Platelet Rich Plasma Injections

To start off, I should explain how I got my tinnitus/hyperacusis.

4 years ago, when I was in college, I got hit directly on the left ear by one of my roommates and my ear drum ruptured.

I was deaf for 6 months; after 90-95% of my hearing returned, I was left with increasingly distracting tinnitus.

After a year of only tinnitus, I started to get headaches on a daily/chronic basis.

For about 2 1/2 years, I had no success with any treatments.

Recently (10/2/18) I got PRP injections into my AA joint.

While they take 2-6 weeks to fully take effect, I can say that at 5 days later, both my headache and tinnitus are far less noticeable and painful as before.

I am hopeful that it will resolve or at least greatly reduce my tinnitus/hyperacusis in the long term.

Has anyone else tried these?

The image below is the x ray of the spot where the injections were.

 

Hows your T now? There's some discussions going on here (Dr. Min Bo Shim) about PRP and T

 

Why hello @PDodge, I was thinking exactly the same thing. We should incorporate this.

 

This is interesting. I've gotten PRP before for my back before (and my dad gets prolotherapy injections every couple of months) but never looked into it for my tinnitus. Hmm ...

 

@EddieA How's that T and H going for u?

 

I'm glad you got a PRP injection. Nobody should be short on these little fellas.

 

I had another round of injections done last week. From what I gather, the effect is cumulative and it gets better each time.

At the moment, I would say the pain is down about 70-80% and the tinnitus is down about 40% or so.

This is by no means a cure, but I will say that it's definitely the best treatment I've done. Nothing else has really had any effect on me like this has.

 

That's awesome results still. You did have Hyperacusis as well? Where are you getting treatment?

 

So, this plasma injection is helping you with your tinnitus... hmm...
I wish a guy could find a PROPER ENT who listens to his patients and is willing to try things.

Also, how did you, or who had the idea, to try platelet rich plasma injections?

 

@EddieA,

Could you give us all the specifics you can about your treatment? Quite a few of us in Dr. Shim's thread are considering PRP right now. Any way you could point us to some literature that educated you on the topic before you decided on the treatment?

Could I ask cost, where you are having your procedure done, is there a measurement of quantity involved with PRP? The delivery method was intra-articular?

Anything you could tell us in detail would be wonderful.

 

Hey @EddieA

Could you be able to answer our questions?

Hope you are getting better. Thanks.

 

I have been researching ENT PRP and having no success. Is there anyone reading this thread who has knowledge to share? It seems that @EddieA is MIA. Could others try to research as well? I can't even find much about PRP on Ttalk in general. If anyone knows other threads besides Mimbo Shim, I think many of us would be interested.

 

Well he was online today so maybe he will answer at some point.

 

Sorry for the delayed response.

The main reason I had PRP injections was for pain management.

That is the main benefit and that's what it was developed for.

I was told that it could possibly help with tinnitus as well, and at this point I would say my tinnitus has been reduced by about 20-30%. I initially thought it was about 40%, but it has spiked a couple times in the past week.

It is still early to gauge how effective this will be after 2 treatments, but I am hopeful that things will improve.

As stated before, this treatment is the only thing that has really helped me to any degree.

My tinnitus and headache are still pretty annoying, but I would say that the overall intensity and invasiveness have been decreased.

 

Eddie, you are a very important person here as you have had prp injections, and of course because you are you. Can you have more injections? How long ago? What do you think of Minbo Shim? Your reduction numbers are huge compared with anything else available for sufferers. What was in the prp cocktail?Please don't be a stranger and keep us posted on your progress or regretion. Thank you for posting, sincerely Daniel. I wish you the best man,

 

I did them twice. Once in October and once this month. They say you can do them many times and the effect only gets better. As far as I know, there is no limit, but I plan on spacing them out at least 2 months if I choose to go again.

I will keep you updated but I will definitely say that I'm feeling better most of the time.

PRP is made from your own blood. They draw it and use a centrifuge to separate the platelets and then inject it.

From what I understand, it is a new technology that is a proposed alternative to stem cells, so the idea is to promote healing and rejuvenation in the affected areas.

Keep in mind that I did not only have tinnitus, but also a tension headache that would not respond to anything until this. That is the main reason I did PRP, and the (potentially temporary) reduction of tinnitus perception seems to be a side effect of the healing of the nerves connected to my AO/AA joints.

