The Steel Guitar Forum

I've struggled with tinnitus for about 10 years. I've tried Ginko Biloba and it helps. Drinking lots of water helps too. But I've discovered something that has truly made it better, remarkably better. I've been taking this nutritional supplement called Ultimate HGH. It's a natural supplement that convinces the brain to create more growth hormone like we had when we were in our teens. The list of positive effects is very long. My personal experience has shown significant hair regrowth on my head, better sleep, much better (longer) sex, better memory, vision, mental clarity, energy, muscle tone, physical strength, etc. What they claim has so far proven to be true for me. I've only tried it for about 6 months but I truly feel 10 years younger. The surprising thing I've noticed in the last few months is that my tinnitus is much better, not gone but better. I'd say the loudness of the ringing is about 1/3 what it was a year ago. I wear earplugs all the time so I do my part in helping my ears but I never dreamed that it could get this much better. You can find this stuff on the internet very easily. It's about $35 a bottle and one bottle lasts a month. There is another kind out there called HGR-15. It has the same effects too. I used that for 3 months and had good response. I'm now on my last bottle of Ultimate HGH and will restock soon. I've waited a few months to share my discovery because I wanted to be sure the results were lasting. This stuff is really amazing and my girlfriend is smiling too.

Brad Sarno

Sure, it might make you young again, but can it get those damned hippies off the Opry?

Earnest--once again you're a ray of light in a loong session day...

Ernest, I love the way you, "beat around the bush"!.

Right on brother

carl

Brad,

Do watch out for anything which promotes various forms of growth. Just a thought, not meaning to rain on anybody's parade. See below.

http://www.preventcancer.com/press/march14,00.htm

------------------
<font size=-1>Bill L | My steel page | Email | My music | Steeler birthdays | Over 50?</font>

<font size=1>Oh.

Sadly, but oh sooooo true, the best way to cure "tinitus" is not to get it in the first place.

Unfortunately few listen. Loud sounds are what causes it most of the time. Not health problems as many suggest. The sound levels that are common today in the musical field is ludicrous.

I didn't listen. Now I will pay for the rest of my life. Countless others are and will too.

The sound levels at shows is 4 times what our ears were designed to take. If you doubt this, ask any qualified audioligist or better yet a good ear Doctor.

carl

Carl, while I don't doubt for a minute that exposure to loud sounds can cause tinnitis, there are/must be other causes too. My son, now 13 years old, has suffered with this already for about 7 or 8 years. He certainly wasn't exposed to extremely loud sounds when he was 4 or 5. We're also struggling to find a way to improve it for him. Relaxation techniques seem to be helping somewhat... It is a very difficult and frustrating matter, as you know only too well.

I think a lot of folks begin to suffer from tinnitus as they grow older. I have it, too. I'm in my mid/late 40s, and I did play in some loud rock bands as a teen. I smartened up by my third band and started wearing earplugs. But I also have early indications of Meniere's disease, an affliction of excess pressure in the inner ear which has tinnitus as an associated symptom.

There are some things one can do for tinnitus. There is an American Tinnitus Association with an online site at http://www.ata.org/ and a quarterly (?) magazine. You can get information on existing treatments and ongoing research from these folks.

------------------
<font size=-1>Bill L | My steel page | Email | My music | Steeler birthdays | Over 50?</font><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Llewellyn on 01 July 2002 at 07:45 PM.]</p></FONT>

Bill, thanks for the link. That's scary stuff. The stuff I described is somewhat different than acual HGH. The stuff I mentioned are supplements which are supposed to encourage the body to created it's own HGH as opposed to introducing the hormone directly into the body. But, they describe the symptoms as result of elevated HGH levels which is the net result in either case. So thanks for the heads up. I'm going to look deeper. I'm equally skeptical when the medical/pharm industry denounces non patentable medicine.

Thanks,

Brad

I guess most all musicians get it sooner or later. I first got it at age 47. A long time ago.

I think Jim Cohen made a good point, about relaxation techniques.

I found when a calm myself, deep breathing etc, it lessens the noise.

With mine , I can count my heartbeats, don't need to feel my pulse.

Beer and Alchohol makes it worse, I noticed , so I don't do that any more..al

Another thing to avoid if you're having any kind of ear ringing or equilibrium problems is caffeine.

There are a number of things of course, that can cause tinitus (ringing in the ears). However the overwhelming majority cause is listening to too loud sounds.

Any ear doctor will verify this. There have been numerous articles about it in the past 40 years in medical journals warning parents and people alike to the dangers of loud music.

When one considers that normal listening should rarely exceed 90 DB, 140 DB is ear shattering; literally. The sound levels at most concerts such as the ISGC, etc, is absurd!

And yet NO body does anything about it.

Fortunatley, like smoking bans, it WILL come. It is just a matter of time. It is like referee in a boxing match that HAS to break up fighters in a clinch. NO way they are ever going to do it on their own. Which is soo sad.

I may not live to see it, but there WILL be a federal ban just like smoking bans, because of the health dangers associated with loud music.

In 1998, My wife came up to me and tried to tell me something important. We were standing near the back of the auditorium of the Steel Guitar Extravaganza show in Atlanta.

