Tinnitus: Pilates

Many people with chronic severe tinnitus find it very difficult to participate in cardiovascular workouts because the workouts can raise blood pressure and raise AC current levels in the brain which causes the tinnitus to get even louder and then taper down a few hours later. When the tinnitus is louder it can trigger natural brain annoyance responses like depression and mood changes.

If you are doing jumping jacks, running, or bouncing your head in any way as part of your workout you should probably stop doing that because you are creating infrasound waves inside of your cochlea that could be causing more damage to your delicate cilia cells. 

Some medical providers do not know about the infrasound phenomenon and so they generally recommend cardiovascular workouts for tinnitus patients. You have to take control of your health and recognize that you have a choice. You have to know what makes your tinnitus worse and what does not. Avoid what makes it worse regardless of what anyone else recommends. You are the only person in the world who has your unique auditory damage. You are uniquely out of tune (like a piano).

Before my tinnitus became severe, I used to participate in triathlons. I ran, biked, and swam often for training. Now I cannot even imagine participating in a triathlon. But, if I don't exercise then my overall physical health will plummet and the tinnitus will get worse. 

Since I could no longer maintain a triathlete regimen I had to look for an alternative. The best alternative that I've found is Pilates. It does not cure my tinnitus or make me any less aware of the tinnitus. Pilates does keep me from becoming physically unhealthy and possibly prevents my tinnitus from getting worse.

If you live near water, go kayaking once in awhile just to get some fresh air and apply your new Pilates arm strength. Plus, the sound of water is a natural white noise that may mask your tinnitus while you are paddling. Biking is good. Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do.

Occasionally I will attend a stationary bike class but I inform the instructor beforehand that I will not be able to maintain the class pace. They are very understanding. It really is just to get my legs moving. I bring my Bose QuietComfort 15 to class with me. 

What works for me may not work for you. Your tinnitus may be completely different from mine. You may have secondary conditions that might prevent you from certain exercises like Pilates. Your body is made to move. Excessively loud tinnitus is exhausting. It will make you not want to move. You have to compel yourself to do so.  

Tinnitus: Temporary Relief While SCUBA Diving

I've noticed some temporary relief from my tinnitus while SCUBA diving and for a few hours after each dive. When I leave the water and try to listen for the ringing sound it is completely gone. A few hours later, it suddenly returns. I have severe chronic subjective tinnitus.

My theory as to why this happens has to do with temperature. Pressure, at depth, can be ruled out as the source of temporary relief because the cochlea and the brain are fluid filled spaces.

My theory is that as brain temperature cools it causes the AC current, in the brain, to drop causing temporary relief. A few hours later, on land, as the brain returns to its normal temperature the AC current raises back up and the tinnitus suddenly returns. It is like a light switch being turned on and off.

Researchers should be looking at brain temperature control as a possible treatment option. The water that I dive in is typically 52-56 degrees. That is about the same temperature as iced tea. I wear a 3mm hoodie and a 5-7mm wetsuit which keeps me fairly warm but cooler overall than I would be on land. I typically dive in the 25-50ft. depth range.

Tinnitus: Infrasound Effects

Infrasound may cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. Infrasound occurs when the cochlea is shaken repeatedly for long durations. Normally, ears detect a noise vibration and the brain interprets the vibration as sound. However, with infrasound there is no noise stimuli. It is the fluid in the cochlea being moved back and forth due to being shaken repeatedly. A good example is sea sickness. There is no noise but the boat rocking and vibrating causes the fluid in the cochlea to move. The effects are obvious and immediate. Sea sickness is one result of infrasound overexposure. Some people are more sensitive to infrasound than others.

People who drive or ride in tanks, airplanes, buses, trains, or ships for long durations are exposed to infrasound. Over time, infrasound can begin to weaken the cilia (hairlike cells) of the cochlea which causes the brain to generate a sound (e.g. ringing, whooshing, crickets, crackling, thumping, clicking, popping). 

