Tinnitus and Hypothyroid

[bentoboy]

Manny,
I have recently experienced three months of tinnitus. After seeing my regular doctor and then an ENT, I was told that there was no cure for it. Because of its rapid onset, I thought it was either because of a digital meter (Smart) that was placed on my home or because of a change in the outside environment. But after ruling those out with help from my friends who heard nothing either in or outside of my house, I did some online research and found out that there IS a link between hypothyroidism and tinnitus AND the kind of medication used. I have been on Levothyroxin for 5 years and have never had a problem with it. So I cold-turkeyed and the ringing continued. Yesterday I started on Armour and the ringing dropped by about half in the first 24 hours. I am hoping that I can get it to disappear completely in the next few days. I have no idea why one med stopped working one day out of the blue. It seems so arbitrary to me. But perhaps there is a medical explanation. So much of this is not researched and seems like a crap shoot, varying from individual to individual. So you have to EXPERIMENT to find out what works best for you. Good luck!


This discussion is related to Low Thyroid and Tinnitus?.

[kl42]

yes bruce its a symtom. treat your hypothyoidism, and you will see !!!

[flyingfool]

I've had ringing in my ears since I was a child.  I've always had  cold hands and feet.  In researching Hypo as my wife is Hypo I found these are common symptoms for Hypo.

I had a blood test.  Of course it was ONLY TSH and it came out I believe 1.16 well within range which I think is 0.5 to 2.5.  So my Dr. did NOTHING more.  At the time he wrote out the lab, I asked for free T3 and Free T4.  But he would not run it.

I have to go back to get my cholesterol check and I have since changed primary dare Dr.  I think I will call my new Dr and see if he could add the free T3 & FT4 to the cholesterol test.

I personally believe I am slightly hypo.  But not enough to make the TSH test indicative of that.  

It does seem like the ringing in my ears is getting a bit worse with age.

[bonniehoelzer]

I've had a roaring in my right ear for YEARS.  I had all the test done and determined that it was the tiny nerves in the ear dieing off.  I do have some hearing loss in the right ear now.  For some reason the roaring is now gone.  But I want to share what helped me when I was suffering.  I found that taking Ginkgo Biloba daily kept the roaring much reduced that I could ignore it and not be distracted by it.  It takes about 10 days to 2 weeks before it makes a difference.  Depending on the strength, I might have to take 2 caps a day.  I was able to reduce to 1 cap a day and about every 3 or 4 days take an extra to titrate the dose.  When I ran out, I found that it would also take about 10 days for the roaring to return.

[kl42]

me too i can tell when the thyroid levels are probable low at that point in the day like late when my ears are ringing loud, then after dose in the morning nothing at all. i think it's all connected,,

[Brucergoldberg]

I notice a connection between my waves of crap and the ear ringing.  Typically when I don't feel good the ringing is much louder.  I don't get the high pitch as much as the electric ringing anymore.  Either way they both are dumb.  This is like a curse...  

[kl42]

it's definitely connected to hypo!.(ringing in your ears)  i don't understand why doctors don't admit to it or recognize it. it goes lower and lower when your not as hypo. so it's connected, somehow. what they don't have scientific proof so they dismiss it. until one day a study appears  and then they suddenly believe it.   my ear doctors told me they don't know why ? if it's not physical. or as a result of long term damage loud noises, it's probable from something out of balance(thyroid hormone) but there is no test for it,