Natural methods to cope with ringing of the ears

Many people believe that tinnitus is a very individual problem and therefore requires a very individual course of treatment that may work on some people, but may not work on others. However, it’s always worthwhile to explore all avenues and perhaps consider some of the following natural treatments:

• Stay well away from any loud and noisy environments
• Be careful of taking too much Aspirin
• Try and stay away from any stimulants e.g. caffeine and nicotine
• Stop drinking coffee
• Stop smoking
• Control your blood pressure
• Reduce your salt intake
• Reduce any stress and anxiety
• Try and get plenty of exercise
• And also try and get plenty of rest
• Try and eat a healthy and balanced diet
• Get plenty of Zinc in your diet, in supplement form if required
• Also get plenty of Melatonin
• Try taking Ginkgo Biloba
• Add apple cider vinegar in to your diet
• Use aromatherapy Rosemary oil
• Hawthorn berries
• Garlic
• Try psychological therapy, and in particular:
• Tinnitus retraining therapy
• Tinnitus masking
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Use an alternative noise to mask the sound of your tinnitus e.g. fan, air conditioning, music etc

Identifying symptom and treatment

Unfortunately, there isn’t a definite cure, remedy or overall treatment for tinnitus at the moment. But if you are suffering from a ringing of the ears, your first point of call should be a doctor who can evaluate whether there isn’t some other underlying cause for the tinnitus. In which case you may have an immediate ringing of the ears treatment available – in which case count yourself lucky! But otherwise you are amongst the vast majority who are still hoping and waiting for a treatment for ringing of the ears.

A doctor may propose a particular course of treatment for ringing of the ears based on a detailed investigation. This investigation may include some of the following methods to determine what factors are affected:

• A thorough medical and family history
• A detailed physical examination
• Hearing test
• Audio Brain-stem Response (ABR)
• Computer Tomography Scan (CT Scan)
• Magnetic Resonance Image Scan (MRI Scan)

In addition the doctor may ask you specific questions about your perception of the ringing or buzzing in your ear:

• When did it start?
• What does it sound like?
• Is the tinnitus constant?
• Is the tinnitus intermittent?
• Is the tinnitus pulsating (pulsatile tinnitus)
• Is there any associated hearing loss?
• Is there any loss of balance?

Based on the above evaluation the doctor may suggest a particular ringing of the ear treatment that might be helpful to you.

Why are my ears ringing?

The ringing that someone suffering from tinnitus hears isn’t really the actual “disease”. It’s far more accurate to say that the ringing in the ears that can be heard is a result of “something else”. And it is this “something else” that is the underlying problem which requires addressing, if you’re looking for a ringing of the ears treatment! Unfortunately, however, there are many reasons behind tinnitus.

First off it’s important to say that there’s always a certain amount of “ringing” always present in our ears even though we may never notice it. The reason is because there’s always other noises in our surroundings that always manages to cover up these natural sounds – the blood rushing through our ears for example. After all, when are we ever really in complete silence to ever get a chance to notice our bodily murmurs?

Ringing of the ears can arise due to certain affected areas of the body, limited almost exclusively to: the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear…or even the brain.

Outer ear

The outer ear consists of that part of the ear that is in direct contact with the environment and is thus the part of the organ that collects the sound. It consists of the fleshy bit of cartilage that we all see (pinna or auricle) and the ear canal (external auditory canal). A blockage of any sort (due to a foreign object, build up of ear wax (cerumen), bandaging, clotting etc.) will naturally block out a lot of external noise and thereby making you far more perceptive of all the natural sounds within your body. This would result in what may seem as a ringing of the ear.

Middle ear

The middle ear is responsible for amplifying the vibrations from the outer ear. It consists of the eardrum (tympanic membrane), which transmits the vibrations across a tiny set of bones known as the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus) and stirrup (stapes). Any sort of problem, trauma or disease of any of the components of the middle ear may result in tinnitus.

Inner ear

The inner ear is responsible for transforming the physical vibrations and movements to electrical impulses that will be perceived in the brain as sound. The inner ear can be divided into 2 separate functions: the auditory organ for hearing (cochlea) and the sensory organ for balance (semi-circular canals). The auditory nerve of the inner ear is very delicate and is susceptible to both age and loud noise. Therefore, a gradual loss in hearing as we get older or elevated sound levels (noise trauma) can sometimes be accompanied with tinnitus.

It is also worth noting that exposure to certain medications, like the prolonged use of aspirin, as well as other diseases (Meniere’s syndrome) can affect the delicate workings of the inner ear and lead to ringing of the ear.

Brain

The brain is responsible for our perception of sound. Therefore, it stands to reason that anything that adversely affects the auditory centers of the brain may lead to tinnitus (brain aneurysm, acoustic tumor etc.).