Roaring or ringing or tinnitus is a sound that does not exist in the environment, but is within us, it can be continuous or intermittent, it is always a noise that is difficult to accept. Tinnitus causes sleepless nights, mood swings, anxiety, depression, exhaustion and stress. The sound is in the head with no external source.
Tinnitus is not a disease. This concept is more important: Tinnitus is a symptom.
It means that it is a feature of a number of diseases. Many ear diseases present with tinnitus. It is a symptom of ear infections, sudden hearing loss, Meniére's syndrome, otosclerosis, ototoxic drugs, diseases of the inner ear, vestibular neuritis, glomus tumors and many other pathologies. Tinnitus is also a symptom of diseases that do not affect the ear such as hypertension, headache, diabetes, etc.
When dealing with a patient with tinnitus it is necessary to address both the physiological and psychological impact. Overall health, nutrition, emotional health and habits play an important role. These factors must always be acted upon if the negative effect of tinnitus is to be reduced. There is and will never be a one-size-fits-all method. It is essential to understand the disease that generated the ringing. It is almost always an ear disease. Only in a few cases the cause is extraotological (arterial hypertension, drugs, temporomandibular joint disorders, intracranial diseases, etc.).
Once the disease causing the tinnitus has been identified, then a therapy can be proposed for that disease and for that single patient.
Drawing of the afferent and efferent acoustic pathways.
In almost all cases, tinnitus is the expression of damage
to the cochlea and / or the acoustic pathways.
By Procaccini A, Govoni C, Cavalca V, Caroggio A.
Dati preliminari sull'impiego della Tocainide Cloridrato nella terapia degli acufeni.
(Preliminary data on the use of Tocainide Hydrochloride in the treatment of tinnitus.)
La nuova audiométrie 2, 4-8, 1986.
Milan - Columbus Clinic Center -
via Michelangelo Buonarroti, 48
See also:
Curriculum vitae Carlo Govoni MD
.
