My Story So Far — Tinnitus from Leaf Blower Incident After Years of Rock Guitar Playing

An update:

Even more old health problems are cropping up along with new ones so something systemic is definitely up. I still believe that the stress of COVID-19, my cancer and losing my wife is a major factor. Throughout my life, all of my major chronic health problems have followed periods of extreme stress. I am continuing to explore both nutritional/supplement, body work and emotional factors.

I had some bloodwork done and found a vitamin D deficiency and very low B12 so I am working on those. I am also working on other vitamins/supplements that need to be in good shape for my body to heal and are used up under stress starting with B complex, C, Omega 3, E, and glutathione status. I am also following a CBG thread here with great interest.

I have started back at the chiropractor and that has relieved some of my problems, but not tinnitus so far. I will start cranial sacral therapy this week. I am working on improving sleep trying sounds, getting to bed earlier, making it more comfortable, looking into melatonin, etc.

I am still reading the book by John Sarno on the mind body connection. I am convinced that some illness (including tinnitus) has a mind body origin and/or that some illness, even if not resulting from buried emotional traumas (for instance) is made worse by our reaction to it. A study summary that I recently read discusses this later concept with the following excerpt:

"The severity of the distress experienced from the tinnitus is determined not by the acoustic characteristics, such as pitch and loudness of tinnitus (Andersson, 2003; Henry & Meikle, 2000; Hiller & Goebel, 2007), but by the cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions to it (Andersson, 2002; Andersson & Westin, 2008; Cima, Crombez, & Vlaeyen, 2011; McKenna, Handscomb, Hoare, & Hall, 2014)."

From this article:

A trauma-focused approach for patients with tinnitus: the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing – a multicentre pilot trial

I am not pushing EMDR, CBT, psychotherapy or any other specific treatment, just the concept that we have to heal our bodies and our minds, any time we have chronic illness and tinnitus is no exception. I have also decided that if a "cure" arrives at some point great, but I want to live in the here and now with how ever many days I have left so I am not focusing on a cure that does not yet exist and want to do whatever I can to get relief for myself now.

The level of tinnitus sound has not gone down at least not yet (its actually a little louder), but I care much less about it and can ignore it at times throughout the day. If correcting my B12 deficiency for instance gets it softer, great but it also works if I just don't care about it anymore.

I am 66 years old with advancing cancer and the cavalry may not be coming in the time I have left. I am working to get this problem out of my way so that I can do the things left on my list in relative comfort.

George

 

Hello George,

I am new to this forum and have made an account so I could reply to you.

Your attitude towards this ailment, in light of everything you have been/are going through, highlights how strong and resilient people can be. I truly admire your determination.

I hope things improve going forward. Wish you all the best.

 

Thank you for taking the time to tell me that. Every morning when we get up all we can do is find the best path forward from where we stand today. It’s all we’ve got.

George

 

Can (slight) hearing loss also recover with time? If tinnitus disappears, will hearing get better then?

 

An update:

I am continuing to read books on the mind body connection and the effect of our emotions on pain and illness and working on my attitude towards this affliction. I also had my first cranial sacral therapy session. Nothing dramatic from the first treatment, I will give it 3 tries and then re-assess. I am at the point now that I don't care very much about the tinnitus/sounds. They have actually gotten louder with new noises added since this started but I care much less about them. Most of the time it does not bother me at all. I stopped caring about the foods that cause spikes and just eat them anyhow. I just ate some sugar and as I am typing this I have a truck tire losing all of its air in my head and I don't really care. I know that I will get spikes from random loud noise exposures so I protect when I can but when I get nailed randomly I don't care much anymore and just press on. That's a lot of progress in a short amount of time on the noises in my head. Its shockingly loud sometimes but I think I can live with this part.

