One day, I noticed a significant improvement in my tinnitus. I've used N-acetylcysteine before to try to improve my hearing, but recently, I've been using piracetam almost every day and wondered if that helped my tinnitus. I noticed that using piracetam regularly lessens or eliminates hangovers and seems to have improved my balance, too. I found this at PubMed. It seems to support my findings with hearing. You can get piracetam on Ebay. superior_nutraceuticals seems to be reliable (100% positive feedback). I bought 2 bottles from them without any problems.
1: Fortschr Med. 1995 Jun 30;113(18):288-90.
Links
[Piracetam infusions in acute tinnitus and sudden deafness]
[Article in German]
Gutmann R, Mees K.
Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenkranke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
In a prospective randomised clinical study on 39 patients with tinnitus and sudden hearing loss the therapeutic efficacy of piracetam/HAES 6% was compared with that of naftidrofuryl/HAES 6%. The two groups of patients were comparable in terms of demographic and audiological baseline data. The parameters evaluated were hearing improvement and the reduction in intensity of tinnitus. Improvement in hearing was 15 dB (piracetam) versus 18.5 dB (naftidrofuryl). The improvement in tinnitus amounted 27 dB (piracetam) and 19.9 dB (naftidrofuryl). Both differences were not significant. Tolerability was very good in both groups. Piracetam, which improves rheology and has a positive effect on metabolism, would appear of particular interest for the treatment of acute tinnitus.
PMID: 7657193 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
1: Fortschr Med. 1995 Jun 30;113(18):288-90.
Links
[Piracetam infusions in acute tinnitus and sudden deafness]
[Article in German]
Gutmann R, Mees K.
Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenkranke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
In a prospective randomised clinical study on 39 patients with tinnitus and sudden hearing loss the therapeutic efficacy of piracetam/HAES 6% was compared with that of naftidrofuryl/HAES 6%. The two groups of patients were comparable in terms of demographic and audiological baseline data. The parameters evaluated were hearing improvement and the reduction in intensity of tinnitus. Improvement in hearing was 15 dB (piracetam) versus 18.5 dB (naftidrofuryl). The improvement in tinnitus amounted 27 dB (piracetam) and 19.9 dB (naftidrofuryl). Both differences were not significant. Tolerability was very good in both groups. Piracetam, which improves rheology and has a positive effect on metabolism, would appear of particular interest for the treatment of acute tinnitus.
PMID: 7657193 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Thanks for that.
From another sufferer.
I haven't begun to research it yet. It's only been a problem within the last year.
Really pisses me off. I'm 47 and in excellent health. I've ALWAYS been dilligent about wearing protection whenever exposed to noise.
Most of my friends of similar age have no problems, even those that are less careful. Sometimes you just can't beat genetics.
From another sufferer.
I haven't begun to research it yet. It's only been a problem within the last year.
Really pisses me off. I'm 47 and in excellent health. I've ALWAYS been dilligent about wearing protection whenever exposed to noise.
Most of my friends of similar age have no problems, even those that are less careful. Sometimes you just can't beat genetics.
Head's up to you all. Since this came on so suddenly for me within the last year I decided to dig a little deeper and was in for a bit of a shock.
Pretty much coinciding with the onset of this ringing I'd begun a course of multiple oral and topical antibiotics to address a rash that developed under my arms. Eventually it turned out not to require antibiotics at all but was a form of dermographia or psoriasis.
But the various doctors and dermatologists I went to had me on half a dozen forms of antibiotic eventually. Now I find that a couple of those are known to be ototoxic (toxic to the inner ear and known to cause tinnitis and/or hearing loss.
This may only be a case of armchair diagnosis with a laptop, but I'm about 99 percent certain that my tinnitis resulted from drug interactions. Scary stuff. My case is not at all common. I just am unlucky.
Ask the right questions when your doctor prescribes medications.
Pretty much coinciding with the onset of this ringing I'd begun a course of multiple oral and topical antibiotics to address a rash that developed under my arms. Eventually it turned out not to require antibiotics at all but was a form of dermographia or psoriasis.
But the various doctors and dermatologists I went to had me on half a dozen forms of antibiotic eventually. Now I find that a couple of those are known to be ototoxic (toxic to the inner ear and known to cause tinnitis and/or hearing loss.
