Pycnogenol May Relieve Some Types of Tinnitus

http://www.iherb.com/Healthy-Origins-Pycnogenol-100-mg-120-Veggie-Caps/48745

Pycnogenol, an antioxidant plant extract derived from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, was effective in relieving tinnitus symptoms by improving blood flow in the inner ear in a recent study published in Panminerva Medica.

In a study conducted by the Chieti-Pescara University in Italy, 82 patients between the ages of 35 and 55 with mild-to-moderate tinnitus in only one ear, while the other remains unaffected, were studied throughout a four-week period. Tinnitus in all subjects was a result of restricted blood supply to the inner ear, as measured by high resolution ultrasonography imaging of their cochlear blood flow.

Patients were assigned to one of three groups: A, B and control. Group A consisted of 24 patients who were administered 150 mg/day of Pycnogenol®, group B consisted of 34 patients who were administered 100 mg/day of Pycnogenol®, and the control group consisted of 24 patients who received no Pycnogenol®. None of the patients had previously used medication for their tinnitus symptoms.

At the beginning of the study, patients’ average initial systolic and diastolic blood flow velocities were 14.3 and 4.22 cm/sec in the low-dose Pycnogenol® group and 13.2 and 3.2 cm/sec in the high-dose Pycnogenol® group, indicative of insufficient blood perfusion of the ear in both groups. The study found after four weeks of treatment with Pycnogenol®, inner ear systolic and diastolic blood flow velocities in the affected ear rose to an average of 21.2 and 8.23 cm/sec in the low dose group and to 24.3 and 12.5 cm/sec in the high dose group. Not only are these results significant for the improvement of inner ear blood micro-circulation and, consequently reduction of tinnitus symptoms, but they also indicate the potentially dose-related effect of Pycnogenol® on the condition.

The study also examined in detail the effects of Pycnogenol® on the symptoms of tinnitus. Using a Subjective Tinnitus Scale (STS) at the inception of the study, subjects were instructed to rate their symptoms from “zero" (low intensity of symptoms) to 15 (constant and severe symptoms). The initial STS average value was approximately 8.8 among patients in the Pycnogenol® group and 7.9 in the control group. After four weeks, STS scores reduced to 5.2 in the low-dose group and 3.3 in the high-dose group, demonstrating a reduction of the disturbing background noise in the effected ear. There were no significant changes within the control group.

“The study clearly indicates Pycnogenol®’s ability to improve vascular function and restore cochlear blood perfusion, which in turn relieves the severity of tinnitus symptoms" said Gianni Belcaro, a lead researcher on the study along with his team from Irvine3 Vascular labs, Chieti-Pescara University. “The results provide further evidence of the supplement’s natural efficacy for a variety of vascular health symptoms."

More than 50 million Americans will experience some degree of tinnitus in their lifetime, according to the American Tinnitus Association. Tinnitus is a hearing condition that causes the constant misperception of sound, including hissing, ringing and rushing noises.

“Impaired blood flow to the ear is a common cause for tinnitus, a disturbing and very debilitating condition that can considerably impact overall health and quality of life," Belcaro said. “With few options available for treatment, this study gave us the opportunity to explore a natural solution to tinnitus symptoms and its causes."

Pycnogenol® is distributed in North America by Natural Health Science Inc. (NHS).

 

erik...thanks for the information

very interesting study

i wonder if pycnogenol is like niacin without all the side effects (itching skin and massive face flush etc)

 

hmmm... nice find erik!

 

Hi Calin, it is interesting. I would like to at least try it but I need to find out if I am allergic to the pine bark it is made from. I am allergic to Juniper/cedar trees and not sure if that would also make me allergic to pine trees and pine bark. I hope not.

 

hey guys,

I wanted to know if anyone actually tried taking this supplement??

 

Sure. I have used it for years - as an antioxidant, and to help my eczema. Pycnogenol is one of the most potent antioxidants available. However, since my various therapies, I no longer have eczema. And as it happens, I stopped taking Pycnogenol shortly after developing tinnitus - for other reasons. I still have piles of it at home (from PharmaNord). I can give it another go, if you want. But, it is unlikely to be of help in chronic tinnitus. I can see how it might be of help in people with vascular diseases/conditions - and perhaps preventing tinnitus from occuring in the first place. Instead, I will be discussing vitamin B12 injections in the week ahead with the doctors overseeing my treatment plan.

 

@attheedgeofscience i already had a shot of b12 this week.... what is the protocol for b12 injections.... current ENT doctor offered me b12 on last visit and next visit will be on 20th ..
already taking lot of supplements as of now...
coq10
serratiopeptidase for sinusitis and thin the mucus
Gingko Biloba 60 Mg+Piracetam 800 Mg+Vinpocetine 5 tablet
fish oil
and i have been taking b12 ( methylcobalamin) tablets on and off....
drop me a PM or put up some information regarding the b12 injections.. thanks in advance...

 

Thanks for all that info, Erik. I fully believe that every possible lead is worth looking into. Taking Pycnogenol, if for no other reason, would be beneficial as it is a potent antioxidant.

I'm glad that there are some positive reports about supplementation, as I think supplements often get a bad wrap. I think part of the problem is that people are naturally more skeptical to supplements than they are to conventional medicine. And in my opinion, a better case can be presented for natural methods (diet, exercise, nutrition, and supplements) than they can be made for conventional medicines in a lot of areas of health. And when supplements do appear to work, they often aren't given credit, and usually the person says, "I don't know for sure, but I think x supplement helped my condition"... I understand the skepticism, but then again, if I take Tylenol for a headache, and if that headache goes away, I can't necessarily prove that the Tylenol got rid of the headache rather than it is just coincidental. Furthermore, there have been times when I've had a headache when it seemed like doubling the dose of Tylenol didn't do squat... but I didn't suddenly come to the conclusion that Tylenol is no different than a placebo.

