Tinnitus Tips

1. Learn More About Tinnitus

The old saying, “Knowledge is power,” is fully applicable to tinnitus. Once you have a better understanding of what tinnitus is and how it works, you can feel more in control, rather than being affected by a mysterious and frustrating sound you don’t understand.

2. Check Your Blood Pressure

Somatic tinnitus is often tied to your blood pressure and other cardiac problems. So, if you have high blood pressure, by managing your blood pressure, you may be able to resolve your tinnitus.

3. Stop Smoking and Other Nicotine Consumption Activities

Also tied to blood flow issues, tinnitus can be triggered by nicotine consumption, regardless if you are smoking, chewing, or vaping. Nicotine can lead to tinnitus as it causes your blood vessels to constrict, which can trigger somatic tinnitus. By cutting nicotine out of your life, you should be able to significantly reduce the impact of your tinnitus.

4. Protect Your Ears From Loud Noises

One of the biggest triggers for tinnitus is experiencing loud noises without any hearing protection. This type of noise exposure damage not only can lead to tinnitus but is also a prime cause of hearing loss.

While not all people with tinnitus also experience hearing loss, many people do as the brain stops receiving as much sound thanks to the hearing loss. To help keep from triggering a round of tinnitus, you will want to choose the right hearing protection from loud noises.

5. Cut Back on Sodium

Having too much sodium in your diet can lead to an increase in your blood pressure. And as your blood pressure increases, you can increase your tinnitus symptoms. So, watch the labels of your food carefully for sodium content and maybe swap the salt shaker out for other spices.

6. Create a Treatment Plan With Our Audiologist

To enjoy effective tinnitus treatment and management, you can work with our audiologist. He has helped many people manage their tinnitus with recommendations, hearing aids, or even just removing compacted earwax.

With our audiologist, you can have a personalized tinnitus treatment plan developed to help you manage your particular tinnitus on a day-to-day basis.

7. Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule

Being exhausted and sleep-deprived can trigger tinnitus in people. So, even if you can function on less sleep, it may be time to see if you can reorganize your schedule to make time for more shut-eye.

Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night to be fully rested. Also, it is best if you set a regular sleep schedule, so your body can both adjust to more sleep and fall into a healthy routine.

8. Consume Fewer Stimulants

Common stimulants like caffeine can have an adverse effect on your blood flow, making it move faster and consequently raising your blood pressure overall. As you have likely noticed by now, when your blood pressure is elevated, you are far more likely to trigger your tinnitus.

Carefully examine your current stimulant intake and see where you can cut back to help lessen your tinnitus.

9. Work on Stress Reduction

Stress also plays a large role in making tinnitus worse. If you want to reduce the impact tinnitus has on your life, see what areas of your life are causing you stress and work on a plan to lower the stress you feel in these areas.

10. Practice Healthy Relaxation

Part of healthy tinnitus and stress management is learning and practicing relaxation techniques in your daily life. Some things you may want to try are:

• Starting the day with mediation
• Practicing calming breathing techniques
• Engaging in self-care

11. Meet with Tinnitus Support Groups

Living with tinnitus can be isolating, as you are the only one who can hear the sound that is plaguing you. By reaching out to tinnitus support groups, whether online or in person, can help you feel less alone and you may be able to find new information on tinnitus from others who are in your situations.

12. Regularly Exercise

Exercise can help with multiple areas which cause tinnitus, from helping you reduce stress to lowering your blood pressure. Aerobic workouts like running, cycling, and dancing are particularly effective, as they can directly impact your cardiovascular system.

13. Don’t Be in Complete Silence

Tinnitus is most noticeable when you are in a completely silent environment. To keep from giving tinnitus the opportunity to make its presence known, you can use hearing aids which have a sound generator built-in. Those hearing aids with tinnitus support all have sound generator features to help manage your tinnitus.

If your tinnitus is more of a nighttime problem, you can use a masker at night, which can be as simple as having a fan run to provide white noise as you sleep.

14. Track Your Tinnitus Symptoms Triggers

What triggers your tinnitus can be different than what causes others to experience tinnitus. So, to help protect yourself from a tinnitus flare-up, track your tinnitus triggers. That way, you can more accurately predict and prevent tinnitus.

You may have noticed that there is no recommendation for tinnitus medication—that’s because there is none. While medication may help with the side-effects of tinnitus, such as anxiety and depression medication, there is no medication at this time which will treat tinnitus itself.

How to Help Others Understand Your Tinnitus

Having your support system of family and friend understand your tinnitus can go a long way when it comes to managing your tinnitus. With their support, you can have help in protecting yourself from tinnitus triggers, and it can help to have your loved ones understand why you need to do certain things to control your tinnitus on a daily basis. Some of the ways you can help others understand your tinnitus are:

• Have them listen to common tinnitus sounds
• Explain how tinnitus impacts you mentally, emotionally, and physically
• Tell them what makes your tinnitus worse
• Share your tinnitus education

Work With Denver’s Local Tinnitus Expert to Manage Your Tinnitus

Here at Echo Hearing Center, we offer tinnitus treatment and management solutions. Some of our solutions which may help you are:

• A progressive tinnitus management plan
• Hearing aids with tinnitus sound support
• Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
• Referral to other specialists for further treatment

If you are ready to actively manage your tinnitus, contact us. Our audiologist will tailor your tinnitus treatment to your needs, so you can enjoy having your tinnitus under control.