The hyperacousis and ear pain is the bigger challenge. I have heavy restrictions on movies and music and have to protect with most loud things or I will get a big spike in ear pain radiating up and down the side of my head. This keeps me from doing the things I love most in life and so is the more difficult part to deal with. Because of this I am starting to not care about what can be ototoxic and cause tinnitus flares or permanent new noises and I am concentrating on what might help me with the ear pain/fullness/dullness that happens randomly on occasion and constantly from noise exposures. I am thinking about starting CBG and making some new doctors appointments just to make sure I am not missing anything that could help this. I have also developed other new physical symptoms like massive fatigue and joint pain so there may be a bigger issue which may mean an opportunity for improvement.

George

 

Do earplugs make your tinnitus louder? I would find it hard to sleep with my earplugs in. Just wondering as I’ve read other people do the same thing.

 

I have tried sleeping with and without earplugs and with and without background sounds. I prefer no earplugs and a silent bedroom. Yes, earplugs or earmuffs make the tinnitus louder or at least more apparent.

George

 

When I first put the earplugs in, the tinnitus is louder. After a couple of minutes, it down regulates, and the tinnitus goes down significantly. It is hard to sleep without them now. I am not sure if it works for everyone, but definitely works for me.

 

Regarding your new physical symptoms like fatigue and joint pain. These symptoms, and tinnitus, can be caused by long COVID-19. Maybe worth discussing with your GP.

 

An update:

The chiropractor did not help, as a matter of fact its not helping my back pain anymore because that has morphed into lumbar arthritis. This is being managed OK with heat/cold, stretching and Ibuprofen for now. I am also correcting a vitamin D deficiency and that also seems to be helping

Cranial Sacral therapy did not help. I tried the obligatory 3 treatments and have put that on hold for now.

I still need to straighten out my B12 deficiency.

Reading books about the mind body connection is helping me tolerate the tinnitus. It has gotten louder and new squeaky and high pitched noises show up on occasion but I care about it less. I don't like it and sometimes it's shockingly loud but I have found that it's essential to turn down the hyper focus on this condition. Obsessing about it can do nothing good and only make the situation worse. Now I think of it as my new neighbor that plays loud music next door. When the new sounds show up I just laugh and say, I see you brought some new friends over, and sometimes I say F you, that's the best you got for me? Get in line behind cancer. When I get one of the dozens of flare ups every week I just create the ideal "just right" noise environment and go do something that needs my mind in high gear. I protect when necessary or prudent and sleep in total silence. I hear it as I fall asleep but I don't care anymore.

The ear pain and H is the much bigger problem. Saw an ENT yesterday. I have a raging sinus infection and possible TMJ so she is treating for all of this. Based on how I described the pain and its evolution she thinks she might be able to help. At least she did not tell me to go home and live with it. 21 days of her favorite antibiotic, steroids to settle everything down, muscle relaxers to settle down my jaw and probiotics to keep my gut flora in shape. I may also go see my dentist about TMJ. I am really focused on this now because they found an entirely new cancer during a full body scan last week and I have a music album to finish which now has even further urgency. Cancer has taken my wife, ALL my friends and will take me but it will not take my bucket list. Cancer is going to have to kiss my a*& for now and wait its turn. Life seldom goes as you originally planned it. Sometimes it's spectacularly better like when I met and spent 22 years with my awesome wife or now which is less pleasant but I am a problem solver so onward while I still have the energy.


George

 

An interesting discovery:

My ENT says that the way I describe my ear pain and hyperacousis, she believes that there may be TMJ involvement. Additionally my chiropractor has been advising me to do specific stretches and strengthening exercises for my forward head posture which has gotten quite severe with age and my muscle loss due to my cancer treatments. In my case my head has an apparent weight of 40 pounds instead of 12 pounds which creates all kinds of problems in the neck and elsewhere. In reading about poor posture and specifically forward head posture, I find out that this can lead to TMJ. So I started moving my TMJ around and doing my posture exercides and this changes the pitch and loudness of my tinnitus. So hopefully correct posture>relieve neck strain>relieve TMJ>help my ears.