This may only be a case of armchair diagnosis with a laptop, but I'm about 99 percent certain that my tinnitis resulted from drug interactions. Scary stuff. My case is not at all common. I just am unlucky.
Ask the right questions when your doctor prescribes medications.
JRace, could you disabuse me of at least some of my concerns?
For instance, if anyone is panicking about asprin, I did read that it causes the type of ototoxicity that is generally reversable with discontinuation. Not true of many other meds.
I'm told not to worry so much.. that it's simply a consequence of age. Like I said, I'm 47 but have been extremely consciencious about hearing protection when it is required.
I read quite a bit about ototoxicity online. It seems that in most cases involving antibiotics (many in the .......mycin family) they are generally the result of intravenous use in high doses.
In my case I was on a couple of oral antibiotics, in typical - not unusually high - doses, and was using erythromycin 2 percent solution under my arms twice a day for about a month.
Am I jumping to conclusions here? I've never had tinnitis before, and suddenly here it is coinciding with medications I've been taking. I have not gone yet to an ear/nose/throat specialist, but I wonder what he/she'd say.
For instance, if anyone is panicking about asprin, I did read that it causes the type of ototoxicity that is generally reversable with discontinuation. Not true of many other meds.
I'm told not to worry so much.. that it's simply a consequence of age. Like I said, I'm 47 but have been extremely consciencious about hearing protection when it is required.
I read quite a bit about ototoxicity online. It seems that in most cases involving antibiotics (many in the .......mycin family) they are generally the result of intravenous use in high doses.
In my case I was on a couple of oral antibiotics, in typical - not unusually high - doses, and was using erythromycin 2 percent solution under my arms twice a day for about a month.
Am I jumping to conclusions here? I've never had tinnitis before, and suddenly here it is coinciding with medications I've been taking. I have not gone yet to an ear/nose/throat specialist, but I wonder what he/she'd say.
This is very interesting. I have had since as far back as I can remember (child probably) something that I think is tinnitus--very high pitched sound (generally near the threshold frequency of what I can hear) of invariant volume, which is noticeable in quiet surroundings and especially if I'm paying attention to it. I have no idea as to the origin, but a wild guess would be isoniazid and rifampicin treatment during my childhood bout with tubercolous mediastinal lymphadenitis.
I take piracetam, aniracetam, and oxyracetam, along with choline citrate, when I need to improve my mental concentration and/or memory. All can be bought at bulknutrition in bulk powder form extremely cheaply (I put them in capsules myself using the usual type of capsule filler on the market). However, I haven't taken it over long periods of time, just when I need it. Without the choline supplements, the effect is limited because the -racetams significantly increase choline receptors in the brain (indeed, I tend to get slightly negative effect if I omit the choline source while taking these, so this is something anyone taking them for any reason should consider).
Piracetam by itself is, in its nootropic properties, quite less potent than the other derivatives, such as mentioned above, as well as more recent ones like pramiracetam and various ones still in phase I (safety) trials. I would be curious as to whether the more recent derivatives would be also more effective in the application mentioned in the paper from the original post, in improving the condition of tinnitus sufferers.
As I cannot access the paper, can someone provide a PDF, or at least tell me the specific dosages used?
I take piracetam, aniracetam, and oxyracetam, along with choline citrate, when I need to improve my mental concentration and/or memory. All can be bought at bulknutrition in bulk powder form extremely cheaply (I put them in capsules myself using the usual type of capsule filler on the market). However, I haven't taken it over long periods of time, just when I need it. Without the choline supplements, the effect is limited because the -racetams significantly increase choline receptors in the brain (indeed, I tend to get slightly negative effect if I omit the choline source while taking these, so this is something anyone taking them for any reason should consider).
Piracetam by itself is, in its nootropic properties, quite less potent than the other derivatives, such as mentioned above, as well as more recent ones like pramiracetam and various ones still in phase I (safety) trials. I would be curious as to whether the more recent derivatives would be also more effective in the application mentioned in the paper from the original post, in improving the condition of tinnitus sufferers.
As I cannot access the paper, can someone provide a PDF, or at least tell me the specific dosages used?
Fortschritte der Medizin is at the National Library of Medicine. You can look it up here. http://locatorplus.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
Alcohol consumption points up a curious oversight having to do with this hobby... or most hobbies really. There seems to be little interest in the physiological side of the equation. Pages of debate to be found on the sonic merits of soldering compounds and technique, but what about the effects of heavy metals or hard alcohol on the sensory hair cells of the inner ear?
