Tinnitus Began First Week of June 2020 After Wim Hof Breathing

Hey Lukee,

This issue of blood flow has been on my backburner for a while now. I've been considering maybe a more direct approach though, via inversion. I tried inverting a few weeks ago, but found it a little difficult to physically hold that position for very long. I wish I still had my inversion table.

I might try to find another way to do this. Maybe by inverting towards the floor from the side of a bed. Or maybe just inverting in a 45 degree angle on some sort of decline bench would work and not be quite as extreme as being fully inverted.

Thanks for bringing up this issue and renewing my interest in it.

Turn Upside Down for Relief

 

@Lukee, ok... I'm going to get a second opinion from an Ayurvedic doctor on the supplements, only because the one supplement (Saraswati Churna) made my blood pressure go up slightly. Then again, I'm very sensitive to supplements. Anyway, I was told by my previous doctor that this effect should go away in time but I just wanted to make sure and get an even more exact opinion on dosages etc, so that second opinion will happen on April 12. The wait is frustrating because I really felt great benefit from the Saraswati Churna. It puts you in a very relaxed state of mind and it greatly diminishes the tinnitus. At least, it was doing that for me and that's only after two times of taking it! Honestly, I'm hoping that this second doctor will say it's not a big deal so I can return to taking it.

I will definitely keep you guys updated!

After 2.5 weeks of working kicking my a$$, I'm finally getting back to being more active here. I'm going to cleanse my tubes and nasal passages with Xlear Nasal Rinse again today and see how that affects the ear unpopping. Last time I did it, my left ear popped. So I'm going to add this to my regime at least 2-3 times a week starting today.

I'm really hopeful of this Ayurvedic treatment. I think once I have this second consultation and get the exact dosages and get an explanation for the slight blood pressure rise, I'll get right back on it. The combination of Dashmoola + Yograj Guggulu are meant to help with inflammation while the Saraswati Churna is meant to help with the nervous system and heal tinnitus. I believe the Jatamansi + Ashwagandha are also meant to heal the nervous system. Knowing that the Saraswati Churna definitely helped reduce the tinnitus (I know this for a fact, because it's now day 3 of not being on it and the tinnitus is back), I'm hopeful that this is a nervous/brain issue that we can heal versus being a cochlea issue.

I was fearful that I had damaged my cochlea as well when I saw my ENT a few months ago but he said there was no hair cell damage and he ruled out hypoxia related damage. He seemed to think this was a nervous system issue. So if that's indeed the case, perhaps these types of Ayurvedic supplements can help? We'll see... I can't wait for April 12 to get here.

 

I have an inversion table but haven’t been able to use it yet. I have it in storage. I will take it home and try it out. I don’t know much about inversion in the sense of blood flow, I was going to use it more for my back to stretch it out. Hopefully you are right and some inversion could help getting blood there but I’m a little doubtful because of the tiny capillaries that carry the blood might be too small to be affected by inversion.

 

Sounds like good news if your ENT suggests no cochlear hair damage. How does he know that? Is there a test or can it somehow be seen on MRI? I didn’t think that could be measured but I’m learning more about this everyday. I hope you are right and there is no physical damage but now with noticing the eye floaters and really thinking about it, I’m thinking it’s less possible there is no physical damage.

Makes sense that the formula could raise your blood pressure and you were feeling better if perhaps we have some ischemic problem. How much would you say your tinnitus reduced while taking it for the two days?

 

@Lukee I think he was going by my MRI which I had done last summer. I'll read the MRI results off here. I suspect our conditions might be similar due to how we all developed our tinnitus:

"Findings: No region of hemorrhage nerve edema is seen. There is no mass effect nor midline shift. There are no extra-axial collections. Ventricles and sulci are normal in size and configuration. No abnormalities are seen on diffusion imaging which would indicate an acute ischemic event.

7th and 8th cranial nerve complexes are unremarkable and symmetric. No mass is seen in the cerebellopontine angle cistern. There are no regions of abnormal gadolinium enhancement in this region or elsewhere in the brain. No abnormal opacities of either petrous temporal bones are seen. Sinus spaces are also unremarkable. Cochlea and vestibular apparatus bilaterally appear to be symmetric.

