DR ELLIE CANNON: Could my daughter’s Vitamin D and iron deficiencies be causing tinnitus?

My daughter has had tinnitus for a while, but the noises in her ears got progressively worse after the birth of her second child. She now often wears headphones and uses music to drown out the sounds. She has had MRI scans that come back normal, but a recent blood test showed she was deficient in vitamin D and iron. Could this be related?

While MRI scans and blood tests are helpful in ruling out something serious, they usually don’t answer tinnitus, a condition in which patients hear a continuous noise, usually a ringing sound. It is very rare for a tumor to be the cause, which an MRI would recognize.

There is no solid evidence that low levels of vitamin D or iron are associated with hearing problems. But it’s very common to keep both nutrients low — and supplements can help with that. Otherwise, tinnitus is usually associated with hearing loss, which studies show is becoming more common in people under the age of 50 – likely the result of a lifetime of listening to loud music on headphones.

The condition can be extremely distressing. If this is the case, people should be referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Many people with tinnitus find that they are more aware of the noise in their ears when they are in a quiet place. Sound therapy, which involves gadgets and wearable devices that emit constant background noise, can help. Audiology departments in some hospitals offer these.

You can also contact the British Tinnitus Association (tinnitus.org.uk) for advice.

Doctors can refer patients for cognitive behavioral therapy, either with a therapist or online. Private clinics offer tinnitus retraining therapy, which helps trick the brain into silencing the annoying sounds by tuning them out. It’s worth asking your GP if this is available on the NHS in your area.

I have several conditions: chronic migraine, neck pain and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. My complaints are getting worse, but my doctor says there is nothing she can do about it. Is there anything that could help?

Many people live with a variety of conditions, which can be extremely difficult. It’s especially difficult when one of those problems is a pain disorder for which there aren’t many effective treatments.

With premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a particularly severe type of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), patients experience symptoms that are much worse than typical PMS, including painful headaches, muscle aches, depression, and insomnia.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of clear guidelines for GPs on how to treat the condition. Usually, if treatment doesn’t work, doctors offer antidepressants in addition to referrals for both psychological therapy and to a specialist women’s health clinic.

Good sleep and regular exercise have been proven to relieve the symptoms of numerous conditions, but it may also be worth trying natural remedies such as evening primrose oil or magnesium.

There is little evidence to prove they work, but it may be helpful to try them for a few months.

When the NHS can’t provide answers, patients often turn to alternative medicine. This worries me because such treatment may be spurious.

So my first message is to be cautious – just because a treatment is easily accessible and expensive doesn’t mean it’s good.

Ask your GP for a referral to a pain clinic or specialist PMS clinic, which are within the gynecological departments of hospitals.

I have high cholesterol – right now it is 8.9. I take ezetimibe for it, but the drug gives me terrible cramps in my legs at night. I had the same problem with statins. My pharmacist has suggested that drug injections are a better option, but the doctor said he wouldn’t recommend it. What should I do?

When cholesterol is above five, it is considered high. So 8.9 is incredibly high. It is even likely that patients with cholesterol at this level have a hereditary form of high cholesterol – hypercholesterolemia. This occurs in families with a history of early heart attacks.

Treatment is necessary to remove this risk. Doctors will even test children because the condition is so serious.

Patients with such high cholesterol should be aware of other factors that can cause heart disease, such as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity. But steps can be taken to mitigate the impact of these risks.

It’s perfectly legitimate to ask a pharmacist for help with a condition like this. In this case, the goal of treatment would be to halve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), also known as “bad” cholesterol.

Doctors may prescribe statins or ezetimibe for this. If neither works, or has bad side effects, other options may be prescribed at a hospital cholesterol clinic. Think of medicines such as a fibrate or new types of injections.

Both ezetimibe and statins cause fewer cramps than people think. It is more likely that there is another cause.

Try not to assume that a drug will cause a particular side effect, as you could end up unnecessarily limiting treatment options.

What would you like to know about menopause?

A third of the UK female population is peri-menopausal or menopausal (stock photo)

Last week I asked you to tell me which areas of women’s health you’d like The Mail on Sunday to explore in an upcoming special edition, where we’ll be bringing in a panel of top experts from a variety of specialties to offer advice.

We’ve already had a deluge of requests – and one of the most popular is about menopause. It’s not surprising, given that a third of the female population in the UK is peri-menopausal or menopausal. There’s been a recent explosion of interest in menopausal health, but I worry that the amount of information—not all of it reliable—could be overwhelming.

That’s why we want you to tell us exactly what you want to know about menopause. Confused about which type of HRT to take, or if you should take it at all? You may want to know if your health problems are hormone related, or if it might be something else.

Whatever it is write and tell me at the email address here: DrEllie@mailonsunday.co.uk

JVT is not your vaccine villain

Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam was Dr. Ellie Cannon during the daily Covid press conferences

I was totally blown away at an event last week when I saw former deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam.

JVT, as he became known, was always my favorite speaker at the daily Covid press conferences – communicating complex science to the public in a way that was simple and even entertaining.

We chatted for a while, mostly about football, but he also told me something very disturbing. This kind, brilliant man regularly receives vicious, insulting threats from anti-vaxxers who say he “forced the vaccine” on the country. There have been times when he even had to get the police involved.

There’s a lot of anger about how the government has handled the pandemic, but attacking the scientists who led us out of it is a total bust, not to mention brutality. We owe a lot to JVT.