Sub-Cutaneous Lidocaine

IV Lidocaine seems to be the only thing in literature that states without a doubt has some effect on tinnitus... whether that's negative (seems like 20% of cases) or positive (80%).

No doctor I've spoken to wants to try IV Lidocaine where it would be "temporary and not worth the risk".

The cost is also very high to do privately, and can only be done via Pain Clinics.

That said, sub-cutaneous is also an option and I've read a fair bit about it and the effects seem on par and way safer than IV Lidocaine, and actually effective compared to dermal absorption. Injection would be behind the ear cartilage.

Has anyone tried this? And if so, what's your tinnitus cause and what does it sound like? How "temporary" was the effect?

This seems cheaper and something that could be done once a month so to speak, right now, that might actually work.

I will be pushing to try this shortly myself, but feedback from others "like me" would be helpful, namely having really bad bilateral wavering or jittering sound effects in the morning post-silence, or yawning and hearing "Twaaaaaang" whilst doing so at any period (note yawning and flutter or high ringing doesn't apply to my case).

I have normal ringing but that generally doesn't bother me (generally...)

 

Would a dentist be qualified (or could be trained) to do it? (My brother is a dentist

 

Yup. Maybe not in the ear but they use it for root canals and tooth extractions. I'd suppose it'd be close enough to be similar (that's a nerve block as opposed to subcutaneous).

 

No one did this? I am desperate to try anything.

 

Action of Intra-auricular Topical Lidocaine on Tinnitus

This study completes next month.

 

Interesting, although I feel like up against the ear drum would not suffice and I would need the Lidocaine right in my inner ear! Lol.

I have looked into neural therapy, which is injecting a local anesthetic, mainly Procaine or Lidocaine, into peripheral nerves, autonomic ganglia, etc. to treat chronic nerve pain and reset the autonomic system response in these areas where trauma or injury has occurred and has created disturbances in the electrochemical function. There was a study on this with tinnitus back in 1983 but I can't get anything past the abstract.

 

I don't buy much into this at all but it's a study so deserves its place. Just like stimulating the ear canal with electric I think is too far from the source.

If we only posted studies we personally liked, the research threads would be shorter.

 

Does this mean you don't have much hope for Dr. Shore?

I am also not as enthusiastic as some here, I find it incredibly hard to believe that a bit of low current combined with a sound will alleviate the diesel generator I hear in my head, but who knows which types of tinnitus it may or may not help. We'll have to see what it does in the wild.

 

I have hope because the clinical trials showed it works in a subset of patients. It's not just the sound component, it is the timing between that and specifically placed electrodes that's important.