Hear the birds all the time, and the sound of springs is everywhere. The beautiful sounds of nature are intoxicating. However, some people are always disturbed by "noise" - tinnitus. Tinnitus is not painful or itchy, and it is not a terminal illness, but it makes people upset and sleepless. March 3 is the National Love Ear Day, Chief Physician Li Yun, Director of the Artificial Hearing Implantation Center of the Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, told reporters that the tinnitus population is huge, accounting for about 20%-30% of the otolaryngology outpatient clinics, of which the majority are middle-aged and elderly people; In the hearing clinic, more than 40% of patients complain of tinnitus.
Tinnitus is a symptom that "happens for a reason".
Li Yun is examining the patient's ear.
Ms. Wu is 30 years old, after giving birth to a child at home as a full-time mother, due to irregular work and rest, she always stays up late to play with her mobile phone after the child falls asleep, and will also be emotional because of trivial matters in life, and often has insomnia at night. Slowly, she found that she had tinnitus symptoms, like a swarm of bees circling around her head, which caused a lot of trouble to her life, and often put her spirit on the verge of collapse because of these factors.
After the physical examination and understanding of Ms. Wu's daily routine, Li Yun told her that tinnitus lasting less than 3 months is generally defined as acute tinnitus, tinnitus lasting between 3-6 months is called subacute, and more than 6 months is classified as chronic tinnitus.
Tinnitus is the sensation that a person has sound in the ear or skull in the absence of an external sound source. Tinnitus can be any sound, a single sound or a combination of sounds, such as buzzing, hissing, etc. However, tinnitus is only a symptom, just like a fever, and only by finding the root cause of tinnitus can you make a ** plan. ”
Li Yun said that depending on the length of onset, the severity of the condition and the degree of impact on the patient, the best plan may be different for different patients.
In general, for those who can clearly **, especially acute patients with hearing loss, it is often possible to get a good intervention through ***. In the acute stage, through drugs that improve inner ear circulation, such as vasodilators, fibrinolytic drugs, neurotrophic drugs, etc., minor lesions of the inner ear can be repaired, so that the tinnitus disappears, and the sooner the first, the better the efficacy; In the chronic phase, it is difficult for drugs** to completely repair the neuropathy of the inner ear, and the efficacy is "greatly reduced".
Tinnitus** is probably a "world problem".
Ms. Wu's case is very common in clinical practice, because of long-term irregular work and rest, mood swings, insomnia and fatigue leading to tinnitus; There are also many young people who use headphones for a long time in their lives, or are exposed to noise for a long time, and these bad habits may lead to tinnitus. In addition to hearing ringing, tinnitus is often accompanied by sleep disturbances, irritability, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, and depression. Patients with tinnitus have a higher incidence of psychological or psychiatric disorders, with anxiety and depression being the most common.
Li Yun also said frankly that tinnitus is complex, the pathogenesis is not clear, and the auditory nervous system and non-auditory nervous system, autonomic nervous system, limbic system, etc. are all related to tinnitus. There are also many patients with chronic subjective tinnitus who do not have hearing impairment in routine hearing testing, and the cause of the disease cannot be found, which is even more difficult.
While chronic tinnitus** may not be effective, it's not completely impossible**. For example, the commonly used clinical sound is to integrate the customized sound into the sound or the sound of nature, so that the patient can listen regularly and quantitatively, so that the patient's central nervous system can relatively weaken the recognition of tinnitus, so as to achieve the patient's adaptation to tinnitus; Behavioral cognition** can "minimize" the adverse effects caused by tinnitus by improving the patient's adverse psychological state, and gradually adapt to tinnitus.
Li Yun met an old man in his 60s, who had been deaf for more than 2 years, although it was not serious, but it was accompanied by very serious tinnitus. He saw a lot of doctors, used various methods, and the tinnitus still followed. After many inquiries, the old man found Li Yun, and he learned that he could use cochlear implants to form tinnitus, so he asked for cochlear implants. Li Yun said that patients like this kind of deafness accompanied by tinnitus can indeed use cochlear implants, and the old man really no longer has tinnitus after surgery. However, it is not suitable for all people with tinnitus.
Tinnitus and deafness are "not directly related."
Many people have experienced tinnitus, most of the time it is transient, but if the tinnitus is aggravated and accompanied by symptoms of hearing loss, you should be vigilant and should go to the hospital in time. ”
Li Yun explained that tinnitus may hide a variety of diseases, which can be like a warning light for physical health conditions, such as otitis media, sudden deafness, acoustic neuroma, Meniere's disease, etc. In addition, cerebrovascular accidents, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, etc. can also be the causes of tinnitus.
At present, there is great social pressure, and the group of tinnitus patients is showing a trend of younger people. Recently, Li Yun received a white-collar worker from a foreign company, Miss Zhou, who suddenly lost hearing in her ears and was accompanied by persistent tinnitus. It turned out that Miss Zhou was in charge of holding meetings in the company recently, staying up late every day to work overtime, and in the second half of the night, she had difficulty sleeping, and she was under great pressure at work, and she was infected with the flu, which eventually led to sudden deafness accompanied by tinnitus symptoms.
However, there are also some people who have no complicated cause behind their tinnitus, but they follow it and linger, can these people's tinnitus cause deafness for a long time? Li Yun said that although most deafness is accompanied by tinnitus, tinnitus and deafness are not directly related. As long as diseases such as acoustic neuroma and nasopharyngeal cancer are ruled out, tinnitus is not a major problem. "There are also patients with tinnitus for decades, and it is not necessarily hearing loss. Li Yun said that if no disease is detected, but the tinnitus persists, it is better to accept the tinnitus and live peacefully with it.
Author: Zuo Yan (Xinmin Evening News Gold Coast Studio).
*: Xinmin Evening News.