George

 

I spoke with a brilliant audiologist. Hearing protection at night is completely bad. I did it for years, the result was I gave myself the worst possible hyperacusis imaginable and ended up admitted to hospital and snowed under with antidepressants for weeks, and discharged on a bag of meds.

Absolutely please do not do that. I know. In the short term, like ten years, it seems fine, what you are doing is disturbing your hearing balance. You must never sleep with ear canals occluded. The end result is where I am now, extremely debilitated and virtually crippled, never knowing if I'm going to sleep or not, and even sometimes not even knowing if I'm going to wake up, talking about voluntary assistance in death, and reading the end it all threads and wondering when will that be me. Notice I list cause of tinnitus as overuse of hearing protection. That was not known about back then. Now the top audiologist are very familiar with how I did it, imagined I was helping myself but in reality setting the stage for tinnitus from hell .

Don't. Ever. Do. That. Like really. Seriously. I am a subspecialty medical doctor. And they tell me I'm pretty decent at it. My audiologist tells me I know more than 99% of his patients.

 

Another update:

The new tumor that was an incidental finding of my full body PET/CT scan for my prostate cancer last week is a thymic tumor, it is growing in the thymus bed adjacent to my heart, under the sternum. Turns out, one of the secondary problems that can come with this type of tumor is Myasthenia Gravis of which I have had some minor symptoms. These include muscles weakness leading to a drooping face, double vision and so forth. There is some thinking that this can then affect the auditory reflex which helps protect you from loud noises by pulling the mechanical chain apart during exposure and can then lead to damage and /or sensitivity to normal sounds as well as tinnitus. This is not a conclusion of my medical team, it is my research connecting the dots and potentially finding the cause and effect relationship that is causing me all of this ear pain suffering. Having the tumor removed can sometimes lessen Myasthenia Gravis symptoms so that may be an opportunity.

BTW, this is most likely a thymoma or thymic carcinoma which is a rare cancer occurring only around 400 times per year. I lost my wife to an equally rare form of adrenal cancer recently. The chances of a husband and wife having two unrelated rare cancers of these types simultaneously is 0.00000000002.5 %. Its essentially impossible. I guess now I am really special. I keep wondering why for instance my father operated really loud power tools unprotected for 45 years without ear issues and I wound up getting hearing damage from a much lower, shorter duration and much less frequent sound level?

George

 

Sorry to hear that.

That’s a good question and difficult to answer. A common theme for people who get severe tinnitus after a concert, for example, is that their friends were fine the next day. They were the unlucky ones. I’m guessing, but it’s likely from cumulative exposure, having other health issues or meds that impact the ears at the time (such as a cold) the exposure occurred. Life can be a bit chaotic.

 

Exactly my point, that something is different in the people effected and in my case the cascade from the new tumor may be my root cause.

George

 

I continue my research regarding the role our brains have in chronic pain and as an extension, tinnitus and hyperacusis/pain. Several books and research papers discuss the concept of neuroplastic chronic pain where there may or may not have been an original physical injury or trauma but eventually there is no physical explanation but the pain persists.

Pain is a necessary mechanism to tell us to let an injured body part recover but why can this happen when no such injury still exists, what purpose does this serve? A common theory is That a neuroplastic link has been established between an emotion and the perception of pain. One example is childhood trauma and a distraction event to avoid facing unpleasant memories. Another concept is the pain fear cycle. The obsession over what ifs reinforce the pain in an endless cycle. One research paper puts forth the theory that tinnitus operates in a similar manner. There may or may not have been an original injury but now an endless cycle is in effect. Even if the process is quite physical at its origins like the concept of hearing loss and the brain substituting phantom sounds for the silence is neuroplasticity at work. The brain has created a new pathway. The reaction is not “that’s weird I have some ringing in my ears, oh that will eventually go away”. Instead it’s - “How bad will this get, will that sound cause a spike, how long will this last, will this ruin my life, ...?” This type of hyper focus and fear is found everywhere throughout this forum. No judgement, I started out with many of the same thoughts.

