Tinnitus (Ringing in the Ears)

Mary Jane Ma asks:

I would like to know if acupuncture will help with my tiinitus.
It is both severe and constant. I also have a hearing impairment,
sensoneural.
 
There are a few reasons that we can develop tinnitus. That's kind of a ringing in the ears that interferes with your hearing.

In many cases, this is a problem for the elderly. In this case, it is a chronic (long term) problem that comes from a deficiency of the Kidneys. (Kidneys is capitalized to remind the reader that I'm talking about the Chinese concept of the Kidneys, not the Western concept which is an organ that filters urine out of the blood.)

Given your age, I'm assuming that the problem is not in your Kidneys, though that isn't necessarily true. Still, I'll assume otherwise. An acupuncturist would first seek to differentiate the cause of the tinnitis before treating it.

Assuming it isn't Kidney related, I'm going to look at the other two possibilities. One is that it is a problem that follows a cold wherein some of your plumbing has gotten a little clogged up. If this is the case, we would seek to get the mucus out of your Eustachian tubes and generally dry you up and expel the cold virus.

The other possibility, and this is the one that I'm thinking is most likely for you, is that this is a symptom of a Liver problem. When we talk about Liver problems in Chinese medicine, we're often talking about stress induced pathologies.

Liver Yang rising and Liver fire are two problems that can lead to temporary hearing loss. When I get angry about something, or if I'm just going through a period of my life where stress is at a high level, I can get a periodic whistling in one of my ears. It always sounds like someone is standing right beside me blowing a dog whistle into my ear. A very high, almost sub-audible pitch whistles in one of my ears.

During really intense episodes, it feels like both of my ears are kind of clogged up, like when I'm flying on a plane. This kind of tinnitus can last a long time.

In this case, we would seek to descend the heat from the Liver and then calm that organ to prevent it from happening again. Acupuncture would help very much. Many stress induced pathologies respond very well to acupuncture treatments. In some cases, we would also employ the use of Chinese herbal therapies to work from the inside out to prevent the Liver from being so sensitive to the stress of life.

I myself have had both types of tinnitus for a few years and I find that when my stress is managed, the tinnitus goes away rather quickly. Acupuncture and herbal therapies are very effective in this respect, but techniques for stress management cannot be underestimated. My greatest breakthroughs for the chronic type of tinnitus followed insights into my own psychology and the ability to correct the energetic problems that come from my own responses to stress.

Best of luck to you,

	Al Stone, L.Ac. Beyond Well Being Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicines Santa Monica, CA. (310) 264-6668