OT: Jehn's (and anyone else's tinitus)

["Rick Walker \(loop.pool\)" <GLOBAL@cruzio.com>]

Tinitus is nerve damage and western audiologist believe that there is
nothing to be done about it.  I struggled with it for years having played a
lot of high decibel
new wave, rock, funk, soul and world beat music.

Eastern doctors (accupuncturists) have a completely different take on it 
and
I, for one am living proof.  After one horrible
four night, four set gig with a really obnoxiously loud bass player I sat 
in
bed one night weeping because I could hardly sleep
with how loud the whistling was in my ear's.

My accupuncturist urged the use of
1) rest to my ears
2) the use of earplugs (which I still can't make myself wear
3) the herb formula Lie Wei (sp?) which can be found in any good chinese
medicinal herb store
and
4)  a very unusual and highly effective
physical therapy technique that really worked for me:

to wit:
a)with your first finger of both hands, close the flap of skin at the front
of your ears so that it completely covers the
opening to the ear canal.

b) Now,  with the middle finger, tap strongly onto the back of
your first finger exactly twelve times (the chinese are very into 
numerology
which this poor boy's cartesian, skeptical upbringing
makes it difficult to understand but you just can't argue with success)

c)wait a second and concentrate on the ringing.
You will hear the volume go down. I have even
discovered that if you actually try to
audiohallucinate the volume going down rapidly it seems to have a strong
effect---I just figured this out by myself but my accupuncturist says, "you
can't argue with success".

d)  repeat this procedure two more times (for a total of three repitions of
twelve strikes each).  This has worked miracles with my ears.  I hope it
works for you.

5)  drink a lot of water and get a lot of sleep. The chinese believe that
ear problems are directly related to Kidney chi, which
is adversely affected by lack of hydration and lack of sleep.  They also
believe that
a lot of fear response comes from the lack of these two vital ways that we
nurture ourselves.
I've been a night owl, decadent musician all of my life so it has been hard
to do all of these things but I have to admit, when I can get myself to do
them, my tinitus gets way quiet and frequently goes completely away.

6)  Find a really good accupuncurist, realize that the needles do NOT hurt
and get them to give you fresh herb formulas which are more potent.

The best of luck to all of you sufferers of
tinitus and other nerve damage to the ears.

yours,  Rick Walker