What is tinnitus? This is what people wonder all the time when they hear about this ailment. The definition of tinnitus describes it as a condition characterized by ringing, buzzing or other noises that someone hears inside the ears or inside the head. Although it does not pose serious health threats, tinnitus could be an alarm bell for some other condition. If this is not the case, then, the unexplained noise is all the more problematic for the sufferer.
What is tinnitus for various patients?
Circulatory problems are often at the bottom of the ringing noise in one’s ears. And here we’d include:
- head and neck tumors that cause blood vessel disorders;
- atherosclerosis or the thickening of arterial walls because of cholesterol deposits;
- hypertension;
- malformations in the capillaries;
- turbulent blood flow etc.
Ear injuries and ear conditions could also be responsible for tinnitus. When the internal or external ear is affected, the doctor may actually hear the same noise as the patient, which bears the name of objective tinnitus. The treatment is instated depending on the situation. What is tinnitus in such cases?
- The accumulation of wax inside the ear could impair hearing as well as cause the ringing in the ear.
- An ear infection may also have tinnitus as a symptom.
Psychiatric conditions could also be responsible for tinnitus. In such cases, there is no objective sound the doctor can pick up, or noise that has a physiological cause. What is tinnitus in such cases? As difficult as it may seem to explain the problem, doctors call it more of a problem of perception, in the patient’s altered sense of reality.
- Schizophrenic patients sometimes complain of noises they hear, but under treatment, this form of tinnitus tends to disappear.
- Depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders may also be associated with tinnitus, but only in a limited number of patients.
What is tinnitus treatment?
Doctors treat tinnitus depending on the causes underlying it. Don’t delay seeing a doctor if you hear a noise in the ear or inside the head. Only through medical examination and exams can a course of treatment be decided upon. To point out more on the ‘what is tinnitus’ problem, here are the common treatments prescribed for tinnitus:
- antibiotics if you have an ear infection;
- anti-depressants or anti-psychotic medication;
- hypotensive medication to treat high blood pressure;
- lifestyle changes;
- surgery in malformations or malignancy etc.
Only through accurate medical tests can the course of treatment be settled upon. Some patients just have to learn to live with the noise inside their head when no apparent cause is discovered for the condition. And that could be an even more psychologically challenging situation.
The information above mainly offers a bit of guidance for the understanding of the condition. It does not aim to answer the ‘what is tinnitus’ question professionally.