Public opinion about cannabinoids and marijuana have transformed remarkably in the past several decades. The majority of states currently permit the use of marijuana, THC, or cannabinoid compounds for medicinal purposes. Far fewer states have legalized pot for recreational purposes, but even that would have been unthinkable even just ten or fifteen years ago.
A group of substances originating from the cannabis plant (the marijuana plant, essentially) are known as cannabinoids. New things are being uncovered about cannabinoids all the time in spite of their recent decriminalization in some states. We usually think of these particular compounds as possessing universal healing properties, but established research implies there might also be negative impact such as a strong connection between cannabinoid use and the development of tinnitus symptoms.
Cannabinoids Have Many Kinds
There are lots of varieties of cannabinoids that can be taken now. It isn’t just weed (or ganja, or refer…..ok, there are lots of nicknames for marijuana so let’s move forward). Pills, oils, mists and other forms of cannabinoids are currently available.
Each state has it’s own laws regarding which forms of cannabinoids you can get, and many of those forms are still technically illegal under federal law if the THC content is over 0.3%. So it’s still common for people to be very cautious about cannabinoids.
We still require more study and experience before we will really understand the long lasting and side effects of cannabinoids. One example is the new insight about how cannabinoids influence your hearing.
Cannabinoids And Your Hearing, Some New Studies
Whatever you want to call it, cannabinoids have long been linked to helping a wide variety of medical ailments. Seizures, nausea, vertigo, and more seem to be helped with cannabinoids, according to anecdotally available evidence. So scientists resolved to see if cannabinoids could help with tinnitus, as well.
Seems as if cannabinoids may actually cause tinnitus. According to the research, more than 20% of study participants who used cannabinoid products reported hearing a ringing in their ears. 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.
Additional research suggested that marijuana use could exacerbate ear-ringing symptoms in people who already have tinnitus. In other words, there’s some pretty convincing evidence that cannabinoids and tinnitus don’t really mix very well.
How Cannabinoids worsen tinnitus
There are a couple of tangible ways in which cannabinoids can cause your tinnitus to get worse. First, the incidents of tinnitus symptoms can get more frequent, you could notice the ringing or buzzing in your ears more persistently. Also, your struggles with tinnitus can get more intense when you’re using cannabinoids. More intense ringing that can be much harder to dismiss can be the result.
Cannabinoids have also been demonstrated to cause the onset of tinnitus symptoms. To put it a different way: after you begin using cannabinoids you might develop tinnitus symptoms even if you had no symptoms before.
The Causes of Tinnitus Are Unclear
Just because this connection has been discovered doesn’t inevitably mean the underlying causes are very well grasped. It’s evident that cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and symptoms of tinnitus. But it’s far less clear what’s causing this impact.
But we do know that marijuana is one of the few commonly used mood-altering substances that brings about tinnitus (alcohol, for example, hasn’t been demonstrated to have a strong connection with tinnitus).
Of course, we will continue to do the research. Cannabinoids nowadays come in so many options and forms that discovering the fundamental connection between these substances and tinnitus should help individuals make better decisions.
The Miracle Cure Beware
There has undeniably been no lack of marketing hype surrounding cannabinoids in recent years. That’s partly because mindsets are changing about cannabinoids (and, to an extent, is also a reflection of a desire to move away from opioids). But this new research clearly demonstrates that cannabinoids can and do create some negative effects, particularly if you’re concerned about your hearing.
You’ll never be able to steer clear of all of the cannabinoid fanatics and evangelists out there, the marketing of cannabinoids has been very aggressive.
But cannabinoids and tinnitus are clearly connected based on this research. So if you suffer from tinnitus, or if you’re worried about tinnitus it might be worth keeping away from cannabinoids if possible, regardless of how many ads for CBD oil you may run into. It’s worth being careful when the connection between tinnitus and cannabinoids has been so solidly demonstrated.