Saffron Cure for Tinnitus?

I started to take the Saffron.

I know how to recognize and I immediately can feel its serotonergic effect: good mood without reason, vivid dreams. However it is unbelievable that it kicked in so soon, just in 3 days.

The tinnitus loudness is not affected, it seems. However because of good mood it does not annoy me so much.

As others report, I expect that body will get used to it and its effect will diminish; however, I am willing to try it more.

In the ancient times Saffron was used as "cure from melancholia".

 

It's been 6 days since I took my first portion of Saffron.
I am also continuously running various kinds of custom made sound therapies.

Today I woke up and this morning is probably the best morning I have had since the onset of the SSHL. The tinnitus is somewhat there, but not so intrusive, it's very constant and easily forgettable. I keep thinking that if it remains like this forever, I would be happy and would call this as a "success story". However, I am aware that this effect may be and probably is temporary.

 

This is great to hear! I hope you maintain your positive progress with this.

I am keeping an eye on it as a potential option for me, but looking at prices on Amazon, this stuff is ridiculously expensive! This goes for a lot of alternative treatments and supplements though...

 

I paid 10 EUR for 1g in my local natural herb store, which should last for approximately 20 doses. I would say that this is probably one of the cheapest supplements I have tried for my tinnitus.

And actually this is the only supplement that has a decent confirmation about its above-placebo effect in the placebo-comparison clinical trials. Actually there was no difference between serious SSRI and Saffron, so there is no surprise why it is working.

Actually I also started to think that it's impossible for SSRI-type effect to kick in so soon. It is possible that I am experiencing placebo effect from knowing all that facts. I will keep drinking it and will see what happens after 3-4 weeks.

 

Some additional information that might be useful:

"Most dried Iranian saffron pistils more often contain about 35 mg crocins per gram.
At a concentration of 35 mg crocins per gram of saffron pistil, we’d need to prescribe 100 mg twice per day to match the dose of crocin used in the studies. Large online retailers are selling saffron for $120 per ounce; this equates to 280 doses of saffron, about 86 cents per day, or $26 per month—about twice the cost of citalopram, but still affordable.
We should anticipate 4 to 6 weeks of treatment before our patients will start to notice a significant difference."​

As I expected, the real effect should come much later; most likely I myself and the rest of the people here, who informed about some effect right away and then no effect, experienced the placebo.

 

It's been 2 weeks since I started taking Saffron. Objectively speaking I cannot say that the tinnitus loudness decreased, but I noticed that I somehow don't care so much about tinnitus anymore. I keep finding myself sometimes forgetting about it, for example, I no longer use masking music. And I was working, while not noticing my tinnitus - that had never happened before.

I will continue to take it, combining raw Saffron with Saffron extract from capsules as well.

 

An update:

I have continued to take Saffron. My elevated mood has disappeared now, I have some slight anxiety attacks (I had anxiety problems before the SSHL), in general my mood is not good, but I don't feel depressed, just tired of being in the anxious state.

Most interestingly, I am not anxious of tinnitus... I don't know what happened but I don't focus on it anymore. I am not using masking sounds during the daily activities anymore, just when sleeping. I hear it but it became somehow the part of background noise.

Some thoughts:

- Clearly my tinnitus is not influenced by my anxious state anymore, as I feel anxious but not focusing on the tinnitus;
- Is this the so-called habituation? Was it influenced by the Saffron, or it is just a coincidence?
- Maybe my tinnitus volume actually went down, and that's why I don't focus on it so much?

I am trying to be optimistic and hope that at least the effect will continue but I understand that it may be very well temporary. I will update later.

 

So ~6 weeks of Saffron use. I definitely benefit from it, and will continue to use. It helps somehow with the mood, however, it is not a cure for tinnitus, of course. The effect is very strong in the beginning. Later the body gets adapted and you need to increase the dose, and still the effect is not as strong as it was in the beginning.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

May I ask how much of the Saffron you are taking every day? How do you take it? In a tea?

Also, I was reading the experiences of another person who was using Saffron who said that she also got habituated to it, so every month or so she takes a two week break, then goes back on it for another month.

She said that two week break somehow allows it to continue to be powerful for her when she starts taking it again.