I am still waiting for developments on the actual 'cure' to tinnitus. This may help to a certain degree, but my hope lies with some of new medications/devices we've been hearing so much about. Unless the PRP technique is perfected or the precise source of tinnitus is found, I don't see it being the cure all that people are looking for.

 

Thanks for updating us!

 

Hi @EddieA,

Just saw this thread for the first time, and want to thank you for letting us know about this therapy. I was wondering if you've tried other things to help the healing in your upper cervical area, such as some kind of neck traction, DMSO to reduce inflammation and increase circulation, essential oils than can penetrate deeply into the body and create good healing effects, etc.

Also, have you looked into various physical therapies, such as upper cervical chiropractic, massage, physical therapy, etc. I had a major injury to my upper cervical area as a teenager, and suffered from chronic (daily) headaches for many years. I now believe that these headaches were a result of Craniocervical Instability (CCI) and AtlantoAxial Instablithy (AAI). I eventually found some less well known therapies such as AtlasPROfilax, Nasal Specific, and others that helped me a great deal. But I continue to search for ways to improve things even more.

I've been doing weekly physical therapy and cranial sacral work, and it has improved both my neck and my tinnitus. I'll definitely look into PRP injections. Could you let us know whether insurance covers this, or how much they cost? -- Thanks! And congratulations on your improvements!

 

Thank you for getting back to us,....... healing is what I need and others who have had a head/ ear trauma. Your experience is encouraging. I shall do this when i have the funds. I too have tension headaches. Thanks again for the valuable information. Wishing you well

 

@EddieA,

Are you able to elaborate more on your procedure?

Could you tell us about cost? How did you choose your clinic? PRP ENT is not a common application, any way you would share which clinic you utilized? How was intra-articular injection determined over something like intratympanic? Why was intra-articular viable? Any risks that you were made aware of? Is there a measurable quantity that you received regarding PRP? Was there any recovery window, were you limited at all on anything you could do for a duration? Is PRP the only substance that you received from the clinic, no vitamins, stem cell, nothing else entered your body? Were you doing any other therapies in conjunction with this one?

Please elaborate as much as you can, and include anything that you think would be informative. There are many of us interested in this procedure.

 

@EddieA,

Keep in mind that I did not only have tinnitus, but also a tension headache that would not respond to anything until this. That is the main reason I did PRP, and the (potentially temporary) reduction of tinnitus perception seems to be a side effect of the healing of the nerves connected to my AO/AA joints.

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Also, what makes you think that the nerves are healing? Did the doctor suggest this? What was his reasoning? This is something important that those of us who have been interested in PRP have been speculating on. "Does PRP repair nerves?"

 

YES

"Recent studies proved that PRP could promote regeneration of injured peripheral nerve."

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/00207454.2010.544432

 

So, I'm not seeing the full article, but the abstract talks about healing peripheral nerves. As far as I know, peripheral nerves heal much more efficiently than central nerves, and I'm not sure how the subtle nerves of the ear are classified. Since for most of us, the nerves associated with our ears seem to heal highly inefficiently, I would assume that they are not the standard peripheral nerves?

 

Looks like it is a peripheral nerve.

"The cochlear nerve (also auditory or acoustic neuron) is one of two parts of the vestibulocochlear nerve, a cranial nerve present in amniotes, the other part being the vestibular nerve."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_nerve

"The cranial nerves are considered components of the peripheral nervous system (PNS)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranial_nerves

 

Yes, but just because it is categorized as peripheral nerve, it still does not seem to regenerate in the same quality as most of the peripheral nervous system does. If PRP is healing nerves that already have decent regenerative capabilities, I am not sure that we could assume that PRP would be nearly as effective on the cranial nerve, or other associated nerves that impact our conditions.

Don't get me wrong, I am leaning toward the efficacy of PRP, I am just trying to be rationally critical.

 

According to the Stanford University dude the auditory nerves can detect if there is a new hair cell and grown back on their own and connect automatically. He described it as a miracle in his video.

 

Is this assuming there is no damage to the auditory nerve? What you are describing does not sound like regeneration of the auditory nerve, just recalibration.

 

watch the video.

 

Post

 

Stanford's Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss

around @28:00

he uses the word grow. He also says this is in response to IMPLANTING stemcells.