In this first episode I want to answer the three main questions that I'm asked about tinnitus.
To discuss anything you have heard in today's episode you can find me on facebook at Tinnitus on Your Mind.
In this first episode I want to answer the three main questions that I'm asked about tinnitus.
To discuss anything you have heard in today's episode you can find me on facebook at Tinnitus on Your Mind.
Welcome to Tinnitus on your mind. My name is Johanna Carter, I'm an audiologist, tinnitus advisor, NLP Master Practitioner, coach and mentor with a specialist interest and passion in helping people live well with tinnitus, as I have for many years. Each week you'll hear information, recommendations and suggestions. I'm delighted to share today's episode with you. So let's get on with the show. The first episode of tinnitus on your mind is all about the mechanisms involved with tinnitus, what it is, the types and the causes of tinnitus, how it affects us both physically and mentally, and the part of our brain house with this. I'm also looking forward to sharing the way our nervous system and how our thoughts are linked to our behaviour and feelings. The three main questions that I'm often asked asked all the time actually is number one, what actually is it and the causes of it? Number two, is there a cure? And will I always have it? Number three, should I see somebody about it, the doctor or another specialist. So to answer number one, so what actually is tinnitus and what are the possible causes. Tinnitus is a term used to describe any noise that an individual he is or perceives that is not from an external source. Tinnitus originates from the body. Often, this is the brain. More on this later. Tinnitus is very common, with approximately one in seven adults having persistent tinnitus in the United Kingdom. A recent European study by the Lancet in 2021 suggested very similar, if not slightly higher figures. It's not just adults that can have tinnitus, children can have it too. In fact, my tinnitus has been present for as long as I remember. However, the figures for children are not readily available for comparison. Just because an individual has tinnitus doesn't mean that it definitely be troublesome or persistent. Most people experience some form of tinnitus at some point in the lives. There are two main categories of tinnitus objective is the most common. The person with the tinnitus is only able to hear it or perceive it. It is only audible to them. Subjective tinnitus usually occurs in the brain. This has often to do with processing the data and sensory information that our bodies are giving to our brain. Objective tinnitus is the second category, meaning that others can hear the tinnitus too often though, they have to use a tool, such as a stethoscope. This is normally caused by an anatomical or physiological process. In other words, the body. I want you to imagine that you're either in a plane or a car, and the pressure changes around you. So in a plane, it's often at takeoff or landing. And in a car, it can occur when you're going up a hill, you feel this pressure, often in your ear, that change that's there, then it will return to normal. He may have to swallow or chew or even yawn to get it back to normal. That's why they used to give you sweets on a plane. Because how it does this is by using the Eustachian tube to balance the pressure. Some individuals can experience objective noise from this process, or the tube can be poorly functioning. You may have heard that tinnitus is only in the ears. This isn't entirely true. Often individuals with tinnitus can locate the sound to their ears, but Tinnitus can be heard in the head centrally, or it may be impossible to locate the actual sound. Its tinnitus if it's not from an external source. You may have also heard that tinnitus is always a high pitched ringing but the range of noises heard is vast ever Everyone's tinnitus is unique to them. The intensity and loudness of the sound, and also the sight of sound heard. If you've met one person with tinnitus, you've met one person with tinnitus. Some examples heard can be wave sounds, grinding metal, fans, and music. Some of the individuals I've met have different types in each ear. Tinnitus can also change. So I know that when I have a cold or congestion, my tinnitus is often more persistent and louder, or when I'm tired or stressed, or even when I talk about it, my awareness is raised to it. More on this later in the episode. The causes of tinnitus are vast. And to understand it better, let me unpick the basics around how we actually hear how we really hear sounds. A sound wave is made by the sound source. So for example, a car engine, the sound waves move through the air into the ear travelled down the ear canal hit the eardrum causing this to vibrate, just like the skin on a drum. This moves the little bones in the middle ear and moves the sound mechanically to the inner ear cochlea. This is then converted to an electrical signal, which is then filtered by the brain and is perceived as sound, hopefully correctly identifying the car engine noise. The brain performs complex filtering, adding meaning to sounds. All without our awareness, you really hear with your brain. Sound, a sensory input, and information is extremely important to our function of our brain to actually help our brain function properly, it needs all the sensory input that it is used to. Without it, the brain often has to distort and generalise and rely on other senses to get the information for optimal performance. Tinnitus starts anywhere from the ear to the brain. clauses of it include wax, this block sound from travelling through to the brain, limiting sensory information, and often the brain can fill in the gaps. In my own experience working with individuals with wax, removal of the wax may reduce or remove the tinnitus straightaway. When I've got a cold, I often have congestion. And again, this is stopping the sound travelling through to the brain. So this is often why I think that my tinnitus gets worse when I have a cold or congestion. Sound has a really really effect on the brain and the structures within the ear. So sound exposure can damage hair cells, especially with repeated exposure. This can cause misinformation, or lack of information to the brain. And this is also true for sudden loud noises, which can cause damage to the ear. Reactions to medications there are various medications that may be able to toxic, often used for treatment for illnesses and diseases such as cancer. These can be damaging to the ears, but this differs greatly with individuals. When I worked within the local Yente department, I was asked to test individuals prior to treatment with anything that was out to toxic to establish a baseline audiogram. an audiogram is just the chart that we look at for the hearing test results. There are also medications that may only potentially cause tinnitus whilst taking them and the tinnitus stops when treatment finishes. Another cause another potential cause can be emotional distress. And this is often a factor in individuals who have troublesome tinnitus, or trauma or distress is often experienced prior to tinnitus. Injuries to the head and neck isn't often a cause because they often cause structural changes, which can be a potential cause of any too tinnitus. The most common cause of tinnitus is often natural ageing of the structures of the ear. As we mature, natural wear and tear occurs in our inner ear, the cochlea and beyond structure changes. What