Even though she was sreaming in my ear I could not hear one single thing she said because of the sound level in that room.

I sternly walked over to the sound booth, and said,

"TURN IT DOWN! AND TURN IT DOWN NOW!"

The very nice gentleman who was at the controls, said,

"carl, look at the master level control". Whereupon, I did.

What I saw will live in my cranium the rest of my life!. The controls were completely OFF!! And yet the sound levels coming out of the amps on stage was so horridly loud, it was preposerous!

Right then and there I vowed two things:

1. I would never produce another show.

2. I would never attend another show. (Except the Hawaiian shows-who have not given in to ludicrousy as yet).

So whatever floats....

But tinitus is in most cases a direct result of lifestyle. Sadly,

God help us for what we are doing "to his temple"

carl

From what I've heard, the Atlanta show was a real good one. I think a lot of folks are sorry you didn't vow right then and there to KEEP producing the ONLY show in the country where the volume levels are controlled by YOU instead of someone else. I think you could work it out to control the stage amp levels, not just the soundman. Just MHO, FWIW.

Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate them.

Since this is my final post on this forum, let me conclude it with the following:

When Larry Sasser and Hal Rugg asked me to produce Atlanta's first Steel Guitar show, I was humbled. After much thought, I said,

"I will do this under 3 conditions":

1. There be NO smoking in the auditorium.

2. Each player will include at least one religious tune in their set. (This, because I had prayed for days as to whether to do the show. After Jesus gave me a sign that I should, I dedicated the show to Jesus).

and,

3. That the sound levels be held to a level FAR below what was now the standard at all the shows I had attended. (I had not as yet attended the Hawaiian shows).

BOTH Larry and Hal agree and said they did not see a problem with my requests.

So we went forward with it. I did the following to insure my 3 requests would be met.

1. The programs that each person attending the show AND each performer was given, clearly stated, "No Smoking". I added that there was an outside door less than 20 feet from the entrance to the hall, if anyone "got the urge".

Come to find out after the first show, there is a no smoking ban in any building (except in one's home), in the county where the show was held. Praise Jesus!!

2. When I hired EACH player, the 3 requests were spelled out in clear and concise terms. They ALL> agreed; and many were congratulatory about it. Which I found interesting.

3. I had my staff give EACH player a "welcome" letter from me upon arrival that reiterated the 3 requests. The requests were spelled out very clearly.

and finally,

4. I sat down in a meeting with the sound crew and told it like it was going to be. "This show will NOT have sound levels like all the others." "I will pull the plug on the PA eqipment IF I have to!!"

I further asked them if they fully understood "the rules"?

They agreed cheerfully and several of them agreed that it had needed to be done for a long time. I found that also, very interesting.

And that is the end of the story,

May our precious Jesus richy bless each and every one of you and yours all the days of your lives.

Good bye,

carl

I played at a bar in Chicago where they were having lots of neighbor complaints about the noise. The cops shut the bar down but then agreed to let them open back up, if the police would come by at random points in the night with a dBspl meter and take readings. The night I played there, the cop walked right up to the FOH speakers and took the reading, of course because he was so close the dB reading was off the charts and he made the bar close that night!!!

It is a good idea to traffic the dB of a club, but only when the person doing the trafficing knows what he/she is doing.

Mark

Did I miss something somewhere?

Why is this C. Dixon's last post?

Mark, I was wondering exactly the same thing...

I hope Carl meant this was his last post on this topic. Surely he's not leaving us.

------------------
Lee, from South Texas

Hi Carl,
Well, I gotta say, it sure looks like you already did everything I could have thought of to control the volume at the show, so I understand your decision. (But not your decision not to post anymore; why that?)

brad,
i've also used ultimate hgh and liked the effects, similar to what you stated. i've run out and haven't ordered more yet... e-mail me if you find out anymore info on negative effects or whatever. thanx

My ears ring every day but not from my guitar playing. 50 years ago, this very day, I was on a mountain top in Korea. We were a radio relay site between a Marine Air base to the south and an emergency strip just below the 38 parallel to our north.

We had no fireworks but young GI's can be very inventive. We took several 50 cal belts of ammo appart. Then we remade a couple belts with only tracer rounds installed. At the usual time for fireworks, just after dark we fired those belts out over the Sea of Japan. I can still recall those arcs of light as they went out to sea and actually, towards home.

I could not know that some one had left an armor piercing round in the belt. I sat forward in the foxhole, just aside from the muzzle of the gun. It must have been very hot because it exploded in the barrel and the sound knocked several of us to the ground.

I could get up but I could not remain standing because I kept falling over. For a brief moment, I thought I was wounded but it was a loss of equilibrium because of the damage to my middle ear caused by the high level of sound. The ringing came after it got better and has remained with me for these fifty years. Sometimes the ear will loose hearing and I loose my sense of balance but it is only for a moment. The ringing is forever and I wonder if I will still hear it when I'm gone.

To my memory, it was a great 4th of July, 1952. I was twenty, ten foot high and bullet proof. I wish I still was........

Regards, Paul<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Paul Graupp on 04 July 2002 at 06:49 PM.]</p></FONT>