Tinnitus

[dd99]

Hi, I hope someone can help.

I've been Peating for about 10 weeks now. My metabolism is much stronger, with afternoon temperature around 36.5C and pulse around 75bpm (they used to be sub-36C and 55bpm, respectively). But for the past three weeks, I have been getting progressively louder tinnitus in my left ear. I've never had it before, so it's quite troubling.

I have tried skipping coffee, OJ, salt, and cutting down on sugar/honey in my morning and evening drinks, but none of that has worked.

In mid June, I switched from goat's milk back to cow's milk for convenience. Cow's milk gave me sinus trouble, but after a month on goat's milk and general Peating, I found I could drink it again. Could cow's milk cause tinnitus? Is there any known mechanism for that?

Right now, the tinnitus got louder after I ate some watermelon. Could sugar be the cause?

I know Ray Peat says that endotoxins in the intestines cause tinnitus. But I have been eating cleanly, eating my carrot salad and have no other issues. Could I still be clogged up with endotoxins?

I would appreciate any help!


For background, here is my meet and greet post: Hello Peating, goodbye autoimmune issues and belly fat

I have been Peating pretty consistently for about 10 weeks. Here is my current routine:

0700
500ml pulp-free OJ
Coffee with 500ml goat's milk and 1tbsp honey/sugar

1030
250g Fage 0% yogurt (strained)
250kcal of fruit (watermelon, grapes, citrus, etc)

1330
2 eggs fried in CO with salt
500ml OJ

1600
Carrot salad (with CO, ACV and salt)

1900
150g beef or white fish, small amount of veggies, maybe some potatoes or rice cooked in bone broth, salt
250kcal of fruit or OJ
(If I've had meat, then I have a coffee with honey and milk.)

2130
500ml goat's milk with 1tbsp honey - occasionally some gelatin

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I take haidut's Estroban (5 drops) and Stressnon (pregnenolone 50mg) every day, and occasionally take Energin (with niacinamide).

 

[jyb]

For me, that's always due to lack of vitamin K2. Or at least, can be resolved with K2. I've tried vinegar and oil drops in my ear, but nowhere near as effective as K2. If it's loud tinnitus, you may need a several mg's of K2 (easy with a supplement, not with food) but it should stop very fast (overnight).

I find this can happen with aspirin or vitamin E. Without such supplements however, I never develop tinnitus.

 

[dd99]

Thanks, jyb, that's very interesting.

I've been taking estroban, which has A, D, K2 (1mg of MK4) and E. The stressnon pregnenolone supplement also has E in it. I take half doses, so it's only 200 IU of E in total. (I think they're both excellent supplements, by the way).

Do you think 200 IU of E would be enough to cause the tinnitus? How much K2 do you take to relieve the tinnitus?

 

[jyb]

Well you're taking 1mg from MK4 so that's a fair bit of K2. But you should try several mg's for a day or two and do the ear drops too. I don't know whether that vit E dose is enough to cause tinnitus in succeptible individuals, I would have thought 1mg of K2 is quite a lot already.

 

[dd99]

Thanks, jyb, I'll try the drops.

I just had a warm milk with a tablespoon of sugar and some salt and the volume of the tinnitus reduced a fair amount for about 10 minutes. But yesterday it became louder after half a watermelon (by itself). I actually felt a bit hypoglycemic after the watermelon - my fingers went very pale for a few minutes. I can't figure this out...

 

[tara]

0700
500ml pulp-free OJ
Coffee with 500ml goat's milk and 1tbsp honey/sugar

Hi,
Is this a big change from your previous habits? Some people would find this much liquid in a short time a problem. So if this is a new habit, you could try spreading the fluids through the day more, and eating a bit more solid food for breakfast. Depending on what shape I am in on a paricular day, this could get me. Not tinnitus particularly, but off in other ways - I figure when energy is not great it shows up wherever our particular weaknesses are.

 

[dd99]

Thanks, Tara. Yes, it's much more liquid than I used to drink. It feels good to hydrate myself first thing, but perhaps you're right. I'll try spreading the liquids out.

 

[Goat-e]

Did you ever get this sorted dd99? I've developed this over the last few weeks and am at loss as to why. I've not changed anything, added new foods or supplements, or changed my armour dose. I'd love to make the ringing stop!

 

[Peata]

Do you guys notice your stomach or gut hurts during the tinnitus? I don't know if that's the only reason, but at times if I pause and take stock of how my belly feels, it's usually irritated during the tinnitus.

 

[dd99]

Goat-e, I went to the doctor and the nurse cleaned my ear out. Perhaps it's something in the way I've been eating this past 18 months (more fruit, dairy?), but my ears are filling up with wax faster than ever before. It took a minute to do, then the tinnitus was gone. I felt really stupid, actually. I could have saved myself some stress, thinking I was overdosing on aspirin or not eating the right things, etc.

