Gainesville Acupuncture
Treatment for Tinnitus
Most everyone has experienced tinnitus temporarily at some point in their lives. If you’ve attended a loud concert or have been adjacent to a noisy construction site or have been hit directly in one of your ears, you have probably experienced a slight noise or ringing in your ear for some time afterwards. This is a normal reaction and the effects tend to go away fairly quickly.
For some people, however, these symptoms aren’t just a once every concert or so thing. Many people suffer from tinnitus for prolonged periods of time, even for days in a row, and while it does not come from any external source, that doesn’t mean it’s just their imagination. Tinnitus is a very real thing and can be quite irritating.
While tinnitus is not a disease and very rarely indicates serious medical problem, it can affect daily life by making it difficult to concentrate. There is no established cure for tinnitus in Western medicine. However, there are alternative treatments that offer remedies for tinnitus such as Traditional Chinese Medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses techniques such as acupuncture for tinnitus relief. At Gainesville Holistic Healthcare, we can provide you acupuncture Gainesville residents can trust.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a conscientious perception of a sound originating in the ears or nervous system when no external sound is present, commonly referred to as “ringing in the ears.” Tinnitus is a problem that affects many people yet isn’t a condition in itself, but rather a symptom of an underlying condition. Tinnitus can vary greatly between individuals, from what it sounds like to how long it lasts. Some people describe it as high-frequency whistling while others perceive it as a low buzzing sound. There is even pulsatile tinnitus, which is a thumping sound in the same rhythm as the heartbeat. The most common sounds include ringing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, and hissing. Tinnitus can affect one ear or both and can get so loud in some people that it actually interferes with a person’s ability to hear sound. There are two kinds of tinnitus:
- Subjective: Subjective tinnitus is tinnitus that only you can hear. It is the most common type of tinnitus and can be caused by problems in the inner, middle, or outer ear.
- Objective: You have objective tinnitus if your doctor is able to hear it when he/she performs an examination on you. This form of tinnitus is more rare and may be caused by blood vessel problems, muscle contractions, or a middle ear bone condition.
Causes of Tinnitus
There are multiple health conditions that can cause or worsen tinnitus. A common cause is inner ear cell damage. Tiny hairs in the inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves, triggering electrical signals to be sent from the auditory nerve to the brain. If the hairs inside the ear or the auditory nerve are damaged, they can leak random electrical impulses to the brain that are interpreted as sound. Other causes of tinnitus include:
- Age related hearing loss
- Blood vessel disorders
- Certain medications
- Exposure to loud noise
- Ear injury and damage
- Earwax blockage
- Head and neck injuries
- Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ)
How Acupuncture Improves Tinnitus
Acupuncture has been found to alleviate tinnitus by improving conduction in the auditory nerves, promoting circulation to the ear, and delivering nutrients to the hearing system. It does this through the stimulation of designated points in the body that improve blood flow, relax tension in muscles, and release necessary healing chemicals naturally produced by the body.
Acupuncture is holistic medicine and thus improves the entire body’s balance in order to address the root of the problem. Once the main affliction is treated, underlying symptoms such as tinnitus are relieved.
In general, Traditional Chinese Medicine categorizes tinnitus as excess type or deficiency type. Excess type is related to liver and gallbladder inflammation and can affect the ears by blocking qi (energy) in the shaoyang meridian. Deficiency type is due to kidney or liver deficiency and affects the shaoyin and jueyin acupuncture channels, preventing nourishment from reaching the ears.
Tinnitus can also lead to fatigue, stress, sleep problems, and depression. These are afflictions that acupuncture treatment is also effective at treating. In fact, our Gainesville acupuncturists would treat these symptoms in conjunction with the cause for your tinnitus.
Acupuncture Specialist for Tinnitus Relief
Unlike medications that are often ineffective and can cause more damage, acupuncture offers safe and natural tinnitus relief. If you are tired of living with tinnitus and have been unsuccessful at finding effective treatment, contact Gainesville Holistic Healthcare. We can provide you with acupuncture treatment in Gainesville, FL.