If you search online, you'll find hundreds of sites dealing with tinnitus. The annoying ringing in your ear that drives you nuts can be cured. If only you buy this product.
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In one video, a man speaks to the camera, telling his heart-wrenching story. "Almost three years ago, I was holding a gun to my head, ready to blow my brains out..." He was about to pull the trigger "...when I took one last look into my son's tearful eyes. The bullet passed dangerously close to my wife's cheek..."
Then we're told about the "...underbelly of the multi-billion-dollar medicine industry controlled by government and elite societies".
The next clue is that the website prevents you from skipping through the hour-long video. If you persist, you'll be shown intimidating diagrams with neuroscience terms to convince you of their tinnitus cure.
Further searching reveals hundreds of websites claiming to review this product and others. Which you can also buy.
According to one site, "Your brain is a ticking time-bomb and tinnitus is the emergency alert".
One product has ingredients such as vitamin C, which "reduces tinnitus as it affects directly on inner ear walls". Vitamin B6 "reduces stress and improves brain functions". It also contains various herbs, including hibiscus flower ("betters hearing") and juniper berry (a "detoxifier ingredient" that "cleanses the blood naturally").
While there are certainly beneficial herbs, the US Mayo Clinic warns that "anything strong enough to produce a positive effect ... is also strong enough to carry risk". This suggests that it's worth seeking medical advice before embarking on "natural" treatments.
While conventional medicine can be costly and sometimes impersonal, at least it attempts to substantiate its claims.
When done properly, science is a method that involves rigorously validating itself.
It is not perfect and, like any human endeavour, it can be subject to group-think or vested interests. However, over time, it is a powerful tool for whittling out falsehoods in a sometimes brutal, ego-crushing process.
In any event, the general consensus is that there is not yet a cure for tinnitus.
While concoctions of vitamins, bachu leaves and hawthorne berry are probably harmless, there's a good chance they will trigger the placebo effect.
That in itself is a scientific mystery because it shows how the mind can affect the body. It is strong enough that any rigorous trial must take it into account.
It also offers a clue as to how to approach tinnitus. We will deal with that in a future Ask Fuzzy.
If you need help, contact your local branch of Better Hearing Australia.
The Fuzzy Logic Science Show is 11am Sundays on 2xx 98.3FM.
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