 

[Goat-e]

Thanks dd99 - glad to hear there was such a simple solution! I have to say that it certainly feels (sounds) too bad to be wax, but I'm willing to try. Just need to find those cotton buds...

Peata, I come from a long history of stomach irritation, something which cutting out pretty much all fiber has helped with hugely, so in my case it would seem to be the opposite, as this only happened when my stomach has been the best it's ever been.

 

[Peata]

What else can cause tinnitus: nerve irritation, calcification, ototoxic drugs, low blood sugar... ?

 

[dd99]

Goat-e, it was the kind of wax that needed a flush by a nurse, not cotton buds. Maybe you should try that first - if it doesn't work, you won't have wasted much time.
Edit: forgot to mention, they give you olive oil drops for a week beforehand to soften the wax, which is sometimes enough on its own to dislodge it.

 

[haidut]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96711/ Thanks dd99 - glad to hear there was such a simple solution! I have to say that it certainly feels (sounds) too bad to be wax, but I'm willing to try. Just need to find those cotton buds...

Peata, I come from a long history of stomach irritation, something which cutting out pretty much all fiber has helped with hugely, so in my case it would seem to be the opposite, as this only happened when my stomach has been the best it's ever been.

Irritation ANYWHERE in the gut can cause tinnitus. So, your stomach being fine does not mean small intestine, and colon are also fine. Peat said that foods often manifest their unpleasant effects on the gut a few days afterwards and that's what confused many people. Everybody expected that if food would cause irritation it would manifest in a few hours. So, keeping track of what you eat and how it affects you for a few days is important. Often, irritation manifests itself in diarrhea but almost as often it would manifest itself as constipation (due to increased NO and low CO2). So, it's important to watch for changes in bowel movement.
I'd try some charcoal on an empty stomach and/or the carrot salad. If the tinnitus abates as a result then it's most likely gut related. An antihistamine like Benadryl can also help and it is helps then it likely that food allergies and gut irritation are again at play.
Just my 2c.

P.S. Thanks for the nice word on my supplements

 

[montmorency]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96713/ What else can cause tinnitus: nerve irritation, calcification, ototoxic drugs, low blood sugar... ?

Also ear infections with possibly related hearing loss.

I read about someone on a tinnitus forum who determined that his T was probably due to inflammation affecting the Eustachian tubes.
He went through a long and fairly laborious process, trying various things, to deal with the inflammation, and said that he'd finally got rid of it.

There were some interesting threads on the same forum about some people having tried low level laser therapy to address both tinnitus and the related hearing loss - This was for people with T and hearing loss that had been regarded as permanent. However, it was long-winded and expensive.

It did cross my mind to wonder whether infra-red light might help.

 

[Peata]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96757/

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96713/ What else can cause tinnitus: nerve irritation, calcification, ototoxic drugs, low blood sugar... ?

Also ear infections with possibly related hearing loss.

I read about someone on a tinnitus forum who determined that his T was probably due to inflammation affecting the Eustachian tubes.
He went through a long and fairly laborious process, trying various things, to deal with the inflammation, and said that he'd finally got rid of it.

There were some interesting threads on the same forum about some people having tried low level laser therapy to address both tinnitus and the related hearing loss - This was for people with T and hearing loss that had been regarded as permanent. However, it was long-winded and expensive.

It did cross my mind to wonder whether infra-red light might help.

Yeah, maybe shine it in the ears or at least on the ears.

 

[rgp888]

Hi there

My tinnitus appeared almost overnight a about 10 years ago and has barely changed since. I have only just found this site and am looking forward to many improvements. I have never taken any supplements so I don't think vit E wold be the cause for me!

Reading here and thinking about my health/diet history in the past 10 years since tinnitus developed I have a few theories for myself....

I was an elite athlete for most of my life, very fit, very healthy, ate what I felt like, lots of fruit, not a lot of meat, a little dairy, yoghurt and cheese, minimal grains - mostly brown rice for grains. I was a very ill baby and was "cured" of a life threatening illness by a heavily fruit based diet and I always ate unrestricted fruit growing up.

Until about 10 years ago when the low carb craze became prolific. I had retired from sport, owned a gym and was working 90 hours a week with a fair bit of stress, so had put on a little weight. I did protein shakes and red meat every day with minimal veges and no fruit for about 6 months. The tinnitus appeared almost overnight. What followed after was a major shock to my system. Since recovery from my childhood illness I rarely got so much as a sniffle!

Suddenly I was in hospital with a ruptured ovarian cyst that would not stop growing and exploding! Had my right ovary removed and was really unwell for several months until I had my uterus removed. It took such a long time to recover! I had put on a lot of weight.