I don’t view this as a negative, declaring that it’s all in our heads, we are mentally defective. We are not hypochondriacs, we are really suffering but unavoidably our complicated brains are in fact involved. Rather I see it as an opportunity for improvement, for relief. If the brain has created a new pathway to cause pain/noise, it can do the opposite. This is a common phenomenon found in millions of people and the pain is real. More importantly it can be reduced or eliminated. A number of doctors dedicate their lives to helping people reduce or eliminate neuroplastic pain, some with significantly success. The key for us is the research concept that tinnitus and its cousins are a similar process.

I have already essentially ignored my tinnitus, it almost never bothers me anymore despite how loud it can get. My bigger challenge is hyperacusis and ear pain. I am working with a good ENT office to rule out treatable causes but I am also following this concept to get relief across the board by learning how to train my brain to either unwire this phantom problem or rewire a real problem to eliminate the suffering. I was helped for back pain in the ‘80’s and I think it also applies here.

I think that the reason why there is such minimal relief for chronic sufferers of our conditions is because doctors are looking in the wrong place for many. The biomechanical model of physical defect - drugs for treatment is not the answer for many of us. I think that eventually it will be discovered that neuroplasticity will play a role in the explanation for and then the treatment of many chronic pain conditions where no physical explanation exists. Additionally, even when doctors do recognize this process they turn off the patient w

Is it all in our heads? Everything is in our heads. Without our brains we could not perceive anything. Do our brains sometimes turn on us and create suffering? Yes, there is evidence of that everywhere. Stress causes ulcers and heart attacks, worry and fear causes panic attacks, serious negative life events cause depression, childhood traumas cause personality disorders, ... The good news is that the “body” of evidence is growing that the process can be reversed and that tinnitus follows the same process as the neuroplastic chronic pain model.

My latest book read is The Way Out by Alan Gordon along with numerous research papers.

All the best,


George

 

Some thoughts:

Tinnitus has been around since at least ancient Egyptian times, it has probably been a common human condition since the start of humanity. Why has there been so little progress in the ability to “cure” this condition? I think that there are number of reasons.

First, I think for some it is a wear out mechanism, a feature of aging. Like carpal tunnel syndrome to the carpenter or typists, some people just have cumulative damage to their hearing due to occupation or lifestyle choices and sometimes damage from wear out is not repairable. It’s worn out. Hair cell damage and all that.

Second, there can be a disease or degenerative process like degradation of the middle ear bones or the acoustic reflex muscles and there is no commonly available surgery for repair. Third, there can be deficiencies that make certain people susceptible to damage such as Glutathione status. Fourth, ototoxicity drugs, ... There is more but you get the idea. The good news that for many if not most, it will get better or go away on its own.

This is a multifaceted problem, it can have many causes and the trajectory is very different for different people. Hearing damage, medicine, stress, ... Modern medicine tends to blow off symptom complaints that don’t fit a consistent and predictable pattern along with confirmation through testing.

Third, there appears to be an emotional component to this condition, in part or in whole and we don’t generally recognize the mind body connection in modern medicine. We don’t tend to accept a psychosomatic diagnosis or component in chronic pain/diseases. It doesn’t fit the modern disease model and such ideas have been stigmatized. All of this is very much like headaches which can be vague, multi faceted and are often never permanently cured.

The modern disease model is poorly suited for such conditions. Something like Cushing disease it’s a much better candidate for modern medicine. Symptoms that fit a pattern and match blood test results, confirmation of a tumor with a scan, surgical removal and confirmation of the fix with blood test and elimination of symptoms. Easy peasey, we see nails and we have a hammer.

