JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE – JULY 2014

Defeating Tinnitus Naturally Dr.  Paul  Yanick,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  President  of  the  American  Academy  of  Quantum  Medicine  www.aaqm.org    

Millions of Americans suffer from tinnitus—a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears. Understanding the world of a person with tinnitus requires that a person with normal hearing imagine living with nerve-wracking head noises that cannot be turned off. Most available clinical strategies fail to provide relief. The most common suggested prognosis is “learn to live with it,” advice that translates into lifelong suffering and agony for those beset by tinnitus. If you’re a tinnitus sufferer, let me say that I feel your pain—I was debilitated and driven to insanity from tinnitus. I know about the hopeless prognosis and the side-effects of tinnitus maskers that stressed my ears to the point of total deafness.

For the first 20 years of my life, I struggled with sickness, prescription drug addictions, and the defeat, depression, and despair that came along with having noises in my head day and night. At the age of 21, a world renown and eminent ear surgeon diagnosed fatal kidney disease and nerve deafness. At that time, as a board-certified medical audiologist, I began intensive research into the causes of ear disorders at many university hospitals and medical centers. These studies revealed that the ear was electro-chemically compromised from malnourishment (YANICK, 1973; YANICK & GOSSELIN, 1976; YANICK, 1979). Correcting dietary errors and improving nourishment saved my life and ended my tinnitus, and helped hundreds of patients get tinnitus relief. My research continued into the 1980’s where I was able to understand more about the complex malnourishment issues involved with tinnitus (YANICK, 1983; YANICK, 1988). Using sophisticated x-ray fluorescent intracellular mineral analysis and other lab and diagnostic tests, this research documented mineral imbalances and a depletion of microbiome-made synbiotic nutrients were behind inner ear malfunctions and the electro-chemical distortions that generated tinnitus. At Pennsylvania State University and at numerous other international symposiums that I chaired, I was able to stimulate other medical researchers to look more closely at the metabolic-nutrient connection to ear disorders. It was gratifying to see that leading ear physicians were able to independently collaborate my research findings (SPENCER, J.T. 1975; SPENCER, J.T. 1981;

UPDEGRAFF, W.R. 1977; SHEA, J. 1976; SHEA, J. 1979). And, at symposium round table discussions, the consensus among all these researchers was that the inner ear was an energy-hungry organ having a critical need for nutrients and oxygen. Plus, there was agreement that perturbations in microcirculation or nutrient delivery by toxic insults and aberrations in mineral and/or insulin metabolism were causative factors in ear disorders. These discoveries were puzzle pieces that fit together into an exciting new clinical picture of why and how the ear generated tinnitus. The third decade of my research efforts was aimed at understanding how microbiome deficits were behind faulty inner ear electro-chemistry. As I discovered, restoring gut microflora symbiosis optimized synbiotic nourishment to the cells of the inner ear. Our new discovery resulted in more significant tinnitus relief along with improvement in hearing and balance functions of the inner ear. I defined these unknown synbiotic nutrients made by the microbiome as quorum nutrition (YANICK, P, 1994; YANICK, P. 2009; YANICK, P. 2014). A medical review of thousands of tinnitus case histories revealed that nearly every tinnitus patient had a medical history of taking antibiotics prior to the onset of their tinnitus. We concluded that antibiotic therapy may have wiped out and disrupted commensal microflora causing dysbiosis and cellular malnourishment. It is well known that beneficial microbes in the gut produce hundreds of thousands of quorum nutrients and that these nutrient deficits could short-circuit the ear electro-chemically causing tinnitus. My discovery of microbiome-made nutrient deficiencies from the past use of antibiotics was supported by leading microbiome researchers who also defined how microbes in symbiotic versus dysbiotic states, as part and parcel of the body’s inner ecosystem produce a goldmine of quorum nutrients that provide superior nourishment to human cells (BLASSLER BL 1999: BENGMARK S 2002; XU J & GORDON JL 2003). Nature’s ecosystem cycles and wisdom cannot be ignored for nature has been sustaining all of life for millions of years. Nature’s technology is brilliant and never grows short of energy or

produces toxic waste. Just as the capacity for the tree to bear healthy fruit depends on the interaction of the root system with soil-based microbes, the cells of the inner ear only improve when our “root” or digestive system has diverse and sustainable microbial communities working in symbiosis. And, since these amazing healing microbial cells outnumber our human cells 10 to 1, they provide an endlessly renewable source of nutrition for our neurons and stress-fighting glands. Yet, the diagnostic dilemma today is that practitioners have not been trained with effective ways to expand microbial cell biodiversity and manipulate the balance of the microbiome. My over four decades of research have revealed that by working with our microbes instead of against them, practitioners of integrative medicine can finally learn how to correct dysbiosis and help patients with persistent tinnitus and other neurological disorders. This means adopting a global view of human physiology that considers the undiagnosed nutrient deficiency states that stem from microbiome disruption and past antibiotic therapy. In summary, the cells of the inner ear can become electro-chemically unstable without proper nutriture from microbial cells. Microbial cells incessantly shuttle nutrients around and turn them into energy; build and repair cell membranes; and have the amazing potential to restore electro-chemical balance or the battery-like polarity of cells. As cells become less efficient, so do the tissues and organs they compose, and the body itself becomes less able to cope with challenges to its electrical stability. Finally, attempts to restore wholeness require an understanding of how all the interlocking components of the bodywork “hand in hand” with each other via interdependent actions, shared physiological functions, and how they work in concert to evoke healing. It may take a disorder like tinnitus to hold up a mirror to our health care system and reveal its shortcomings. Within the design of nature’s timeless wisdom, the body’s inner ecosystem can now be tapped to evoke the full operational complexity of human physiology to finally balance the delicate electro-chemistry of the inner ear and other cells of the body.

