“At first, I was glad when the annoying voices in my head turned to whistling instead, but I became concerned when the high-pitched noise did not go away after a few days. I think it is tinnitus. How do I get rid of it?”

Tinnitus is a ringing, swooshing, or another type of noise that seems to be coming from your ears or your head. Do not worry – no one else can hear the awful, one-note melody playing in your ear. Unlike an earworm, in which a bad song can leap from one person’s brain to another through humming or singing, tinnitus is not contagious. 

Tinnitus is common. According to Mayo Clinic, tinnitus affects about one in five people. Tinnitus is not itself a condition – it is a symptom of an underlying problem. Tinnitus is irritating but is not usually a sign of something serious. Injuries, crap in your ear, old age, and certain medical problems or medications can cause tinnitus. Depending on the cause, you can get rid of tinnitus.

Try a few home remedies and lifestyle changes to get rid of tinnitus. Chances are, your tinnitus will be around a while, and you will need to learn how to live with it. While there is no cure for tinnitus, you can turn down the volume. Here are a few tips:

• Avoid irritants like loud noises, bad music, noisy environments, and the neighbor who mows the lawn at 5 AM each Saturday.
• Manage stress with exercise, relaxation therapy, or biofeedback.
• Do not allow your tawdry tinnitus to drink alcohol or caffeine, smoke cigarettes or eat sugary or salty snacks.
• Do not get old: Tinnitus may worsen with age.

Remove earwax, foreign objects, and, most importantly, your finger from your ear. Earwax can harden inside your ear canal. Do not use your finger, pencil, or steak knife to pull the plug on earwax – spend a few bucks to buy a professional earwax removal kit from a drug store.

Conventional Cures

See a doctor. She can determine the underlying cause of your tinnitus and help you develop a treatment plan. If you have earwax or foreign objects in your ear, she can schedule you for an ear wash. Be sure to ask for the spot-free rinse.

Treat an underlying blood vessel problem. This might require medication, surgery, or another treatment. Your doctor can determine if a blood vessel problem is causing that noise in your head.

Exercise often and eat nutritious food. Stay healthy and slim to keep those blood vessels in good condition. 

Change medication if your doctor thinks it causes tinnitus. Never stop or change the dosage of any prescribed medication without first asking your doctor. 

Get counseling for your tinnitus. Find out if there is something in your tinnitus’ childhood that led to its incessant whining in your ear now. A counselor explains what goes on in the brain to cause tinnitus and gives you the tools you need to cope with the nuisance that can disturb sleep, conversations, and the overall enjoyment of life.

Find a support group. Perhaps the ringing and whooshing sounds you hear are just your tinnitus trying to express its feelings. Additionally, you may be able to find harmony with others who suffer from tinnitus. 

Put your tinnitus on antidepressants. Certain types of antidepressants work to reduce symptoms of severe tinnitus and lower the risk for complications associated with tinnitus. Doctors prescribe antidepressants only for extremely glum tinnitus because these drugs can cause side effects, such as:

• Constipation
• Dry mouth
• Blurred Vision
• Heart problems

Now you cannot poop, cannot see, have a tongue like sandpaper, and your ticker might be going bad – but at least you have silenced the noise in your head!

Alternative Medicine

Not a big fan of fancy-pants doctors in white lab coats? Perhaps you prefer healthcare advice from a long-haired guru in a tie-dye t-shirt! Alternative medicine might be just the trick to getting rid of your tinnitus.

Acupuncture. Healers in Asia have been treating tinnitus with acupuncture for centuries. It is possible that tinnitus is just scared of needles, but researchers are still working to verify how acupuncture reduces tinnitus.

Ginkgo. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or NCCAM, says that people commonly use ginkgo to treat tinnitus. NCAAM goes on to state that researchers have not yet established whether taking ginkgo actually stops the noise in your head.

Lipoflavonoids. Clever drug manufacturers sell products containing lipoflavonoids, thought to reduce tinnitus. You can buy these drugs without a prescription. 

Zinc. Some people take zinc supplements to make their tinnitus go away. In a not-so-passionate endorsement, the National Institute of Health calls zinc “possibly ineffective” for quieting tinnitus. 

 Put a Pillow on Tinnitus!

Potions and pills hush tinnitus by addressing the underlying cause. Relieving a medical condition may quiet tinnitus for some people, but there is no guarantee that taking medicine will stop the annoying noise in your ear. You might resort to noise suppression methods that merely reduce or mask tinnitus to make the ringing less noticeable. 

Relax your tinnitus with the soothing sounds of falling rain or crashing ocean waves. White noise machines broadcast simulated environmental sounds to give your head something to listen to other than tinnitus. Manufacturers now offer white noise machines with pillow speakers so tinnitus does keep you up all night. 

Get a hearing aid. Hearing aids are especially helpful if you suffer hearing loss along with tinnitus. A hearing aid amplifies environmental sound, making the ringing or swooshing of tinnitus less noticeable. Using a hearing aid for tinnitus is similar to turning up the television so you cannot hear your spouse barking in the background.  

Put a mask on your ugly tinnitus. Masking devices, worn in the ear like a hearing aid, emit low-level noise that drowns out tinnitus. This treatment is like covering your ears with your hands and chanting, “La la la la” to muffle unwanted noise. 

Enroll your head in a tinnitus-retraining program. Specialists fit you with a wearable device that hums music individually programmed to mask the specific tones you hear. The technique is similar to listening to elevator music; ABBA seems annoying on the first floor, but your brain tunes it out by the time your elevator reaches the penthouse.

Never give up! No matter what anyone tells you, you do not have to suffer silently from noisy tinnitus. Give each treatment a chance to work before giving up. If you decide one approach is not effective for you, try another. Stick with whatever works to silence the roaring beast in your ear.

Enjoy the peace and quiet of a completely empty head – get rid of tinnitus forever! Take control of the annoying high-pitched whine or whoosh through lifestyle choices, conventional medicine, unconventional medicine, and modern machinery. You might just enjoy hearing those familiar voices in your head once again.