Law Firm Launches Website for Tinnitus Sufferers

It would be a sad day indeed if a patient google searches a medical condition or symptom and the first page of results are all pointing to a law firm.

In perhaps the beginning towards this possibility, personal injury law firm, Mercury Legal Online, has launched a website dedicated to patients who suffer tinnitus and hearing loss sustained from time working in a job that contained a lot of loud noise without using hearing protection. Thanks to @earsurgeonuk who brought this to my attention.

The website even provides a compensation calculator, requirements to make a claim, and an infographic about tinnitus in general...


Source:
Law firm launches website dedicated to tinnitus sufferers. Digital Journal 9/8/13

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Medications that (Might) Help Tinnitus?

The blunt answer is that there is no drug or supplement that has been consistently found to help with tinnitus (ringing of the ears).

Here's a partial table showing all the research that has been done either proving or disproving effectiveness to treat tinnitus (info collected from this review paper).

For a more comprehensive list going over 17 drugs, click here.

Drug	Research That Supports	Research That Disputes	Conclusion
Benzodiazepines (alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam)	#1, #2, #3, #4	#1, #2, #3	Caution due to addiction and may worsen tinnitus if stopped.
Antidepressants (nortriptyline, amitriptyline, trimipramine, sertraline, paroxetine)	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6	TCA may benefit only in patients with depression symptoms
Anticonvulsants (carbamazepine, gabapentin, vigabatrin, tiagabine)	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9	#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7	Mixed results
Antiglutamatergics (caroverine, memantine, acamprosate)	#1, #2, #3, #4	#1, #2, #3, #4	No conclusion.
(Anti)Dopaminergics (sulpiride, piribedil)	#1, #2, #3	#1	Studies are weak.
Ginkgo Biloba	#1, #2	#1, #2, #3	Not effective.
Melatonin	#1, #2, #3	#1	Potentially helpful.

For more meds, click here.

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Can Melatonin Stop Ringing in the Ears (Tinnitus)?

In a rigorous study, researchers have found that taking melatonin 3mg nightly for 1 month did significantly help with patients suffering from chronic tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

Of course, the caveats are that melatonin significantly helped in patients with these specific characteristics:

• Male
• No history of depression
• Tinnitus has been present for a long time
• History of loud noise exposure
• Tinnitus is severe and on both sides

Given melatonin is a relatively benign supplement that can be purchased over-the-counter, it can't hurt to give it a try!

BTW... what did I mean by rigorous study above? It means that it was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, crossover clinical trial. That's pretty much as good a study as one reasonably achieve!

Reference:
Melatonin: can it stop the ringing? Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2011 Jul;120(7):433-40.

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Rush Limbaugh Has a Cochlear Implant

Infamous conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, suffered from a rare hearing disorder called Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease.

This rare inner ear disease is principally characterized by progressive bilateral fluctuating hearing loss and occurs when the body's own immune system starts to attack the hearing mechanism of the ear... much like rheumatoid arthritis is when the body's immune system attacks the joints. Just as with any other auto-immune disorder, it is mainly treated with repeated courses of prednisone.

However, if the hearing gets poor enough, the patient may become essentially deaf for which even hearing aids are ineffective which is what happened to Mr. Limbaugh.

To restore his hearing, he underwent surgical placement of a cochlear implant at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. It is truly a "bionic" ear in that a computer hears the world around him and directly stimulates the hearing nerve bypassing the cochlea.

Here's a transcript of him describing what it's like.

Source:
Questions on the Host's Hearing. March 18, 2011
Rush Limbaugh's Cochlear Implant Surgery A Success. Audiology Online. 1/3/2002.

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