Tinnitus: a product of low GABA?

Three brass bells.
(Illustration by MRhea using Leonardo.Ai.)

(See my March 24, 2013 post for results of my experiments with GABA supplements.)

According to this ScienceDaily article on a new study about tinnitus, when a hair cell is damaged or dies, the neurons usually receiving input from it keep firing anyway, even though there’s no data coming in.

Read more: Tinnitus: a product of low GABA?

They “become more excitable and fire spontaneously,” as if they have a quota to fill. Thus the constant ringing. The study showed that “tinnitus is correlated with lower levels of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid).” GABA supplements are available over the counter, but this article implies that drugs to raise GABA in humans are not available, which is confusing.

My experience with tinnitus

As to my own experience with tinnitus, I can only offer these observations:

  • I believe I first noticed it when I was getting off antidepressants. They $*&@ things up in all sorts of ways, so it’s not surprising. In fact, I bet they’re also responsible for the Black Plague and cellulite.
  • I noticed a reduction in hearing after a three-day car drive across the country in a compact car with lousy sound insulation.
  • It waxes and wanes, but I haven’t found a pattern.
  • It is getting slowly but gradually worse.
  • Occasionally it cuts out entirely for a few seconds.
  • Iron definitely makes it worse.

Publish and update info

This post was published on September 18, 2011 and updated on June 21, 2013 and in August 2023.

3 thoughts on “Tinnitus: a product of low GABA?”

    • I took Zoloft, at the smallest dosage you can take without cutting the pill, which I cannot remember at the moment. Yes, I became aware of the tinnitus as I was titrating off the Zoloft.

  1. This is golddust! I have had tinnitus since I was a kid and used to get a lot of ear infections. It still bugs me now so I can’t wait to give it a try! Thanks for the tip.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.