Hey all,

Strange topic I know. But... it's happening to me right now so i thought I would put it out there. Random chatter loosely related to engineering.

I just stopped smoking "analog" cigarettes and have switched over to e- cigs. I loved smoking, but I missed having really good wind and then there's that cancer thing ..

Anyway, I bring this up because as i was adjusting to e-cigs I had to experiment to get the right amount of nicotine.

A couple of times I took waaaaaay too much nicotine. It made me feel like shit but the worst part is this.

Nicotine overdose fucks up your hearing. It actually makes your ears ring as if you were at a loud show for a long time.

Scared the piss outta me. I've adjusted my dosage, but still if I smoke this sucker too much the ringing comes right back.

That said, I'm really enjoying the e-cigs more than i thought i would. And it's awesome to be able to run anywhere/anytime and not be out of breath! I can keep lowering the nicotine until there's nothing (or close to nothing) left so hopefully i can phase out the addiction.

That's all!

 

Never smoked myself, but are you sure you are not experiencing tinnitus (ringing in the ears)? could be a side effect of the nicotine though.

 

I never heard such thing (nicotine harming ears), but as for any narcotic (including weed, pills (street made or prescription) cocaine, alcohol, ...) an overdose will lower your carefulness, sensitivity and the pain implied, so you hurt yourself more, not noticing you do.
You certainly just pushed the knob too far while being "high", causing tinnitus. When was the last time you experienced ringing ears?
I suggest you switch back to regular cigarettes, and talk this out with a MD before you give e-cigs another try. This message is just my 2 cents and I have close to no medical knowledge (just drugs experiences). And I get ear ringing only when I get drunk.

 

Weird, I get less ringing when I drink wine. Really. But I didn't know nicotine could cause the ringing to get more loud, too, especially since I do smoke a bit more when I drink wine. I did notice one thing though - it's got somethign to do with the immune system. If your immune system is weak, you'll get more ringing. I found out that natural juices with lemon and orange, and walks out in the fresh air help. Exercise helps, but not if you do it too much, go easy on it. Just slowly build up your immune system. I actually drink fresh orange/lemon juice every day. Just like 2-3 glasses, and I drink lots of green tea, and eat as much green veggies as I can, that also build up your immune system.

However, what I've learned throughout the years is that different people react differently to different stimulants and food, too. But lemon, orange and green veggies should apply universally, though. There's also ginger, magnesium water, and curcuma [about 30% of curry spice] that helps with the immune system. Oh yeah, and cayenne peppers.

Cheers!

 

Hi Burg, hi everyone,

I smoked for 15 years. 2 packs a day. I was really deperate because i did not want to smoke. I started right late with 25 years to smoke.
ANd i stopped smoking for 4 years ago with the easyway-system/education. And one year after me my sister also quitted smoking the same way.
I can recommend everyone who wants to quit smoking and who wants to feel like beaofre their smokinglife. Allen Carrs easy way. With moneyback guarantee.

They have seminars everywhere in Europe and US. U pay around 300,-€ and if you relapse to smoking again you get your money back.
Its now my 4th year without any smoke and i never missed it again.


If you think you like smoking its jut the drug Nikotine that makes you feel like that. ANd Nikotive leaves your body within 3-4 days. The rest is habit, to not have something in the hand. You will miss the handmotion, but this is also learnable and lasts for 2 weeks. The system is very easy. If you know why you smoke and what happens in your body making you smoke, you stop smoking. Its unbelieveable but you will see ;)

Happy new life ;)

 

Yeah it is crazy but a well documented correlation between Tinnitus and Nicotine. Here's something i grabbed off of goolge

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ringing-in-the-ears-tinnitus-home-treatment

Also Caffeine can push the envelope as well. Great idea about juicing though! I think i am going to try it (again) I was juicing for a while (Kale, cucumber, parsly, pinnapple)and I could certainly feel some of the health benefits. Although i never paid attention to anything tinnitus related.

Hard to believe because of my enjoyment of smoking, but I am more on the side of fitness freak and exercise a lot. Could be the combo of nicotine, exercise ..etc that is making things ring a bit.

As far as whether I truly enjoy smoking or simply enjoy the addiction... well... I'm not sure what to tell ya man. I'm glad you were able to find a method of quitting that works for you, but i don't want to quit the act of smoking. I just simply enjoy it. The e-cig has been great in that way because eventually I can phase out the nicotine (yes, I enjoy that as well..it's a little brain jolt) and just enjoy the act/flavor. It's amazing how my lung capacity and wind (running) has just bounced right back now that I'm not actually inhaling all of the normal chemicals associated with combustible tobacco.



Thought it was an interesting subject because so many musicians/engineers smoke.

