Exciting news from university of Michigan

[Lesley2065]

Has anyone else read about the treatment being trialled at the university of Michigan ? Seems like it maybe the way forward if its to be believed. Although it does say its not for everyone so maybe it wont be suitable for most of us but they may be onto something that can hopefully be expanded to suit more people. Will be keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this is the break through we've all been waiting for. X

[Hellsbells181]

Every now and again these trials pop up but it's the sponsors who are behind them generating false hope for monetary reasons. For example, there's hundreds of gadgets purporting to ease the suffering of Tinnitus victims but none claim a complete cure.

If you go to the Tinnitus clinic in Edinburgh you'll be asked to fork out £4,000 for Tinnitus treatment but get no guarantee of a cure,only a lessening of the noise.

The article your referring to claim that 2 people were completely cured and many more had a had significant reductions to the noise signal? These are studies financed by private companies to get a licence to profit out of a condition that they know cannot be measured and has baffled real researchers of the condition for a long long time. I get angry at the subterfuge of these clinical trials.Tinnitus is open season for these commercial cowboys to exploit the sufferings of millions of people. The give away is the usual claim that a few people out of a hundred had completely no noise and the rest a significant reduction of noise?

My wife has visiting Tinnitus,it comes and goes. Sorry to dampen your hopes and all that but as I say Tinnitus is open season,an ideal target of the unscrupulous elememts of private medicine.

[whywouldi in reply to Hellsbells181]

Hi HELLSBELLS, WHILE I AGREE WITH YOU THAT MANY UNSCRUPULOUS COWBOYS WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE DESPERATE AND WEAK,YOU CANNOT TURN YOUR BACK AND PAINT THEM ALL WITH THE SAME BRUSH,WHERE THERE IS HOPE LIFE WILL SURVIVE,WITHOUT HOPE THEY MAY AS WELL BRING THE CURTAIN DOWN......REGARDS JEFF

[Hellsbells181 in reply to whywouldi]

Jeffrey I could not agree more with your comment. I didn't' even need my glasses on to read your reply.You see I know from long experience at reading these studies in the media by the way the analysis is framed that it is a commercial and not a 100 percent medical study . I've seen this advertised time and time again.

[whywouldi]

Hi Lesley, was this an online article ,or newspaper article about michigan, I would like to see what they are saying,....regards Jeff

[Lesley2065 in reply to whywouldi]

Its been in newspapers, including daily mail and online, dont have the link for it though but you can probably google it. May just be another false hope but they say they are going to do larger trials and Nic from BTA has mentioned it so must be some truth to it. Guess we will all just have to wait and see what happens x

[whywouldi in reply to Lesley2065]

Thanks Lesley,I will go surfing,if nothing else the surfing takes my mind of T

[drumcraw in reply to Lesley2065]

the article I was referring to was ina science journal and not readily available for the public I cant remember the name as we only saw apage from it at the local tinnitus help group meeting in edinburgh

[Keoni]

Hi, Lesley,

I would say take any such news of a "breakthrough" with a very large dollop of skepticism. If medical researchers can't cure the common cold, what chance do they have of curing something that affects sufferers in so many different ways? According to a You Tube video of one of the people involved it works best on those who can modulate their tinnitus by pressing on their forehead or around the ears. That must rule out a lot of sufferers, myself included.

At best, it may help some (and if it does, then obviously it's great news) and may indeed be a new kind of masker; at worst it would give false hope to anyone expecting an immediate cure.

Oh, how I wish that could be true, though.

Respectfully submitted

[Lesley2065 in reply to Keoni]

Hi Keoni,

Your right it might only just work for the minority and it does state this in the artical and for those that can ease there tinnitus as you have described but at least it shows they are trying to find a treatment for us if nothing else. The trouble is it can be misleading and really they should wait to see how the larger trials go before making any announcements.

Lesley

[Hellsbells181 in reply to Keoni]

Sensible comment Leslie. I've seen similar claims in health catalogues. Where they claim " If we can't completly cure your Tinnitus then you will have it significantly improved" The word significantly covers them legally to continue operating snd peddling false hope .

I don't see anything in this whatsoever.

[Ruud1boy]

Is it possible that there could be a more a noble aim behind this, rather than big business seeking to profit from our misery? From the admittedly little reading I've done on this, it looks like the research is being done by university academics, has been ongoing for a good few years and is being funded by a US Govt agency and a philanthropic foundation, rather than any commercial interests.

Let's face it any research into T, whoever's doing it, must only be a good thing surely?

[whywouldi in reply to Ruud1boy]

Hi,Ruudboy...I completely agree,If we were all professional Cynics,the academics with the brains and Education to do something about this vile godless pitiless,monstrosity,would use there talents elsewhere,regards Jeff

[NicTinnitus]

It's interesting news, and it's a study that has been run by a very reputable lab.

You can read more about it here:

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/s...

There's a number of devices around that work on using two forms of stimulus - MuteButton is another one - and it's looking like a promising line of enquiry.

As ever, there's a couple of points I want to make before everyone gets over excited (and it isn't just me who has made them, the study team has as well!)

It was tested on a very small group (20 people)

It is used for 30 minutes a day every day for 4 weeks

It reduced the perception of tinnitus by an average of 12dB but for most people didn’t make it disappear

Effects only lasted two weeks

It only works on people with somatic tinnitus – ie tinnitus which can be altered by pressing a part of the face, moving their jaw etc

So, further research and development is needed. I believe that the researchers are already undertaking this. A commercial device is some way off yet!

I'm going to try to get an interview with the study leader, but she's a very busy person. Hopefully though she'll have a few words for us!

Nic

[whywouldi in reply to NicTinnitus]

thank you for the SP,hope you manage to get an interview,.....reg jeff

[Jimmuck]

IF this is actually proven to work and is implemented as an effective cure, by the time it becomes available on the NHS I will be long gone lol

[whywouldi in reply to Jimmuck]

ditto!

[jbradford42]

I would give my right arm for silence still think I’m going crazy sometimes.