“New Help for Ringing in the Ears!”
Says Recent Women’s Magazine Article
Ross Hauser, M.D., Marion Hauser, M.S.,R.D.

A recent article in Good Housekeeping stated “…some 15% of women over 45 suffer from chronic tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. It can be maddening, but you may be able to find relief by figuring out what is causing the problem, according to William Martin, PhD, director of Tinnitus Clinic at Oregon Health & Science University.”

The article goes on to talk about possible causes as being high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, allergies, or infection. They talk about treating the symptoms with high dose aspirin, or other drugs.
 

They also state that often no cause may be found, so many patients find relief with a “white-noise machine”…I don’t know about you, but I would not find that to be a sufficient remedy to constant ringing in the ears?
 

At Caring Medical, we have found that most people with tinnitus are suffering from Barre-Lieou Syndrome. In 1925, Jean Alexandre Barre, M.D., a French Neurologist, and in 1928, Yong-Choen Lieou, a Chinese physician, each independently described a syndrome with a variety of symptoms thought to be due to a dysfunction in the posterior cervical sympathetic nervous system (a group of nerves located near the vertebrae in the neck). The posterior Cervical sympathetic syndrome became known as Barre-Lieou Syndrome.

Symptoms that characterize the Barre-Lieou Syndrome include headache, facial pain, ear pain, vertigo, tinnitus, loss of voice, hoarseness, neck pain, severe fatigue, muscle weakness, sinus congestion, sense of eyeball being pulled out, dizziness, fatigue, numbness. Other symptoms may include dysesthesias of the hands and forearms (pins-and-needles sensation), corneal sensitivity, dental pain, lacrimation (tearing of the eyes), blurred vision, facial numbness, shoulder pain, swelling on one side of the face, nausea, vomiting, and localized cyanosis of the face (bluish color).
 

A reasonable question to ask is how can one disorder cause all of these problems? The answer is that any type of vertebral instability can affect the function of the nerve cells located in the front of the neck just in front of the vertebrae. The vertebral instability or malalignment occurs because the ligaments that support the neck become injured. This is what occurs in the commonly known whiplash injury. Not only do neck and headache pain occur with whiplash injury, but also the signs and symptoms of Barre-Lieou Syndrome.
 

Why do people with Barre-Lieou often have ringing in the ears, dizziness, and stuffy noses? It is because of an accumulation of fluid in the inner ear. When fluid accumulates in the inner ear, as is often the case with an upper respiratory infection, the ear feels full and the body feels off balance. Ringing in the ear (tinnitus), spinning (vertigo), or dizziness can occur.
 

When Prolotherapy is performed on the head and neck, conditions such as dizziness, tinnitus, and vertigo (Meniere's Disease) can all be eliminated if the symptoms are due to Barre Lieou Syndrome. Often, immediately after Prolotherapy injections, (Watch where do Prolotherapy injections go and do they hurt?)  to the posterior head and neck areas, patients with Barre-Lieou Syndrome, who have had sinus trouble for years, experience clear breathing which they have not had in years. People using decongestants for years for "chronic allergies" and "chronic sinus infections" are often immediately helped by Prolotherapy injections into the head and neck region.

The other symptoms such as blurred vision, severe fatigue, dysesthesias (pins and needles down the arm), low blood pressure, and low heart rate are easily understood by a decrease in the output of the sympathetic nervous system of the head, neck, and face areas. Prolotherapy injections to the head and neck region cause the vertebrae to realign, which decreases the compression of the nerves. Upon realignment, the Barre-Lieou Syndrome and its symptomatology are abated.

So, if we were you, we wouldn’t listen to what we read in the women’s magazines! This is not the true source of health information as many people think. There is new help for ringing in the ears – but it is not high dose medications or a white noise machine! The answer is Prolotherapy! Give us a call if ringing in the ears is driving you crazy!