Tinnitus Down to 1/10 — Eating 8 Bananas a Day

Hi there, new here, signed up because I have gotten (mild) tinnitus as an after effect of COVID-19 and am researching it.

I'd like to share a thing or two about bananas and Potassium:

The Paleo diet contains about 8000 milligrams of potassium a day. The RDA is about 3500-4700 mg a day. So don't worry about getting too much Potassium while eating bananas, which contain about 400 mg. 8 x 400 mg =3200 mg.

Also, the big difference between Potassium pills and getting Potassium from food is that Potassium is slowly released from food (+ some B vitamins in the food help its absorption)... while Potassium in OTC supplements is rapidly absorbed.

Because rapid absorption can cause electrolyte imbalances in the blood, OTC supplements are limited to 100 mg per pill.

Taking too many of the OTC pills in one time can quite literally kill you by causing grave electrolyte imbalance that causes cardiac arrhythmia and worse. It can stop your heart, which is nearly universally agreed upon to be a bad thing.

You can get slow-K, a slowly releasing Potassium pill, as a doctor's prescription. Swallow those whole, if you bite them the Potassium is released much more rapidly, and that's not a good thing.

In all, getting your Potassium from bananas is highly preferable to pills.

Also, Potassium (and thus, bananas) helps against COVID-19, because COVID-19 interferes with Aldosterone signalling, hence sneakily creating a Potassium deficit, so you will not just be helping your tinnitus (if it works), but also be protected to some extent to the Potassium-depleting effect of the virus.

I can vouch for this personally; I got COVID-19 in March 2020, and at some point I had to eat bananas and take Potassium pills (Slow-K) just to stop the chest pain from coming back, every day for weeks on end. It's a life-safer.

I have gotten the Long COVID-19 out of most of my body, but now that I've finally moved up to the point of detoxing my brain, it is giving me a bit of tinnitus.

Still, not as annoying as the chest pain, brain fog, prickling sensations, kidney pain, kidney stones, spleen infarction, and about 30-40 other symptoms I've had in the past 14 months.

If I may have a suggestion to improve on the banana diet: try to mix in some eggs (boiled, fried, etc). Eggs contain choline, which is a precursor of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Eggs have gotten a bad rap years ago because there's cholesterol in it; what they have failed to mention is that eggs also contain all the micronutrients to properly process that cholesterol. (I think we can safely say that billions of years of evolution has made sure that the chicken only puts sane stuff in those eggs, and the +/- 150 years of modern medicine still has a lot of catching up to do.)

Eggs + bananas will probably help a subset of tinnitus sufferers. It's not going to help everyone. Worth a try if you're going crazy.

Or bananas, obviously. Hope this helps.

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's great to have you hear. What a great first post. I think mine was something like "I hate this sh*t"

So please keep updating how you get along. How many bananas per day you are eating? How many eggs? What are they doing to help you?

 

I agree, great post! I appreciate when someone has knowledge in an area and can convey it in a clear manner. Your banana posts are the best though.

 

Hey, @Ben Winders, we need a banana update!

 

Guys there may be more to this. I've been eating more bananas recently as snacks and haven't changed anything else and noticed a slight down tick in my tinnitus.

I'm only having one or two per day but if you're at the grocery store, grab some. It might help.

 

Banana update:

I'm about to hit an important phase: I'm currently in the process of tapering from my lifeline Deanxit. I'll be flying the banana rocket to nowhere without side helper wheels, if you will. Let's see if Chiquita does what Deanxit was doing so well, or better: how much of it was Deanxit, how much was Chiquita.

I seem drunk with so much rambling, but I assure you, I'm only overdosing on bananas, not anything else.

 

What the heck, I'm going to give the banana binge a go. Don't think I can do eight a day though!

 

Take it from a banana pro (me): mix it up a bit with smoothies... I start every day with 5 bananas smashed to mush in a smoothie. I don't eat bread anymore in the morning.

 

How is your coming off Deanxit going?

 

So far so good — I have now stopped completely. I took a half Deanxit 2 days ago, that was the last one.

I don't notice a pump in severity but also not sure how long it takes for Deanxit to leave my system entirely.

I'll keep updating.

 

Are you still going strong with the 8 bananas a day?

 

I am - but not sure it's actually helping the tinnitus, or that it will help anyone else. (I guess I'd have to quit to really check)

On the positive side, I was expecting more of a downfall after quitting Deanxit but I'm happy to say that I'm holding my ground.

Obviously every time my drone noise pops up I move closer to the edge again... that's a different beast. Still haven't figured that one out. It comes on after car rides, even 1 minute long car rides (I was just testing, I don't really take my car for stuff that is 1 minute away > SAVE THE PLANET). When I sleep in a quiet room, it also "starts itself up" in the middle of the night (not right away > very strange).

 

Funny, I’ve recently acquired that drone noise and I’ve realized it only happens when there’s silence, too. If I’m in a quiet room or wearing earplugs, it starts up. Can’t sleep with any background noise as that makes my other noises act up and I feel like my ears need that break at night.