After reading hundreds of pages of individual stories here and elsewhere it’s clear that most of the cases that resolve do so on their own and there is virtually no consistent prescription for relief, this is definitely not a one size fits all problem. Very rarely do I read any medical treatment that resulted in permanent and total symptom relief. Modern medicine has been pushing on a rope in this regard.

There are some treatable causes like infections or deficiencies so those should always be investigated early on. This is one of the trickier parts because there are so many possible causes that an extensive trial and error process may be necessary to find the problem and our “quick fix” system/society is not suited for addressing such things. I read a story once of a severely sick little boy who just kept getting worse despite countless doctors, tests and treatments. The mother was desperate and joined in with considerable research and her own trial and error. The cause was found and the boy completely cured, by the mother, with a treatment cost of zero dollars. The problem - yellow dye number 5 in the boys daily vitamin, a severe allergy.

Time can be your friend because many resolve eventually on their own. Many people just get used to it, it stops bothering them even if it’s still there much like say joint pain that gets managed with ice and stretching exercises.

Others get significant relief or complete resolution by exploring that strange, often ostracized concept of mind body connection or psychosomatic disease. The research and experiments to prove this process are remarkable. Pain and suffering induced or relieved by manipulating thoughts and emotions alone, with no organic cause for the condition. It’s fascinating reading, with mind blowing stories. We have to remember that our emotions sit in the same brain with the generation of all body chemistry, perception of pain and sound, etc. I believe that this is a common component of tinnitus and it’s close cousin - chronic pain, both often with no measurable or verifiable physical cause or a cause that had existed at one time and is now long since resolved. I once had an extensive conversation with a respected local heart surgeon who told me that he can definitely harm or help his patients with the thoughts that he puts in their heads with his words. It will effect them physically in measurable ways. This should be explored by anyone suffering from tinnitus. There are as many success stories on this forum with people working on this area as for most of the other medical treatments.

The good news is that many if not most people get relief. There are about 50 million people in the US with tinnitus and less than 1% of them are here. Even if 10x more suffer in silence, the rate of a condition with extensive impact on quality of life is probably less than 10%. In summary:

Rule out a treatable underlying condition.

Protect and modify to allow healing but don’t over do it.

Give it time, most improve or resolve. There will be exposures, there will be spikes, things will calm back down.

Relax and don’t obsess about the possibilities. Don’t constantly monitor it and assigned measurements and labels. Accept it, explore your emotions and relax. This is like chronic pain where a fear based focus will make it worse or prevent healing. That cycle can be broken. If you are having trouble with this read some books or seek some qualified help.

All the best,
George

 

Update:

I am a musician and tinnitus/hyperacusis is extra devastating. Since my wife passed away this is my only joy in life so while I'm upset, I am also motivated. I just read a book by Jack Rubinacci, a musician that had to learn to workaround his tinnitus to make a living and do what he loves. While some of it does not apply to the non-musicians here much of it does so here is a summary of what I learned. If you have read any of my other posts, much of this will sound familiar:

State of mind is everything. Make peace with this, accept it. Millions of people have to work through injuries and some set new records or achievements with these challenges. Don't put everything on hold waiting for a cure. Don't be mad about it, don't fear or hate it, don't feel helpless and pull away from everything. Don't obsess about it, don't hyperfocus on it (describing it, measuring it, looking for it, ...), don't stay stuck in a fear cycle obsessing about what if's (what if this gets worse, never goes away, ...)

Focus on the things that you love so that you will be motivated to find workarounds to be able to enjoy them and push T into the background, making it less than important. Read about people overcoming impossible obstacles to succeed at something for motivation.

This may never go away but you can get to a place where you don't care about it. Spikes are a normal part of life now. Protect and use common sense and reasonable avoidance techniques but when, not if that unforecasted car horn goes off next to your head, relax the spike will go down. Some last longer than others but you have to relax and assume the best, not the worst.

Lower stress about this and stress in general. Whatever works for you. Walks in nature, mindfulness, etc. You have to turn down the stress and anxiety meter.

