Marijuana / Cannabis and Tinnitus

I'm sick of seeing studies involving animals. Pointless and meaningless.

 

Animal studies are important to advance to human trials but the problem is that the media spins "rat cures" to mean "human cures" in the headlines.

 

If animal studies are the best we have in 2020, then we're in trouble.

 

THC makes my tinnitus scream, that's why I stopped smoking.

 

Do I have any reason to suspect that my new tones were partly caused by prolonged use of very high amounts of CBD hemp with enough THC to make me high? The tones would have appeared 2 years after daily use of hemp with some long breaks, and I'm pretty sure they were caused by COVID-19. But as always when I get new tones, I suspect everything... I find life easier when eating hemp and my tinnitus has not improved during this month when I haven't used hemp. In fact it's been worse, probably from poor sleep and still recovering from COVID-19.

I'm trying to decide what to do from now on. I prefer life with hemp, but my main priority is to not make my tinnitus permanently worse even if I stop using hemp later on in life .

A question for everbody including @linearb.

 

I don't have any good answer here. If I had any reason to believe cannabinoids could realistically cause permanent worsening I'd certainly re-evaluate my own use.

 

I'll share my experience with CBD. I don't smoke weed anymore. I've noticed that Full Spectrum (has THC) spikes my tinnitus and hyperacusis, but Broad Spectrum (same thing without THC) does not. I am about to prepare my own isolate tincture when it arrives. I mostly take it to help with anxiety and inflammation. I can't say that CBD feels like it's designed to treat tinnitus or hyperacusis.

 

Alright folks, my son came down with schizophrenia, which sucks, because my son thinks he's normal and I'm the one with schizophrenia.

However, he got violent on me, so I had no choice but to call police to help me out, he got admitted to psych ward, and his doctor was cool with taking CBD for psychosis, but has to have NO THC at all, so...

Anyhow, I ordered Northern Light Blue THC-free seeds by Delicious Seeds (it is legal to grow here, but I have a close friend do the growing for me in a remote location); I told the person at Sensible Seeds the situation, so she threw in several more CBD seeds as "freebie" for me, AND she threw in 6 seeds of Seedsman CBG #1.

That's right. CBG. Not CBD and not THC. CBG strain has zero THC and zero CBD. The research on CBG is very complex, and CBG has multiple interactions with numerous receptors, and I do not see anywhere any trial of CBG for tinnitus, but it has been reported beneficial for neuropathic pain; my doctor considers tinnitus to be a form of chronic neuropathic pain.

CBG seeds have arrived in the mail box, they have been germinated, and will ripen at the end of May, so in 3 1/2 months I shall report a smoke test on CBG effects on tinnitus, and whether CBG is helpful in any way.

I am an ideal candidate, because the tinnitus is severe and debilitating for me. THC really spikes my tinnitus badly so I stay away from it, CBD does not help reduce the tinnitus for me at all, but at least makes me relaxed and helps me to sleep, and good sleep for me definitely does reduce the tinnitus, so my brain is attempting to heal itself during sleep, but I would say it is still not ideal.

I'm interested if anyone else has any access to CBG at all.

 

Very sorry about your son. Has the CBD helped the psychosis?

I've never heard of CBG, but read now a little bit about it and seems interesting! I would consider trying it.

When you start on the CBG, please start a new thread here for all of us to follow your journey.

 

Never heard of CBG.

 

Pre acoustic trauma: I smoked weed every day with no issue, with very minor tinnitus (only hear in quiet room) that I originally got as a child.

Acoustic trauma: Had minor hearing loss (25 dB), sound sensitivity, and moderate volume tinnitus. All of which seemed to be exacerbated by cannabis so I quit for months.

1 year after trauma: Hearing has improved like 95%, sensitivity and tinnitus almost back to normal levels. I smoke very heavily again, half an ounce per week, and at worst it temporarily spikes my tinnitus to a 2 or 3/10.

 

CBG is the parent molecule. CBD synthase takes it to CBD, and THC synthase takes it to THC. I had never heard of it before either, except Sensible Seeds person thought it might help, so gave me some freebie seeds. There are some very recent research papers, but as for tinnitus it is unknown. Overgrow.com CBG schizophrenia Google search will find one person's experience, with psychosis related to THC.

 

This is super helpful! I think I'll wait a few more months and see how this goes in my right ear. I don't have any measurable hearing loss and can still (after doing just a test on my computer) hear super high frequencies. Not scientific by any means I was just curious.

I'm still continuing to improve slowly. Some mornings I wake up and even have complete and total silence for a few hours, which I think is a good sign. Either way, I'll wait to see if this improves or fades on its own completely or I get more used to it so if it spikes with weed I won't care as much.

 

Well... I tried some CBD oil... and I got a spike... fuck...

 

Did you have aural fullness ever as a symptom? I’ve also stopped smoking for 2 weeks now and can’t wait till the day I start again...

I have had acoustic trauma: mild tinnitus, aural fullness, occasional earaches for almost 4 months now.

 

Yes I've had aural fullness ongoing since the trauma, although it has improved a lot and kind of just comes and goes now. Smoking will bring it on from excessive coughing, unfortunately. But, IMO the good news is that it points to a physical component in/around the ear that has been injured/inflamed. My guess is it's the whole muscle assembly connected to the tensor tympani that gets oversensitized by loud noise and then things seize up in defense. Whether or not this phenomenon is directed by cochlear damage, or is perhaps a muscular issue independent of nerve loss, I don't know. But physical inflammation all around my ears and head was definitely muffling and distorting sound because of severely tightened muscles all over.

It will get better but I think sometimes you gotta find a way to nudge it along. I'd actually highly recommend a massage. And maybe try an alternative to smoking for a while? All I know for sure is the world is better experienced on weed.

