it in the mornings. I only take it at bedtime with 400mg of Magnesium and 600mg of L-Theanine. Sleep is improved but my tinnitus is back to being really loud. I think I may try and take it in the mornings also starting this weekend and see what happens.