For years, traditional medicine told us that tinnitus was a permanent condition, a constant noise we had to learn to endure. However, new work by Dr. Dean Ornish, a specialist in chronic inflammation, suggests this view is wrong. He and his wife, Anne, who suffered from tinnitus for years, have found an approach that promises to reverse the causes of the condition.

The central finding of the research is that tinnitus may not begin in the ear, but in the brain. A study conducted in Germany, focusing on the trigeminal nerve, showed that inflammation in this nerve was present in 92% of tinnitus patients. This inflammation, caused by molecules known as cytokines, creates hypersensitivity in the nervous system, causing normal signals to be amplified and interpreted as the ringing, hissing, or buzzing you hear. Dr. Ornish warns that, if left untreated, this inflammation can spread, leading to serious neurological problems.

To combat this inflammation at its root, Dr. Ornish and his team have developed a natural three-step protocol. The first step focuses on reducing inflammation and calming the nerves using a combination of amino acids. The second step aims to protect the nervous system against future attacks, while the third fine-tunes frequencies to help the brain filter out phantom noises.

The effectiveness of this new approach was tested on a group of 59 people who had lived with tinnitus for years. According to Dr. Ornish, all participants reported improvements, with the tinnitus either disappearing or becoming very faint. Additionally, many participants’ overall hearing improved, and they experienced greater mental clarity and better quality sleep.