Understanding Tinnitus Treatments

Tinnitus is a condition that many people in America suffer from. It’s usually diagnosed by a hearing care professional and it can either be temporary or permanent depending on the cause. It can be distressing and, in some severe cases, disrupt your life and even invoke suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, there are treatments available, but it’s important not to have your expectations too high. In this article, we’ll be discussing tinnitus in order to help you understand the treatments available to you now.

Tinnitus is usually considered a symptom

The first major thing to understand is that tinnitus is usually considered a symptom. This means that there is an underlying issue that is causing tinnitus, and this could be anything from hearing damage to stress. In order to help identify the cause of your tinnitus, it’s important that you speak to both your audiologist and a medical professional. There are many different reasons why you could have tinnitus, so you need to do a complete check of your body to find possible causes.

Medication for tinnitus can vary

You may be given some medication to help you deal with your tinnitus. This treatment will vary depending on what your doctor recommends. For some people, they’ll receive low doses of anti-anxiety medication such as Valium or antidepressants like Elavil. These can help reduce the severity of your tinnitus to make it more manageable. A medicine known as alprazolam has also been shown to be effective for some. As you can see, medication for tinnitus will vary depending on your situation and you may be put on various medication to see what works best for you.

Masking devices are effective at hiding the problem

In most cases, you’ll be given a masking device to hide the tinnitus. These are worn much like hearing aids. In most cases, tinnitus that is caused by hearing loss will be remedied by a hearing aid as well. Not only will the hearing aid help with your loss of hearing, but it will also help to mask the tinnitus. These devices are relatively small and produce low levels of noises that will help to hide the effects of tinnitus. They do need to be worn regularly, but they’re comfortable and long-lasting enough to be used daily.

Therapy is also available

There is also tinnitus retraining therapy, also known as TRT. As a form of therapy, The success rate of TRT will depend on the brain’s ability to habituate a signal and filter it out on a subconscious level. This usually involves wearing a device that produces a neutral sound, such as an in-ear sound generator, and it also involves one-on-one counseling with the patient. Therapy can take anywhere from 12-24 months to complete and is currently one of the most successful and popular methods of treating tinnitus. There is also cognitive therapy available which helps someone train to react differently to tinnitus. This can be combined with other forms of therapy like TRT to help the user recover faster.