Tinnitus: The Many Ways that it Begins

While trying to determine the cause of tinnitus, recall that most all health problems have a multifactoral causation. It is important to evaluate all cofactors, direct and indirect, since these various causative agents and life situations often fit together like pieces of a puzzle to explain causation. Each potential cause of tinnitus - when considered alone - might not be sufficinet to cause this problem by itself.

Nevertheless, in combination, a more complex and multi-layered cause of tinnitus becomes apparent.

Two or more causes can interact and combine, starting a complex and unique chain of events resulting in a health problem, like tinnitus. Alone, none of them could start a problem like tinnitus.

Common medical causes of tinnitus

Typically, there are just two basic medical explanations to explain the cause of tinnitus. The first, is tinnitus often occurs as the end result of a health problem like high blood pressure or hearing loss, and is seen as an end result of a more serious preexisting health condition or disease. Second, tinnitus can often be a primary symptom related to almost any ear disorder, such as: any problem from an ear infection, to Meniere's disease, or a perforated ear drum to a sinus infection, or an ear canal blocked by ear wax to a tumor of the middle ear, or cervical spine osteoarthtitis to severe weight loss due to excessive dieting, or a whiplash injury to rapid change of barometric pressure on an airplane, or to overuse of aspirin or alcohol.

Also, there are less common causes of tinnitus that can arise as a result of other disorders: a tumor of the auditory nerve, anemia, heart and blood vessel disorders (hypertension and arteriosclerosis), or low thyroid hormone levels in the blood stream (hypothyroidism). In certain sensitive individuals, the mercury in common amalgam dental fillings can be a cause of tinnitus. Tinnitus might also be an early indicator the body is being overtaxed with work and stress.

Exercise, when taken to excess, can be a cause of tinnitus by creating micro-injury to the inner ear mechanism, from increased pressures or direct truama. resulting in abnormal auditory nerve function. To back up this idea, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, in its February 1991 issue, explained tinnitus can arise from the on-going, sudden and powerful impact forces of aggressive sports and exercise.

The typical deterioration of the cochlear part of the inner ear, and related reduced hearing ability that are a part of the natural aging process (presbycusis) are another common cause of tinnitus. Lastly, for reasons not entirely clear to medical researchers, but explained within the TTI website, general daily stress from the activities of daily living can and does worsen tinnitus.

The Tinnitus Treatment Institute has long recommended that anyone suffering from tinnitus should undergo active Alternative Medicine treatment following the therapy guidelines suggested throughout its website. The results are great and therapy will probably improve other aspects of your health while you are at it, as many peopole report.

The Tinnitus Treatment Institute specializes in using safe and effective Alternative Medicine therapies to assist healing and repair related to those who suffer from constant ear noises.