Does CBD Cure Tinnitus?

Hi guys. Rachael Cook, Doctor of audiology at Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona, and in today's video, I'll be answering the question is CBD the cure for tinnitus? Coming up. If there's one thing that I know for sure about tinnitus, it's that people will try and nearly anything to get rid of that annoying buzzing or ringing sound that they constantly hear. Roughly 5 million Americans have tinnitus, with approximately 2 million of them experiencing debilitating levels of this annoying medical condition. Tinnitus is not a standalone disorder, but rather a symptom of other conditions such as hearing loss, cervical spine issues, TMJ disorders, head trauma, high stress, blood pressure issues, and can even be a side effect of some medications. For some, tinnitus can develop quickly, sounding balanced in both ears and only noticed in quiet environments. For others, it may grow over time, sounding stronger in one ear than the other, and may even seem to change in volume level or pitch day after day.

If you suffer from bothersome tinnitus, then you yourself are probably willing to try just about anything to get some relief, but researchers are having a hard time finding a cure for tinnitus, given that its causes and perceived symptoms are different for each person. Oftentimes, tinnitus is caused by untreated hearing loss, which can easily be solved by having a hearing evaluation and treating your hearing loss with hearing aids. But since this doesn't work for everyone and given the fact that there are no readily available medications for tinnitus, many people are switching to more holistic methods in an attempt to reduce their tinnitus perception. This includes things like acupuncture, supplements, diet programs, and most recently, CBD. But what is CBD and is it possible that it could cure your tinnitus? Before I answer this question and more, please take a moment to give this video a thumbs up to bring videos like these to a wider audience.

And if you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button with notification bell so that you never miss any one of our newly released videos. We really appreciate it. Now, CBD stands for cannabidiol, a compound found in both marijuana and hemp plants. While CBD is often associated with marijuana, it does not contain tetra hydro cannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana that causes you to get high. CBD derived from hemp plants became legal across all 50 states in June of 2018 after researchers confirmed the power of CBD on the brain and the body. CBD has been proven to reduce heightened and abnormal activity in the brain through four main processes: increasing anandamide, which is known for mood regulation, modulating serotonin receptors,

which also aids in mood regulation, controlling GABA, which can decrease brain activity that causes anxiety and stress, and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain, which are associated with mental health conditions. Because of the broad effects that can occur with CBD use, people are starting to try CBD for everything. CBD has been approved for use in prescription medication for seizure disorders, but is also now available in tinctures, patches, vapes, capsules, and topical creams. These products are sold online and in stores claiming to aid with insomnia, chronic pain, anxiety, and even addiction. Each of these disorders are caused by abnormal activity in the brain, which many researchers think may also cause or increase tinnitus perception. If that's the case, can CBD be used to reduce tinnitus? The answer to that question is maybe. Research on the effectiveness of CBD on tinnitus has been limited by several factors, the first being the brief window of only five years that CBD has been legalized.

Additionally, most research on this topic is being completed on animals, which does not always translate over to the same effects in humans. The majority of research being done right now is based on anecdotal patient reports. While insightful, these reports are difficult to analyze for effectiveness as they lack standardized dosing concentration and administration. To make matters worse, because the FDA considers CBD a supplement, it does not require rigorous testing to confirm safety or concentration amounts. But even with these concerns, researchers continue to gather information to see if an association between CBD and tinnitus can be found. Some preliminary studies regarding CBD use and tinnitus perception have mostly shown that CBD either has no effect on tinnitus or can actually result in an increased perception of tinnitus. But don't close out of this video just yet, because there is evidence that CBD may be able to help with managing tinnitus, just in a different way.

While the current research of CBD on tinnitus alone remains largely inconclusive, researchers have confirmed that CBD seems to have a positive impact on the co-occurring conditions of tinnitus like stress, anxiety, and insomnia. In fact, a 2019 study in the Permanente Journal investigating the effects of CBD use on anxiety and sleep found that nearly 80% of participants saw significant improvements in anxiety and 66% of participants saw significant improvements in sleep quality and duration after a month of consistent CBD use. These promising results suggest that CBD could help manage tinnitus-related anxiety and insomnia even if the CBD does nothing about the actual tinnitus itself, and this very important, especially when it comes to other tinnitus management strategies. While many people find tinnitus reduction to be the hallmark of successful tinnitus management, research has confirmed that how you feel about your tinnitus plays just as large a role as the actual volume level and pitch of the tinnitus itself.

This is why cognitive behavioral therapy, aka CBT, not to be confused with CBD, which aims to reduce cycles of worry and break negative thought patterns, is incredibly effective in reducing tinnitus perception and annoyance. For example, a 2016 study from the Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery found that cognitive behavioral therapy led to significant reductions in tinnitus severity, distress, and impact on daily life when compared to a control group. A 2018 study in Ear and Hearing echoed these findings, reporting that participants who received cognitive behavioral therapy showed sustained improvements in tinnitus related distress and quality of life up to 12 months after the therapy. These studies prove that your emotions and feelings towards your tinnitus are just as important as the actual sound and level of your tinnitus, and that addressing these emotions can result in fantastic outcomes. This also explains why similar cognitive behavioral therapy strategies are used among other popular tinnitus management methods such as tinnitus retraining therapy, and progressive tinnitus management.

In addition to behavioral therapy, research also supports the use of sound therapy for tinnitus reduction, which you can learn about more in my video that will be linked in the description below. And if you have hearing loss, make sure you check out my video on hearing aids in tinnitus, which will also be linked. Overall, the research supporting CBD use in managing tinnitus just isn't there yet to claim that it works, but the association between CBD use and the reduction of anxiety and insomnia is an indirect nod to its potential effectiveness for managing the emotions that come with tinnitus disturbance. While CBD seems to be inherently safe, there are still several considerations for its use. These include quality and regulation standards, potential drug interactions, and the limited amount of long-term studies. That being said, be sure to discuss any questions, concerns, or interests that you may have in CBD with your doctor before you give it a shot, and who knows, even without being backed by research, if CBD results in the reduction of tinnitus perception for you, then it may be the cure that you've been looking for.