This may explain why hearing protection will not help some people to avoid tinnitus.
Here's an example, hypothetically speaking: A ship's captain or crew member may be wearing proper hearing protection and yet may still experience tinnitus during or immediately after an 18 hour boat ride. The vibration of the ship passing through the water has vibrated the liquid in the cochlea and caused the liquid to pass over the delicate cilia cells and mat some of them down (like blades of grass that have been trampled down) despite the fact that hearing protection was used. If the boat captain or crew  member is running tours everyday then over time the tinnitus cannot only become permanent but louder and more annoying and even debilitating.

The only protection against infrasound overexposure is to stop the activity altogether or reduce the exposure duration by limiting the activity to safe time limits or intervals. 

Tinnitus: Is Tinnitus a Disease?

Tinnitus is not a disease. It typically results from damage to the auditory system and or the mid-brain. Tinnitus is a symptom of the damage that has been done in the outer, middle, or inner ear, along the auditory pathway or in the brain. Tinnitus can be a symptom of Parkinson's disease, PTSD, heat stroke, environmental stress, physical stress, brain cancer, brain lesion, brain tumor, serotonin syndrome, Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis or other more serious health conditions. Many tinnitus sufferers experience secondary conditions like insomnia or depression. Much of the depression stems from lack of sleep, excess serotonin production, and grieving that stems from not having a quiet moment for the brain to calm down. The brain of a tinnitus sufferer is in a state of constant excitation. The brain of someone without tinnitus is in a state of homeostasis.

Inhalation of toxic substances can also cause tinnitus. Volatile ultra-fine particles given off by some laser printers may cause tinnitus. Positive ion inhalation can cause tinnitus. Fine dust particles in the air can cause tinnitus.

Each tinnitus sufferer experiences a unique perceived volume and tone of internal sound (hissing, ringing, crickets, whooshing, clicks and pops are typical) depending on the extent of the damage to the sufferer's auditory system or mid-brain.

The level of annoyance of the tinnitus combined with the brain's natural response to the annoyance is what leads some people to debilitation. There are some noises that would cause anyone with an undamaged auditory system to flee an area. Tinnitus sufferers are no different. The sound is internal and the tinnitus sufferer cannot flee. This is how we become sleep deprived. In addition, tinnitus sufferers tend to be more sensitive to certain noise volumes and tones. Some tinnitus sufferers also have hyperacusis (amplification of certain sounds). Like chronic pain, tinnitus can flare up. There is no cure for chronic severe tinnitus. Acute tinnitus will usually clear up within a year.

Although there is no cure for chronic severe tinnitus, it can be managed. The reason that there is no cure is because tinnitus is usually the result of damage to the cochlear cells (which are non-regenerative). To put it into perspective, when someone says, "I cured my own tinnitus!"I know that it isn't true. It is like someone who says, "I lost my eye and I grew it back!" The people who say that they cured their tinnitus are suffering from acute tinnitus whereby the tinnitus would have been cured no matter what they did. But, they attribute what they were doing (e.g. taking vitamins or exercise) as "the cure."

If you have acute tinnitus and you are participating in yoga and then your tinnitus suddenly goes away you may actually believe that yoga cured your tinnitus. The fact that your tinnitus went away at all is the indicator that you were suffering from acute tinnitus whereby the cochlear cells were bent, like blades of grass, and over time recovered. Whereas the person with broken cochlear cells, dead cochlear cells, or brain damage in the mid-brain are not going to recover. These people are suffering from chronic tinnitus that needs to be managed. It takes work to manage chronic severe tinnitus. The sooner that they accept what has happened and begin the management process the better.

There is a known grieving process over the idea of never having a quiet moment again. That grieving process can be shortened, for some people, by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medication if necessary. Grieving can flare up with flare ups. CBT helps tinnitus sufferers cope with the emotions associated with a flare up and recognize signs of grieving. Identifying the signs can help tinnitus sufferers to navigate the negative emotional waters until the flare up quiets down.

