The AudioNotch Tinnitus Treatment Blog

What Can Cause Tinnitus?

Anyone dealing with constant ringing and clanging noises in their ears will have tinnitus desperation that leads to visiting multiple physicians for medical treatments. No one knows exactly what causes tinnitus symptoms, but many medical experts have theories concerning the condition. In many cases, a physician determines that a patient developed tinnitus due to exposure to a loud blasting noise such as an explosion. Alternatively, patients may develop the misperception to noises after many years of working in a factory near noisy machines. Occasionally, the condition develops in an older individual because of attending loud music concerts for several years as a teenager.

Conditions that Lead to Tinnitus

Additional reasons for tinnitus occurring is due to other medical problems, including:

• Severe allergies
• Foreign object in the ears
• Massive infection in or near the ear
• Emotional stress
• Multiple sclerosis
• Wax buildup
• Medications
• Head injury

Approximately 15 percent of the population worldwide has tinnitus at some point in time but for many it becomes a chronic or lifelong problem that causes tinnitus desperation. Physicians have not found an effective treatment for tinnitus but instead recommend talk therapy as a way to learn to deal with the difficult emotions attached to the constant sounds heard inside the ear.

How Tinnitus Makes Life Difficult

As people age and begin to develop a small amount of hearing loss, the condition of tinnitus is common. At first, a person may not understand why there are strange noises in the ear that make no sense during a physical examination. Other people in their lives may think that someone is imagining the symptoms, leading to more feelings of tinnitus desperation to explain what is occurring. In addition to it making hearing others talk difficult, the constant sounds of tinnitus make it difficult to perform tasks at home or work. Everyday daily functions become difficult to deal with such as hearing someone knocking on the front door or watching television.

Treatments to Relieve Difficult Feelings

The emotional toil of unusual noises in one or both ears can cause tinnitus desperation as individuals seek one treatment after another without finding a cure. Patients undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy often feel intense anxiety or depression due to the condition making their daily lives difficult. An important part of improving stressful feelings is finally accepting that tinnitus is not curable. For patients experiencing problems sleeping due to the sounds, undergoing relaxation therapy is beneficial. Supplements including melatonin or zinc help some patients to have fewer strange sounds in their ears. Physicians can prescribe antidepressant or anxiety medications to help patients with tinnitus desperation.