Public opinion about marijuana and cannabinoids have changed incredibly in the last several decades. THC, cannabinoids, and even marijuana are legal for medical application in most states. Ten or fifteen years ago it would have been unthinkable for pot to be legal for recreational use but some states have even taken this step.
Cannabinoids are classified as a group of substances that comes from the cannabis or marijuana plant. Despite their recent decriminalization in certain states, we’re still discovering new things about cannabinoids. While we now are starting to know the countless medical advantages of these compounds, it has been acknowledged for some time that tinnitus could be brought about by cannabinoids.
There Are Numerous Types of Cannabinoids
There are many varieties of cannabinoids that can be consumed now. It isn’t just weed (or ganja, or pot…..ok, there are a lot of nicknames for marijuana so let’s move ahead). Pills, oils, mists and other forms of cannabinoids are currently obtainable.
The varieties of cannabinoids obtainable will vary depending on the state, and under federal law, many forms are still illegal if the amount of THC is over 0.3%. That’s why many people tend to be rather careful about cannabinoids.
The concern is that we don’t yet know much about some of the lasting side effects or risks of cannabinoid usage. Some new research into how cannabinoids affect your hearing is a prime example.
New Research Into Cannabinoids And How They Affect Hearing
Whatever you would like to call it, cannabinoids have long been linked to improving a wide variety of medical ailments. Vertigo, nausea, seizures, and more seem to be improved with cannabinoids, according to available anecdotal evidence. So could cannabinoids help with tinnitus? That’s what researchers resolved to figure out.
Seems as if cannabinoids could actually trigger tinnitus. Ringing in the ears was described by over 29% of participants after using cannabinoids. And these participants had never had tinnitus symptoms before the study. Furthermore, marijuana users were 20-times more likely to report experiencing tinnitus symptoms after 24 hours.
Added research suggested that marijuana use could worsen ear-ringing symptoms in people who already deal with tinnitus. So, it seems pretty certain that cannabinoids and tinnitus aren’t very compatible.
How Cannabinoids worsen tinnitus
Your tinnitus can be worsened by cannabinoids in a couple of tangible ways. First, the incidents of tinnitus symptoms can become more frequent, you might experience the buzzing or ringing in your ears more persistently. Also, your bouts of tinnitus can become more overwhelming when you’re using cannabinoids. More intense ringing that can be harder to ignore can be the result.
Cannabinoids have also been found to trigger the onset of tinnitus symptoms. Or, explained another way: if you didn’t have tinnitus before, you might develop tinnitus after using cannabinoids.
Unknown Causes of Tinnitus
Just because this link has been discovered doesn’t inevitably mean the underlying causes are very well grasped. That cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and on tinnitus is fairly clear. But it’s much less obvious what’s causing this impact.
But we recognize that using marijuana, unlike other mood altering substances like alcohol, will cause tinnitus.
Research, unquestionably, will continue. Cannabinoids these days come in so many types and forms that understanding the underlying link between these substances and tinnitus could help people make smarter choices.
Beware The Miracle Cure
There has certainly been no shortage of marketing hype concerning cannabinoids lately. Partly, that’s because of changing attitudes surrounding cannabinoids themselves (and, to some extent, is also a reflection of a desire to turn away from opioid use). But cannabinoids can and sometimes do produce undesirable effects, based on this new research, and this is especially true regarding hearing.
The marketing about cannabinoids has been extremely assertive and you can’t entirely escape all of the fanatics.
But tinnitus and cannabinoids are clearly associated based on this research. So if you have tinnitus, or if you’re concerned about tinnitus it might be worth steering clear of cannabinoids if possible, no matter how many ads for CBD oil you might run into. The connection between cannabinoids and tinnitus symptoms has been pretty securely established by the research, so it’s worth being careful.