Visualized vessels are unremarkable. Brainstem and other posterior fossa contents unremarkable. There is no cerebellar ectopia and pituitary is not enlarged.

Impression: Normal"​

I specifically asked both ENTs that I'd seen if my cochlear hair cells were damaged and both said they did not think so. And I told both that I suspected the tinnitus came on as a result of the breath hold, and the second ENT I went to said he's seen a few former Wim Hof patients so he understood where I was coming from. What kind of bummed me out was he didn't think there was anything to fix and that I just had to "tune it out" using music a few times a day and seek out healing with Eastern methodologies (i.e. yoga, acupuncture). Now that I've witnessed the effect of the Ayurvedic medicine (which is part of ancient Indian medicine going back 5,000+ years), I can say it definitely helped reduce the tinnitus while I was on it. So, there has to be a way to reduce and heal our tinnitus from the origin.

Re: the Saraswati Churna, it definitely reduced my tinnitus from the usual "eeeeee" to barely noticeable the other day. Honestly, if I didn't feel a rise in blood pressure, I'd be on it right now. With that said, if the second Ayurvedic doctor tells me the same thing (on April 12), that the body will adjust to it, then I'll be right back on it. It was that helpful. Regarding my blood pressure, I don't have pre-hypertension nor hypertension, and my blood pressure is considered normal. I'm just being cautious here and want to get a second opinion before I go into the supplements full steam ahead.

I hope and pray that we can finally figure this thing out.

 

Thanks for the update. I’m hoping and praying for you (and us) too. Keep pushing on.

 

Sounds like a good experiment to try. At least with an inversion table you should be able to choose from any angle, all the way to being fully inverted.

I think all this talk of blood flow seems to be taking us back to the topic of exercise. Maybe that's why I feel so much better mentally and physically after lifting, neck stretching and strengthening, treadmill, and ice bath. I usually notice the ringing is lessened after doing all these things. And the overall peace of mind is usually kicked-up for the rest of the night.

 

I really can’t even think about exercising. I was already fatigued before all this happened and now these symptoms have taken the wind out of my sails. I’m trying to stay active at work at least and walk a lot of steps and help with lifting stuff but it’s relatively light work compared to a full workout session. Over the last two days, my headaches have reappeared and I have pain in my ears. I can’t correlate it to anything particular except for drinking a little alcohol Friday and Saturday. I already was feeling the ear pain and headache before I had a drink on Friday so I don’t think that it’s the trigger but I’m sure it doesn’t help.

I feel like an ear infection or some type of inflammation where maybe a course of Prednisone might help clear it up. I’m also thinking that the Valsalva maneuver might have been contributing to the headaches so I’m limiting as much as possible. Going to try the fish oil for a few days again and see if it helps with the headaches.

 

Ah, I understand. Well, I think whatever you're up to doing is better than doing nothing in terms of exercise.

How much CBD do you use? I would think that those symptoms would benefit from strong doses of CBD. I think strong doses of CBD should at least help with pain management and sleep at night. I always take CBD doses that I know I'll be able to unmistakably "feel". About 2 hours after I take CBD, I feel the full impact of it. I never take it in the daytime. I'd rather save it for the night and let the homeopathic effects continue during sleep and even into the next day.

 

I only took it once and it seemed to spike my tinnitus. I will try it again and see if I get the same increase. It was a pretty high dose last time. I can’t remember but it was definitely considered a therapeutic dose.

 

Domine, exaudi orationem nostrum.

 

Lol. Been a while since I was singing in church.

 

Hi guys!

I've been following the topic, but had nothing useful to add... Only interesting thing is that a friend of mine who practiced Wim Hof method for a few months, also got tinnitus... I was the one telling him about it, but also warned about what happened with me. He was doing it for the last few months without any problems and just a few weeks ago he noticed the ringing during the breathing, but it went away. But next time the tinnitus stayed with him. So he has it too, the familiar eeee sound, but it is not that loud for him, so he is not much bothered by it. Of course he stopped doing WHM.

So strange! Some of us get it after a few times and some after a longer period.
I was looking around the net last week and ran into a guy talking about WHM. He said what is wrong with this method is the fact that it is very taxing on the liver. The breath holds and retentions make the liver produce adrenaline and cortisol and other hormons, which the would only be released in emergency situations. Forcing it to do it too often is like borrowing a lot of life energy and burning it, but it will exhaust after some time. The kidneys are linked to the life force or yin according to eastern traditions. He mentioned if the kidneys are stressed it can lead to many problems like tinnitus. This was very interesting for me.

