Let’s set the scene: you’re lying in bed at night trying to chill out after a long, tiring day. You feel yourself beginning to drift off to sleep. Then you hear it: a buzzing sound inside your ears. Your phone, TV, and radio are all off so you know it’s nothing inside your room. Unfortunately, this noise is in your ears and it won’t stop.
If this scenario sounds familiar, then it’s likely that you’re one of the 50 million people that suffer from tinnitus. This problem causes you to hear buzzing, whooshing, and ringing sounds, among others, in your ears. Most people who have tinnitus consider it a mere irritation; they notice it now and again but it doesn’t really impact their daily lives. But this is not the case with everybody who has tinnitus. For some, it can cause them to Disengage socially, have a hard time working, and to lose sleep.
What Causes Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is still a bit of a mystery, but this problem has been narrowed down to a few causes. It’s most prevalent in people who have damaged hearing, and also people who suffer from heart conditions. It’s believed that tinnitus happens due to reduced blood flow around the ears, which causes the heart to pump blood harder in order for it to get where it needs to go. People who have iron-deficiency anemia frequently suffer from tinnitus symptoms since their blood cells don’t carry enough oxygen throughout their body, which, again, works the heart harder to deliver nutrients to the right place, often resulting in tinnitus.
Tinnitus also happens as a symptom of other conditions, like ear infections, canal blockages, and Meniere’s disease. All of these conditions impact the hearing and result in situations where tinnitus becomes more prevalent. In other cases, there may not be an easily discernible cause of tinnitus, which can make treatment difficult, but not impossible.
What Treatments Are Out There For Tinnitus?
Depending on the root cause of your tinnitus, there might be a number of possible treatment choices. One important thing to take note of, however, is that there is currently no known cure for tinnitus. Despite this fact, there’s still an excellent chance that your tinnitus will get better or even fade away completely due to these treatments.
Studies have revealed that hearing aids help cover up tinnitus in people who have hearing loss.
If covering up the noise doesn’t help, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proven to help people live with the buzzing in their ears that does not disappear with other treatments. This mental health style of therapy can help individuals who are afflicted by tinnitus to function more normally on an everyday basis by helping them transform their negative thinking into a more positive outlook.