Ginkgo Biloba

[D Sellings]

Hi

My hubby suffers tinitus, has done since childhood.

I understand that the above herbal remedy can offer some relief from the constant ringing/whistling.

I wondered if there was anybody out there reading this question that suffers tinitus that has tried it - did you notice any difference ?

On checking out product info on-line it appears it has no scientific back up to the claims.

Can anyone help shed any light on this please ?

Thanks

[jojojojojo]

Tinitus is an awfull thing to have my mum suffers with it and its terrible for her , She does take gingko biloba im not sure if that alone as any affect on it but she also takes amitryptiline for it which the doctor subscribed which i found out is also a mild antidepressent , And my mum says it as definatly helped .As your hubby been to the docs?Ino there isant a cure but mabe he could reccommend something.

[D Sellings]

Thanks jojojojojo.

I know that when he was first diagnosed with tinitus as a kiddy he saw the necy consultants etc and they said there was nothing they could do for him. Thankfully he doesn't get depressed by it, he does get annoyed and irritable though when we go to say the theatre, like the other day when we went to a concert there, and it was so loud. He does worry that it will worsen his hearing.

It might be worth him taking Gingko for a trial period and see if it helps.

Thanks again all the best to you and your mum !

[tubeway]

Tinnitus usually sounds worse when there is no background noise - as the sufferer becomes more aware of it. So some background noise can help - especially when trying to sleep. There are tinnitus maskers (like hearing aids but give some hissing noise to mask the tinnitus) on the market - but they are not always sucessful. I suffer from tinnitus due to noise damage when younger - and it is always worse when discussing tinnitus with clients as part of my job. Unless your GP can advise anything (depends on the cause) then you just have to live with it I'm afraid

[D Sellings]

Thanks Tubeway

Yeah, more and more I keep hearing that it is unfortunately just something that has to be put up with. I do feel for him though, mind you, he's lived with it for over 20 years now.. !

Wish there was something to offer some relief and thought maybe this Gingko herbal thingy was maybe it !

Thanks again !

[qapmoc]

Hi DS, you might also want to look up ZINC supplements as many people claim to get some improvement with tinnitus when taking additional zinc.

Be careful not to take too much and become galvanised !

[D Sellings]

I zinc (ha!) that is definitely worth a go, thanks qapmoc - just need to convince him to try some of these suggestions ! Easier said than done - he doesn't like "popping pills" as he puts it ! I'll have to work on him, if it works that'd be fantastic.

Thanks again !

[WTR]

As a fellow sufferer I would reccomend that you seek proffessional advice, as the causes, and therefore, type of aids are specific to the individual. My problem was helped by the fitting of a TNG ( Theraputic Noise Generator) which resembles a small hearing aid and plays white noise back into the ear which then trains the brain to ignore the tinnitus. This can be a bit of a pain at first but the tinnitus definitly improved for me after a few months of perseverance.

[D Sellings]

Thank you WTR for your response.

Glad you are now feeling the benefits of your TNG.

This is definitely something to put to him if he really does find it is getting worse but to him I know this is a last choice.

Got quite a bit now to go on !

Thank you all for your advice, you've been most helpful.

[tubeway]

The TNG mentioned is what I called a tinnitus masker in my earlier post - some people have great success with it - but for many it makes no difference - I hope that it helps but do not get your hopes up too much. In my experience (I am a hearing aid audiologist) it seems to work better on people with a mild presbyacusis (old age wear and tear to the cochlea) hearing loss.