Medical Questions » Ears Questions » Question No. 300
| Question: | My ears are ringing all the time, and when I get nervous or tense they get worse. How can I help this? |
| Answer: | Noises in the ears are a common curse that becomes more common the older you are. Many patients are plagued with such noises to the extent that they are unable to lead a normal lifestyle.
The first step in treatment is to be thoroughly examined by your doctor to exclude any disease such as high blood pressure, wax in the ears, or an overactive thyroid gland, which may be responsible for the noise. You should also avoid possible aggravating causes such as coffee, tea and cola drinks.
After this, it is often wise to seek a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist, or a general physician, for more detailed investigations.
Unfortunately, in all too many victims of tinnitus (the technical name for ringing in the ears), no cause can be found, and the next step is to experiment with the many different medications that may relieve your problem. This is very much a matter of trial and error, that must be carried out with the cooperation of your GP, as most of these medications require a prescription, and some may have side effects. None has a better than 30% success rate, but they should be tried in turn to see if any help.
Finally, it is possible to use a hearing-aid type device called a tinnitus masker that produces a constant tone to drown out the noises you hear, or have an operation to deafen the involved ear.
When tinnitus is combined with dizziness and deafness, the condition is called Meniere' s disease.
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