Unpleasant whistling in the ears
Many people are familiar with the condition when they hear noise, whistling or ringing in their ears.
Sounds appear and disappear periodically in both adults and children.
Usually it does not cause any discomfort.
But when the noise continues for several hours, it is already an abnormal condition, which leads to hearing impairment and sleep disturbance. You don't have to run to the doctor to get rid of the problem.
Treating whistling in the ears at home is a great way to overcome the disease.
General concept and symptom
Tinnitus is a fairly common symptom that occurs for many reasons. This is a condition in which a person hears sounds that are not actually there, such as whistling, buzzing, ringing, etc. This condition can be localized in one ear or in both at the same time.
It is worth remembering that “tinnitus” is not an independent disease, but only a symptom that may indicate the presence of a pathological process in the body.
It cannot be ignored, as this can lead to a number of negative consequences associated with the underlying disease, hearing loss and decreased quality of life.
If ringing or noise in the ears occurs, you need to undergo an examination at a medical facility to determine the diagnosis. Based on tests and diagnostics, doctors will be able to provide qualified assistance.
Belching and flatulence
Belching occurs if a person swallows air with food while eating. If it occurs constantly, it may be a sign of indigestion or reflux - when stomach juices splash into the throat. And this is already a reason to go to the doctor.
Flatulence is normal even for healthy people. But with irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease or food allergies, it occurs often, accompanied by pain, bloating, diarrhea or constipation.
Main reasons
There are many reasons for tinnitus. Some of them are associated with the anatomical structure of the ear, others with inflammatory or infectious diseases, and others with lifestyle, daily routine and nutrition.
Let's look at the most common factors that can cause tinnitus (the medical name for ringing in the ears):
- a buildup of earwax that puts pressure on the eardrum
- taking medications, especially Aspirin or NSAIDs (side effect)
- drinking too much alcohol, too much tobacco or caffeine
- dental problems, especially those related to roots and fluxes
- injuries
- respiratory system diseases
- disruption of the central nervous system
- anorexia, sudden weight loss
Next, we will take a closer look at the most basic diseases that cause the appearance of extraneous sounds in the ears.
Cardiovascular diseases
Diseases of the cardiovascular system occupy first place in the world among pathologies occurring in the human body. Many of them cause tinnitus due to disruption of blood circulation and supply to the cerebral cortex. In addition, hypertension, a chronic high blood pressure, causes tinnitus in almost 30% of cases.
Due to increased blood pressure, spasms of the head vessels occur, due to which the amount of incoming oxygen decreases. In this case, the ears may ring on either one or both sides. Often there is a pulsating noise in the ears, in time with the heartbeat.
Another common disease is atherosclerosis.
It occurs due to metabolic disorders, as a result of which cholesterol accumulates in the vessels and cholesterol plaques appear, which clog the lumen and impair blood circulation. Because of this, turbulence occurs in the vessels, and because of this, extraneous noise occurs in the ear. Patients often experience mild nausea and dizziness.
ENT diseases
A symptom of almost all ENT diseases is ringing, clicking or clicking in the ears. This is due to inflammation of the nasopharynx and the accumulation of mucus that passes next to the Eustachian tube. Because of this, auditory discomfort occurs, especially when swallowing or yawning. When otitis or contraction of the muscles of the middle ear occurs, extraneous noise also occurs.
Traumatic brain injury
With traumatic brain injuries, swelling of the brain and poor circulation often occur. This may cause noise, ringing or crackling in the ears. At the same time, dizziness, nausea, and possibly vomiting occur. With a concussion, in addition to the described symptoms, the sharpness or acuity of vision may decrease.
In this case, it is necessary to seek help from doctors for a full examination, because injuries can lead to many consequences, from hearing impairment to disruption of the central nervous system, and this is fraught with disability.
To calm and normalize the functioning of the central nervous system, constant rest, listening to the sounds of nature, and daily walks are necessary (except for drug treatment).
Oncological pathologies
During the appearance of a malignant or benign neoplasm, the nerve endings responsible for hearing perception may be compressed. Because of this, patients experience auditory hallucinations, noise and ringing in the ears.
As the tumor grows, a stroke or complete loss of hearing or vision may occur.
With such a diagnosis, an immediate examination in oncology is necessary, and if the diagnosis of cancer is confirmed, chemical treatment or surgery is required.
The first symptoms may appear 1-2 times a week. Ringing begins in one ear, and after a while in both. If you do not seek help in a timely manner, the disease begins to progress and adds decreased vision, nausea, and constant headaches.
Osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis is a joint disease. Occurring in the cervical region. It can be congenital or acquired.
As osteochondrosis grows, it affects the visual and auditory nerve endings, resulting in extraneous noise, visual hallucinations, black flies before the eyes and decreased visual acuity.
Symptoms worsen with prolonged sitting, walking, turning the head or after physical activity. The treatment uses a complex of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs to restore osteochondral tissue.
Treatment methods for whistling in the head
To get rid of whistling in the head, you need to influence the cause of its occurrence, and not suppress the symptoms. In the only case, treatment is impossible - with age-related changes there is no way to stop degenerative changes, much less return everything to normal. Treatment is aimed at adapting the patient to the noise.
If whistling in the ears is a side effect of any medications, then the doctor’s actions are as follows:
- complete withdrawal from the drug
- replacing a medication with an analogue
- if it is impossible to replace the medicine - parallel use of tricyclic antidepressants
If the cause of the noise is cervical osteochondrosis, there is pain in the neck, head, dizziness, and the upper limbs swell, then treatment consists of taking chondoprotectors and doing therapeutic and preventive physical education.
If a whistling sound in the head appears due to atherosclerosis, there are yellow spots around the eyes, and a gray arc appears around the iris, then first of all you need to adjust your diet.
The menu should include more fish and vegetable dishes, and you should give up sweet, fatty, and smoked foods. Drug therapy consists of the drugs “Atheroblock”, “Vitrm cardio omega 3”.
To eliminate whistling, which is a consequence of high blood pressure, take antihypertensive drugs. If there is a disturbance in blood flow due to heart disease, treatment will consist of normalizing the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Vascular and antihypertensive drugs, cardiac glycosides are prescribed.
Therapy is prescribed based on individual and age characteristics.
Additional symptoms
Most often, tinnitus is accompanied by other symptoms, depending on the disease. Headaches, nausea, vomiting, decreased activity and efficiency, impaired coordination, poor sleep, decreased vision, etc. may occur.
| Symptom | Features of development |
| Noise in the ears and head | If, in addition to tinnitus, there are extraneous sounds in the head, you should visit a doctor. Sometimes such symptoms may indicate poor circulation and increased blood pressure. It can rise one-time due to overwork or weather conditions. In this case, headaches and sounds in the ears go away on their own within 1 day. If symptoms last longer, consult a doctor immediately. |
| Tinnitus and temperature | An elevated body temperature may indicate an inflammatory process in the body, and it most often occurs due to an infectious disease. In this case, headache, weakness, fever, chills, and drowsiness may occur. Temperature + tinnitus or clicking sounds during swallowing occur with sore throat, sinusitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, colds, flu, etc. With such diseases, a runny nose and cough often occur. As a result, the nasopharynx swells and mucus accumulates, which causes extraneous noise. |
| Abdominal pain | Abdominal pain and simultaneous tinnitus in 75% indicate inflammation of the appendix. The same symptoms can occur with severe poisoning and with a hangover (ethyl alcohol poisoning). It is urgent to rinse the stomach, take painkillers and consult a doctor. In case of poisoning, you cannot do without sorbents, which will remove poisons from the body in the shortest possible time. The most harmless and effective drugs are Activated carbon, Enterosgel, Atoxil. Some women may experience these symptoms on the first day of their menstrual cycle. |
Gurgling in the stomach
Any food we eat passes eight meters of the intestines. To make it move, the intestinal walls contract - and sometimes a loud and annoying gurgling sound occurs. In medicine it is called borborygmus. As Colin Rees, professor of gastroenterology at Newcastle University, explained, this sound is loudest at the junction of the small and large intestines.
Gurgling also occurs when a person is hungry. The brain sends signals, and the stomach secretes gastric juice, which mixes “loudly” with the air. This in itself is not dangerous and quite normal. But if the sounds are accompanied by bloating or abdominal pain, they may indicate irritable bowel syndrome and prompt a visit to the doctor.
Stages of tinnitus
The extent of the disease is determined by the stage of tinnitus. They are distinguished into 4 degrees. The first and second are compensated stages. With them, the sounds are practically unnoticeable, the noise is not disturbing and occurs very rarely.
As a rule, the symptoms of the first stages are not dangerous and indicate a non-serious disease. The second and third stages are decompensated.
Noises and extraneous sounds that occur in the ears in the last two stages negatively affect the quality of life. Along with them, accompanying symptoms often occur - vomiting, nausea, pain in the head, stomach.