REFERENCES Blassler,  B.L.  (1999).  How  bacteria  talk  to  one  another.  Regulation  of  gene  expression  by  quorum  sensing.  Current  Opinions  in  Microbiology.  2(6),  582-­‐587.    Bengmark,  S.  (2002).  Git  microbial  ecology  in  critical  illness:  is  there  a  role  for  pro-­‐,  pre-­‐,  and  synbiotics?  Current  Opinions  in  Critical  Care.  8,  145-­‐151.  Spencer,  J.T.  (1981).  Hyperlipoproteinemia,  hyperinsulinism  and  Meniere’s  disease.  Southern  Medical  Journal.  74,  1194-­‐1197.      Spencer,  J.T.  (1975).  Hyperlipoproteinemia  and  inner  ear  disease.  Journal  of  the  Internatinal  Academy  of  Metabology.  4,  38-­‐39.    Shea,  J.  (1976).  Diagnosis  and  treatment  of  fluctuant  hearing  loss.  The  Laryngoscope,  86(11),  1619-­‐1622.  Shea,  J.  (1979).  The  medical  management  of  fluctuant  hearing  loss.  The  Laryngoscope,  79(4),  714-­‐726.    Updegraff,  W.R.  (1977).  Impaired  carbohydrate  metabolism  and  idiopathic  Meniere’s  disease.  Ear,  Nose,  and  Throat  Journal,  56,  160-­‐163.    Xu,  J.  &  Gordon,  J.L.  (2003).  Honor  they  symbionts.  Proceedings  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  100(18),  10452-­‐10459.    Yanick,  P.  (1973).  Distortion  in  the  Cochlear  Damaged  Ear.  Journal  of  Auditory  Research,  13,  333-­‐338.  Yanick,  P.  &  Gosselin,  E.J.  (1976).  Audiologic  and  metabolic  findings  in  90  patients  with  fluctuant  hearing  loss.  Journal  of  the  American  Audiology  Society,  2,15-­‐19.  Yanick,  P.  (1979).  Static  impedance  and  aberrant  auditory  phenomena.  Audiology  &  Hearing  Education,  11-­‐12.      Yanick,  P.  (1983).  The  application  of  holistic  principles  in  hearing  disorders.  International  Journal  of  Holistic  Health  and  Medicine,  1-­‐3.  Yanick,  P.  (1988).  Dietary  &  lifestyle  influences  on  cochlear  disorders  &  biochemical  status:  A  12-­‐month  study.  Journal  of  Applied  Nutrition,  40(2),  75-­‐84.    Yanick,  P.  (1988).  Holistic  applications  to  ear  disorders.  Journal  of  the  International  Academy  of  Preventive  Medicine,  8(3),  45-­‐48.  Yanick,  P.  (1994).  Functional  disturbances  in  Inner  Ear  Disorders.  Townsend  Letter  for  Doctors,  860-­‐865.    Yanick,  P.  (2009).  Quorum  Nutrition:  Successful  treatment  for  Ear  Disorders.  Townsend  Letter  for  Doctors,  94-­‐96.  Yanick,  P.  (2014).  Dysbiosis,  Hepatobiliary  and  Barrier  Function  and  Gut  Inflammation.  Townsend  Letter  for  Doctors.           About the Author: Dr.  Paul  Yanick  is  a  world-­‐renowned  authority  on  how  nutrition  benefits  the  adrenal  glands,  nerve  and  microbial  cells  (microbiome).  He  overcame  two  incurable  and  terminal  illnesses  twice  in  his  life  by  discovering  unique  ways  to  nourish  and  fully  engage  the  body’s  inner  ecosystem.  He  is  the  medical  research  director  of  the  non-­‐profit  American  Academy  of  Quantum  Medicine  and  the  author  of  over  400  publications  and  many  academic  textbooks.  In  search  of  a  multi-­‐disciplinary  education,  Dr.  Yanick  studied  medical  audiology  at  New  York  University  and  Seton  Hall  University  (Master  of  Science  degree).  His  doctoral  studies  were  in  immunology  at  the  University  of  Wyoming  and  neurophysiology  and  biochemistry  at  Louisiana  State  University  and  Baylor  University  (final  Ph.D.  awarded  by  Columbia  Pacific  University  in  1981).  Dr.  Paul  Yanick  is  a  Board  Certified  Diplomat  in  Integrative  Medicine  (American  Association  of  Integrative  Medicine)  ID#1205;  Board-­‐Certified  in  Quantum  Medicine  (American  Naturopathic  Medical  Certification  &  Accreditation  Board)  QM#  1205;  a  Board  Certified  Naturopath  (American  Naturopathic  Medical  Certification  &  Accreditation  Board)  #70122,  and  is  Board  Certified  Diplomat  in  Anti-­‐Aging  Medicine  and  Nutritional  Consultant  (American  Association  of  Nutritional  Consultants  and  (American  Board  of  Anti-­‐Aging  Medicine).