Too often persons with tinnitus are told, 'Learn to live with it.' The American Journal of Medicine study suggests one method of prevention and offers hope for treatment.
Mission Hills, CA (PRWEB) August 26, 2014
According to the American Tinnitus Association, fifty million people have tinnitus. Most cases can be prevented by sound hygiene. A recent study suggests another prevention method: drinking coffee.
Tinnitus is a sensation of a sound in the ear that can be annoying or devastating and interfere with sleep.
Dr Murray Grossan is the president of Hydro Med Inc. He has developed the Whole Person Tinnitus Relief Program for tinnitus patients. Dr Grossan:
“Too often persons with tinnitus are told, “Learn to live with it.” The new American Journal of Medicine study suggests one method of prevention and offers hope for treatment.”
Most medical texts state to avoid loud noise and caffeine for prevention of tinnitus. Now a study by Glickman in the current American Journal of Medicine shows that the greater the coffee intake, the lower the incidence of tinnitus in the 65,000 nurses who were studied over eight years.*
It is not expected that suddenly drinking coffee will guarantee against tinnitus. There are definite factors known to cause tinnitus including
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Noise Exposure
- Middle and Inner Ear infections
- Hyperlipidemia
However, this study showed tinnitus appearing in nurses, who presumably were not exposed to unusually loud noises. What it does prove is that many factors, including diet, should be considered in understanding why one person gets ringing in the ears, compared to another.
Scientists are unable to understand why there are so many instances where two patients have identical hearing loss, and essentially identical medical conditions, yet one has tinnitus and the other does not. There are even instances where identical twins are different when it comes to hearing ringing in the ear.
Randall Bartlett, Audiologist who specializes in tinnitus therapy comments, ”Unfortunately this study suggests only one method of tinnitus prevention. There is, however, one proven method that works: avoid loud noise.”
Dr Grossan: “ Another tinnitus prevention method is to download a sound meter on your smart phone. These are free. With the sound meter you will quickly learn when the music is too loud – over 90 decibels – and should be avoided. I strongly urge everyone to get this sound meter for themselves and their families, both to prevent hearing loss as well as tinnitus.”
Dr Grossan: “Treating tinnitus involves the entire person, not just the ear. Doctors, who combine understanding tinnitus, reducing stress factors, prescribing a course of masking and diversion, as well as supplying elements used in the hearing process, are more successful in their therapies.“
One such method is the Whole Person Tinnitus Relief Program.
This consists of
- The tinnitus book that explains what tinnitus is and how to treat it.
- A ten actions stress relief program
- The tinnitus app: Ear Ringing Relief, for smart phone, gives the sounds that can be used for masking, accommodation, or nerve enhancement.
- The Tinnitus Caps contain the elements known to aid hearing/neural function and includes those currently used by the military and research centers for tinnitus.
This American Journal of Medicine article gives hope to those with tinnitus that there are ways to prevent and heal this unwanted condition.
*Glickman JT, Curham SG, Curhan GC A prospective study of caffeine intake and risk of incident tinnitus. Am J Med. 2014 Aug;127(8):739-42