Somewhere right this minute is a guy who's spent half his paycheck on a new carburator and high performance air filter for his classic Ford Mustang, then half the day lovingly assembling it.. and stepping back with an unfiltered Camel cigarette to admire his work. Why are we like this?
Judging by the amount of attention paid to it the ear and its circuitry would seem to be the least important link in the chain of events having to do with high fidelity reproduction. It is seldom mentioned after all when audio enthusiasts discuss their hobby. Perhaps it is assumed that it is so complex and beyond our ability to change/regulate/tinker with/protect that it is not to be considered. But this is becoming less true as we learn more about diet and drug interactions and other environmental risks to be considered.
... and yes, this is mentally careening off in a bad direction
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
Somewhere right this minute is a guy who's spent half his paycheck on a new carburator and high performance air filter for his classic Ford Mustang, then half the day lovingly assembling it.. and stepping back with an unfiltered Camel cigarette to admire his work. Why are we like this?
Judging by the amount of attention paid to it the ear and its circuitry would seem to be the least important link in the chain of events having to do with high fidelity reproduction. It is seldom mentioned after all when audio enthusiasts discuss their hobby. Perhaps it is assumed that it is so complex and beyond our ability to change/regulate/tinker with/protect that it is not to be considered. But this is becoming less true as we learn more about diet and drug interactions and other environmental risks to be considered.
... and yes, this is mentally careening off in a bad direction
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
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Piracetam and Hearing
I started taking Piracetam initially in an attempt to reduce the symptoms of adult onset ADD (and it is useful in that respect, providing about as much benefit as Ritalin though both together is better).
A bit of background first, I am 49, I have not been kind to my ears and I think it's fair to say that I must be genetically gifted to not be stone deaf given the abuse I've subjected my ears to.
When I was in high school, next door neighbors were part of a rock band, they practiced in their basement, I usually hung out during practices, about 2kw worth of audio amplifiers in a room that was maybe 14x25 feet or so.
I had a 70 watt/ch stereo back then, I took the attenuating resistors out of the headphone jack so the headphones could get full power.
I did sound reinforcement for various local events using a system with a total power of 500 watts but very efficient speakers, occasionally I would rent a second amp and run 500 watts/channel (speakers were Sun model 15's for anyone who might be familiar, two 15 inch horn loaded woofers, a horn loaded midrange, and horn loaded piezo tweeters, not the best fidelity but very efficient).
I worked for PNB, had to put in nine months as an operator, after which they tested my hearing and was surprised there was no loss as apparently that was a common problem with the loud annunciator tones and occasionally overamplified connections.
I got to where music sounded muddy unless I had the highes boosted by 15db; went to 170 watts/channel so I had a bit more power to do that but kept frying even robust tweeters.
I first began to suspect Piracetam might be improving my hearing about three months after taking it. I was walking up a hill next to a cemetary near my home when I heard a conversation quite clearly and loudly, yet, I looked around and could not see anyone. I began to think I was either hearing ghosts or having auditory hallucinations but then noticed a couple people in the street three blocks away. After watching them it became clear THEY were the people I was hearing but it sounded like they were ten feet away not three blocks. Not much competing noise with the cemetary there.
I had previously had my hearing tested and it rolled off sharply in the high frequencies and 14 Khz was about the limit of what I could hear at all, it was way down in the mud.
I noticed that I wasn't cranking up the highs as much on the stereo and eventually got to a point where things sounded most natural with the equalization set flat. I noticed I hadn't popped a tweater in a long time and I was still using the same make and model I used to fry with great regularity (Vifa D25AG-35-06). I had partially settled on this model because the voice coil / diaphram assembly was readily replacable and reasonably cheap which made my tweeter frying habits more affordable.
I got around to having my hearing retested, can now hear to 17 Khz except for a notch at 15.75 Khz (used to work on TV's a lot so I think I just cooked the neurons and/or hairs associated with flyback frequency beyond repair). The notch is quite narrow and not noticable except when tested.
Moreover, in the lower portion of the high frequencies I've picked up aroudn 15 db of sensitivity, which explains why I no longer feel the need to boost the highs so greatly.
