Public opinion surrounding marijuana and cannabinoids have transformed incredibly over the last several decades. Many states now allow the use of marijuana, THC, or cannabinoid products for medicinal uses. A decade ago it would have been unimaginable for marijuana to be legal for recreational usage but some states have even passed this law.
Cannabinoids are classified as a group of substances produced from the cannabis or marijuana plant. Regardless of their recent decriminalization in some states, we’re still discovering new things about cannabinoids. Despite the fact that we now are starting to recognize the numerous medical beneficial properties of these chemical substances, it has been acknowledged for a while that tinnitus might be brought about by cannabinoids.
Cannabinoids Have Many Types
Nowadays, cannabinoids can be taken in lots of forms. It’s not just pot (or refer, or grass… look, let’s just all agree right now that marijuana has a significant number of nicknames and move on). Nowadays, THC and cannabinoids can be obtained in pill form, as lotions, as inhaled vapor, and more.
Each state has it’s own regulations regarding what types of cannabinoids you can purchase, and under federal law, many forms are still illegal if the THC content is more than 0.3%. That’s why many people tend to be very cautious about cannabinoids.
The concern is that we don’t yet know much about some of the long term side effects or risks of cannabinoid usage. Some new research into how cannabinoids impact your hearing is a good example.
Cannabinoids And Your Hearing, Some New Studies
A wide variety of ailments and medical conditions are believed to be improved by cannabinoids, regardless of what you like to call it. Based on information that is anecdotally available, conditions including vertigo, nausea, seizures, and many more seem to be helped by cannabinoids. So could cannabinoids assist with tinnitus? That’s just what scientists decided to find out.
Tinnitus could actually be triggered by cannabinoid use, as it turns out. Based on the research, more than 20% of study participants who used cannabinoid products documented 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 having tinnitus symptoms after 24 hours.
Further research suggested that marijuana use could exacerbate ear-ringing symptoms in individuals who already suffer from tinnitus. So, it seems fairly certain that tinnitus and cannabinoids aren’t very compatible.
How Cannabinoids Make Tinnitus Worse
Your tinnitus can be worsened by cannabinoids in a couple of tangible ways. First off, the incidents of tinnitus symptoms can get more consistent, you could experience the ringing or buzzing in your ears more frequently. Also, your struggles with tinnitus can get more overwhelming when you use cannabinoids. More intense ringing that can be much harder to dismiss can be the result.
Cannabinoids have also been demonstrated to lead to the onset of tinnitus symptoms. Or, said another way: after you start using cannabinoids you might develop tinnitus symptoms even if you had no symptoms before.
Uncertain Causes of Tinnitus
Just because this link has been discovered doesn’t inevitably mean the underlying causes are all that well grasped. That cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and on tinnitus is fairly clear. But it’s much less clear what’s causing this impact.
But we know that using marijuana, unlike other mood altering substances like alcohol, will cause tinnitus.
Research, unquestionably, will continue. Cannabinoids nowadays come in so many options and forms that discovering the underlying connection between these substances and tinnitus could help people make smarter choices.
The Miracle Cure Beware
There has certainly been no shortage of marketing hype surrounding cannabinoids recently. That’s partly because attitudes are changing about cannabinoids (and, it could also indicate that people are making an attempt to move away from opioid use). But this new research makes clear that cannabinoids can and do bring about some negative effects, especially if you’re concerned about your hearing.
The marketing for cannabinoids has been particularly aggressive and you can’t totally steer clear of all of the enthusiasts.
But this new research definitely suggests a solid link between tinnitus and cannabinoids. So if you have tinnitus, or if you’re worried about tinnitus it may be worth keeping away from cannabinoids if you can, regardless of how many ads for CBD oil you may run into. It’s worth being careful when the link between tinnitus and cannabinoids has been so firmly demonstrated.