Doctor for Tinnitus

I do not have an ENT/Otolaryngologist for you. I do want to share what was helpful for me when I experienced long-term, persistent, debilitating, and highly distracting tinnitus as part of post-concussive symptoms after a significant car accident. After researching alternative therapies, I asked my primary care doctor for a referral to acupuncture. I had never had acupuncture before and am not comfortable with needles. 

Daniel Wy Jiao at the Sutter Health clinic in San Mateo provided four weekly treatments. He was skeptical that he could help, yet I felt relief after the first session. I don't remember how long the relief lasted, but with each treatment, the relief lasted a little longer. Eventually I was able to drive with relative safety again, which was a great relief.

My understanding from the audiologist that treated me is that tinnitus is more of a brain/perception issue than a mechanical/physical issue. So, concurrently with acupuncture, I shifted my yoga practice to focus on soothing the parasympathetic nervous system. The tinnitus affected my balance and other post-concussive symptoms affected my ability to do any physical activity, yet I was able to practice parasympathetic nervous system focused yoga starting very slowly (5-10 min, 2/day). I'm an experienced yoga practitioner, so was able to find appropriate support through glo.com. Soothing my parasympathetic nervous system with yoga and whatever the acupuncture did were effective for me. It took a while (year+), but the tinnitus eventually resolved. I've now gone a couple of years without a recurrence.

Hello,

My husband suffers from Meniere's Disease and is being treated by Dr. Charles Limb at UCSF. I just sent you a direct message about our journey, but then I decided I should have posted publicly in case others are experiencing similar symptoms. 

Tinnitus, aural fullness and hearing loss are all symptoms of Meniere's Disease. The 4th and most debilitating symptom is severe vertigo but that can be very sporadic with long periods of remission in between episodes, especially in the early stages of the disease. 

So technically, you do have at least 3 of the symptoms of Meniere's Disease --though I really hope you don't have it because it's a wretched disease! 

I would definitely see a specialist to find out more about your condition and possible treatments like steroid injections and restricting sodium, caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. Decreasing sodium is critical and really helped my husband control his symptoms in the early stages of the disease. 

Here's a description of MD from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD),  https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/menieres-disease:

"Ménière’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes severe dizziness (vertigo), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear. Ménière’s disease usually affects only one ear.

Attacks of dizziness may come on suddenly or after a short period of tinnitus or muffled hearing. Some people will have single attacks of dizziness separated by long periods of time. Others may experience many attacks closer together over a number of days. Some people with Ménière’s disease have vertigo so extreme that they lose their balance and fall. These episodes are called “drop attacks.”

Ménière’s disease can develop at any age, but it is more likely to happen to adults between 40 and 60 years of age. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) estimates that approximately 615,000 individuals in the United States are currently diagnosed with Ménière’s disease and that 45,500 cases are newly diagnosed each year."

Good luck!

One suggestion would be to find a doctor who is familiar with research on devices like Lenire. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13875-x