If you have chronic severe tinnitus it is important for you to learn how to manage your specific tinnitus. I openly share how I manage my tinnitus on this blog with the hope that my information will help other tinnitus sufferers to better understand the condition and I also want to encourage researchers to aggressively study tinnitus.

What works for me may not work for you. Your tinnitus may sound much different than mine.  The cause of your tinnitus may be much different than mine. General practitioners, hearing specialists, neurologists, psychiatrists, dietitians, physical trainers, and psychologists may be part of your treatment team if your tinnitus begins to get worse, especially if the tinnitus is affecting your judgement, work performance, sleep, mood, or relationships.

Tinnitus: Can Smartmeters cause tinnitus?

The known auditory system response range for exposure to RF is 200MHz - 3,000MHz. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) Smartmeters are operating in the known RF auditory system response range at 450MHz-470MHz for about 45-60 seconds per day. It is therefore possible that Smartmeters could cause tinnitus and hearing loss for people who are extra-sensitive to RFR. It is also even more possible that the UHF television in the home could cause tinnitus and hearing loss because the amount of exposure time is greater.

If you live in California, you can opt out of the Smartmeter program (but you will pay more to do so). It would not surprise me if a large number of PG and E customers begin to show high frequency hearing loss and tinnitus. It may take years for exposure damage to present. Some people may be more sensitive than others.

On its website PG and E compares microwave ovens and wifi to its Smartmeter transmissions. It isn't really a fair comparison because Smartmeters transmit at a completely different frequency. That doesn't mean that those devices don't come with other biological risks.

PG and E has reassured its customers that the Smartmeters are safe based on FCC standards. The FCC admits that more study needs to be done in regard to the biological effects of operating in these frequencies. The FCC does not say that it is entirely safe to do so. For now, they allow it.

If you live in California, you will have to decide whether you are willing to pay more each month to be absolutely assured of safety or to accept the risk of allowing a Smartmeter to be attached to your home.

My goal is not to get you to opt out but to inform you of the possibility of auditory system damage, no matter how low the risk appears to be. Once chronic severe tinnitus starts it will not stop. There is no cure.

Here is how to opt out:
http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/smartmeter/optout/

More information:
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/efile/RESP/149398.pdf


Note: After I posted this I decided to opt out just to be on the safer side. PG and E was gracious about it. I do have to pay a small monthly fee.

Tinnitus: Does radar cause tinnitus?

Can you imagine a world without radar systems? I can not. Countries around the world have become dependent on radar systems. Countries even competitively develop radar systems for military and non-military use. Most countries are dependent on radar systems for military operations. Radar is here to stay. But researchers cannot ignore the possibility that overexposure may have negative biological affects on human beings.

Because radar development is a huge industry it has become somewhat of a sacred cow. No one seems to want to really approach the topic of radar effects on human beings. We don't seem to want the answer politically so we don't ask the questions. There have been a few studies about biological effects from radar exposure but not enough. Many of the studies are dated.

Radar in frequency from G-Band 200MHz up to S-Band at 3GHz may affect the auditory system, including the cochlea, the vestibular nerve, the auditory nerve, and the brain. It does warrant further study. Active radar jamming in the I and J Bands (8GHz-20GHz) should really be investigated.

Police radars operate in X (10GHz) to K(40GHz) Band which is nearly equivalent to military radar jammers in the I and J Bands. If a police officer gets tinnitus and it is not due to sirens or firing his or her weapon then we have to assume that something else in his or her environment is causing the tinnitus.

It is possible that the sirens or the radar are to blame. Here is a link to an investigation of police radar by OSHA: Click Here

Although tinnitus is not specifically mentioned in the study, cancer, and low sperm motility cases have led to the commission of the research. The main point is that there is enough evidence to suggest that overexposure to RFR can lead to a biological response to non-thermal radiation. One problem with the study is that the findings show that the radar is not powerful enough to illicit a biological response from human cells. They've got it backwards...the lower the power the greater the human body responds. That is why refraction of RFR is of great concern. Every time charged particles refract they release some energy into whatever object was struck. The power can decrease to the point of generating a biological response.