By now the only way I could lose it was to restrict calories severely. Which I did, slowly losing most of the weight I had put on. Settling in at about 10kg above where I'd like to be. All the time, the low carb BS was hanging around. (Interestingly the lightest I have ever been as an adult was during a period of time I was a low fat vegetarian eating anything but flesh - and a period of time where I wasn't training hard).

Recently I went all out on Jack Kruse recommendations and really struggled to control my weight - eating less and less. After six months of practically no carbs, lots of fish and oysters, seaweed as my only vegetable, I landed in hospital with another ruptured ovarian cyst - at 57 years of age!

So, what I'm thinking is that the low carb stuff put my hormones out of whack. (One version - 10 years ago was a high protein version of low carb, and the JK version was a high fat version of low carb - focus on omega 3) Since my tinnitus occurred at the same time as the low carb crap - maybe it's related to the hormones being out of whack.

I'm thinking that I may have a lot of tissue (fat) bound estrogen that prevents my body from wanting to give up those last 10kg (btw - if I lost those 10kg I would be about 5 kg above my race weight and about 10kg above the lightest adult weight - so I'm not reaching for anything unrealistic) - from what I have been reading on Ray Peat everything I have done with the low carb, wrong protein and wrong fat leads to estrogen out of balance - and ovarian cysts and fibroids are a pretty big sign post!

Before Jack Kruse my blood test showed above average progesterone for a post menopausal woman - I haven't had a blood test since (plenty while in hospital - they ran everything including thyroid - nothing came back that worried them - doesn't mean it's not optimal though!) - I suspect however that progesterone dropped and estrogen took over to make the dormant ovary develop a cyst that ruptured.....

So now I'm looking to remove the excess estrogen - I have just started taking vit E and aspirin and mixing gelatin in my food, and have some progesterone cream coming in the mail (I'm an Aussie living in Japan so getting these things is not that easy...) - I will be monitoring a few things closely as there has to be consequences of releasing tissue bound estrogen.

There was something in me that changed when my tinnitus came on - I could feel it and I "knew" at the time that the tinnitus was health related and that it would resolved if I could figure out the health thing - like a lot of people who bought into the low carb thing, I just tried to be lower and lower carbs believing that evil carbs were behind all my sins!

I am interested to find out if the tinnitus is related to estrogen or hormone imbalance - perhaps if its just appearing to someone who is taking supplements and nutrition to rid themselves of estrogen then hopefully it is transitory while the estrogen departs......

 

[Goat-e]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96750/ Irritation ANYWHERE in the gut can cause tinnitus. So, your stomach being fine does not mean small intestine, and colon are also fine.

Thanks Haidut, I was being imprecise with my language - I used stomach as a catch all for the whole digestive tract! I suffered for years (15+) with diarrhoea and that has totally changed by cutting out pretty much all fiber and making milk, fish and juice the basis of my diet. As I have no more diarrhoea if I stick to this plan (which I do because it's not worth the stress of having that back!) I assumed that I had far less irritation anywhere along the digestive tract than I did before. But I'll try the antihistamine to see if that does do something. Interestingly I still can't tolerate carrot, that really irritates and brings diarrhoea back, so I'm still pretty sensitive. I do take charcoal and it hasn't seemed to affect the ringing. It's most puzzling because in pretty much every other respect I've managed to claw back my health; fatigue gone and temp raised with thyroid and niacinamide, normal bowel movements, and massively decreased morning stiffness in fingers (was told I had seronegative RA a few years ago which lead me to Peat). I'm going to try and get to the bottom of this as well and report back.

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/96744/ Goat-e, it was the kind of wax that needed a flush by a nurse, not cotton buds.

Gotcha, will find a nurse!

 

[tara]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/51456/ Right now, the tinnitus got louder after I ate some watermelon. Could sugar be the cause?

I know Ray Peat says that endotoxins in the intestines cause tinnitus. But I have been eating cleanly, eating my carrot salad and have no other issues. Could I still be clogged up with endotoxins?

I'm pretty sure I've read here somewhere (maybe from Mittir? - recommended reading for what may bother people's intestines) that some people apparently find the fibre in watermelon bothers their gut. For others it's fine. You could see if replacing the watermelon with other fruit (or some easy to digest sugar source) alleviates this issue?

 

[Giraffe]

https://raypeatforum.com/forums/posts/51456/ In mid June, I switched from goat's milk back to cow's milk for convenience. Cow's milk gave me sinus trouble, but after a month on goat's milk and general Peating, I found I could drink it again. Could cow's milk cause tinnitus? Is there any known mechanism for that?

Could the tinnitus be related to the sinus trouble? You could try to clear the Eustachian tube with steam inhalation. Then close the right nostril (put the finger on it), turn your head to the right (left ear up) and deeply breath in trough the left nostril. Also massaging the area where the parotid gland is might help.