Manage volumes, 65 dBa recording and mixing and 80 dBa/3 minutes on stage.

Limit any session to 3 hours. If you hurt yourself, give it a break until you recover. Listen to your body. We are all different, adjust as needed.

Cut high frequencies and distortion until the final mix. I even do this now listening to the news, etc

Use musician ear plugs that cut high frequencies, earmuffs, hearing aids with masking at the tinnitus frequency and sound therapy.

Use MIDI instr, apps for guitar tone.

Practice with an unplugged electric guitar.

He still uses headphones while recording (modified as stated above) although this is strictly verboten if you have spent any time here. I'll stay out of that debate and not even talk about what I am doing to avoid any potential flame throwers, do what you feel is right. Again, the consensus here is NFW, full stop.

Link to Jack's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Musician-Tinnitus-Tools-Perform-Tinnitus-ebook/dp/B09316D7C9/

George

 

Thanks @GeorgeLG. Just purchased that on Kindle and will give it a read.

 

You are welcome. I am now reading his general book on tinnitus that will apply better to non-musicians.

George

 

I think that Jack's other more general book can help some tinnitus sufferers here. I don't want to summarize it so as not to take away from his book sales but here is one quote from a middle chapter:

"Sometimes we need to step back and say, the anxiety of the tinnitus is worse than the actual tinnitus itself and I need to do something about it!"

Rubinacci, Jack. Overcoming Tinnitus. 12 Tools That Helped Me Overcome Tinnitus. : Written By A Musician (p. 51).

The book:

https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Tinnitus-Tools-Helped-Overcome/dp/B093CHHVP6/

I am not affiliated with Jack, just trying to help myself and others.

George

 

@GeorgeLG, I've read Jack's book "Overcoming Tinnitus. 12 Tools That Helped Me Overcome Tinnitus"

It's a good, interesting read. Good for general tips, and experiences from another tinnitus warrior.

 

@GeorgeLG, thanks for the ever thoughtful and inspiring read George.

 

You're welcome and thank you.

George

 

Update:

I almost never go to the doctor and almost never take prescription drugs. I am 67 and the only drug I take is a monthly injection for cancer.

Tinnitus/Hyperacusis/Otalgia took away the only joy in my life after my wife died - recording music. Because of this I broke my long standing rule of self healing and natural products wherever possible and decided to rule out any medically treatable underlying causes. I sought out the best ENT in town and off I went. Audiogram (significant bilateral hearing loss above 2 kHz, scope in the sinuses (significant sinus infection), declaration of TMJ, etc. I decided to take their sinus infection antibiotic (Cefdinir) for 21 days along with the probiotic Florastor and prednisone. Well I got a raging case of C Diff which I will not describe because its disgusting but it was the worst infection and bowel disruption in my 67 years and I have had food poisoning on the road in Asia and Mexico. The solution to that problem is Vancomycin, one of the strongest antibiotics on the planet (2X normal dose) for 10 more days which created new problems. Bowels are partially recovered but the GI doctor says up to a 50% chance of a lifetime of recurrences and at my age and battle with cancer I had about a 25% chance of dying from C Diff. I need to get into better shape for my upcoming major surgery for the new cancer covering my chest at Mayo, where antibiotics may be required.

Be careful with the drugs that you chose to take/try/experiment with because any new problems may need more drugs with ototoxic potential and other problems. I was peeing blood in the middle of the Vancomycin therapy along with a whole string of other problems. All medicines have a trade off, its always a risk reward calculation. I know that for many of us our condition is devastating and so maybe that calculation stills says try the drug but be careful before potentially adding insult to injury.

My Tinnitus/Hyperacusis/Otalgia is worse this month possibly due to the latest drugs and infections, definitely due to the stress of my original cancer becoming metastatic, discovery of a brand new cancer covering my heart and the need for a major surgery during the fifth pandemic wave that is spooling up, but we press on. My work to address my emotional reaction to Tinnitus/Hyperacusis/Otalgia is still reducing its impact even as it gets worse. I just finished all my decisions on surgery and scheduling so now I can go back to relaxing more and getting settled back down.