 

So um... People who have tried CBD oil that contains a small amount of THC and got a spike because of it... How long did it last? My product has a 1:20 THC/CBD ratio.

Prior to the spike (and stopping taking CBD) I had been taking about 20 mg, sometimes twice a day, for 9 days. I first got a short spike two days earlier which I wasn't sure was related to CBD, but it's happened again yesterday.

Spike has been ongoing for a little over 24 hours. Should I be worried? (Because I am.) I should probably mention that I'm really not familiar with weed products...

 

Hey @Syb, I tried a full spectrum CBD oil (the kind that has THC) and I did 1:18 ratio. I can't remember how much I took but it was a very small amount and I had a spike that ended up lasting 24 hours. I know it's really scary any time a spike happens but I wouldn't worry too much. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having a permanent increase in tinnitus from CBD or THC.

 

@shelbynn, thank you for your reply. Sorry you had that experience, too!

It's too bad that I'm reacting this way.Thanks to CBD I finally had a good week with lower tinnitus and no anxiety, which I had hoped would help me relax a bit for another 2-3 weeks, and would speed up the habituation process to this new, multitonal, intrusive tinnitus that started months ago.

However, if the price to pay is a massive spike in my "other tinnitus" (the one I've always had) then I'm not sure if's such a good tradeoff after all, as it's causing me anxiety.

I just hope the spike doesn't last weeks. I've already got enough on my plate as I deal with my "new tinnitus". I took some Clonazepam because my anxiety went through the roof and I started to carastrophize and was getting stuck in a panic + spike loop. The medication made my tinnitus go back to baseline within an hour. Here's hoping it stays that way...

It's just crazy to me that such a small amount of THC can cause such a big spike that last for so long. Then again, I know THC & CBD can remain in our body for a while, and I'd been building up in my system for several days so... I hope that's just it.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks again!

 

THC definitely can cause ringing tinnitus. I've had it before. It took a while to shake.

CBD greatly helps null it or spoof it.

Half life is ridiculous so you're in for a ride. Tinnitus is the first to come and last to go.

 

Oof... Are we speaking days, here? I mean, it's not as though as I took a high dose of THC or anything so I figured it should be gone after 2-3 days...?

 

When my tinnitus first increased a year and a half ago I quit marijuana for about two months. Quitting made my life worse overall and I was heading towards other chemical sleep aids.

I gradually started again, first by attaining some CBD/THC keef and then after about two months I moved back on to regular marijuana. Now I smoke everyday and I sleep like a baby most nights. Getting sleep is more important to me than tinnitus. I'm not giving anyone advice, but it seems that for me it doesn't spike my tinnitus, but it did make me hyper aware and paranoid in the early days. And if it does spike, I'd rather let my tinnitus scream for a bit than let it control my whole life.

Crashing ocean waves also seem to spike my tinnitus, but I'm not going to stop going to the beach either.

 

I admire your attitude, @rei.

I try not to let tinnitus stop me too much from doing things I enjoy even if it spikes me a little, but I find I have a hard time dealing with very loud, intrusive spikes as they still make me anxious. I don't plan on giving up entirely on CBD oil, but I'll wait a few days and tru again with a smaller dose, see it if still spikes me (it didn't for several days, so maybe I just overdid it?)

I hope that someday I get to where you are now in regards to your tinnitus!

 

@Syb, I'd love to hear how get on with some CBD oil. I'm tempted to try just straight up smoking a joint with my roomie this weekend but I'll more than likely chicken out lol.

 

@shelbynn, well, for the time being I stopped because I'm trying to identify what spikes me and suspect it might be my CBD oil.

I stopped for three days now but I still get some weird aural fullness and increase in my base tinnitus when all the other sounds I usually experience are gone, always starts later during the day. At this point it might actually one of the medications or supplements I take. TBD.

I hope I can go back on CBD oil because it helped tremendously with anxiety, but this weird ear fullness & humming tinnitus is annoying as hell so, as long as I'm not 100% certain it's not CBD oil, I'll wait.

(Can't comment on smoking, never smoked anything in my life!)

 

I love weed but after reading more and more evidence that weed might even cause tinnitus / make it more likely to get it, the paranoia when smoking weed was just to high, I put myself on a one year break to see if it makes my tinnitus better.

Especially because weed spikes my tinnitus so much, I often thought... that might be your brain telling you to stop weed.

I still often miss weed, taking some Kratom every now and then and drinking more beer.

 

Exactly the reason I use edibles.

 

I miss weed so much. I really want to get back to doing what makes me happy.

 

Not really, compared to a lot of other shit in the environment like huffing down diesel fumes on my motorcycle.

Cannabis smoking and lung cancer risk: Pooled analysis in the International Lung Cancer Consortium:

Cannabis Smoking and Risk of Lung Cancer in Men: A Pooled Analysis of Three Studies in Maghreb:

Effects of smoking cannabis on lung function:

More or less some studies find a minor association with long term heavy use, but it's not nearly as dramatic as tobacco, and so far we don't have long term data on vaping flower / oil but there's reason to think it's not nearly as detrimental since the main thing that makes pot smoke carcinogenic is post-combustion carbon products (unlike commercial tobacco which is chock full of heavy metals and carcinogenic flame retardants and god knows what else).

* goes back to 3am oil rips of Trainwreck to fall back asleep

 

Agree that smoking weed is bad for you. I haven’t smoked it in many years. But you don’t need to smoke anything. Tinctures and edibles are the way to go. Even dry vaping (buds not cartridges) is much better.

Smoking weed did exacerbate my tinnitus but it’s been at least 10 years since I smoked. Edibles and tinctures not so much.