Public opinion about cannabinoids and marijuana have transformed incredibly over the last several decades. Most states currently permit the use of marijuana, THC, or cannabinoid compounds for medicinal applications. A decade ago it would have been unimaginable for marijuana to be legal for recreational use but some states have even taken this step.
A group of substances originating from the cannabis plant (the marijuana plant, basically) are called cannabinoids. In spite of their recent decriminalization in some states, we’re still finding out new things about cannabinoids. We usually think of these particular substances as having universal healing properties, but established research reveals there may also be negative impact such as a strong connection between cannabinoid usage and the occurrence of tinnitus symptoms.
Numerous Types of Cannabinoids
Nowadays, cannabinoids can be used 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). Pills, oils, vapors and other forms of cannabinoids are currently available.
The types of cannabinoids obtainable will vary state by state, and under federal law, many forms are still illegal if the amount of THC is over 0.3%. So it’s still common for people to be very careful about cannabinoids.
The problem is that we don’t yet grasp much concerning some of the long term side effects or risks of cannabinoid usage. One example is the new insight about how cannabinoids impact your hearing.
New Research Into Cannabinoids And How They Affect Hearing
A wide variety of ailments and medical conditions are thought to be helped by cannabinoids, regardless of what you like to call it. According to evidence that is anecdotally available, conditions including Nausea, seizures, vertigo, and countless more seem to be helped by cannabinoids. So could cannabinoids help with tinnitus? That’s exactly what researchers decided to find out.
Tinnitus could actually be triggered by cannabinoid use, as it turns out. According to the research, over 20% of study participants who employed cannabinoid products noted hearing a ringing in their ears. And that’s in people who had never experienced tinnitus before. What’s more, marijuana users were 20-times more likely to report having tinnitus symptoms after 24 hours.
And for individuals who already suffered from tinnitus, marijuana usage caused it to get worse. So, it seems rather certain that cannabinoids and tinnitus aren’t very compatible.
How Cannabinoids Make Tinnitus Worse
Your tinnitus can be aggravated by cannabinoids in a couple of tangible ways. The first is that your tinnitus can happen more frequently. Also, your struggles with tinnitus can get more extreme when you use cannabinoids. The discomfort from the ringing might become more intense or harder to just ignore.
The research also appears to indicate that cannabinoids are capable of causing the onset of initial tinnitus symptoms. To put it another way: if you didn’t suffer from tinnitus before, you could develop tinnitus after using cannabinoids.
The Causes of Tinnitus Are Unclear
We understand that there’s a link between tinnitus and certain triggers but we’re still not certain what the actual root causes are. That cannabinoids can have an impact on the middle ear and on tinnitus is pretty clear. But it’s much less evident what’s causing this impact.
But we do know that marijuana is one of the few commonly used mood-altering substances that causes tinnitus (alcohol, for example, hasn’t been shown to have a strong connection to tinnitus).
Research, invariably, will continue. Cannabinoids these days come in so many varieties and forms that learning the fundamental link between these substances and tinnitus could help people make smarter choices.
The Miracle Cure Beware
There has definitely been no lack of marketing hype concerning cannabinoids lately. Partly, that’s the result of changing mindsets about cannabinoids themselves (and, to some extent, is also an indication of a desire to turn away from opioid use). But this new research makes it clear that cannabinoids can and do produce some negative effects, specifically if you’re concerned about your hearing.
You’ll never be able to avoid all of the cannabinoid enthusiasts and evangelists out there, the marketing of cannabinoids has been extremely aggressive.
But this new research definitely reveals a strong link between tinnitus and cannabinoids. So no matter how much advertising 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 firmly demonstrated.