I have learned that I can practice guitar and bass with musicians earplugs playing electric instruments unplugged so at least I can keep my playing skills up but I have not yet worked through a complete recording without really hurting my ears.

I spent some time in the "suicidal" thread and decided that this was not for me. I felt a calling to try to help the most seriously affected and wrote some lengthy posts but that's a rough environment and the personal attacks and criticism of heartfelt attempts to help people are not good for my declining state of health. I have decided to stick to a lower intensity routine here such as this thread.

George

 

Supplements.

I have done a lot of research and experimenting in this area over the last 30 years and have some thoughts.

I think that there are only a few areas where supplementing above normal needs (vitamin A) or consuming concentrated food products (ex: deodorized garlic, green foods) are beneficial and even then not for everybody. As a matter of fact mega doses of some supplements in isolation can be quite dangerous because of the impact to the antagonist (ex: zinc excess, copper deficiency, anemia) or the direct toxicity of high levels such as fat soluble vitamins (ex: vitamin A or niacin). All dietary elements are best in balance because many of them work together, even only working when together sometimes. Be careful with sustained mega doses of anything.

So why do some members report great results with a given supplement and many others (probably most) say no help, maybe even shout scam or snake oil? There are four primary possibilities:

1) That substance is a scam and may never work for anyone. "In vitro lab results show..." may never translate to the human digestive track and bloodstream or all claims were bullshit to begin with.

2) Its a low quality or poorly absorbed version of the substance. Why are B12 pills so high in strength , many times the RDA for B12? Because it is so poorly absorbed and in some people who lack say intrinsic factor in their gut, not absorbed at all. Magnesium oxide is a poor quality version vs a chelated form like citrate or glycinate. The brand itself may just suck.

3) There is more than one thing wrong that also needs to be fixed.

4) That person is not deficient. I recently read a government study that showed that people get a 50% reduction in reported tinnitus volume after high quality B12 supplementation ONLY if they were deficient to start with. For some deficient in glutathione, NAC can reduce permanent hearing loss after a loud noise exposure but only if it can be absorbed and the cofactors (ex: cysteine) are in good supply for the conversion. That why some people report no effect with NAC alone and some need additional supplementation to make the whole conversion process work. Most people probably do not have a severe enough deficiency to get a dramatic enough effect from trying most supplements but a few get fantastic results. It has gotten some people out of the hospital. I have had a few of those dramatic examples for me over the years. Magnesium for panic attacks (deficient from H2 receptor antagonists - Tagamet) and vitamin D for crushing lower back pain (from cancer). I just tested deficient in B12 so I may have found another opportunity for me but you may not need to fix this vitamin.

So NAC, lipoflanonoids, magnesium, turmeric, ALA, vitamin C, ... all have the potential for helping any given person but probably not most. I have had some really horrible problems that were fixed or greatly relieved with cheap and non toxic supplements. Some I found by accident (magnesium), some I found through symptom analysis and sometimes confirmed by testing (B12) and some I found through testing (vitamin D).

Here is a dramatic example. In the 90's I had severe panic attacks and eventually developed a Benzo dependency (the withdrawal years later was a bitch), I was golfing with my wife and her two brothers on a super hot Florida day (think sweating and electrolyte loss). At the start of the back 9 I was standing by the tee box waiting my turn when all hell broke loose and an epic panic attack started. I had just met my brothers in law and did not want a whole scene on day 1 so I was white knuckling the shit out of this crushing attack. I had just told my wife that I don't know if I can go on when the cart person came by. Marilyn bought me two waters and pleaded with me to drink them because I was sweating so much. I chugged down both bottles and sat down in the cart. About 2 minutes later this unbelievable wave of calm came over me. My heart rate slowed down, I started to get relaxed and soon the panic attack was over. No drugs, no meditation, just bottled water. I thought what the F&%# just happened. I grabbed an empty bottle out of the garbage and read the label - fortified with electrolytes. Wow, a friggin' vitamin just cured a panic attack from a bottle of water! That started my lifelong study of nutrition and biomechanics and gets me to this post. Why was I magnesium deficient? 4 years of Tagamet had destroyed my ability to absorb magnesium properly and work stress and 100 weeks put a huge drain on my magnesium stores.