I've been okay with my tinnitus for some time. I think I just accepted it as it is not bothering me much. When I can't get enough sleep or if by cold windy sinuses are stuffed, the tinnitus goes louder. But I find that getting into a very relaxed state during meditation helps it to calm down to quiet hissing sound which is easy to ignore. Some days the ear fullness comes back, but goes away in a few days.

I've decided to give Mometasone spray a try. The reason is I know something is not okay with the eustachian tubes, because the damn crackling is still there and it feels like something, like fluid is there. I want to see if using the spray will do anything with it.

Someone posted a doctor saying it is safe and I've read this steroid has side effects only if taken by tablet form. So I'll give it a shot and will see what it does.

 

Guys, just wanted to update you on something. So, I've been using a nasal cleanse (i.e. XLEAR) the past few days. After I use it and blow my nose, I can hear popping occurring in my left ear but now I've got ear pain and what feels like some ear fullness in my left ear. So, not sure what's going on there. I can say for sure that before I did the nasal cleansing, the left ear would not pop at all when I blew my nose, nor did I feel a drainage happening. I'm experiencing both now so I'm hoping it's a good sign. Interestingly enough, I am experiencing no ear pain or fullness in the right ear, so I'm suspecting the left one is the troubled ear. I can bear the ear pain if it's a byproduct of something more positive happening via the nasal cleansing (which should positively affect the Eustachian tubes) but I'm hoping the ear pain goes away. I also don't know what's making it happen.

@Csani90, my cranioscral therapist said the liver is directly tied to tinnitus, funny you should mention that. That's now the second time I've heard that. Let me tell you guys an interesting story too... about 4.5 - 5 years ago I drank too much water from a freak incident while hiking in hot weather and gave myself water poisoning as a result. When I went to the hospital, my kidneys were very diluted of sodium, like REALLY diluted, and they had to give me an IV and rest overnight. And what did I experience as part of that water poisoning? You guessed it... tinnitus, that lasted for about 3 days and then went away. So, if Wim Hof is taxing our kidneys that could definitely be a cause here of this constant tinnitus. I'm also fascinated how my Ayurvedic supplements brought my tinnitus down to almost nil last week. If there's no cause for concern with the elevated blood pressure as part of taking the Saraswati Churna, I'm going to be back on it in a NY minute.

 

Good to hear from you Mr C.

When you blew your nose, did you get the squeak in your ear? If so, that means you pushed the saline rinse into your ET. The same thing happened with me and I had pain and discomfort for a few days and it slowly cleared up. There’s a whole thread on someone curing their tinnitus by purposefully forcing the saline rinse into their ET. I still have some slight ear pain a couple weeks later but I don’t think it’s particularly related.

My tinnitus has been very good, I would say a 1 maybe at worst 2/10. Most of the time it’s not noticeable with any type of background noise.

Here’s what I’m taking: Fish Oil, L-Taurine (2g a day) and Glutathione (2 teaspoons a day). I also take about 400mg of Magnesium before bed. I don’t know if it’s the supplements or something else but the tinnitus is much better. The only thing is the discomfort in my ears and headaches. The headaches have been getting better but I stick have the sticky ear feeling, very slight pressure sometimes and slight ear aches. To me these symptoms are much worse than the actual tinnitus since it’s very manageable right now.

In regards to the liver/kidney connection, I have read that it is commonly linked to tinnitus in TCM. If you think about it, the adrenal glands are attached the the kidneys and if there is high adrenal output (fight or flight) that’s a cause for tinnitus. Your water toxicity story is crazy to hear and it does all relate back to kidneys and tinnitus.

I hope you get the all clear and can resume on the herbs as the improvement you mentioned over two days is pretty remarkable. Hopefully your ear popping issue resolved as well.

 

Hey, that's exactly the sound I hear when I blow my nose after using the nasal rinse. A high-pitch squeak. Both ears actually squeak, but I am pleasantly surprised every time I hear the left ear squeak because that's been the more problematic ear this past year. How many days a week would you say is appropriate for nasal rinsing btw? I've now done it the past two nights. I'm wondering if I should keep at it or lay off since my left ear is hurting a bit.

