Not a Lot of People Talk About Surgery Here...

Has anyone had surgery for their tinnitus in some way? Has it been successful? If you had the money, would you get surgery? I 100% would get surgery if I knew it would help, but what about you?

 

I would do pretty much anything if it would help .. I`m actually right now in Bangkok, just flew in 2 hours ago, to see doctors here and have them check me ... they also do DBS deep brain stimulation here. I hope the head of DBS wants to scan my brain and give his 2(0.000.000) cents. Some people have life and have T ... T came at a point in my life where I was just starting to find my way ... needles to say it made it so much harder and even took a lot of things away ... so almost everything I do or not do is because of T. it`s sad ... but it is so damn loud it is impossible to ignore even for a minute.

And if you think I have a lot of money to do this kind of stuff it`s not like that. I`m actually a hippie living on couches and by the grace of my friends so i can save the money to try to solve this bloody t thing ... man, it has really destroyed so much for me ... I come to see it more ... it creeped into my life and ook things away without noticing ...

I have been in Thailand before but today I arrived and there was no excitement ... everything is just contaminated by this sound ... no joy anymore ...

 

Why is it that people go to Bangkok for treatment? Is it cheaper? Are the doctors better?

 

Sorry to hear it's been so rough man. Keep us updated on how everything goes. Very interested to hear about it.

 

both, plus money talks so you are helped within a few days or weeks tops ... the whole proces of me doing TMS in belgium lasted 9 months total with making appointments and so on ... and it didn`t help at all!

 

What are you talking about? What surgery?

 

Surgery to get rid of tinnitus, or your problem that causes tinnitus, like Eustachian tube dysfunction or infection or something. I don't know any details because I never see anything about it.

 

As I am able to physically manipulate my ear to get rid of my tinnitus (see link), it wasn't acoustic trauma that brought it on and I have no signs of hearing loss up 14 kHz, I'm convinced that some sort of surgical intervention could help my tinnitus, but finding an eNT that can help seems improbably small based on those I have encountered so far.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...nitus-go-away-by-physical-manipulation.12919/

 

Hotaru the thing is : there is no surgery to get rid of tinnitus! I have never heard of anyone who had surgery for their tinnitus and had none afterwards. Even for ETD there is no surgery that will cure it for sure. One can try tubes but that doesn't mean tinnitus goes away.
Also infection you can't just remove by an operation. Until now there is just no cure at all for tinnitus - no pills, surgery, nothing. If there was I am pretty sure nearly everyone on here would have done it by now

 

There are experimental stem cell treatments in Bangkok, as I understand it. I guess that might be considered surgery? But it is incredibly expensive and there is no proof it is effective.

Years ago, some people had their auditory nerve cut in hopes of ending their tinnitus. But in most case, this procedure left them completely deaf -- and yet they STILL could hear their tinnitus. Most doctors now refuse to do this surgery.

So as @seal says: No. There are no surgical procedures proven to work on tinnitus. Tinkering with your inner ear and auditory nervous system is a a delicate process. Treatment research is concentrated on drug therapies and neurological stimulation. But others here know much more about this stuff than I.

 

I read one success story on here (of course I can't find it now) where someone had an operation to remove the infection and when they woke up the T was gone. I got an infection, and I might still have it, (idk if it's the cause) but if one got it surgically removed the T could go with it.

 

Most people, myself included are able to modify their tinnitus by physical manipulations around the ear, jaw or neck. The theory right is that damage to the ear can make the DCN (dorsal cochlear nucleus) hyperactive and sending the wrong information to the brain. The DCN is involved in many somatosensory processes around the ear jaw and neck area.

 

How would you remove an infection by surgery Hotaru? If your ear tissue is infected, you can't just cut it off, can you? Sorry, maybe I am misunderstanding the whole thing lol

 

My Dad got an infection removed by surgery. I don't know the details, but yeah I guess they just open you up and scrape it off.

 

to be honest I don't think that's possible in the middle ear or wherever you have that infection. you better stick to meds to get rid of the infection. fingers crossed that your T will be gone/fade away when the infection is gone...

 

There are four kinds of surgical procedures that have anything to do with tinnitus.

1) Acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor that develops near the auditory nerve.
2) A vascular conflict that somehow involves the inner ear (blood vessels that start touching the auditory nerve).
3) A perilymph fistula of the inner ear.
4) Some sort of operation involving the muscles and tiny bones in the middle ear, usually associated with tonic tensor tympani syndrome.

All the above procedures are rare and doctors have to be 101% sure that they have a right diagnosis.
All of them require extremely accurate imaging methods (high resolution CTs and MRIs) and very well studied and experienced radiologists to even see any problem, let alone pinpoint it.
And the procedures themselves are all extremely high risk, requiring constant monitoring of the patient's central and peripheral nerve functions (with the exception of the TTTS case, which is a relatively simpler procedure).

When people start cutting pieces of your skull and sticking their fingers inside your brain, all sorts of thing can happen. From getting better to having a stroke right there and dying on the spot.

 

This one has some potential, but it is more about chronic middle ear myoclonus that can't be settled by non-invasive means. It may have some overall impact on tinnitus if part of that tinnitus is being caused by the deranged action of either of the main middle ear muscles (I would call this secondary tinnitus, what with primary tinnitus having a central origin). There's quite a bit of risk to some nerves, and there's always the risk that's its not the right treatment, as there is little information around about diagnostic methods and criteria.

 

There is no such thing as surgery for tinnitus, if there was this board would not exist.