If you’ve ever experienced a continuous ringing in the ears or annoying buzzing sound, you’re probably familiar with tinnitus. This uncomfortable and confusing condition impacts millions of people worldwide, but unfortunately doesn’t have a cure. Tinnitus is when the individual hears a noise, such as buzzing, humming or ringing sound that isn’t caused by an outside source.
There are a few natural remedies that you can try to help reduce your tinnitus symptoms, including using essential oils. These oils are essences extracted from roots, barks, flowers, and leaves of various plants. Although often confused with perfumes or fragrance oils, essential oils are very different. Surprisingly, they aren’t actually oily to touch.
But with so many to choose from, which are the best essential oils for tinnitus relief?
The best 3 essential oils for tinnitus
1. Lavender
Lavender is a well-known sweet floral scent and is often a favourite because of its ability to help calm the mind and body. By relaxing the body, this can help reduce stress, anxiety and tension which all have the ability to increase tinnitus intensity. It’s also beneficial to have such a sweet and enjoyable scent that can help take your mind off of your tinnitus symptoms. Lavender can also work as an decongestant, which helps to clear air passages and help you breathe easier.
However, it’s important to note that taking lavender alongside medications used for lowering high blood pressure might cause blood pressure to go too low. Do not take too much lavender if you are taking medications for high blood pressure. If you’re unsure, always check with your doctor first.
2. Juniper
Juniper as an essential oil helps detox your blood, remove toxins from your system and promotes the excretion of uric acid. Juniper has a similar scent to pine, but a bit stronger. It can also help the functioning of the kidneys and is beneficial as a digestive aid.
In addition, juniper works as a natural antiseptic. It may reduce acne when used at low dilutions in skin care products and may kill airborne germs when used in a room mist. Juniper is known for its calming properties and helps reduce stress, similar to lavender. Overall, this essential oil is a powerhouse of benefits.
3. Cypress
Tinnitus can worsen as a result of poor blood circulation, which Cypress essential oil can help improve. Cypress has the ability to stimulate blood flow and calm the nervous system.
As the name implies, this oil comes from the cypress tree and is often used in treatment of other condition as well, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle pains and acne. Cypress oil also has the ability to flush toxins from the body, similar to juniper. Cypress essential oil can also be used for congestion relief and is often used as an expectorant for coughs and head colds.
Overall, cypress essential oil is an all-around solid choice to improve blood flow and reducing tinnitus symptoms, especially pulsing tinnitus which can be made worse by poor blood circulation.
Essential Oil Blend – The best of all 3 oils
Every essential oil is different and brings unique benefits to the table. To get the most out of all three oils, you can combine lavender, juniper and cypress together. This new combination helps with congestion relief, detoxifying your body, improves blood circulation and relaxes your nervous system.
Or if you find that you prefer a different essential oil instead of one of the oils listed above, you could add in your favourite instead.
How to use essential oil for tinnitus
It may seem like a good idea, but you should never put essential oil directly into your ear. Garlic oil has been known to be used in your ears for pain relief, but never essential oils. If you use essential oils undiluted in your ears, you may desensitize the mucous membranes found within the ear and do some serious damage. Easy ways to use essential oils include applying it to your skin, inhaling or using a diffuser.
Apply to the skin
Essential oils are fat soluble, which means they are immediately absorbed by the skin. A quick and easy way to use your essential oils is to apply them to your skin. However, they should always be diluted before use. You can mix essential oils with a neutral carrier oil such as sweet almond oil, jojoba oil or sunflower oil. This ensures that the oil won’t harm your skin, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Using essential oils in messages is a great way to safely and effective use these oils to experience tinnitus relief. You can apply these to various places on your body about two or three times a day when diluted. For tinnitus relief, the best places to apply these oils are:
- On the ear lobe, or lower part of the ear
- Behind the ear
- On the neck
- On the outer ear canal
- Temples
Inhale
If you don’t want to put essential oils on your skin, the next best option is inhaling the scents instead. Simply open the bottle, hold it against your nose or use a few drops on a cotton ball and take a deep breath. By taking slow, deep breaths your body will begin to naturally relax while it inhales the essential oil scents. This can be a great way to trick your body to relax before feeling the effects of the essential oils.
Diffuser
If you’re willing to spend a bit more money, buying an essential oil diffuser is another option to get the most out of your essential oils. These little machines are created to disperse a mist of your desired essential oils into the air. The mist will mix with the air in that area and it will circulate around the room. You simply put a few drops into the diffuser and let it work its magic.
It’s important to remember that essential oil isn’t used for treating tinnitus. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for tinnitus but there are few tinnitus treatments that can help. Medical conditions may also impact how well natural remedies can help reduce symptoms of tinnitus, so it’s important to speak with your doctor about what’s best for you.
Less Effective Essential Oils for Tinnitus
Of course, lavender, cypress and juniper are not the only essential oils available. There are a few other common oils used to help reduce tinnitus symptoms. However, these are not usually as effective as the three main oils mentioned earlier. Still, it’s always helpful to know what’s available and pick what works best for your symptoms.
Helichrysum (immortelle) – This oil is incredibly popular as it helps heal skin scars and repair blood vessels and nerves. As a member of the sunflower family, this essential oil has been used for years to reduce inflammation, which helps those with tinnitus. Tinnitus can be caused by inflammation in the ears and issues with nerves in the ears and neck. Using the anti-inflammatory properties found in Helichrysum, this oil can help reduce this inflammation and may also reduce the ringing sound.
Patchouli – Those who use patchouli believe it has both circulatory and draining properties. This oil has a spicy-sweet scent and works to increase the circulation in the ear, reduce inflammation and improve ear drainage. Patchouli can also help speed the healing process of cuts and wounds and reduce the appearance of scars.
Green basil (ocimum basilicum) – Green basil oil can relax muscle cells found in the ears to help calm throbbing sensations, very beneficial for tinnitus sufferers. This type of essential oil is used as an antispasmodic, which means it soothes the throbbing sensations in the ear that may accompany tinnitus. This can be especially helpful if a person’s tinnitus is caused by stress or nerve contractions in the ear.
Side Effects of Essential Oils for Tinnitus
It’s important to remember that there are no essential oils approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for tinnitus relief. You should always check with your doctor, otolaryngologist or audiologist on treatment options for your tinnitus.
A mentioned before, there is no recognized cure for tinnitus. Some medical practices even differ on proper tinnitus treatment. However, if certain essential oils help reduce your symptoms, make you feel calm and relaxed, it may be an avenue to explore.