Your regime sounds pretty interesting. That's great to hear the Fish Oil, L-Taurine, Glutathione, and Magnesium combo is working for you. Please keep us posted on its continual use!

Regarding your headaches, how long have you been experiencing them? Just out of curiosity, do you have a high vegetable intake? I noticed for myself when I consume a lot of vegetables and low meat that my headaches are way down or disappear entirely and that's not even related to tinnitus. Because I'm always in front of a computer I get eye strain from time to time but I do notice a high veggie diet definitely helps in that regard. Not saying you have to cut out meat, but try upping your veggie intake, if you aren't already, and see how you feel.

Re: the kidney - tinnitus connection, yea I hadn't thought about it till now but I think there's something to it. I know when I had that water poisoning I almost felt drunk and disoriented for a few days and I had this high pitched ringing that took about 4 days to subside. I didn't think about it till now but it makes complete sense. So if Wim Hof Method is shocking our ANS through the kidneys, supplements or treatment to alleviate it might be worth checking out. More homework to do!

 

Ok be careful with this. When I blow my nose I don’t close or restrict either nostril. I will avoid fully blowing my nose for about 15 minutes after the rinse to avoid the squeak and thus the forcing of the saline into the ear. If the pain goes away you should be fine, it seems like a lot of people have gone through it and it has helped them with ETD (like) issues. So many this is actually what you need to be doing to get better. You can rinse your sinuses twice a day without issue, just be careful not to blow too hard.

Many people have actually done a very light Valsalva after rinsing and it has given them relief of symptoms (including tinnitus in some cases).

I’m not eating heavy veggies but I’d like to think a reasonable amount. I didn’t have these headaches until tinnitus so I’m sure they are related, just not sure how. I don’t know if they are originating from the ears, damage to the brain, TMJ or just tension from the neck. I am leaning towards sinus and/or neck tension/TMJ. I am going to try some chiropractic treatment and acupuncture and see if I get some resolution.

 

Thanks for the tip. As I type this, my left ear is aching (probably from blowing my nose too hard). I'll try it again tonight but I won't blow my nose hard.

As for your headaches, it could very well be those things you mentioned. A few years ago I had really bad migraines from too much computer use every day and an acupuncturist helped out tremendously. I would definitely give it a shot and see how you make out.

 

Not going to lie, I’ve been having a rough couple days. Pressure back and weird ear feeling. The same ETD symptoms that got a lot better are mostly back including slight headaches and slight ear ache. These symptoms are definitely more bothersome than the tinnitus itself.

Throughout the day I’m around enough noise to mask it. It goes up and down but more than usual I can get throughout the day without too much bother. I’m really thinking of trying to push for some Prednisone as maybe it will help resolve my ETD issues. Maybe that’s why Mr C and Renfrey are past that stage?

Mr C how is the ear ache? Do you think the couple days of Ayurvedic supplements helped with all ear-related issues or just the tinnitus?

 

Hey @Lukee, I'm counting the days man until April 12! At this point, I cannot wait to get back on my Ayurvedic supplements. I just want an explanation for the rise in blood pressure. If I hear a good reason for why it happens and that it's not something to be overly concerned with, I'm going back on it as soon as possible. The combination of the Dashmoola + Yograj Gyggulu (anti-inflammatories) and Saraswati Churna (nervous system healing) was a dream come true as far as reducing the tinnitus and relieving pressure.

Speaking of pressure, I didn't do the nasal rinse yesterday and still feel slight ear pain. I might just do it tonight and refrain from blowing my nose right after. I think I probably just over did it the other night, leading to the squeaking noises and ear pain... Yea, if I were you, I would seek out an Ayurvedic physician in your area and see what they recommend. It's worth a try!

 

Ok all. I have a quick update. Not sure what it means but hopefully we can make something out of it.

I spoke to my researcher friend a couple of days ago and we spoke about the getting blood flow to the ears through acupuncture. At the same time, I remembered taking Niacin many years ago and remembered the flush effect in my ears and head. I asked his thoughts and he believed it could be something to try if we have a blood flow issue. So I researched Niacin and saw a few studies and anecdotes where Niacin could help with tinnitus for some people. Given our tinnitus is caused by a different factor than sound trauma, I figured increased blood flow could help. We also discussed the Paul Stamets stack but that’s a conversation for another time (spoiler: he thinks we should try the stack).

