whistling in the ears

I suffered from tinitus quite horribly all of last winter. A major factor was eliminating a specific artificial sweetener from my diet. The one that comes in the pink packet ie "Sweet and Low" I swithced to "Equal"- blue packet and have improved to the point of normalcy.

I just got tinnitus from hiking up high altitude too quickly in the Himalayas (and it was probably exacerbated by the malaria medication I have been told...stay away from that malaria medication unless it's absolutely necessary.) It got so bad I was almost suicidal so I can understand your concern. Some people use a type of hearing aid that puts out white noise to help cover up the ringing.

Fortunately after a few months mine went away but it comes back every now and then, although not as intense as originally. Doctors told me that it may go away permanently and then again, it may come back even worse.

It's truly a curse. The only thing that worsens it is alcohol...i think.

I have suffered from tinnitus since 1984 after an especially loud concert. It never goes away but does get masked by other sounds, including music. I hate quiet rooms, especially hotel rooms, because there is no escaping the ringing.

There is a non-profit organization, the American Tinnitus Association, that publishes many articles on the various causes and ongoing research. You can learn a lot from them.

I'm 31, and despite using earplugs from 14 onward when I started playing in blues bands, I have some tinnitus, and it's gotten slightly, gradually worse. From things I've read, some of us do seem to be more vulnerable to it than others--whatever genetic quirk that is. Alcohol makes it worse for me, though just when the alcohol is in my system.

Two things I've learned recently that have helped me: the first is that magnesium, zinc and vitamin B-12 have in certain studies shown a helpful effect. I take all three daily now, and I think it helps. Evidently the inner ear has and needs high concentrations of those things, and keeping the levels up is beneficial (qualification: I'm no doctor, just an avid reader of medical studies on tinnitus). The second is that, for me, I've noticed that even brief exposure to loud or irritating sounds brings on "ear-burn" pretty quickly. For me it's worse (and happens much more quickly) with digital sources. Solution? I bought a decibel meter from Acoustic Sounds and now check my listening level when I start. Turns out 50-65 decibels is plenty loud for me most of the time, so I stick to that. It's a bit of a pain, but the peace of mind helps.

Worst in audiophile circles might be that with tinnitus you can't hear at all, or can't differentiate between X and Y because of tinnitus--it's just not true. It's an irritation most of all.

Besides the Vitamins-Supplements mentioned, A doctor once told me there was some positive results taking Niacinamide in large doses. Downside was the flushing that occurs with this Supplement. Something you might wish to look into, or mention to an ENT. Mark