Will Cutting Out Coffee Stop My Tinnitus?
As soon as we hear another story about a magical tinnitus solution or a breakthrough food product that will heal the ringing in your ears we all tend to have a knee jerk reaction (myself formally included). But before you chuck out the cappuccino machine or swear off the lattes for life. I advise you to first of all thoroughly examine your relationship with your tinnitus.
Why I’m writing this? Primarily because I used to be someone who jumped at every tinnitus recommendation or potential cure that I searched for on Google. Whether it was eating blueberries by the ton or eliminating chocolate from my life, I’ve done it all. And I must say now, looking back, it was exhausting and only served to reinforce the presence of tinnitus in my life, in other words I constantly gave my tinnitus center stage. Thankfully I gave up on all that when I finally understood the relationship I had with my own tinnitus was the primary reason why I was “suffering” from it.
I’m not really singling out coffee it could be wine, chocolate, sugar or wheat. But recently I did read an article on coffee titled “Eliminating coffee cured my tinnitus”.
I’m not denying that coffee or caffeine might exasperate or heighten your tinnitus, as coffee is a stimulant. And I’m not denying that wine if overly consumed could perhaps exaggerate your tinnitus (as well as give you a headache the next day) and if you do truly want to eliminate coffee from your diet then all the power to you.
What I’m trying to say is try not to become preoccupied into thinking that eliminating coffee is the answer to your prayers. Yes, in some cases it might offer you a temporary feeling of relief (as caffeine can stimulate many brain activities and heighten awareness and perception). But sadly even when one has eliminated coffee from ones diet, in many cases it eventually returns to a perceived level of annoyance to plague you once more. And more often than not, you’ll once again you find yourself on the merry go round of looking to eliminate something else from your life.
Be mindful of where are you putting your focus
There is an end to your suffering but it isn’t in the form of a pill or cutting out coffee. It will not come via external forces neither will it come from chasing the next super food. The tinnitus cure is within you, it starts by accepting and it ends with letting go. When we look for relief outside of our own mind and body we are ignoring our own emotional response to our tinnitus.
When we truly learn to see tinnitus suffering as a condition of a hypersensitive nervous system we can eventually set ourselves free from suffering.
Before I end this blog post, ask yourself this one question.
“Why is it the majority of people who have tinnitus simply aren’t bothered by their condition? And before you answer; “Well, mine is louder” researchers have found that it has nothing to do with the pitch, tone, volume or type. Rather it has everything to do with the suffering individual’s nervous reaction to the stimuli. In fact many doctors prescribe antidepressants as a last resort for chronic tinnitus sufferers. But this does not stop your tinnitus; it simply changes your emotional relationship and therefore your perception of the noise.
So my advice is go have that bottle of wine with friends or that latte whilst watching the world go by, it’ll probably do more good for your health in the long run than stressing out over eliminating coffee or a nice glass of wine. And as for your tinnitus goes, try something different for a change!
Rewire your response and you’ll bypass your condition, you can learn to listen beyond tinnitus!
