10 replies to this topic

[inspired]

Hi Longecity. Long time lurker, first time poster. I have learned a lot from this forum, but until this accident, I didn't have much to contribute.

Here, I will log my hopefully successful recovery from acute inner ear damage that occured last week. I would also like to understand why this happened. I believe supplements and some drug abuse might've played a role, so I'm looking to get any opinions or clues from more experienced members. Two ENT specialists were confused and didn't help much, other than prescribing a drug and scheduled a checkup next month.

Me
31, male, active and leading a happy, low-stress life. In reasonably good shape, currently perhaps 20% BF, naturally athletic. No serious health issues until now, except bad teenage acne and tiny patches of vitiligo that isn't spreading. Last time I got a cold or flu was in high school.

Incident
A week ago, during a set of squats, I began to feel dizzy and short of breath. Gym was terribly ventilated that day, so I rushed to a window to regain my composure. I felt a need to equalize pressure so I yawned and pinch-blew my nose, which didn't help. I also remember looking pale and my left ear feeling unusually cold to the touch. Minutes later, semi-loud high-pitched tinnitus started in left ear. I went home to sleep it off. A few hours later, sense of balance returned but tinnitus persisted and I also noticed some hearing loss.

Diagnosis
I saw an ENT doctor two days later. There was no visible injury. He diagnosed me with inner ear trauma, possibly caused by temporary lack of blood flow, accompanied by partial loss of hearing in higher frequencies and persistent tinnitus. Prescribed betaserc (betahistine) 3 x 24mg / day. Audiometry was done and is attached. I was rushed out of the office and reached out to another doctor, who confirmed diagnosis but was clueless about reasons, just assured me this was not a typical sport injury at all and could probably happen during sleep.

My own research has me thinking that all the supplements I've been taking might've played a role. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a health and feelgood nut, and before this incident, my lifestyle and stack definitely worked. Was on top of the world, happy, driven in business and life and stress-free, losing fat and gaining muscle.

My stack
Staples (daily doses, spread out during the day). Good diet, varied veggies, some fruits, very few grains and processed foods.

• Garden of Life Men's one-a-day multi
• TMG 1500 mg
• O3mega Joy high-EPA fish oil, 2-3 g
• Magnesium taurate or malate, 300-400mg
• Astaxanthin, 6-12 mg daily
• Nature's way Kelp, 1-3 pills
• Pycnogenol, 100 mg
• Creatine, 5 g
• ALCAR, 500-1000 mg
• NA-R-ALA 200 mg
• NAC sustain, 600 mg
• Biosil, 10 drops
• Jarrow probiotics, 2-4 caps
• Undenatured whey, 30g

Occasional or experimental, not taking any of this daily, but I was trying to see if they have any effects at all.

• C60 from Sarah Vaugthner, I finished two bottles, no noticeable effects for me, but my mom thinks it's magical.
• Tribulus, 1000 mg
• Methyl B12 sublingual, 1000 mcg
• L-tyrosine, 1000 mg 30 minutes before workout
• Tongkat Ali, 200 mg (trying to improve already high libido)
• L-Citrulline 2-3 g (for erection quality experimentation, although generally not needed, just pushing the limits)
• Kamagra (sildenafil, generic viagra) - 100 mg. Same reason as citrulline. Not more than once a week, and maybe 15 times in total during the past months.

My thoughts
I had a small herpes outbreak on upper left lip 3 days before the incident. Some clues suggest that herpes can contribute to ear damage or even cause Meniere's disease. I now know that herpes can be triggered by L-citrulline, which I did take a day prior.
Nitric Oxide "overdose"?I also have occasional grapefruit juice which can boost sildenafil, and viagra has been mentioned in hearing loss. Combined with nitric oxide boosters like citrulline or possibly other supplements and working out, who knows what happens.

Current status, one week after
Tinnitus started as a high-pitched nightmare that persisted for 4 days. Internet is full of stories of people who have had their lifes destroyed by this condition so that got me panicking. Interestingly, tinnitus improved after I gave up on trying to mask it with white/pink/waterfall noise and followed Dr. Lutz Wilden's recommendation to use earplugs. Within a day of noise protection, it changed to a bearable humm, comparable to a computer fan. There is still a degree of hearing loss in higher frequencies, probably 40-50 dB if my home tests can be trusted. Temporarily discontinued most supplements and sports and any exposure to loud noises.

Moving forward
I am hoping my inner ear heals as much as possible, thus restoring full hearing and removing any tinnitus. Although, the general consensus is that inner ear is difficult to heal and damage might be permanent, I'm hoping to be one of the lucky ones. Thinking of ordering some more C60oo. Piracetam and gingko have also been cited as helpful. For more aggressive treatment, there is dr. Wilden's laser therapy in Germany and experimental stem cell therapies.

In either case, I'd appreciate any clues since doctors couldn't give me any. I also hope this serves as a cautionary tale and pops up in a google search and maybe help someone save their ears. Living with tinnitus and persistent fear of it getting worse is horrible and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I will update this thread with anything worthy of note.

Attached Files

•  audiogram01a.jpg   141.9KB   21 downloads

Edited by inspired, 10 December 2013 - 02:21 PM.

[Gerrans]

Your tinnitus is different from mine, so my comments may not be much use.

In my case, I believe constriction of blood vessels--which exponentially decreases blood flow--makes it worse. Cold can create marked constriction, so it might be worth trying the effect of warmth in or on your ears. What is the tinnitus like during a hot bath, for example? Cold conditions tend to make my tinnitus worse.

