Tinnitus: a problem that affects our daily life

Tinnitus is a problem for both the doctor and the patient, classically defined as the perception of one or more sounds without an external source of emission.

If your perception is only a few seconds it can be considered normal, but if it lasts several hours or days, a consultation with an ENT specialist is necessary. It is estimated that in Spain more than 800,000 people suffer from it.

• Related article: "The 10 parts of the ear and the process of receiving sound"

Tinnitus Treatments

The causes, as well as the treatments, are multiple, but the most important thing remains to make a correct diagnosis and rule out organic causes.

It is essential to assess the psycho-emotional component of tinnitus. The therapist's vision must be multidisciplinary, based on the intervention of the otorhinolaryngologist, the psychologist or psychiatrist, and the audiologist or hearing aid professional.

Among the therapies we find: pharmacology, vagal stimulation, acoustic stimulation therapy, transcranial therapy magnetic therapy, psychological training and habituation therapy, and laser phototherapy, which acts biologically with its own changes physical-chemical. In any case,

it will be the medical specialist who will assess the appropriate treatment for each patient.

Vagal stimulation and its effectiveness in the treatment of tinnitus

Vagal stimulation tries to regulate the vagal nuclei of the brainstem through the stimulation of the endings that this system has in the pinna.

The function of maintaining internal functional balance (homeostasis) depends on the autonomic nervous system, which participates in the so-called "physiological expression of stress". With the help of vagal stimulation, it is possible to compensate for the situation of physical and mental stress derived from multiple situations.

Vagal stimulation It is especially indicated to treat disorders related to anxiety and / or stress such as tinnitus, the treatment of compulsive behaviors and addictions, sleep disorders, mood disorders, as well as for the treatment of painful processes.

It is a gentle and painless treatment that is very effective and has a large body of literature that reflects its benefits and efficiency.

Many of the events that happen to us in our lives can be classified as stressful. A stressful phenomenon, according to the WHO, is "anyone who generates reactions in the body to prepare it for action or, what would be the same, prepare it to adapt to a new situation." The newest thing in this whole question is that, currently, we know the types of reactions or changes that occur and where they occur.

We are subjected to many stressful situations (emotional impacts, experiences that generate excessive tension, prolonged worries, aggressive treatments, even a way of living too fast and with many difficulties) and therefore doomed to our body generating reactions and functional imbalances internal

The function of maintaining internal functional balance (homeostasis) depends on the autonomic nervous system, which is composed of two subsystems: the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). This essential regulatory system is complex and consists of both nuclei located in the central nervous system and nerves that contribute to the regulation of various target organs.

The perception of alleged aggressions and threats to our biological system causes a decrease in vagal tone and an increase in sympathetic tone, and it is this imbalance that can be used to develop definitions of stress.

This imbalance of our own autonomic system can cause the appearance of various pathologies, among others, tinnitus, which, if it responds to an anxiogenic pathological basis, is appropriate to receive Vagal Stimulation Therapy with satisfactory results.

If many of the circumstances already mentioned in this article and that have been called stressful generate a modification in our balance internal physiological (due to a decrease in the vagal parasympathetic tone, which generates symptoms of a very varied nature), but also situations that can become chronic and, therefore, with the ability to produce sequelae, it is logical to think that if we prop up the vagal tone, through its stimulation through the pinna, Both the severity of the symptoms derived from the imbalance, as well as the appearance of some of these manifestations and possibly the chronification of these alterations can be avoided that will generate the sequels.

Combined treatment at Clínica Lasery

At the Lasery Clinic, Dr. Hack, specialist in Otolaryngology and Cervico-facial Pathology, and Eva Mª Beteta Marco, psychologist, collaborate in the treatment of patients with tinnitus from both disciplines from an integrated view of the themselves. That is, applying on the one hand the medical treatment, consisting of the administration of orthomolecular nutrition for the ear and sessions of laser in the ear and, on the other hand, psychological treatment, which, in turn, combines vagal stimulation therapy with psychological guidelines that help reduce stress and anxiety that may be favoring the maintenance of symptom.