Dealing with a neighbor’s overly loud stereo is one of life’s petty aggravations. You do have several options, however, ranging from a polite request to legal action.
It’s another matter altogether when the noise is inside your head, buzzing, clanging, ringing, crackling—and never letting up, day or night. The medical name for this phenomenon is tinnitus. It’s not uncommon for people to experience a random episode or two of tinnitus; for them, the noise eventually passes. For millions of others, unfortunately, it’s much more persistent.
Medically speaking, tinnitus is a symptom rather than a disorder in its own right. If the underlying cause can be identified, it’s possible to silence the sound effects for good. You and your doctor (or even your pharmacist) might start your search for the culprit by checking any medications that you’re taking. Literally hundreds of drugs—including several commonly prescribed antibiotics and even large doses of aspirin—can induce tinnitus as a side effect. Sometimes it isn’t one particular drug but rather a combination of them that causes trouble.
Could something as simple as a nutrient help turn down the volume or silence the noise completely? In some cases of tinnitus, the answer apparently is yes. Actually, researchers have identified several nutrients that might prove helpful. The studies are preliminary and small, to be sure, but each one suggests a safe, inexpensive, natural approach that you might want to try with your doctor’s okay. You may need a blood test to determine whether you are deficient in a specific nutrient.
In a German study, published in 2007, taking supplements of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) greatly improved tinnitus symptoms in study participants with low blood levels of the nutrient. Your body requires a steady supply of CoQ10 in order to produce energy. It is capable of generating its own CoQ10 from all the foods that you eat, but for extra insurance, you may want to add a supplement. Participants in the German study took 100 milligrams three times a day for 12 weeks.
Deficiency of the mineral magnesium is both widespread and under-detected, according to Berlin physician Dierck-Hartmut Liebscher, MD. In a 2004 report published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Dr. Liebscher noted that several symptoms of magnesium deficiency—among them tinnitus—are often alleviated in as little as 2 weeks once patients start taking the mineral in therapeutic dosages.
You can ask your doctor for a blood test to check your magnesium levels. Dr. Liebscher recommends taking 600 milligrams daily for at least one month, then lowering the dosage to a maintenance level of 400 milligrams.
An Israeli study from 1993, involving army personnel who had been exposed to military noise, identified chronic tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss in more than half of the participants. Of this group, 47 percent were found to be deficient in vitamin B12. When they were given a therapeutic dosage of the vitamin B12, several people reported some improvement in both their tinnitus and their hearing. Everyone in the group continued at the therapeutic dosage—1,000 micrograms of vitamin B12 a day—until blood tests showed that they were no longer B12-deficient.
While this amount of vitamin B12 is safe, before you begin supplementing, you should ask your doctor for a blood test to determine whether you have a deficiency. If you do, your doctor can suggest a therapeutic dosage and timetable for normalizing your blood level of the vitamin. Sometimes B12 injections are necessary, depending on the severity of the deficiency. If the therapy is going to help with your tinnitus, you should notice an improvement once your blood level of B12 returns to where it should be.
Back in 1997, a team of Japanese researchers published the results of their study in which they identified zinc deficiency in a high percentage of their subjects with tinnitus. Once these people began taking 24 to 68 milligrams of zinc daily, they showed significant improvement in their symptoms within a few weeks.
You may want to ask your doctor for a blood test to evaluate your zinc levels. The Daily Value for the mineral is 15 milligrams, though your doctor may advise you to take more. Experts recommend that anyone who takes this much zinc should also be getting 1 to 2 milligrams of copper. You can get this much in a multivitamin.
Coenzyme Q10 |
100 milligrams 3 times a day for 12 weeks |
Magnesium* |
600 milligrams for at least one month, then 400 milligrams |
Vitamin B12† |
1,000 micrograms |
Zinc‡ |
15 to 25 milligrams |
*If you have impaired kidney function or any kind of kidney disease, you should not take this amount of magnesium unless you get your doctor’s approval.
†This is a therapeutic dose of vitamin B12 that helped some people with tinnitus in one study. Ask your doctor to recommend an appropriate dosage for you.
‡If you have a zinc deficiency, your doctor may recommend a larger dosage to start.