by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man asked:
When you have Musical Ear syndrome (MES) and it is bothering you quite bad and you are desperate for relief would you recommend the use of Lipoflavonoid? It is a nutritional supplement sometimes prescribed for people with Meniere’s Disease.
Good question. It certainly would not be my first choice. Not because it is bad for your ears–on the contrary–but because it does not address the real problem.
The basic purpose of the lipoflavonoid formulation is to increase blood flow to your inner ears. If the ear problems you have are related to lack of adequate blood flow, then such a formulation will help–as it does in some cases of tinnitus. However, there are many cases of tinnitus that do not respond to such formulations for the simple reason that the majority of cases of tinnitus are not caused by a lack of blood flow in the inner ear.
In the case of Musical Ear Syndrome, I am not aware of inner ear blood flow being the underlying problem. Hence, I would not expect the lipoflavonoid formulation to be of any help. At the same time, feel free to try it as it is not going to hurt your ears at all and may do some good things. If it reduces your MES, then you have discovered something new and I’d like to know about it.
For about the same amount of money, you could get my book “Phantom Voices, Ethereal Music & Other Spooky Sounds” which explains in detail what is known about the causes of MES and the 8 steps to take in working to get it to go away.