Public opinion surrounding cannabinoids and marijuana have changed incredibly in the last several decades. Most states currently allow the use of marijuana, THC, or cannabinoid compounds for medicinal purposes. Ten or fifteen years 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, essentially) are called cannabinoids. New things are being discovered about cannabinoids every day despite their recent decriminalization in some states. Although we now are starting to acknowledge the numerous medical advantages of these chemical substances, it has been acknowledged for some time that tinnitus might be triggered by cannabinoids.
There Are Several Types of Cannabinoids
There are many varieties of cannabinoids that can be consumed now. It’s not just weed (or refer, or grass… look, let’s just all agree right now that marijuana has many nicknames and move on). Pills, oils, mists and other forms of cannabinoids are currently obtainable.
Each state has it’s own regulations regarding which forms of cannabinoids you can purchase, and many of those varieties are still officially illegal under federal law if the THC content is more than 0.3%. That’s why some people tend to be very careful about cannabinoids.
The issue is that we don’t yet grasp much concerning some of the potential side effects or complications of cannabinoid use. Some new research into how cannabinoids impact your hearing is a prime example.
New Research Into Cannabinoids And Hearing
A large number of ailments and medical conditions are believed to be helped by cannabinoids, regardless of what you like to call it. Based on evidence that is anecdotally available, conditions like Nausea, seizures, vertigo, and countless more seem to be helped by cannabinoids. So scientists resolved to see if cannabinoids could help with tinnitus, too.
Turns out, cannabinoids may actually trigger tinnitus. Based on the research, more than 20% of study participants who employed cannabinoid products noted hearing a ringing in their ears. And that’s in people who had never dealt with tinnitus before. Furthermore, marijuana users were 20-times more likely to report experiencing tinnitus symptoms after 24 hours.
And for individuals who already have tinnitus, marijuana usage caused it to get worse. This basically means, there’s some pretty strong evidence that tinnitus and cannabinoids don’t really mix all that well.
How Cannabinoids Make Tinnitus Worse
Your tinnitus can be aggravated by cannabinoids in a couple of concrete ways. First off, the incidents of tinnitus symptoms can get more frequent, you might experience the buzzing or ringing in your ears more persistently. Also, your struggles with tinnitus can become more intense when you’re using cannabinoids. More intense ringing that can be much harder to ignore can be the result.
The study also appears to reveal that cannabinoids are capable of causing the development of initial tinnitus symptoms. To put it another way: if you didn’t suffer from tinnitus before, you could develop tinnitus after you use cannabinoids.
Uncertain Causes of Tinnitus
Just because this link has been discovered doesn’t necessarily mean the underlying causes are very well known. That cannabinoids can have an affect on the middle ear and on tinnitus is fairly clear. But it’s far less clear what’s causing this impact.
But we recognize that using marijuana, unlike other mood altering substances like alcohol, will cause tinnitus.
Of course, we will keep doing research. Cannabinoids these days come in so many varieties and forms that understanding the root connection between these substances and tinnitus could help individuals make smarter choices.
Beware The Miracle Cure
In recent times there has been a lot of hype created around cannabinoids by marketers. That’s partly because mindsets are changing about cannabinoids (and, it could also reveal 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 consequence, specifically if you’re worried about your hearing.
You won’t be able to steer clear of all of the cannabinoid enthusiasts and evangelists in the world, the marketing of cannabinoids has been very aggressive.
But cannabinoids and tinnitus are clearly connected based on this research. So no matter how many adds you see for CBD oils, if you’re worried about tinnitus, you should probably avoid them. It’s worth being careful when the connection between tinnitus and cannabinoids has been so solidly demonstrated.