24Mar 2013 by Marjorie 4 Comments

GABA, GABA, GABA, hey the ringing’s not so bad anymore

supplements
In this 2011 post I referred to a ScienceDaily report linking low GABA levels and tinnitus. Since then I've used GABA for nine months or so? in two different formulations, but for sleep issues, not specifically for ear ringing. In fact I kind of forgot about the tinnitus thing. But now I can share the following. The first day I tried plain old GABA, in maybe a 1,000 mg dose -- I don't piddle around -- the ringing cut out completely, with a sort of wwwwwOP! sensation, for about a minute. It does that every 18 months or so anyway, but still. The straight GABA made me sleepy but, as I mentioned here, made it hard to breathe. (Now I'm wondering if this was because I wasn't taking it with…
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18Sep 2011 by Marjorie 3 Comments

Tinnitus: a product of low GABA?

symptoms and conditions
Updated June 21, 2013 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. They "become more excitable and fire spontaneously," as if they have a quota to fill. Thus the constant ringing. The study in question 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. Anyway, I've put it on my list of things to try. Update: See my March 24, 2013 post for results of my experiments with this. As to my…
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