Also, I have found that sometimes there are simply poor studies done with supplements. The most common one I see is with vitamin E. The big scare study I saw with vitamin E being linked to cancer was using dl-alpha tocopherol, which is a synthetic form of vitamin E, and even the most hardcore naturopathic researchers have said for years that there are problems with the synthetic vitamin E. Naturally, vitamin E exists in 8 different forms (4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols), the most common in food being d-alpha tocopherol ("dl" is synthetic and vitamin E only exists as "d" in nature).

Another point we must remember that when one eats whole foods rich with certain types of vitamins like vitamin E, for example, they aren't just eating vitamin E alone. But naturally, there are supportive antioxidants involved, such as selenium. This stuff works as a "team", i.e. there is a difference between eating an orange with its vitamin C content and its naturally occurring bioflavonoids versus taking a straight vitamin C pill with no supporting bioflavonoids or other antioxidants. In other words, vitamins and minerals do not work independently like medication does. To do so would be like sending a quarter back out by himself to play against the opposing team without his other team members--it's not that the quarter back's position doesn't "work", but his position isn't designed to make up for the rest of his team.

lol, well, that's my little rant. I realize some will disagree with what I'm saying, but think about this: to say that vitamins don't work, is to say that all foods are equally nutritious. The reason why some foods are considered better than others largely have to do with their vitamin and mineral content. Why would you want to eat carrots which are high in vitamin A (mainly as beta-carotene) versus eating a Twinkie? It makes no sense to say vitamins and minerals have no worth; that's basically saying all foods are created equal and there is no point in choosing healthy options.

Ok, rant over... this seriously started off as a post more relevant to Pycnogenol, but then I have seen supplements slammed on this site so much, that I just finally had to say something, lol... oh, and just because supplements may not help with tinnitus, also doesn't mean supplements "don't work". That's like saying all the over the counter medication at Wal-Greens don't work because none of them, (acetominophen, ibuprofen, claritin, Afrin, cough drops, etc) work for tinnitus.

 

In Italy it would be on the market a product called Lutegenol, a combination of luteine and pycnogenol, but it is not available at all...

 

Hi,
did someone try this medication?
http://www.pycnogenol.com/applications/more-applications/tinnitus/

and here a new study:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/study-finds-pycnogenol-effective-improving-151100036.html

Greets Tom

 

I'm going to give this a try. A recent trial of Cialis had reduced my T a significant amount so this could be a solution for me.

 

Hello! Has anyone tried pycnogenol?

 

Hi Barbara.....Yes, for years, and up to 100 mg a day. I take it because it suppose to be a powerful antioxidant. However, it never had any beneficial effect on my T.

 

Purple corn powder has the most anthocyanins by far. Also, I recommend immortality tea as it's the healthiest tea around, also caffeine free!

 

ive read and heard from people who have had benefits from using pycnogenol for their T. Has anyone tried it?

 

Where can this be bought cheapest? So expensive everywhere...

 

If you're going to give it a try, it's worth noting that in the OP, one group was put on 100mg and the other 150mg per day. The third group received no Pycnogenol. After my first post in this thread I gave it another go by increasing my dosage from 100mg/day to 200mg/day and experienced no change in my T.

Yeah,.. it is indeed expensive. Here are some different brands sold on the Swanson Vitamins website. You can do some additional price comparisons there if you haven't already:

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/q?kw=pycnogenol

 

I take have taken Pycnogenol on and off for the last year and a half. Even though it says it takes a few weeks to have any results the first 3 days I took it my T almost went a way completely, then came back on the 4th day. I took it for about 60 more days but only occasionally did it seem to be milder. I have tried it on and off again since with some results, but nothing like the first 3 days. Sometimes using other varieties of white pine bark supplements. I am going to start again with a stronger dose of Pycnogenol. The main thing it did was give me hope that my T is curable since I did experience 3 days of relief for the first time in years.

 

I have not tried this myself. However, I heard a positive report that I thought you might find interesting to know. I recently began seeing a therapist who has worked with some other tinnitus patients previously, to try to work on developing some better coping skills. He mentioned that two of his patients had independently discovered that they obtained some relief from pine bark extract. One of them apparently felt that their tinnitus went from a '10' to a '4'. It seems that it may take a while for the benefit to kick in, like a month or so.

I'm afraid I don't know any additional details beyond this. This was just something that came up in conversation when we were going over medicines I take and other similar kinds of general information. It was not a recommendation. I would be interested in knowing if anyone on the forum had any luck with this one. It seems like a pretty benign supplement to try.

 

Are you talking about this?

 

Yes. It seems doubtful that very many people have benefited or I suppose there would be a lot more written about it here. Nevertheless I felt it might be worth contributing what I had heard.

On reading more about it, it seems as though if it was going to provide any benefit, it would be something similar to ginkgo where it improves blood flow. A lot more people have tried ginkgo, and that only seems to help a small portion of people with tinnitus.

 

Anyone tried pycnogenol recently? I'm going to give it a try as can't do any harm. Wondering if anyone else has any experience with it. My T is so bad that even a slight improvement would be welcome but I have never found anything to help yet and haven't tried anything for a while.

 

I've tried it. It's expensive and I'm not sure if it did anything. I'd be willing to try it again some time though.

 

5 days of 160mg and t is still terrible. Also have pressure feeling in ears. Maybe increased blood flow to ears is making me feel this pressure. Weird. Could pycnogenol do this?

 

I took pycnogenol for 2 months to help with my Meniere's, but I believe it made my symptoms worse.

 

This does nothing and quite expensive too.

 

Are you sure it's related?