Effective Home Remedies For Tinnitus Or Ringing Ears
When it comes to finding good home remedies for tinnitus, there are no shortages of choices, and natural ways to cure tinnitus are many and varied. Some of these natural tinnitus cures could easily be discounted as old wives tales, while others sound like they could actually have some merit – I’ll let the reader decide!
Just to be clear – I am NOT saying these WILL cure your tinnitus, but in the interests of all involved I feel it is good just to list the possibilities that are available to the tinnitus sufferer. Never let it be said that tinnitus cannot be cured – this is simply not true. Many thousands of folks have found tinnitus treatments that work very well for them. Remember that tinnitus does not have to be a permanent condition, but that it can come and go depending on the causes or the individual concerned.
Whatever the case – here is a list of some of the more popular home remedies for tinnitus, along with a brief description and instructions for use.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tinnitus Remedy:
Known to be efficacious against a number of ailments including heartburn, acne, strep throat, and high blood pressure to name just a few! apple cider vinegar is one of the home remedies for tinnitus that is simple to follow – It can also of course be effective! Apple cider is an anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory agent, which means that it can be very effective in treating any underlying condition that may be contributing to tinnitus symptoms.
Treatment: Mix a little honey with 2-3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into a glass of warm water.
Take two glasses per day for 7-10 days until the ringing stops.
Holy Basil:
This is another popular home remedy for tinnitus as Holy Basil has antibacterial properties that work to kill any bacterial infection that may be the root cause of tinnitus. This may show in a build-up of ear wax and pain in the ears themselves.
Treatment: Add a handful of basil leaves into a blender or Pestle & Mortar for herbs. Add a few drops of virgin olive oil and crush to extract the herb juices.
Pour into a separate dish and warm slightly before adding to a dropper and putting 2-3 drops into the ear.
Do this twice a day for 3-4 days
Garlic Ear Drops:
Again, this wondrous onion/herb/spice has a number of applications with regard to a healthy body. And again it anti-bacterial properties that are particularly effective against colds in high altitudes. It is also understood to be a very effective treatment against high blood pressure, and to improve blood circulation.
The downside of course – particularly for your partner – is stinky garlic-breath! Incidentally…do you know that if you rub a garlic clove on the soul of your foot, it will come out on your breath in ten minutes or so!
Stinky Garlic Treatment:
Crush a clove of garlic mixed with a little sesame oil in a pestle and mortar. Fry lightly for a few moments (be careful not to burn the garlic), then strain off the fluid and let cool.
Add this to a dropper and apply to the ear twice a day for 5-7 days until symptoms vanish.
Ginkgo Biloba:
Possibly one of the best known home remedies for tinnitus. Ginkgo Biloba, also called the Maidenhair Tree, is one of the oldest living tree species. It is also one of the best-selling herbal supplements throughout Europe and the USA.
The essence of the Ginkgo is also widely accepted as being effective against high blood pressure, menopause, altitude sickness, tinnitus, and numerous other medical conditions.
It is readily available in most herbal medicine shops. It should be noted however that Ginkgo is known to cause a number of side effects including upset stomach, headache, and dizziness)
Treatment: For tinnitus (ringing of the ears), up to 240 milligrams of ginkgo or ginkgo extract taken by mouth. Follow instructions on the manufacturers packaging.
Onion Drops:
Similar to garlic, onions have high anti-bacterial properties and are good for treating tinnitus that may be caused by ear infections.
Treatment: Chop up one onion then place in a micro-wave for a minute or 2. Separate the juice into a dropper after cooling then after tilting your head to the side to allow the drops to sink in, put 3-4 drops into the ear. Let this infuse for a few minutes before tilting your head back and letting the juice run out.
Repeat daily for about 1 week to clear up the infection.
A Good Diet!
Food is not known to cause tinnitus directly – unless you consider too much salt for instance, that can cause high blood pressure which in turn may lead to tinnitus. Natural foods such as fresh vegetables, dairy products or meat on their own help promote a healthy body, which in turn helps prevent issues such as tinnitus.
On the other hand processed foods in general contain large amounts of sugar, salt, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives which in turn can lead to hypertension, obesity, and many other issues that may leave the body vulnerable to many sickness – including tinnitus.
So the general rule is to avoid processed foods and always opt for the healthy option whenever possible. All home remedies for tinnitus should include a good diet and should be high in protein and nutrient rich with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. This should be accompanied by plenty of physical activity and moderate exercise which encourages blood circulation. A sedentary lifestyle is just one of the things that may introduce or exacerbate tinnitus.
Food For Tinnitus:
Consider anti-inflammatory foods in your everyday diet to help alleviate or discourage tinnitus. Inflammation leading to poor blood circulation can lead to humming, buzzing or ringing in the ears.
