Supplements — Interesting Results for Me

So here is the cocktail I am taking to try and help reduce my tinnitus as well as restore hearing in my right ear. I came up with the mix after doing some research online of what some possible supplements might be that can help.

Nicotinamide riboside - 250 mg
Pterostilbene - 50 mg
R-Lipoic Acid - 100 mg
Acetyl-l-Carnitine - 500 mg

All daily.

I have pulsatile tinnitus in right ear, typewriter tinnitus in right ear (very rarely), rumbling tinnitus in both ears (fairly regularly), high pitched tinnitus in both ears (constant) along with about 1 KHz hearing loss in right ear (vs left) as well as amplitude loss. I have suffered from high-pitched tinnitus since my teens.

After being on the supplements for a few months I have noticed a definite change. I test my hearing with a hearing app on my phone and without question (based on the testing), I have gained frequency response and some amplitude response in my right ear. I can even hear some very high frequencies in my right ear better (amplitude) than my left ear now! In addition, the tinnitus has definitely settled down in both ears compared to what it has been my whole life (and especially in the last 5 years, I am 45). The other thing I have noticed is that I am hearing frequencies in my environment than I have not heard in years which is a very strange experience.

Thought I would share in case others might want to try this out. Of course, it could be placebo but I thought the results were interesting and I plan on continuing.

Clayton

 

How did you decide on these supplements specifically? A lot of them aren't the ones commonly mentioned on this forum?

I've tried zinc, magnesium, coq 10, astaxanthin, ginkgo biloba (extract), nac, etc.

 

Which is why I decided to mention them on this forum. ;-) Most of my research was focused on restoring hearing loss when I discovered that I had lost 1 KHz in my right ear vs left. The tinnitus seems to have come along for the ride.

 

For full disclose I should mention that I also take Ubiquinol, Vitamin D, Quercetin, Vitamin C on a regular basis.

 

What research lead to you taking these specific supplements? were they hard to get? How long do you figure you had the hearing loss for?

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25751698
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3552536/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940130/

Are some examples. If I looked harder I could find the actual studies for the third one but the article basically tells the story.

As far as how long, I don't know. Someone sent me a "hearing test" on facebook and I could hear the 15 KHz tone in the left ear but not the right. I was shocked, had no idea.

The supplements are available from various manufacturers on the internet.

 

This person has reported significant lessening of T, and improvement of hearing from taking supplements. This is pretty phenomenal effect for supplements, I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about this. Has anybody else tried any of these?

 

No I never heard of theses supplements for tinnitus! This is interesting

 

Thanks! I'm going to try it.

 

I noticed you said: "full disclosure - i take Ubiquinol, Vitamin D, Quercetin, Vitamin C on a regular basis"

did you take those at the same time as those other supplements you mentioned in your first post? or did those supps come later on and that's when you noticed the difference?

 

@Clayton Hinkle

 

Anyone else on these?

 

Do you think I can get these at a pharmacy?
My pharmacist had to make a lot of phonecalls, but maybe tomorrow I'll know more.

 

So my pharmacist said she can't get a hold of the first two supplements. Because they are not registered (in Belgium).
So that's the internet than!
Found everything on Iherb thanks to Markku.

 

I was on those before I started taking the four I mention. But in theory, there could be some kind of synergetic effect going on here which is why I mentioned them.

I am in the US and Nicotinamide riboside - 250 mg & Pterostilbene - 50 mg are both available from Amazon from a few different vendors. The Nicotinamide riboside is marketed exclusively by ChromaDex who licensed the patent from a university I believe. So any of those are essentially coming from the same source. Not sure about patents on Pterostilbene, it is a derivative of resveratrol.

R-Lipoic Acid & Acetyl-l-Carnitine are both much more common although ALA is more common than the former which is the R isomer of ALA which is thought to be more therapeutic.

Question for all of you. Can you manipulate the amplitude of your tinnitus by manipulations of your jaw, pushing on your forehead, etc? I can. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134893/ is a link to a study that describes at least one component of my tinnitus (the one that drives me the most nuts). I corresponded with Dr. Levine and he suspected that I have what he describes in this study. Biting down on my right side decreases the pulsatile component by 95%.

 

Somatic elements of tinnitus which you describe can happen on their own, or can happen as a result of hearing loss caused by any source (noise trauma, sshl, snhl, etc.). For some reason when the brain loses auditory input it recruits stimuli from surrounding areas, so you're more likely to be able to modulate your tinnitus with muscles in the upper body if you have hearing loss/damage. In addition the common increase people notice of T when yawning can be explained by this, or simply pressure changes in the middle ear caused by the jaw. That's what i've gathered from reading stuff at least, it gets brought up pretty frequently around here, so searching "somatic tinnitus" will bring up more discussion of this element of T.

 

Hi, just want to ask- are you vegan/vegetarian?

 

I tried this, together with a load of other supplements but my T was spiking. No sure it was related but I cancelled my experiment since than.

 

No.

 

Hi Clayton, have you managed to improve your hearing at 1 kHz in right ear? If so, how much decibels the gain is? Thank you.

 

Have you ever tried essential oils? I have heard good things about Helichrysum and Juniper oil...

 

Thank you for sharing. I just ordered these supplements.

 

Not sure. I don't have an app that can measure the dB going into each ear. I can just report a significant improvement. I still have the deficit in the right ear but it has improved. If I had to guess maybe 10 dBs?

 

I have not but I will research!

 

Thank you for the update Clayton! If you evaluate your hearing gain as of 10 dB I would say it's a good level of improvement. Actually the level of 10 dB is what I need to improve in my right ear to obtain a 'balance' between my ears (in the region up to 10 kHz though). I'm using an android phone, so I've installed the "Hearing Test" application which allows to evaluate hearing levels in dB in the frequency range up to 18 kHz.

 

I am just starting this protocol. I am a distributor for YL, and have had good results with so many of the oils for so many issues. Now that I have tinitus, I am hoping to have some relief. I have heard about varying degrees of success.