Let’s set the stage: you’re in your bed at night attempting to chill out after a long, exhausting day. You feel yourself starting to drift off to sleep. Then as you’re lying there in the quiet of the night, you begin to notice the sound of ringing in your ears. Your TV, radio, and phone are all turned off so you’re sure it’s nothing in your room. Unfortunately, this sound is inside your ears and it won’t go away.
If this scenario has happened to you, then it’s likely that you’re one of the 50 million people who have tinnitus. Buzzing, ringing, and various other sounds will be heard inside of your ears when you have this problem. The majority of people who have tinnitus consider it a mere irritation; it comes and goes but doesn’t really affect their day-to-day lives. But this is not the case with everyone who suffers from tinnitus. For some, it can cause them to Disengage socially, have a hard time working, and to lose sleep.
What’s The Primary Cause of Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is still a bit of a mystery, but specialists have focused in on a few causes for this problem. It’s most common in individuals who have damaged hearing, as well as people who suffer from heart problems. It’s believed that tinnitus happens due to reduced blood flow around the ears, which makes the heart pump blood harder so that it can get where it needs to go. People who have iron-deficiency anemia often suffer from tinnitus symptoms since their blood cells don’t carry enough oxygen throughout their body, which, once again, works the heart harder to get nutrients to the correct place, often resulting in tinnitus.
Tinnitus also occurs as a symptom of other conditions, like ear infections, canal blockages, and Meniere’s disease. Scenarios where tinnitus becomes more pronounced occur with all of these condition because they all affect the hearing. In other cases, there may not be an evident cause of tinnitus, which can make treatment challenging, but not impossible.
How Can Tinnitus be Treated?
There are a few treatments out there to help stop the ringing in your ears, all depending on the root cause of your tinnitus. One relevant thing to note, however, is that there is presently no known cure for tinnitus. Despite this fact, there’s still an excellent possibility that your tinnitus will get better or even disappear altogether because of these treatments.
Research has revealed that hearing aids help mask tinnitus in people who suffer from hearing loss.
If masking the noise doesn’t help, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been confirmed to help people deal with the ringing in their ears that does not disappear with other treatments. This kind of mental health treatment helps people change their negative feelings about tinnitus into more positive, realistic thoughts that help them function normally on an every day basis.