Looking at your stack it seems to me you were aiming to stimulate nitric oxide. This can be a good thing for relaxing blood vessels and increasing blood flow, but dilation is followed by constriction. In my case, that can trigger headaches and increased tinnitus, so I avoid supplements that stimulate nitric oxide. I think this varies from person to person, and I decided that I am nitric oxide sensitive. It might be worth finding out if you are too.

I also find niacin or niacinamide or B vitamins help my tinnitus, as does eating less dairy. (Interestingly, niacin tends to make me warmer and dairy tends to make me colder, which chimes in with my observation about heat.)

Just some small ideas that will be easy enough to test out. Best of luck.

Edited by Gerrans, 10 December 2013 - 02:48 PM.

[zocco]

PDE5 inhibitors are known for doing that.

[inspired]

That's also my theory, but the damage happened at least 5 days after my last viagra-assisted marathon and was definitely acute and sudden. Sildenafil was probably long gone from the system. I can't find any information if such delayed action would be typical or not.

I'm surprised no doctor mentioned prednisone, it seems to be common for sudden hearing loss but only effective if started within 1-2 weeks.

[inspired]

Hearing is slowly improving, audiogram was much better yesterday. 8 kHz is still a bit impaired (30 dB), everything else normal. In fact there's a bit of hyperacusis as I'm sensitive to certain sounds, like dishes, splashing water or multiple background conversations. This can be alleviated by a semi-inserted earplug. And yes, heat helps.

Tinnitus is unchanged, still mostly white noise humm. However, If I'm not careful about noise exposure, the annoying high-pitched beep comes back. I found by accident that I can knock out the beeping tinnitus quickly by playing the exact same tone to the affected ear, just a bit louder. First time I thought it was a coincidence, but I did it again a couple of times and it worked consistently.

Maybe someone else can try this? I use iOS app AudCal and standard apple headphones. My beeping tinnitus is roughly 8 kHz so I use that tone at 50-60 dB for 3 to 5 seconds to knock it out. Not too much or I begin to feel weird.


As for supplements, I resumed a multi, omega3, mag taurate, pycnogenol, NA-R-ALA, Biosil, NAC, whey and some occasional ALCAR.

[renfr]

If your tinnitus comes from auditory cortex overstimulation then it is likely permanent even though there are neuron destroying lasers in CH that have proven successful but the concept itself is scary.
For overstimulation of the cochlea, several drug trials on Neramexane have failed but you can put your hopes in the novel drugs AM-101 and AM-111. (http://www.aurismedi...pies/am_101.php)

If it comes from blood flow issues then ginkgo biloba or trimetazidine would solve the problem.

Apart from 2-3 supplements I have tried almost all of them with no significant results, however I tried them months after so since your tinnitus is recent you might have some success with these.

[inspired]

Well, for some good news, yesterday's audiogram was normal. 8 kHz was at 20 dB and the ENT dismissed me as a healed case, noted that I should feel lucky because most patients don't recover as much as fast, or at all.

Devil's in the details and I'm glad I'm doing my own research. These guys don't test past 8 kHz. I asked why and the response was "not necessary" without further elaboration. Using my own tone generator, I found that left ear hearing is still way off normal. Left ear drops dramatically between 8500-9000 Hz (to probably 50-60 dB). For reference, healthy right ear can easily do 13000 Hz at 20 dB. My calibration is not ideal but I did the best I could and I'm probably not too far off.

Tinnitus got much better and is even lower volume white noise with occasional whistling, typically after noise exposure. Whistles are in the 9-11khz range but go away quickly once environment is silent. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I can't tell if I hear tinnitus or ambient noise. So this is good! Mild hyperacusis still present.

Right now I'm not sure if this natural healing will continue and for how long. Obviously I'd like to go all the way back to normal so I'm looking into Dr. Wilden's low level laser therapy to facilitate the process. He estimates I won't need much, would cost me about 1000€ and a week in Germany. Doable, mixed opinions online though.

[Luminosity]

Do not take viagra, Tongkat Ali, L-Citruline, Kamagra and anything similar. Do not take recreational drugs. Don't consume tobacco. I'd avoid caffeine and chocolate for now. For some, cutting back on dairy might help.

I'd hold off on gingko, lasers or stem cell therapy for now. If anything caused this, it was probably the drugs or supplements I told you to stop taking. There can be drawbacks to taking aphrodisiacs, especially if they aren't taken the right way, or are not needed.

Chinese medicine can cure tinnitus and help with hearing loss. Hearing loss can be cured. If I were you I would read my thread on Chinese medicine:
http://www.longecity...inese-medicine/

I don't know what Sildenafil is, but if it is anything like Viagra, stop taking it.

What is tribulus and what is it for?

Edited by Luminosity, 22 December 2013 - 07:46 AM.

[inspired]

Sildenafil is the active ingredient in viagra & kamaga. Tribulus is another one of those supposed testosterone boosters.

I already tossed all these on day 1 and never touching them again. Never did drugs & tobacco, but I do love those raw cacao beans.

Thanks for the tip on Chinese medicine, looking into it, although finding a good practitioner in my country might be challenging.

[Luminosity]

Good news. You can still learn about the diet and lifestyle from that book.

[inspired]

Apparently I also have a mild case of TMJ. I've had a clicking jaw as long I can remember and thought it was normal, no pain or mobility issues though. Well, one another thing to look into.

Edited by inspired, 24 December 2013 - 10:40 AM.