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How I Cured My Tinnitus

Vik Veer - ENT Surgeon・47 minutes read

Vic Veer shares insights on tinnitus, emphasizing its neurological origins, while providing distraction techniques and professional recommendations for management. Veer's aim is to offer guidance on tinnitus based on his experience, focusing on breaking the negative cycle and understanding the brain's role in perceiving the condition.

Insights

  • Tinnitus is not necessarily a lifelong condition, with most cases being temporary and resolving on their own, emphasizing the importance of understanding its neurological origins rather than assuming it is solely psychological.
  • Distraction techniques, such as engaging in activities like computer games, can help reduce the intensity of tinnitus by signaling to the brain that the noise is not emotionally significant, offering a potential avenue for managing and alleviating the condition over time.

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Recent questions

  • What is tinnitus?

    Tinnitus is a perception of noise in the ears.

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Summary

00:00

Understanding Tinnitus: Insights from ENT Surgeon

  • Vic Veer, an ears, nose, and throat surgeon at the Royal National ENT Hospital in London, shares his experience with tinnitus, having successfully overcome it after initially experiencing it in 2008.
  • While Veer's personal tinnitus has been resolved for over a decade, he acknowledges that individual results may vary and his story serves as a guide rather than a guaranteed cure.
  • Veer aims to provide viewers with insights he typically imparts to his patients regarding tinnitus, offering a comprehensive understanding of the condition to potentially eliminate the need for a clinic visit.
  • Despite specializing in snoring, sleep apnea, and ear surgery, Veer recommends reputable professionals for tinnitus treatment, including Nish Patel, Dipesh Mistry, and clinics like Highly Street Tinnitus Clinic and Romford Queens Hospital.
  • Veer clarifies that his video isn't about presenting miraculous cures but focuses on explaining tinnitus based on his usual approach, advising viewers to consult their doctors and consider visiting a tinnitus clinic for assistance.
  • Addressing common misconceptions, Veer debunks the belief that tinnitus is a lifelong condition, highlighting that most individuals experience temporary tinnitus that often resolves on its own without significant impact on daily life.
  • Contrary to popular belief, tinnitus primarily originates in the brain's auditory cortex rather than the ear, with Veer emphasizing that even ear damage doesn't necessarily worsen tinnitus but rather underscores its neural origins.
  • Veer rejects the notion that tinnitus is solely psychological, suggesting it's more of a feedback loop phenomenon that can be exacerbated by depression and anxiety, complicating the process of breaking free from the cycle.
  • Veer delves into the fundamental understanding of tinnitus, explaining how the brain habitually filters out background noises to focus on essential information, illustrating how everyone experiences tinnitus to some extent due to this filtering mechanism.
  • By elucidating the brain's selective hearing process and its role in perceiving tinnitus, Veer sets the stage for further discussions on managing and potentially alleviating tinnitus by comprehending its neurological underpinnings.

12:14

Breaking the Negative Cycle of Tinnitus

  • Emotional reactions to noises can lead the brain to focus on them, causing increased sensitivity and a desire to hear the noise more.
  • Tinnitus can trigger emotional responses, leading to a negative cycle where the brain amplifies the noise, causing distress and anxiety.
  • Stressful life events can trigger tinnitus, with the brain amplifying the noise due to emotional reactions.
  • Tinnitus can worsen through a negative cycle where the brain reinforces the perception of the noise, leading to increased sensitivity.
  • Hyperacusis, heightened sensitivity to noise, can develop due to the brain's feedback loop amplifying certain frequencies.
  • Depression and anxiety can exacerbate tinnitus by making it challenging to break the negative cycle of worry and distress.
  • Reversing the negative cycle of tinnitus involves distracting the brain from the noise, reapplying filters to suppress it, and correcting the brain's assumptions.
  • Masking techniques, like white noise, aim to distract the brain from tinnitus rather than overpowering the noise itself.
  • Distraction techniques, such as engaging in activities that divert attention from tinnitus, can help reapply filters and reduce the perception of the noise.
  • Consistent distraction from tinnitus can gradually reduce its intensity by signaling to the brain that the noise is not emotionally significant, leading to improvements in perception over time.

24:35

Effective Distractions for Managing Tinnitus

  • Eating and resting are helpful in diverting attention from tinnitus
  • Aggressively distracting oneself from tinnitus with computer games is effective
  • Fast-paced games like Temple Run or Sonic the Hedgehog are recommended for distraction
  • Using PlayStation 5 or Oculus 2 for gaming can aid in diverting focus from tinnitus
  • Distraction techniques with computer games helped reduce tinnitus intensity
  • Addressing anxiety and depression is crucial in managing tinnitus
  • Checking hearing levels and addressing any hearing loss is important for tinnitus management
  • Wearing hearing aids can help stimulate the brain and reduce tinnitus
  • Implementing 180 phase reduction technique with sound frequency generator can help cancel out tinnitus noise
  • Creating a personalized app for tinnitus management may be beneficial, but regulatory hurdles exist

37:02

Managing Tinnitus: Techniques and Treatments

  • Using active noise cancellation headphones without connecting them to the phone can help cancel out external noise, potentially aiding with tinnitus.
  • Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS) involves using powerful magnets on the brain to influence neuronal chemistry, with varying success rates reported in trials.
  • Lidocaine, when injected, can eliminate tinnitus but carries the risk of heart issues; however, using it as a patch behind the ear has shown some reduction in tinnitus over time.
  • Relaxation techniques like meditation and self-awareness, along with various pills, lotions, and devices, may help manage tinnitus, even if the evidence is inconclusive, with a placebo effect potentially providing relief.
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