Caffeine, dehydration and sodium does increase tinnitus in some people. Also I’ve found a direct connection between taking aspirin (or any NSAID’s) and the development of severe tinnitus for at least 2 or 3 days. I can’t take any meds in that class of drugs. The tinnitus is incredibly severe. Makes sense because those drugs cause tissue “dehydration”.
I have a question for the group. Has anyone else noticed the lack of daily sun exposure causing an increase in tinnitus, and severity? I live in Arkansas and have no issues with tinnitus from April - mid-Oct and it completely subsides while on beach vacations. I’m in the sun 2 to 8 hours a day in the summer and it disappears in a week or two of heavy sun exposure. Between Oct-March I get very little direct sun exposure and I’ve had to find other solutions. Less caffeine, “massage” the tonsils (or back of throat) causes drainage and over 2 or 3 days reduces tinnitus. Drinking LOTS of water everyday and limiting sodium helps. Also avoiding laying horizontal (in bed) more than 6 or 7 hours helps. One more thing I learned that helps. Quickly moving my head around into different angles relative to the floor. Basically “jostling” the fluids in my sinuses seems to create drainage that reduces tinnitus. If I do this a couple times a day for 5 min or so I can usually reduce/eliminate it. Caffeine is my biggest problem though. Too much caffeine and only heavy sun exposure is effective.
Last thing - which is probably obvious - healthy stress management and exercise helps tremendously. Periods of high unresolved stress causes me to get severe tinnitus, if I don’t take preventive measures.
Best of luck.