Vegetables include garlic, turmeric, ginger, oregano, green tea, dandelion, tomatoes and olive oil. High-fat fish such as salmon (top value omega-3 food), mackerel, herring, tuna and sardines. Almonds and walnuts also contain anti-inflammatory properties.
Stress Management Exercises:
Stress or anxiety can be a leading cause of tinnitus, and so a good stress management course for tinnitus may well do the trick for you! Even simple light exercise or walking the dog and gardening are considered good techniques for managing stress.
Other gentle exercise like yoga, and/or meditation, along with some relaxation therapy, can all help to relieve stress and lower blood pressure, improve circulation and promote good health.
Simple things like following a particular relaxing hobby like fishing, or going for quiet walks in the country, all help relieve tension and help manage tinnitus causing stress.
Lifestyle Change:
This is sometimes the most difficult natural tinnitus treatment, but can be extremely effective as a person’s lifestyle or life circumstance is often the greatest cause of tinnitus. What do I mean by this?
Well if your lifestyle involves going to noisy rock concerts on a weekly basis, where noise levels over 85 decibels are recorded – then you are subjecting yourself to ear-damaging levels of noise, which can lead to tinnitus.
If you work in a noisy environment such as a car manufacturer, miner, forestry worker, aircraft ground mechanic, school teacher, rock band, or disco promoter, then again you run the risk of suffering from tinnitus – especially if you do not wear ear protectors (guilty as charged!).
This change of lifestyle may well involve a diet change like the one listed above. It may even involve doing a little exercise now and then! Yes I did say it could be difficult 🙂
This change of lifestyle/diet/exercise is actually what a holistic tinnitus remedy such as Tinnitus Miracle by Thomas Coleman promotes – and to great effect. As a natural cure for ringing in the ears tinnitus miracle has had some impressive results.
Soothing Music:
Included in most home remedies for tinnitus, music or masking is possibly one of the most used when it comes to DIY tinnitus cures. By soothing music, I mean any music or tones that help ‘mask’ the sounds of tinnitus and helps your mind focus on a more pleasant sound.
This could be anything from a ticking clock by the bedside. Maybe a radio left on low level with music channel of your choice. Often recordings of a waterfall or leaves rustling in the wind are used to good effect to mask the sound of tinnitus.
Mind Retraining is another aspect of ‘sound control’ which helps the mind to ignore the sounds which are in fact mostly ‘heard’ in the mind, not the ears. Subjective tinnitus (the most common type of tinnitus) is best described as the way the brain interprets silence. The other type of tinnitus, Objective tinnitus, can be heard by a medical examiner using the appropriate audio equipment. This is also known as somatosensory tinnitus, and is usually the result of an obstruction in a blood vein.
Binaural beats therapy is another way of combatting tinnitus using sound waves to counter the effect of tinnitus and therby effect a cure.
Tinnitus and Acupuncture:
Acupuncture for tinnitus is a traditional Chinese method of treatment whose use goes back into ancient history. How it actually works is still the subject of much discussion, but basically it taps into the bodies nervous (and some would claim spiritual) system. That being the case, and knowing that the brains electrical system is the culprit as it interprets silence into noise. There is much evidence to say that acupuncture for tinnitus is indeed a good natural solution for tinnitus sufferers.
According to the British Acupuncture Council, acupuncture can help in the following ways to alleviate the symptoms of tinnitus…
- acting on the cochlea, specifically on the contractile activity of outer hair cells (Azevedo 2007);
- acting on the function of the efferent olivocochlear system to suppress otoacoustic emissions (Azevedo 2007);
- altering the brain’s chemistry, increasing neuropeptide Y levels (Lee 2009; Cheng 2009), and reducing serotonin levels (Zhou 2008);
- reducing inflammation, by promoting release of vascular and immunomodulatory actors (Kavoussi 2007, Zijlstra 2003);
- increasing local microcirculation (Komori 2009), which aids dispersal of swelling.
Credit: BAC http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/a-to-z-of-conditions/a-to-z-of-conditions/tinnitus.html
CBD Oil Tinnitus Remedy:
This tinnitus home remedy is covered in more detail here.. however in a nutshell CBD (Cannabidiol) oil is an extract from the Cannabis plant that is non-psychoactive and non-addictive. It is also a legal extract from the hemp plant and is sold legally as a food suppliment throughout the USA and UK as well as several other countries worldwide.
A few drops of CBD oil in the ear can work wonders against ear infection and as a tinnitus treatment.
So there you have it – my Top DIY treatments or home remedies for tinnitus. Feel free to let me know if you have your own favourite tinnitus home cure by leaving a comment in the box below.