Public opinion about marijuana and cannabinoids have changed incredibly in the past few decades. THC, cannabinoids, and even marijuana are legal for medical use in most states. Far fewer states have legalized marijuana for recreational uses, but even that would have been unthinkable even just a decade ago.
Cannabinoids are classified as a group of substances produced from the cannabis or marijuana plant. Despite their recent decriminalization in some states, we’re still finding out new things about cannabinoids. While we now are beginning to accept the many medical positive aspects of these compounds, it has been well known for some time that tinnitus could be activated by cannabinoids.
There Are Several Forms of Cannabinoids
These days, cannabinoids can be consumed in many forms. It isn’t just weed (or ganja, or pot…..ok, there are plenty of nicknames for marijuana so let’s move forward). Oils, mists, pills and other forms of cannabinoids are currently available.
The types of cannabinoids available will vary state by state, and many of those varieties are still officially illegal under federal law if the THC content is over 0.3%. That’s the reason why many people tend to be quite cautious about cannabinoids.
We still need more research and experience before we will truly know the long term and side effects of cannabinoids. Some current research into how cannabinoids influence your hearing is a perfect example.
New Studies Into Cannabinoids And How They Affect Hearing
A large number of ailments and medical conditions are believed to be improved by cannabinoids, whatever you like to call it. According to information that is anecdotally available, conditions including Nausea, seizures, vertigo, and many more seem to be helped by cannabinoids. So could cannabinoids assist with tinnitus? That’s exactly what scientists resolved to figure out.
Seems as if cannabinoids may actually trigger tinnitus. Ringing in the ears was documented by more than 29% of participants after using cannabinoids. And that’s in people who had never had tinnitus before. What’s more, marijuana users were 20-times more likely to report experiencing tinnitus symptoms after 24 hours.
And for those who already suffered from tinnitus, marijuana use caused it to get worse. In a nutshell, there’s some very compelling evidence that tinnitus and cannabinoids don’t really mix very well.
How Cannabinoids Make Tinnitus Worse
Your tinnitus can be intensified by cannabinoids in a couple of tangible ways. The first is that your tinnitus can become more frequent. Cannabinoids can also cause tinnitus symptoms to become more intense. Louder ringing that can be harder to dismiss can be the result.
The research also seems to reveal that cannabinoids are capable of causing the development of the initial symptoms of tinnitus. To put it a different way: after you start using cannabinoids you might start to experience tinnitus symptoms even if you had no symptoms before.
Unknown Causes of Tinnitus
We know there is a link between tinnitus and certain triggers but we’re still uncertain what the actual underlying causes are. It’s clear that cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and symptoms of tinnitus. But what’s causing that impact is much less evident.
But we recognize that marijuana use, unlike other mood altering substances like alcohol, will cause tinnitus.
Of course, we will keep doing research. Cannabinoids these days come in so many options and forms that learning the root connection between these substances and tinnitus should help individuals make better decisions.
The Miracle Cure Beware
There has definitely been no shortage of marketing hype associated with cannabinoids recently. In part, that’s due to changing mindsets about cannabinoids themselves (and, to an extent, is also a reflection of a desire to go away from opioids). But this new research makes it clear that cannabinoids can and do bring about some negative consequence, particularly if you’re worried about your hearing.
You’ll never be able to escape all of the cannabinoid fanatics and evangelists out there, the marketing for cannabinoids has been especially assertive.
But tinnitus and cannabinoids are clearly associated based on this research. So no matter how many ads you see for CBD oils, if you’re worried about tinnitus, you should most likely keep away from them. It’s worth being careful when the connection between cannabinoids and tinnitus has been so solidly established.