Tinnitus is not always the fault of “kidney deficiency”

  Tinnitus is a subjective sensation of ringing in the ear without any external sound source or electrical stimulation. It is caused by disorders of the auditory function and is easily affected by fatigue, rest, sleep, emotions, menstruation, noise, metabolic reactions and changes in blood circulation in the head. Tinnitus is not an independent disease, but a symptom that accompanies many diseases. Tinnitus has a great impact on patients’ body and mind, such as insomnia, easy fatigue, lack of concentration, depression or agitation, irritability, etc., which eventually affects people’s quality of life and social and work life. The incidence of tinnitus in the population is about 13% to 18%, and about 2.4% of the population seek medical treatment for severe tinnitus.  The actual symptoms, such as wind-heat attack, liver fire disturbance, phlegm and stagnant internal obstruction, are mostly caused by external evil or internal fire disturbance or phlegm and stagnant obstruction of the ear orifice; the deficiency symptoms are mostly caused by internal deficiency, such as weakness of spleen, deficiency of heart blood, deficiency of kidney essence, deficiency of kidney elements, etc. The main causes are spleen deficiency and kidney deficiency. In other words, tinnitus is related to the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney, not only the kidney.  In other words, tinnitus is related to the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys, not only the kidneys. Chinese medicine believes that the ears are the orifices of the kidneys, and the kidneys open the orifices in the ears, so the kidneys are closely related to the ears. Although the ear is the orifice of the kidney, clinical treatment of tinnitus cannot be blamed only on the kidney, but should be treated from the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. In Chinese medicine, “the ear is the gathering of the clan and veins”, so tinnitus is closely related to the function of the internal organs and meridians of the whole body, and is not limited to the kidney.  In addition, the volume and tone of tinnitus can be used to identify the true and false. Generally speaking, those with high volume can be both true and false, those with low volume are mostly false, those with high pitch are mostly true, those with low pitch are mostly false, those who reject external noise and whose tinnitus often resonates with noise are mostly true, while those who accept external noise, that is, whose tinnitus is reduced or disappears in a noisy environment, are mostly false.  There are many causes of tinnitus, including systemic diseases and localized ear lesions. We should make a diagnosis and target treatment according to the patient’s symptoms, localized ear conditions and relevant examinations, and combine disease identification and evidence identification to achieve better results.  The efficacy of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is to nourish Yin and tonify the kidney. For tinnitus caused by certain sensorineural deafness and senile deafness and accompanied by soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, dizziness and blurred vision, false annoyance and insomnia, red tongue with little coating, etc., it can be treated with Liu Wei Di Huang Wan or Deafness Left Magnet Wan. It is not suitable for tinnitus caused by secretory middle ear infection, middle ear effusion and other transmissible deafness, as well as tinnitus that appears in the early stage of sudden deafness. It should be used flexibly according to the specific situation.