Tinnitus: Ice Vests

Update: I tried an ice vest as a possible temporary relief source. It didn't work. But it was worth a try. The following post was written before the test. I do still believe that core temperature has something to do with the temporary relief (not cure) that I experience when I scuba dive. 

The role of the hypothalamus, in the brain, is to keep the body in a state of homeostasis. It is my theory that the hypothalamus may be the primary suspect in regulating the high-pitched ringing sound that people hear when their cochlear cells are broken or damaged. Think of it as an internal alarm.

I further theorize that it is possible to deliver relief from the ringing by cooling the body's core temperature down which causes the hypothalamus to react by arresting the internal ringing. To what temperature the cooling needs to take place to shut down the ringing, I do not know.

I do know that when I scuba dive I do experience relief when my core temperature drops and when my core temperature comes back up, after a dive, the ringing suddenly starts again (like a light switch has been turned off and then on again).

Fortunately, I wear hearing aids with maskers built-in and so I keep them close-by. I place the hearing aids in my ears almost immediately after the dive because I know how suddenly the ringing comes back. Recently, after a cold water dive, I exited the water and sat on some stairs looking out at the ocean and I had absolutely no ringing. I enjoyed the quiet. It lasted awhile before it suddenly started again.

Recently, I went diving in 74 degree water and only wore my 5mm sleeveless wetsuit. I was in the water for about an hour and as my body cooled down, at about 10 minutes into the dive I noticed the tinnitus was gone.

I spoke to a fellow diver about this phenomenon and she mentioned that her cousin uses an ice vest to treat MS. Perhaps ice vests may be a possible treatment option for people with tinnitus.  The following is a link to an ice vest. If you decide to try it, please let me know if you experience any results. I just ordered one and I will be sure to post my results on this site.

http://www.amazon.com/Flexi-Freeze-Ice-Vest-Navy/dp/B001P30358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350339794&sr=8-1&keywords=ice+vests