Tinnitus
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is commonly described as a ringing in the ears, but some people also hear it as a roaring, clicking, hissing or buzzing. It may be soft or loud, and it might affect both of your ears or only one. For some people, it’s a minor annoyance. For others, it can interfere with sleep and grow to be a source of mental and emotional anguish.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus can arise in any of the following areas: the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear, or by abnormalities in the brain. There are two types of tinnitus:
- Objective Tinnitus: In some cases, a clinician can perceive an actual sound (e.g., a bruit) emanating from the patient’s ears. This is called objective tinnitus.
- Objective tinnitus can arise from muscle spasms that cause clicks or crackling around the middle ear.
- Some people experience a sound that beats in time with the pulse (pulsatile tinnitus, or vascular tinnitus).
- Pulsatile tinnitus is usually objective in nature, resulting from altered blood flow or increased blood turbulence near the ear.
- Subjective Tinnitus: Subjective tinnitus can have many possible causes, but most commonly results from otologic disorders – the same conditions that cause hearing loss.
- The most common cause is noise-induced hearing loss, resulting from exposure to excessive or loud noises. Tinnitus, along with sudden onset hearing loss, may have no obvious external cause.
Causes of subjective tinnitus include:
- Otologic problems and hearing loss:
- Conductive hearing loss: external ear infection, loud noise or music, cerumen (earwax) impaction, middle ear effusion.
- Sensorineural hearing loss: excessive or loud noise, presbycusis (age-associated hearing loss), Ménière’s disease, acoustic neuroma, mercury or lead poisoning, ototoxic medications
- Neurologic disorders: multiple sclerosis, head injury, skull fracture, closed head injury, temporomandibular joint dysfunction
- Metabolic disorders:thyroid disease, hyperlipidemia, vitamin B 12 deficiency, iron deficiency anemia.
- Psychiatric disorders:depression, anxiety.
Homoeopathic Treatment
- In most cases of tinnitus no causative factor can be found. It is therefore widely believed that age related damage to the cochlea (auditory system) could be the likely cause.
- As a result, homeopathic medicines capable of working on the cochlea are prescribed. There are some very effective medicines which also help in resolving any untreated infection and inflammation as well as influence fluid within the ear.
- Homoeopahic Treatment – Increases blood circulation.
- Normalizes fluid within ear.
- Balances hypothalamic-ear interaction.
- Increases oxygenation to the head and ears.