 

Hi, in the beginning I was carefully taking ~ 20 units twice a day, soaking them in the warm milk or vodka.

Later I was using just a small pinch of Saffron, not measuring it.

Actually now I take it only occasionally, maybe twice a week. Something happened to me, I am not so much bothered by my tinnitus anymore as I was. 8 months have passed since SSHL hit me. I am not sure what happened, did I get adapted? It happened when I just got tired of "looking for cure", I just ignored it and kept going with my daily life. I was not visiting this forum anymore, also I logged out of all Facebook groups about tinnitus, etc. I was trying carefully evaluate the loudness of tinnitus, I actually think it decreased, so that's why I adapted (I think) I still perfectly hear it, especially well when I am thinking about it or focusing on it. But I am not even using the night sounds anymore to sleep.

So yeah, I tried many many treatments. They are actually bullshit and nothing helped directly with tinnitus. Yet some may positively help with psyche, and I really think that most tinnitus sufferers have problems with their psychological health as well (anxiety, depression, hypersensitivity, etc.).

As for me, only FX-322 or any other similar real drugs are interesting and which I am looking forward to.

 

I thought my mindset had changed too but after several back and forth transitions between louder and softer tinnitus I realized mine did actually improve, it's just the improved version is still at the bad end of the spectrum. I think far too many people conclude they mentally overcame tinnitus when actually they have had subtle changes in the physical condition.

Unfortunately, right now I'm spiking again.

Just my two cents.

 

There are now standardised extracts of Saffron on the market that may improve efficacy. One patented form called Affron looks promising. It's available in various brands. Always seek medical opinion before starting supplements though.

 

Many people, including me, would describe this as one of the more common forms of habituation and suggest that it is, in fact, the most common trajectory that chronic tinnitus follows for a majority of us afflicted.

 

If nothing else, perhaps the high cost of using Saffron as a treatment leads to rapid habituation because we're dishing out so much money for cures, so we decide to just not care about tinnitus symptoms instead of going broke looking for a cure. This sounds like a psychosomatic approach to me

 

I got Saffron today. I'm going to try it tomorrow morning on an empty stomach.

I put 5/7 threads in warm water (I don't want milk) and leave them for 10 minutes, then remove the threads and drink the water? Is that right?

 

I tried this Saffron thing back in November and it didn't do anything for me. It was actually a pretty tasty drink though. I added some sugar-free Torani vanilla syrup to mine.

 

Be aware of fake Saffron guys. I figured that the one I bought is not authentic Saffron.

 

Hey guys. I got new Saffron today, this one seems to be authentic.

So after leaving the threads in warm water for a few minutes, should I take the threads out once they are soaked and drink the water? Or do I need to swallow them with the water?

 

Take them out.

 

Saffron didn't work for me...

 

Yea it was a bust for me also. I tried it a while ago.

 

What is working for me is sleeping with a sound machine, supplying the brain with steady stream of sound throughout the day.

 

Saffron makes my tinnitus worse temporarily.

 

Were you taking antidepressants when you took Saffron?

I decided to eat fish with Saffron because the spice seems to be stomach friendly and I wanted to try. I already knew it could increase Serotonin but I always avoided the supplement and didn't bother trying a bit in my food. I woke up after a nap with a spike but in my case I am on an SSRI.

I also took for the first time a medication called Sucralfate for gastritis so it's difficult to pinpoint the cause I guess.

Anyway, I will be avoiding both from now on.

 

Ok, I've just started on the Saffron road of treatment.

Tinnitus Scale Baseline (TSB) - between 4 and 7 out of 10.

Day 1 - 5 threads of Spanish Saffron mixed in with hot milk.

TSB Scale at about 5-6 today.

 

Oh, ffs. Of course it doesn't work.

Sorry if I'm blunt, but no natural stuff works. Especially not if it's tinnitus caused by noise or loud music.

 

As OP said, anything like this that boosts your mood is good just because it makes you feel better generally. It's kinda the same reason why CBT and antidepressants work too. These natural things are just a lighter form of say Valium.

 

So, the first week is done and the noise level has slightly dropped overall!

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

How do you take it?