Tinnitus is the medical term for ringing in the ears. Symptoms can range from a slight annoying ring to a constant hum or even a loud buzz. Individuals who suffer with this condition know just how irritating it is to live with on a daily basis.

Pulsatile and nonpulsatile are the two main forms of tinnitus. Blood flow, heart rate or muscle movement can often be heard within the ear as a pulsating noise. This pulsating noise can be found to be in relation to vascular problems in the neck. The nonpulsatile form is thought to be caused by the nerves within the ear that are not operating properly. This condition can affect one ear or both of the ears. Patients often report the sound is coming from “inside” their heads.

Some Tinnitus Causes
Tinnitus is a bothersome and irritating condition that can be triggered by any one of multiple reasons. Just some of the most common causes are excessive earwax, antibiotics or aspirin, drinking too much caffeinated beverages or alcohol, dental problems, injury to the fragile components of the inner ear and excessive weight loss or malnutrition. There are so many possible reasons for a patient to develop ringing in the ears that it is sometimes hard for doctors to actually pin down the exact cause of the discomfort.

To add even more possible causes to the list it is necessary to include a rapid drop or change in environmental pressure, a prolonged hyperextended position of the neck muscles, as is often seen with those individuals who are avid bicyclists, vascular or blood flow problems and neurological disorders such as migraine headaches and multiple sclerosis. With all these possible causes is it no wonder that physicians and patients alike are often frustrated when both medicine and personal life changes of the patient offer no relief.

Because of its subjective and personal nature, tinnitus is a challenge to good health which itself can be challenged by sufferers. With determination and a positive outlook, it is possible to intervene successfully in the course of events when tinnitus strikes and discover ways of getting the better of what at first can seem like a noisy monster invading the head. Some simple therapies under the direction of skilled people and, just as valuably, a few basic pieces of advice can lighten the burden.
The new sufferer will be regaled with scores of highly dubious ‘remedies’ deserving of the title quack medicine. Practitioners of some of the more boastful branches of alternative medicine, who claim with scant evidence that they have the key to healthier living, have latterly added tinnitus to their lists. At the same time, there are treatments – on the fringe of conventional medicine – with credible testimonials from people with tinnitus.
Certainly it is not easy to make much progress in the partial defeat of tinnitus without accepting the psychological element in it. As it is a perceived noise, which others cannot hear, the processes of thought and sensations are heavily involved. It is therefore wrong to think of tinnitus as an ear-based affliction only, although the temptation to do so is great, as sounds and the hearing of them are fundamental to the car.