There are few ways to go about this:

Blind ass luck (my golf course story)

Evaluate symptoms and treat accordingly

Test for deficiencies

Trial and error, keep lots of notes.

A balanced and healthy lifestyle - food, rest. stress, companionship, ...


All the best,



George

 

I fully agree with you George.

I have made a point of not using pharma except in the most dire circumstances.

The only helpI think I’ve had recently from drugs is Ibuprofen which helped a lot with a spate of gout. Oh and Promethazine to help me sleep after the Pfizer jab restarted my tinnitus.

I think most proprietary medicines cause as many problems as they solve.

I can’t believe how many pills some of my contemporaries take (I am 59). One lady takes 16 different medications and she has been on these for many years.

Simply thinking about the cross-over effects of all the different drugs blows my mind.

 

Thank you for putting the effort into this excellent thread.

 

Glad it’s of value to you which is why I keep writing here.

George

 

I think people will be happy that I'm actually slowly tapering my meds down. I'm 65 now, and as I get older the side effects such as memory and cognition can add up.

As for what I'm doing: I constantly listen to restful rain, on quiet setting. My diet is pretty consistently vegetarian, plus I'm doubling the fish oil Omega 3. Omega 3 promotes plasticity, which I need. It also is good for COVID-19 btw, and I'm a research pathologist, this is legit, I'm not into the fringe, I'm hardcore research molecular pathologist. I consistently eat sprouted either soybeans or chickpeas, and I'm looking at fermented sprouted soybean to improve the aglycone fraction of the isoflavone. Isoflavone are important in preventing Alzheimer's and are great for bone and heart health, plus prevent cancer and etc, etc.

This morning is Sunday and I slept in solidly till 10 a.m. which is great. The tinnitus hardly seems noticeable actually. I live near the university, and a student was looking for work, I contacted her and she is my personal assistant now, in other words she shows up and mainly just motivates me to clean up the place. She also does housework, and she is strong! Her other job is gathering up shopping carts in Walmart, which means pushing them through slush. So cold and hard work doesn't bother her. Plus she is from Nigeria and when I shared my Christian testimony, which means I'm looking for healing through the power of the holy spirit. This is how Dr. Kornfield who is extremely famous, does healing, it is through the healing temple visualization, sounds like hocus pocus to uninitiated, but it is extremely legit. My secular friend is very familiar with this technique, it is related to Buddhism as well, you don't need to believe in the imaginary guy in the sky, plus this was the start point to heal my childhood traumas, which were (not are, because they've been treated), and my traumas are cleared up so my personal family and professional life, plus my self confidence and self worth is where it is supposed to be.

All those things in combination, have improved me. That is called holistic healing. It means "we believe in treating the whole patient, in the same way that Jesus Christ did", and that doesn't mean you read the Bible now, go to church on Sunday, that is a completely different sideshow from actual healing.

So yeah, that's it, my meds are down, the tinnitus is down, I'm sleeping better, and my life has gone from a mess into something that resembles order. I take a 0.6 gm of Cannabis brownie, that doesn't spike the tinnitus at all anymore. I make my own brownie, I have a permit and it is legal where I live. That is equivalent to a 0.25 gm of actual Cannabis, which is quite small and it is a THC/CBD mix. I use a bit of vodka to suspend it, such as 0.2 ml and hold it under tongue/in mouth, as long as possible. That is my tip. 0.25 gm of Cannabis is very tiny to the uninitiated.