you now to think of your flooring at home, when most people walk the heavy traffic areas, it wears out quicker, there's usually more damage there is the same in our ears, the areas that most sound passes through, will wear out quicker than the areas where there is less traffic. Around 90% of individuals with tinnitus, have some hearing loss present. Sound as sensory input and information is extremely important to the function of our brain. Without it, the brain often has to distort and generalise and rely on all the senses to get the information for optimal performance. The other question, Will I always have it? It depends. Often we habituate to it. So again, I just want you to imagine that you've stayed somewhere unfamiliar, perhaps a new home, a weekend away, or a friend's house. Most people in unfamiliar surroundings, hear new noises, or lack of noises that their brain notices. It may wake you up, it may startle you, but the longer you stay, the brain gets used to it. The noises that were noticed at first will eventually become the normal sounds in the background. This his habituation. So when the brain has a change in sensory information, it can cause the brain to interpret it in a different way. Our brains are absolutely amazing things. They process so much information on a second second basis, working out what's important to us as individuals and protecting us from danger. When tinnitus is present, the brain can unconsciously perceive it as a threat, causing in some individuals a cycle of distress that makes tinnitus perception worse. So let's go back to the example of staying somewhere unfamiliar. The noises are unfamiliar, and our brain may perceive them as dangerous. So focuses on the more. This same is often true for tinnitus. Our brains perceive it as a potential danger and focuses more on it, causing it to become more troublesome and annoying. This in turn will send his son stressed signals around the body ready for potential danger, causing our body to respond triggering the autonomic nervous system, what's commonly known as the fight flight, or freeze reflex. This response is a not automatic survival mechanism. All of the body's responses and sensations are there for a reason. They're there to prepare us to either fight or run away. And examples of these responses include your thoughts racing, changes to vision, dry mouth, your heart beating faster, nausea and butterflies in the stomach. breathing becomes quicker and shallower. And if we don't exercise, in other words, run away or fight, then we can become dizzy or lightheaded. Our adrenal glands can release adrenaline, bladder urgency, and our palms may become sweaty by the brain hearing the tinnitus as a potential danger. It makes the autonomic nervous system involved with it, possibly having the sensations there may not be severe, but it might be that you do worry about what the tinnitus is about, and it can cause that cycle. So in addition to the autonomic nervous system involvement, the limbic system helps regulate important emotions and memories, and it's often involved other emotions such as fear and Anxiety, which may be associated with a perception of tinnitus. Again, our brains are absolutely amazing things. They process so much information, working out what's important to us as individuals and protecting us from danger. Some Sometimes, though, often in the case of troublesome tinnitus, the stress responses are triggered, causing the cycle of distress, having an effect on our thoughts, behaviours and feelings and also the memories that we associate with the tinnitus. Is there a cure although there is not a specific cure all for all individuals with tinnitus, there is hope. A lot can be done to help control the tinnitus rather than the Tinnitus Control you when tinnitus perception starts. It can be very distressing, due to the impact it has, from the stress release and our nervous systems. Impact on this, as I've just talked about, we are all amazing unique and how tinnitus affects us is different. It should be an individual plan, as each individual is different. And I find working with individuals as a partnership, very rewarding, both for the patient and myself, discovering together the difference that makes a difference to them. Management of tinnitus includes using sound therapy, relaxation therapy, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, neuro linguistic processing, and trance work. And I particularly enjoy an audio book to both relax, stimulate and engage my mind as part of my own sound therapy. And we're going to explore the role of sound with tinnitus on the next episode. Should I say somebody about him, I would always encourage individuals to seek medical advice if they're worried about any medical condition. As an audiologist, I see many individuals with tinnitus, most of whom don't need further investigation. It is rarely anything to worry about as tinnitus is normally a symptom of changes to the hearing system. I do though, have a duty of care to each individual and follow any relevant guidelines tinnitus associated with unilateral, so that's one sided or asymmetrical hearing loss. So if both ears are different, persistent pulsatile, tinnitus and persistent unilateral tinnitus, so one sided tinnitus, or distressing tinnitus should seek medical help and advice, usually from your own GP surgery, or even your audiologist. If an individual has other suspected neurological conditions, as well as tinnitus, such as a sudden onset of significant neurological symptoms or signs. So for example, facial weakness or an acute uncontrolled vestibular sense symptom, so for example, vertigo, or a suspected stroke, please seek immediate help. Just to repeat, tinnitus is rarely anything to worry about. So today's top information, tinnitus is a term used to describe any noise that an individual hears or perceives, that is not from an external source. Tinnitus originates from the body. Often this is the brain. When the brain has a change in sensory information, it can cause the brain to interpret sound all the data in a different way. Our brains are absolutely amazing things. They process so much information on a second to second basis, working out what's important to us as individuals and protecting us from danger. When tinnitus is present, the brain can unconsciously perceive it as a threat, causing in some individuals a cycle of distress that makes tinnitus perception worse, causing thoughts, behaviours and feelings to be affected. There is not a specific cure all for all individuals with tinnitus. However, there is hope, and a lot can be done to help you control the tinnitus rather than the tinnitus control you. If you've met one person with tinnitus, you've met one person with tinnitus. So in the next episode, I look forward to exploring sound therapy for tinnitus, sound generators, apps and hearing solutions, what it is and the role it has in making a difference to tinnitus. I would absolutely love it for you to join me that thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I hope you got something out of it. Check out the show notes for more details on the things discussed today. I would love to hear your feedback on today's episode. And you can find me over on Facebook on my page of the same name as the podcast, tinnitus on your mind with Johanna Carter. I would love it also if you could leave a review and don't forget to press follow if you want my show to automatically download every week. I can't wait to speak to you in the next episode.