For illustration, try this experiment: Take a laser pointer and point the laser beam at your wall just below the ceiling in your home. You should see a more diffused and weaker refraction that is bouncing from the wall to the ceiling. If that were radar generated particles striking a human being at a weaker state and absorbed then we could see all kinds of biological effects.

Since the cochlear cells send electrical signals to the brain it may be possible to damage them with radar jamming equipment in I and J Bands or, in the case of police radar, the X to K Bands. It is my contention that a radar jammer that is powerful enough to jam military radar would also be powerful enough to knock out the electrical signals of the cochlea and even affect electrical transmission in the cerebral cortex. Damage in either area of the body can cause tinnitus.

Certain thermal radiation can heat up the brain which causes a shock wave to go through the auditory system to the cochlea.

For the 50 million Americans suffering from some form of tinnitus, 12 million of those having chronic tinnitus that affects their daily lives, and 2 million who have been debilitated by tinnitus, it is time to apply more scientific focus on radio frequency radiation (RFR) effects on the auditory system.

Researchers really should be asking the following questions:

• Is it possible that the cochlear electrical signals are scrambled by radars operating in a certain frequency? 
• Is it possible to disturb the fluid pressure inside of the cochlea and kill cochlear cells by use of radar? 
• Does microwave radar, at certain frequencies, affect the brain and or the cochlea?

I'm not saying that radar causes tinnitus. I am saying that it warrants further research. If radar is proven, without a doubt, to be a cause then there needs to be some type of protection for people at risk of overexposure. At a minimum, people at risk of overexposure should be informed that overexposure can lead to hearing loss and tinnitus as well as other physical damage.

I'd imagine that radar protective gear would be some type of head gear that resembles the deflection surfaces on the stealth bomber. A stealth helmet, if you will (as a protection against harmful signals) for military personnel or police officers. The best protection is simply not to radiate the radar system when people are in the vicinity of it.

Debate over the non-thermal biological effects of RFR was raging in the 1970's. In my view, researchers have to look at the human biological system through a different lens. Researchers have to be mindful of the fact that human beings are chemical, electrical, and hydro systems and as such we are conductors of electrical waves. Through that lens researchers can begin to consider the real potential effects of RFR on human beings.  Human beings absorb RFR.

We are no longer in the 70's. We now know that non-thermal radiation does have biological effects. Laser surgery is a non-thermal electromagnetic procedure that effects cells. Trancranial Magnetic Stimulation is a non-thermal electromagnetic procedure that effects neurons in the brain. X-Rays are non-thermal electromagnetic radiation that can effect human cells (hence the need for a lead apron). Radar is also a non-thermal radiation source that may be harmful to human beings who are overexposed. Clearly, non-thermal radiation overexposure can be dangerous. Is it dangerous to the auditory system?

Tinnitus: Diet

This is my tinnitus diet. The idea is to prevent the tinnitus from flaring up. This diet will not cure tinnitus.

No:
caffeine
alcohol
smoking
salt
sugar (especially in soda)
aspirin

I suspect that the items on the "No" list raise the oscillation level in certain brain cells and thereby cause the tinnitus to get louder.

Here are some things that will not likely cause a tinnitus flare up:
Sparkling water
Salad
Oatmeal
Berries
Eggs
Meat
Pancakes
Vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower)
Protein powder or shakes
Sea Food
Liquid Multivitamins (e.g. Max Effect)

Eating well will not cure tinnitus. The brain will produce the internal sound no matter what. A healthy diet will likely reduce risks of a flare up. A healthy diet is a tinnitus management strategy. Whereas a poor diet will likely make tinnitus worse.

Tinnitus can lead to insomnia which leads to more and more caffeine intake which leads to flare ups which leads to more insomnia. It is a loop that has to be broken.