So yesterday and today I took Niacin (B3). I didn’t notice much reaction besides the flush but a few hours later, the ETD issues seem to be static and not as bothersome. There was no pressure and sticky ear feeling but I still felt like my ears weren’t popped. Overall the feeling was better. Then today, I took a dose at lunch time. Got the usual flush but my ears started to feel different. I tried a very light Valsalva and my ears popped instantly, almost without any effort at all. While the sticky feeling and a bit of pressure and weird ETD feeling remained for the next 30 minutes, there was a different feeling in my ear like something was happening. A couple of hours later and same thing, most pressure resolved and ETD symptoms were much better.

@MrC6688, I think you should try a dose and see if it helps your ear pop. Now, I also took B1 which does increase my tinnitus for the day but I wanted to try it in a stack with B3 and B12 to see if maybe some nerve regeneration can happen. Also, B1 is giving me more energy and I could certainly use it. After taking the Niacin, even though my tinnitus has been more intrusive from the B1, it feels like the edge has been taken off.

I don’t know if there is any healing happening here but certainly something physically changed in my ears and hopefully it’s for the better. Maybe the increased blood flow is what we need to heal and maybe that’s where Mr C’s Ayurvedic formula is actually helping, hence the increase in BP.

Try it out guys and see if it helps at all.

 

Hi everyone!

I've been following this thread for a few months.

I got my Wim Hof tinnitus about a year ago. I started doing the breathing daily when I started working from home with the lockdowns. I did it every day for about 2 months, as intensely as I could (whoops). Loooong breath holds and head pressure etc. At some point I noticed the ear ringing was not stopping after the exercise and as we all know, eventually it never stopped. I haven't done the breathing since last Mayish but the ringing has been constantly there since then. For me it's a continuous high pitched tone.

I get some relief from one of the sound therapy videos one of you linked a little while back (thanks for that!).

Main thing I can add to this thread for now is I am quite active exercise wise,into calisthenics and somewhat regular yoga. (Started yoga also when working from home, unrelated to WHM). For me, both of these make the ringing worse. Any sort of intense work from my muscles always makes the ringing spike. In particular, any sort of inversion (handstands etc) make it way worse. As soon as I'm upside down, the ringing spikes and takes several hours to go back to the baseline usually. This has been the most disheartening thing about the whole tinnitus experience for me since I have really enjoyed learning the movements but I have a daily limit basically before the tinnitus gets too unbearable. Headstands are out of the question - as soon as I have some weight directly on my head the tinnitus spikes suuuuuper loud. I inferred from this that the increased blood pressure in the head has a large negative impact on the tinnitus.

Encouraged to hear the positive news about the Ayurvedic supplements from MrC, will follow that progress as you update us and keen to try myself if you continue to get good results.

And yeah, as we all know, this sucks hard and I do wish there would be more warnings out there from official channels on the breathing. I do have to say that the other effects from the breathing were awesome which is why I kept it up for so long, I definitely felt that it had massive positive effects. Aside from a major negative we all know and love. There are more and more posts about this on other WHM forums (such as the subreddit) but the hardcore people do love denying it too.

 

Sorry to hear you’re part of this crew.

Did you get any of the fullness symptoms, pains, ETD as well?

It really sucks to know you are a year into this and still no resolution. It’s discouraging to hear that many people are still having effects long term. Like you, any type of exercise or stimulation aggravates my tinnitus.

When seeing a post like this, it makes me believe more and more that it is less to do with the ANS (though it still could be) and more chance it’s physical damage. The reason why I say that is because you would believe that after so many months, if it was ANS, it would settle as you reach homeostasis or balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.

I’m hoping that Mr C’s treatment can help us.

 

Yeah I'm inclined to think it is some physical damage caused by the oxygen deprivation during the long holds. I saw an ENT when it first started, had perfect hearing according to the test (although the tinnitus was suuuper loud in the soundproof box during the test). And the ENT was very rude I thought, the appointment was 30 minutes late then he just said straight up "Can't help you", and wouldn't even listen to what I was trying to tell him about the breath stuff. I haven't tried to see another.