Let's take a closer look at the characteristics of all four stages:
| Stage | Peculiarities |
| First | Characterized by sounds that are too weak. Often the patient does not even notice them, and they do not bother or cause harm. |
| Second | It differs in that the sounds become more intense, but most often they occur during sleep, when the entire body is in a state of calm. In this case, the person becomes overly irritable. |
| Third | The noise is constant, disturbing, annoying, and negatively affects the quality of work and sleep. |
| Fourth | The noise becomes as intense as possible. This makes it difficult to concentrate on one thing or another. |
The third and fourth stages are fraught with nervous breakdowns and disruption of the central nervous system. In isolated cases they end in suicide, so if even the slightest noise in the ears occurs, you need to seek help. It should be remembered that this symptom may indicate serious health problems.
Cracking in the shoulders
Cracking or crunching in the shoulders when stretching is a common occurrence. There is a fluid around the joints that lubricates them. When a person moves, bubbles appear in it, which burst with a pop or crack. You should visit a doctor if they occur constantly or if your joints hurt.
“However, if it is painful, seek medical attention. It could be a tear or injury to the meniscus, the cartilage that acts as a shock absorber between the shinbone and the femur,” said University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust orthopedic surgeon Jamie Arbuthnot.
What to do, which doctor to see?
You can contact any specialist. If tinnitus is the main symptom, then it is advisable to consult an otolaryngologist. But, since extraneous sounds do not always signal problems with the ears, it is better to first go to a therapist. The doctor will first conduct a survey and external examination, prescribe a series of tests and issue a referral to a more specialized specialist (ENT specialist, surgeon, oncologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, etc.).
Useful video about the causes of tinnitus:
Necessary tests and examinations
Modern medicine provides a huge number of diagnostic methods. Let's look at the most commonly used ones:
- An oral survey in which the doctor gets acquainted with the symptoms, their intensity and duration. The specialist also studies the medical history, which will allow you to have a general understanding of the patient’s health condition.
- Blood and urine tests will help determine the presence of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens.
- Audiometry is a procedure to determine the quality and acuity of hearing. Audiometry can be speech, tone or computer. Depending on the results, it determines how good the patient’s hearing is.
- Ultrasound of blood vessels, brain, abdominal cavity, etc. allows you to determine the condition of soft, osteochondral tissues and blood vessels. This makes it possible to see the number of blockages with cholesterol plaques.
- Laboratory tests make it possible to determine the patient's mental state.
- Tomography allows you to literally “scan” the brain and see the condition of blood vessels and nerve endings in real time. This is also one of the surest ways to determine the quality and quantity of a neoplasm, if any.
If after the examinations the diagnosis remains in doubt, then doctors prescribe an additional examination by specialists, depending on the symptoms.
Features of noise treatment
It is impossible to say unequivocally what treatment is prescribed for the symptom of tinnitus. Since this is not an independent disease, it cannot be treated. That is, you need to influence the main cause that led to the appearance of sounds in the ears.
The main methods of treatment, depending on the problem:
- If noise, ringing or clicking appears in the ears due to foreign objects or wax, then you simply need to remove them. It is forbidden to do this yourself, so as not to push the plug even further, as this can damage the eardrum. Sulfur plugs tend to swell when exposed to moisture, so removal is carried out exclusively by an otolaryngologist using special medications and instruments.
- If the cause lies in an infectious ENT disease, it is necessary to take antibacterial or antiviral drugs. The specialist also prescribes medications to eliminate additional symptoms - cough tablets or mixtures, nasal drops, painkillers, etc.
- When tinnitus becomes a consequence of cardiovascular disease, treatment is prescribed depending on the type and degree of the pathology. As a rule, a course of cleaning blood vessels from cholesterol, medications that thin the blood, strengthen blood vessels, and normalize the heart rate are prescribed.
For injuries and concussions, a number of procedures and complex treatment are prescribed.
More information about the treatment of tinnitus can be found in the video:
When is surgery necessary?
Surgical intervention is necessary for severe injuries and fractures. In some cases, surgery is prescribed when tumors occur (oncology). Surgery is also prescribed for damage to the middle and inner ear, if this reduces the quality of hearing and causes extraneous sounds.
In summary, it should be noted that tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom that signals a particular disease. There is no need to hesitate; you should immediately undergo an examination before the noise becomes stronger and other symptoms develop. Methods of diagnosis and treatment are determined on an individual basis.
? Ctrl+Enter