At the time all this went on there was no documentation that I could find regarding hearing and piracetam, but now there are studies, though most involve sudden not gradual hearing loss and intravenous not oral administration. None the less, I'm good anecdotal evidence for effectiveness against gradual loss with long term oral administration
(mostly 2400 mg/day divided into three 800mg doses).
Incidentally, while other 'racetams might be more potent, there effects are not equal, and Piracetam has been shown to be better than many in terms of neural regeneration so other more potent 'racetams may not be preferable if neural regeneration is the mechanism for hearing improvement.
I've never suffered from tinitus except when I've had a high fever (around 102F or higher) or immediately after being exposed to loud noises (M-100 going off) so I can't comment on it's effect on tinitus, but I've seen studies that showed improvement in tinitus symptoms with Piracetam.
I started taking Piracetam initially in an attempt to reduce the symptoms of adult onset ADD (and it is useful in that respect, providing about as much benefit as Ritalin though both together is better).
A bit of background first, I am 49, I have not been kind to my ears and I think it's fair to say that I must be genetically gifted to not be stone deaf given the abuse I've subjected my ears to.
When I was in high school, next door neighbors were part of a rock band, they practiced in their basement, I usually hung out during practices, about 2kw worth of audio amplifiers in a room that was maybe 14x25 feet or so.
I had a 70 watt/ch stereo back then, I took the attenuating resistors out of the headphone jack so the headphones could get full power.
I did sound reinforcement for various local events using a system with a total power of 500 watts but very efficient speakers, occasionally I would rent a second amp and run 500 watts/channel (speakers were Sun model 15's for anyone who might be familiar, two 15 inch horn loaded woofers, a horn loaded midrange, and horn loaded piezo tweeters, not the best fidelity but very efficient).
I worked for PNB, had to put in nine months as an operator, after which they tested my hearing and was surprised there was no loss as apparently that was a common problem with the loud annunciator tones and occasionally overamplified connections.
I got to where music sounded muddy unless I had the highes boosted by 15db; went to 170 watts/channel so I had a bit more power to do that but kept frying even robust tweeters.
I first began to suspect Piracetam might be improving my hearing about three months after taking it. I was walking up a hill next to a cemetary near my home when I heard a conversation quite clearly and loudly, yet, I looked around and could not see anyone. I began to think I was either hearing ghosts or having auditory hallucinations but then noticed a couple people in the street three blocks away. After watching them it became clear THEY were the people I was hearing but it sounded like they were ten feet away not three blocks. Not much competing noise with the cemetary there.
I had previously had my hearing tested and it rolled off sharply in the high frequencies and 14 Khz was about the limit of what I could hear at all, it was way down in the mud.
I noticed that I wasn't cranking up the highs as much on the stereo and eventually got to a point where things sounded most natural with the equalization set flat. I noticed I hadn't popped a tweater in a long time and I was still using the same make and model I used to fry with great regularity (Vifa D25AG-35-06). I had partially settled on this model because the voice coil / diaphram assembly was readily replacable and reasonably cheap which made my tweeter frying habits more affordable.
I got around to having my hearing retested, can now hear to 17 Khz except for a notch at 15.75 Khz (used to work on TV's a lot so I think I just cooked the neurons and/or hairs associated with flyback frequency beyond repair). The notch is quite narrow and not noticable except when tested.
Moreover, in the lower portion of the high frequencies I've picked up aroudn 15 db of sensitivity, which explains why I no longer feel the need to boost the highs so greatly.
At the time all this went on there was no documentation that I could find regarding hearing and piracetam, but now there are studies, though most involve sudden not gradual hearing loss and intravenous not oral administration. None the less, I'm good anecdotal evidence for effectiveness against gradual loss with long term oral administration
(mostly 2400 mg/day divided into three 800mg doses).
Incidentally, while other 'racetams might be more potent, there effects are not equal, and Piracetam has been shown to be better than many in terms of neural regeneration so other more potent 'racetams may not be preferable if neural regeneration is the mechanism for hearing improvement.
I've never suffered from tinitus except when I've had a high fever (around 102F or higher) or immediately after being exposed to loud noises (M-100 going off) so I can't comment on it's effect on tinitus, but I've seen studies that showed improvement in tinitus symptoms with Piracetam.
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