Let’s set the stage: You’re lying in bed attempting to sleep after a long exhausting day. Your eyelids are getting heavy and you recognize that sleep is right around the corner. Then as you’re lying there in the quiet of the night, you start to notice the sound of ringing in your ears. Your phone, TV, and radio are all turned off so you’re sure it’s nothing in your room. No, this sound is coming from inside your ears and you’re not sure how to make it stop.
If this situation has happened to you, then odds are that you’re one of the 50 million people who suffer from tinnitus. Ringing, Buzzing, and a range of other noises will be heard in your ears when you have this condition. For most people, tinnitus will not have a substantial affect on their lives besides being a simple annoyance. For others, however, tinnitus can be debilitating and cause them to lose sleep and have difficulty doing work and recreational activities.
What Causes Tinnitus?
Tinnitus remains somewhat of a mystery, but experts have focused in on a few triggers for this condition. It appears commonly in individuals who have damaged hearing, as well as individuals who have heart problems. It’s believed that tinnitus happens due to restricted 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 commonly suffer from tinnitus symptoms because their blood cells do not carry enough oxygen throughout their body, which, again, works the heart harder to deliver nutrients to the right place, often leading to tinnitus.
Tinnitus also happens as a symptom of other conditions, like ear infections, canal blockages, and Meniere’s disease. All of these ailments affect the hearing and lead to situations where tinnitus becomes more prevalent. At times treatment can be difficult when the cause of tinnitus is not evident, but that doesn’t mean treatment is impossible.
How Can Tinnitus be Treated?
There are a few treatments available to help stop the ringing in your ears, all depending on the root cause of your tinnitus. One important thing to note, however, is that there is presently no known cure for tinnitus. In spite of this fact, there’s still a good chance that your tinnitus will get better or even go away altogether because of these treatments.
Studies have shown that hearing aids help mask tinnitus in individuals who suffer from hearing loss.
If masking the noise doesn’t help, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proven to help people deal with the buzzing in their ears that does not disappear with other treatments. This mental health type of treatment can help people who are afflicted by tinnitus to function more normally on an everyday basis by helping them transform their negative thoughts into a more positive mindset.