I don't think I have the fullness symptoms or pain that you guys are talking about, for me it's just the ringing. Everything else feels as it did before. I can make the sound change by clenching my jaw, sometimes it spikes if I'm chewing something really tough. Occasionally I get a bit of relief by rubbing the sides of my jaw like in one of the videos shared earlier, but not everytime.

 

Hey @Lukee, the ear ache is totally gone. I think I had blown my nose a bit too hard after doing the sinus cleanse last week. The past few days had been rough... the high-pitched ringing was evident for sure, especially with all the bad eating that was taking place due to the Easter holiday. Too much sugar consumed. To be honest, I cannot wait to go back on my Ayurvedic supplements. Seven more days and counting...

By the way, I know we were kicking around the idea of reaching out to someone from Wim Hof to get answers on tinnitus caused by the exercises. Has anyone had any luck?

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience. It seems that you and I got our tinnitus around the same time, except for me it only took two sessions. It's very disheartening also that no one from the Wim Hof camp wants to address this in order to help those that are suffering from the high pitched tinnitus as a result of the exercises. And yes, the "hardcore" cult members follow this Yogic Jim Jones and lash out at anyone who says something negative about the practice. Well, I could care less about their hurt feelings at this point. As for Wim himself, it's surprising that this guy hasn't been sued yet with the amount of people who are getting injured as a result of his email ads promoting his breathing exercises. I mean, a woman can sue McDonald's for millions because she accidentally spills hot coffee on herself... so....

As for my regimen, I have a meeting with my Ayurvedic physician on April 12. If she tells me a certain supplement is not harmful for blood pressure I am going right back on them. I have a feeling our panacea is going to be found in Ayurveda or Pranic healing. In my opinion, our ears are not damaged as far as I can tell. It's the auditory nerves (ANS) which have been thrown out of whack due to the Wim Hof exercises. That's my theory anyway.

At any rate, welcome to our forum. We're sorry you're here but happy to provide you with a place to come and talk about your Wim Hof induced tinnitus.

 

Glad to hear that your ear got better. I went through a similar experience I think. I am considering to try to “milk” some nasal spray (like Afrin) into the ETs as has been posted by @engineerLA. Really looking forward to hear from your physician to see if you can continue with the supplements.

My tinnitus has been pretty bad the last few days but I have been taking some Vitamin B supplements and tried ALA. I didn’t take them today so I hope it will settle down. Maybe Easter diet has something to do with it.

 

@Kran3050 Our experiences mirror each other's to a "T". Both ENTs I went to had no answer for the oxygen deprivation being a culprit in tinnitus. Actually, the first one ruled it out completely and said there were no signs of barotrauma from my MRI. I have no idea... I know when I first went on the Prednisone in July 2020, I did find some relief from the ringing. I just hated the feeling of the steroids. It felt really uncomfortable. The supplements I took 1.5 weeks ago were very helpful, especially this one particular supplement called Saraswati Churna. The only thing I didn't like was that it raised my blood pressure, but if the body adjusts to it, then I'm revisiting it as soon as possible. So if Ayurvedic anti-inflammatories and steroids lessen the ringing, maybe it's physical damage? I always thought our ANS was just completely thrown out of whack, but yea... I'd be willing to revisit the theory that this is physical damage. Especially since it's been a year for you and I.

Has anyone ever come out of this successfully according to what you've read? I remember some Wim Hof vets saying their tinnitus stopped after a few weeks and others saying it lasted months. So, I just want to know what is causing it, so we can treat it properly.

 

My Easter diet most definitely didn't help, lol. All the cakes, sweets, chocolate, occasional beer. Pretty much everything that tinnitus sufferers are told to avoid. Yea man, this condition really sucks. I can't even watch a movie on tv because the tinnitus starts ringing over the movie. So I just shut it off. I can't stop exercising, I need to keep doing it. I know it'll make the ringing bad but if I don't workout I'll be miserable.

 

After reading this thread I'm a little scared to attend the 5-day summer expedition with Wim Hof at Morillo de Tou in Spain. It's in July so a few more months to go.

I think I will still go since my boyfriend encouraged me to. Wim will be there himself. I will definitely ask about tinnitus, interested to hear what he says. I will report back!!