The "Power" of the Brain Against Tinnitus?

Hi, i got tinnitus by listening to earphones for years, now i hope my ears are not that damaged but i got a tinnitus which i don't really know if it worsen or not. Seems like is pretty loud in quiet place, but i noticed that i habe no more "white noise like" tinnitus. Maybe because one T is gone, the other seems louder...

But i wanted to discuss about brain. For me, T is created by the brain ( hearing loss => brain forced to adapt too quickly => too much brain cells created => tinnitus)

Or some people see their T go away after a long time => brain finally adapt.

So the problem is inside the brain. Orhuman spirit has a great power to cure, brain can adapt.

Do you think meditation/ lucid dreaming methods/ or confidence in our T cured can help? This is what i'm truing to do right now.

 

I think a positive attitude can do wonders. Thinking negatively has shown to make us less healthy, so the more positive you are the better. I think that T can recover at any point, because as you said it is the brain adapting. And if you think about it, when people go out to clubs etc their ears ring, but their ears quickly adapt. Ours can adapt too, it just might take a little while. Try to keep positive and remember that even if your T doesn't go, we can live our lives just as well with it.

On a separate note, a few weeks ago my brother went out clubbing. The next day he said his hearing was dulled and he had tinnitus. Of course I was more concerned about it then he was! And naturally his managed to clear up in less than a day. If only my ears would do the same... Either way, I don't think I will ever take a risk like that again. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

I think it's like confidence. If you want to be confident, just pretend to be confident and after a while you realize you're not pretending anymore. I think this apply to positivism towards T. Pretend you're ok, like your T doesn't affect you. Force yourself onto this path. At first it will be hard. And if it works the same with confidence, one day you'll realize you live better with this condition. The brain wasn't made to be miserable, he's suppose to be happy....

 

No. Your ears are damaged for sure. This is main reason why you have a tinitus.

 

Nerve damage is expected to reduce auditory nerve activity e.g. becoming deaf. Allot of research suggest that it homeostatic plasticity (because of reduced input) that causes tinnitus.

 

No, this is still unproven theory. Maybe it is true theory, but still unproven. Acustic trauma T comes from damaged cochlea, because this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity and MAYBE (or NOT) its memorizable after some months or years in the brain.

 

I'm afraid I don't believe the theory about it being "memorised" by the brain. Surely if that was the case, wouldn't listening to a song over and over do the same thing? And even if we memorise the song, how come we don't "hear it" all the time, like we do with T? Besides, there are stories about it going over a few years - I heard about a guy who had T and it went after 16 years. Surely if a brain memorises T, that can't happen.

I mean no offence to anyone. Obviously we all have our views, but it is interesting to debate and see what theories come up

 

How can you train the brain to get used to it if it is the one (brain noise) causing it??

 

If you read the thread on Autifony, they, the researchers, are working off the theory that it is the Kv3 ion channels along the auditory pathways that is not working in T sufferers, they believe that these channels when working properly stop bad signals being sent to the brain!(Tinnitus), so when not working the bad signals are not being blocked, hence Tinnitus!
All the evidence seems to point in to this theory, this would explain why some people with hearing loss, even severe, don't experience T and others, even with mild hearing loss experiences sometimes severe T.

There is no evidence that the brain memorizes T or anything really, it's fanciful to say the least!

Autifony looks very promising indeed!

 

How far away are we realistically from a possible Autifony cure

 

I don't know, but if you read that thread there are posts on there from people that are more in the know than me.
They are suppose to be starting phase IIA in August or September so we will probably know if it works by Christmas! .....Hopefully!

 

The term memorization does not mean actually remembering smth. It means that the brain is not so plastic in order to adapt to changes so fast. However if it leaves after 16 years there could be reasons for it, such as hormonal changes or really why not improved brain plasticy? In fact depression is also caused by the brains inability to be adapt, still, depression can in fact leave a 100%. So really everything depends on the person and his/her brain.
And Autifony has shown with research that tinnitus has to do with changes in the potassium channels, so it is not connected to the ear only but the brain as a whole.

 

In facts , there's on internet some stories of people with noise induced T ( and so damaged earing cells) , and in those case, T went away.

So i think it's not only in the ear that T works, but also in the brain. And some studies shown that there's some anormal activities in the brain with T, even if it's still a theory, it shows that brain is, after the accoustic trauma, responsible of the T. Same thing with hyperacusis : it's the brain whic reacts.

This is what i think and know . Sorry if i said some stupid things ( maybe i'm wrong, i'm not an expert.

 

That is (I think) not what they see. The one research that I have read about memory T says something like: brain mechanisms in memory creation play a part in the persistence of tinnitus. The amygdala has been know to imprint traumatic experiences in the brain.

 

True, but the noise trauma is expected to reduce auditory nerve activity, not increase it. Most researcher tend to agree that tinnitus in not originating from the inner ear but is generated in the brain because of lack of input (because of noise damage). Although, it has never been fully proven that it does not come from the inner ear.

 

I do not think it is a true memory. They stated that brain mechanism that imprint memories in our brain are partly responsible for tinnitus. The amygdala has been know to do this kind of stuff. It can latterly imprint traumatic experiences in the brain. Ask any given soldier with Post traumatic stress disorders and how severe these conditions can get. The amygdala is very effective when it comes to imprinting traumatic stuff in the brain.

Are you familiar with the Zwicker tone? It is a auditory illusion. If we have temporary hearing loss, that results in a zwicker tone like auditory illusion combined with enough stress/fear...the amygdala might just release enough neuro chemicals to drive long lasting plasticity. The illusion is "memorized".

As long as the tinnitus is stressful and relevant, we will never unlearn it. Our brain will never stop monitoring a signal if it is deemed relevant for our survival. maybe this theory is not as far fetched as one might think...

 

Ah, I see. So by that logic, if we don't react to T and just get used to it, then we have a better chance of it disappearing?

 

I read somewhere that tinnitus can be like "phantom pain " : if your hand is cut, brain sometimes can't understand and " feel" the hand.

Same process with lost frequencies maybe.

 

Well, I am not sure (of course). Studies about fear and fear response basically tell us we cannot really unlearn the fear response. We can learn something new that suppress the response, but the fear reflex is still there. This is typically a gradual process that is difficult. I guess that habituation is the unlearning.

I am not sure of this is all true, but it might not be as far fetched as it may seem. I would no be surprised if it is partly responsible for the development of chronic tinnitus. In some way it seems to match the "I have loud tinnitus but I do not hear it 99.9% of the time".

 

This is textbook hokum and quite frankly isn't true in the real world.
It may even irresponsibly scare some folks with severe tinnitus into feeling they cannot habituate.

I know a guy who had truly chronic and catastrophically 'stressful and relevant' tinnitus who is now okay.
In fact it continued to be 'stressful and relevant' throughout his habituation.
He likened it to his chronic pain. In his words, you feel the pain stress throughout the process but you adapt.
That gave me a LOT of hope. Like I don't have to be stress-free to heal.

The truth is that stronger tinnitus may take a little longer than milder forms.
You have only had yours for less than a year and it is my intention to also give you realistic hope.

Get well soon.

Learning stuff is cool but you need to distrust belief-limiting and often badly designed studies on fear responses, etc, and just know that some people with the worst tinnitus ever have successfully
habituated. Therein lies hope my friends.