Dos and Don’ts of Managing Tinnitus

With a range of causes and varying experiences from person to person, you might assume that there are no effective ways to treat a symptom as diverse as tinnitus. However, that’s not true. Though it can be different from person to person, there are a few tips that are universally worth following and others that you should avoid. Here, we’ll take a look at the dos and don’ts of managing your tinnitus.

Do…

Understand that Tinnitus Is Different for Every Person

As mentioned above, most people experience tinnitus differently from those around them. As such, the treatments and techniques that work for others may not work for you initially. It’s good to get started on the process of treating it early so you can find which best work for you.

Manage Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety have been known to exacerbate the experience of tinnitus and, in turn, tinnitus can cause stress, leading to a cyclical relationship. While treating the symptoms of tinnitus, it’s recommended you look into methods of relieving stress, too, such as breathing exercises, yoga and meditation.

Consider Lifestyle Changes That Can Help

There are a host of other lifestyle modifications that might help, such as eating less salt, drinking less alcohol and caffeine and cutting nicotine out. Talk to your audiologist about the lifestyle you live and what modifications might help with your tinnitus.

See an Audiologist

Lastly, you should make sure that you partner up with your audiologist if you experience tinnitus. Aside from offering a range of treatments like sound-masking hearing aids, sound machines and tinnitus retraining therapy, they can also help you get down to some of the most common causal factors. Tinnitus is often experienced as a side effect of hearing health issues like hearing loss and earwax blockages. Your audiologist can help you get your hearing health in shape.

Don’t…

Believe the Hype of Cures

You may read about supplements and herbs that can cure tinnitus. However, even if they do offer some relief by, for instance, helping correct your blood pressure, there is no known cure for tinnitus. You can treat the underlying issue and it can go away on its own, but there is no known medication, supplement or product known to cure it.

Neglect to Note Your Tinnitus Triggers

You might find that your tinnitus gets more noticeable or louder at specific times of the day or under certain circumstances. When you experience a bout of tinnitus, take the time to think about what you were doing immediately preceding it. You might be able to identify some triggers that you can avoid in the future.

Leave Your Hearing Unprotected

Exposure to loud noise is a very common contributing factor of both short-term and loud-term tinnitus. As such, you should take what efforts you can to protect your hearing if you are experiencing it already. Wearing protective head gear such as earplugs or earmuffs is recommended. You should be more aware of what volume you use for personal music devices, too and try to keep it lower.