 

Any idea what caused you to get the drone noise?

Keep in mind that the background noise I put on at night is at VERY LOW volume on a MacBook that I put on the floor... I can barely hear the white noise, but even the low volume seems enough to keep the brain / ear busy and not start up the drone.

Does your drone also stop when someone talks to you or you shake your head in a "no" movement?

 

No idea, unfortunately. I’ve been doing pretty okay for the most part but upsettingly enough, have been getting new noises for the past two weeks.

Luckily my drone seems to go away during the day for now. I tested it out tonight after your post and when the drone wasn’t as intense it seemed to go away when I shook my head, but as it reached its max volume I could hear it even when shaking my head. Have yet to test out what happens when someone talks to me.

 

I don't know about this banana effect, 8 bananas is a lot of sugar. If it is the Potassium, could we try supplementation instead? Could it be something else?

But I wanted really to ask you about the Deanxit. It is not available in the UK but I could talk to a neurologist to get it mailed. However, it has been banned in a few countries, it has a scary list of side effects and I wonder whether I should try it or not. What is the idea? Is it possible you take it only for a few weeks, it lowers your tinnitus, you stop, and the tinnitus stays low? I know this is the best case scenario but was this the idea of the doctor who prescribed it to you? For how long would he prescribe it? Thanks in advance.

 

Stay away from Deanxit - I've tried it in the past with bad side effects.

Sorry if I sound like spoiling the banana fun - I like bananas a lot and have been eating 5-7 of them a day for months and months in a row. They never did anything to help lower my tinnitus levels.

 

Hey Ben,

Was it only Deanxit that helped temporarily?
No banana effect?

Fun fact; doctors were treating Coeliac children in England with a banana diet long before they new what gluten intolerance was.

Too bad it couldn’t solve our stupid problems....

 

Which side effects would those be? Only thing they warned me about was twitching of the mouth, but that doesn't happen to everyone and it occurs primarily at high doses.

That said: Deanxit makes you think less / focus less on the tinnitus. It's like you are climbing up Mountain Everest and Deanxit is your Sherpa. No need to worry about the luggage. Now - I recently stopped Deanxit and obviously this feels like the Sherpa suddenly realized he forgot to turn off the stove at his home and handing you back your luggage at 6000 meters (19600 feet). Very heavy burden to bear again.

So Deanxit is really only a temporary patch although there are people that are on it for life.

 

I had inability to sleep, nervousness, awful heartburn, etc. The heartburn, in particular, I remember as being "off the charts". I couldn't take Deanxit for more than a week. There are many newer alternatives, but many of them, I am afraid (including Deanxit itself), have other side effects.

Many drugs in this class are temporary patches, indeed. After some time, they begin to lose their usefulness (I had extreme TMJ problems for years and was put on a number of them).

 

This thread definitely made me laugh. I'm willing to try 8 bananas a day if it helps my tinnitus.

It seems 3-4 people on this thread have seen somewhat positive effects?

I got my tinnitus from playing games with headphones on too loud.

 

Update?

 

He plays the FREQ game with us. First getting our hopes up, then silence and lots of vague tweets.

I'm thinking Ben needs to dump a ton of Chiquita stocks before he comes back!

 

I read somewhere that there was a study where they tested tinnitus sufferers with Magnesium, the noise was reduced. So going back to @DavidTyl, there is high levels of Magnesium in bananas, and I wonder if this could be the case. However, I have tried Magnesium supplements for around 3 weeks; they never worked, but the Magnesium out of fruit may work. It is worth a try.

 

Bananas are not that rich in Magnesium. You need 10 bananas on 1 day to equal your RDA for Magnesium.

The OP recommended 8 bananas eaten well spaced through the day.

HE DID NOT RECOMMEND POTASSIUM SUPPLEMENTS.
HE DID NOT RECOMMEND EATING 5 AT BREAKFAST IN A SMOOTHIE OR WHATEVER.

If you want to test his plan - try as he says. It makes sense - well spaced banana snacks will not bombard the body with Potassium - what you need is an even steady supply.

There is a possibility - that his experience with bananas and reduced tinnitus is purely co-incidental.

I wanted him to come off his banana plan and report back on the effect but he never did.

 

OK, I am trying this banana cure.

I had 2 large bananas yesterday. 1 in morning, 1 at night and I woke today with lower than expected tinnitus - 1/3 lower.

Today I will eat 3 bananas - the day after 4 banans. The OP ate 8 bananas as that is how many were available. It may be that fewer will have the same effect so I will build up.

I will report back.

 

Is your tinnitus noise induced? I hate bananas but am considering this.

 

No, not noise induced. But it is worth trying whatever the cause.

 

Ok looks like I failed to keep going. I ate 5 bananas yesterday and frankly woke with normal tinnitus level - for me. I would think if it was going to work at all, I would notice some reduction two days running. Also as others have pointed out - bananas are probably one of the least healthy fruits due to high fructose, bad carb content. One or maybe two is quite reasonable - but many more than that is not.