Public opinion about marijuana and cannabinoids have transformed incredibly in the past few decades. The majority of states currently permit the use of marijuana, THC, or cannabinoid compounds for medicinal purposes. Not as many states have legalized marijuana for recreational applications, but even that would have been unimaginable even just a decade ago.
A group of compounds derived from the cannabis plant (the marijuana plant, essentially) are known as cannabinoids. New things are being discovered about cannabinoids every day in spite of their recent decriminalization in some states. While we now are starting to know the many medical benefits of these compounds, it has been well known for some time that tinnitus might be triggered by cannabinoids.
There Are Numerous Kinds of Cannabinoids
These days, cannabinoids can be taken in lots of forms. It’s not just pot (or Mary Jane, or grass… look, let’s just all agree upfront that marijuana has many nicknames and move on). These days, THC and cannabinoids are available in pill form, as topical spreads, as inhaled mists, and more.
The forms of cannabinoids obtainable will vary state by state, and many of those forms are still officially illegal under federal law if the THC content is over 0.3%. That’s why many people are quite 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 use. Some current research into how cannabinoids impact your hearing is a perfect example.
Cannabinoids And Your Hearing, Some New Research
A large number of illnesses and medical conditions are believed to be improved by cannabinoids, regardless of what you want to call it. Based on evidence that is anecdotally available, conditions like vertigo, nausea, seizures, and many more appear to be improved by cannabinoids. So could cannabinoids help with tinnitus? That’s what scientists decided to find out.
Tinnitus might actually be caused by cannabinoid use, as it turns out. Ringing in the ears was recorded by over 29% of participants after using cannabinoids. And that’s in people who had never experienced 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 made it worse. This basically means, there’s some pretty strong evidence that cannabinoids and tinnitus don’t really mix all that well.
How Cannabinoids Make Tinnitus Worse
Your tinnitus can be intensified by cannabinoids in a couple of concrete ways. To start with, the incidents of tinnitus symptoms can get more consistent, you could notice the buzzing or ringing in your ears more frequently. Also, your struggles with tinnitus can become more extreme when you’re using cannabinoids. The discomfort from the ringing might become more noticeable or harder to ignore.
Cannabinoids have also been shown to trigger the onset of tinnitus symptoms. To put it another way: after you start using cannabinoids you could develop tinnitus symptoms even if you didn’t have them before.
It’s Still Unclear What Causes Tinnitus
Just because this link has been discovered doesn’t necessarily mean the underlying causes are very well known. It’s evident that cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and tinnitus symptoms. But what’s causing that impact is much less clear.
But we recognize that using marijuana, unlike other mood altering substances such as alcohol, will cause tinnitus.
Research, unquestionably, will continue. Cannabinoids these days come in so many options and forms that learning the fundamental connection between these substances and tinnitus could help individuals make smarter decisions.
Beware The Miracle Cure
There has certainly been no lack of marketing hype surrounding cannabinoids in recent years. In part, that’s the result of changing attitudes about cannabinoids themselves (and, it could also reveal that people are making an attempt to move away from opioid use). But this new research makes it clear that cannabinoids can and do produce some negative consequence, specifically if you’re worried about your hearing.
The marketing for cannabinoids has been very aggressive and you can’t entirely avoid all of the fanatics.
But this new research certainly reveals a solid link between tinnitus and cannabinoids. So if you suffer from tinnitus, or if you’re concerned about tinnitus it may be worth keeping away from cannabinoids if you can, regardless of how many advertisements for CBD oil you might encounter. It’s worth being cautious when the connection between tinnitus and cannabinoids has been so solidly demonstrated.