Is Tinnitus Therapy Safe?

In order to answer that question it is necessary to identify the different types of tinnitus therapy. As you may know tinnitus is linked to various other disorders including depression, anxiety and general ill health. It may also be the case that the tinnitus developed because of extraneous factors such as loud noise exposure, (whether for a short time e.g. explosive noise or over a long period e.g. industrial factory noise), ototoxic medications taken to cure other ailments and overall degeneration of the hearing organ due to ageing.

The main types of tinnitus therapy are medication therapy and holistic therapy. Unfortunately medication therapy is relatively new and while trials have been carried out on various groups the full extent of the side effects that may arise from medication are not fully known. At the present time the most used medications are Alprazolem, which was designed primarily to treat nervous disorders, Memantine, which focuses on reducing the production of glutamate and Carvoverine another glutamate inhibitor. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter of the inner ear and when damage is done to the hair cells there is an over-production of glutamate which is thought to be responsible for tinnitus.

Holistic therapy involves a many sided approach including attention to diet, reduction of alcohol intake, family support, psychological strategies, tinnitus masking and symptom control. This type of tinnitus therapy is by far the safest and has shown remarkable results. It is not a fast fix and requires the tinnitus sufferer to take a very proactive approach to solving what may be a severe and life damaging ailment.

It is probably advisable for any tinnitus sufferer to explore all avenues that might lead to a cure and if the tinnitus is very severe a combination of tinnitus therapies might be required. In severe cases the first port of call should be your general medical practitioner and then following on his advice make decisions on the best course of action.