 

One more interesting article http://tinnitusdx.com/blog/tag/nicotine-and-tinnitus/

 

I didn't quit smoking, not do I intend to. But I don't smoke while I'm making tunes, or mix. It would be too distracting for me. Anyway - CAFFEINE yes! Coffee definitely make my ringing worse, too. No drink coffee when working. ;P I can't explain the wine thing, though, it's illogical. It really does make the ringing duller for me. And as I told you, I do smoke more when I'm drinking wine, too. For me, coffee is definitely the worst for tinnitus. Maybe because my blood pressure is a bit on the high side and coffee makes the blood pressure too high, and therefore I get more ringing. It all works rather individually. If your blood pressure is normal, maybe nicotine can cause the ringing to get more annoying. Anyway, the solution is healthier living, and stronger immune system, I'm sure. ;)

Thank you for the article! Cheers! [I'm just having wine and making some tunes. LOL]

Oh one more thing: do you have the ringing in your right or left ear? It's interesting that like 90% of the people seem to have it in their right ear. Me included. My left ear is completely alright. That makes it even more annoying... like you have something in your right ear when it gets really strong.

 

I'm quitting now second time. Before didn't smoke for 3 years, started again Feelsbadman.jpg

I use patches, they help me a lot to quit this crap... Dunno how about e-cigs but in my opinion is better to give your hands freedom from any cigs if you want quit. If you miss the feeling of having a cigarette in your hand, hold something else, a pencil or get a stress ball

 

Can relate to that. I don't really smoke but I used to enjoy the occasional cigar, and the ones which are high
in nicotine definitely made my ears ring like ear fatigue.

 

Hey all,

Just wanted to update you guys and send out a word of caution to my friends here at Audioz.

Well, it's been about 7/8 weeks since I first got tinnitus and it looks like it's going to stay with me for the foreseeable future. Probably forever or until they find a cure.

I've done blood tests, MRI's , and visited with an ENT and the bottom line is that I am now stuck with tinnitus.

I'm still trying to get used to it (constant loud ringing in both ears), but I am determined to keep trying to find ways to make it a little better and to not fall into depression, anxiety ..etc. that many experience. It's not easy, but I am a pretty tough dude so i'm sure it's going to get better and better as long as i stay positive and keep trying.

I'm sharing this with you guys because all of this could have been avoided if I just quit cigarettes rather than experiment with e-cigarettes.

I am DEFINITELY not saying that everyone that uses e-cigs will get tinnitus.

But what I am saying is that if you are audio person and you've made the choice to use e-cigs (or regular cigarettes), please be very careful with the amount that you use. Or in other words the amount of times you smoke that thing each day. Especially if you are trying it for the first time.

I did not realize that i was constantly giving myself a nicotine overdose by using too strong of an e-cig and I was already a long time musician subjected to loud sounds for years and years. So the combination of the nicotine OD (ringing headaches / smoked too much) and the audio exposure triggered what seems to be permanent damage.

It's much easier to OD on e-cigs because you don't burn anything or feel the tar and nasty shit of regular cigarettes.

Anyway, I hope none of you ever have to go through this and if this post helps out one person to avoid what I am dealing with, then I'm a happy man.

I'm looking forward to getting healthier, long mixing sessions, and rockin out (with earplugs ;) in the near future.

- Burg

 

If you're lucky it might disappear within 6 months. If it's chronic, well then you have to learn to live with it. Cut out all the triggers that make it worse, and remind yourself that at the end of the day it's just a sh*tty little noise in your ear that can in no way harm you physically. All it can do is to annoy the hell out of you. Hopefully your brain will eventually realize that it doesn't pose any danger, and then stop nudging your attention toward it. Once that happens, you've won. It'll disappear into the background or at least become much less of a nuisance.

I've had a mild form of tinnitus mainly in my right ear for years. It sounds like a dead channel on the TV, with a high pitched whine over it. It gets worse when I get the flu, when I lack sleep or get tired, when I become stressed out, or as mentioned with nicotine.

Normally though, I have to make myself hear it. My mind tunes it out. The only time when it can be deceiving is when I put on headphones. Sometimes I think I hear noise on a channel when there isn't any.

Any activity that brings down the level of stress will also make it better. Exercise, meditation, taking walks, regular breaks, enough sleep. You should definitely use plugs and look into topics like Katz k-14 metering, loudness war etc.

A new approch to improving it is called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, you might want to look into that as well. There's even a Mac app called Tinnitus Tamer that claims to work along similar lines (retraining of neural networks), but I've no idea how well it works.

Here's hoping it'll go away soon!

 

sorry to hear of your problem and i hope it gets better


im screwed ever since a buckethead concert a few years ago, it was waaay too loud in the venue, several other people said so as well,a nd both my girlfriend of the time and myself have had tinnitis ever since, i couldnt hear very well for like 3 days after that concert..


the only way i can sleep is to have a fan running or some kind of white noise or else the "silence" is deafening..



also, hope smoking pot doesnt aggravate it or ill be deaf by 40 lol