I remember cooking everything without salt (then buying reduced sodium salt for some time because he missed the taste of it to a certain degree), stop buying sparkling water, how my father tried to cope with the remaining tinnitus after the hearing loss mostly reversed (>95% IIRC), and how it increased and decreased over time.
He still doesn't drink sparkling water, we still cook with reduced salt. If we deviate from this, his tinnitus increases, yet he tries to hide it from us.
Do you need any more citations?
Mom also has tinnitus, but hers is different, not affected by diet. She uses an advanced hearing aid which counters it using sound somehow. She is relieved to a certain point with it.
There are different kinds, reasons. Need to understand each case.
To address the gp point, your original comment would have been fine without the last 2 sentences (unless of course diagnosing tinnitus is your occupation):
> Dad went through acute hearing loss twice. They banned salt during recovery. Your tinnitus is related to blood circulation in the ear. Reduce salt.
The first 2 sentences was you sharing your experience but the last 2 sentences were you making a diagnosis of someone else's condition based off of a comment (rather than a physical exam and/or some lab tests) which I imagine is why @maccard asked for citations.
I have written the comment like that, because the GP provided an example relating his tinnitus to salt intake, and I know that scenario from my dad, so I have written that with confidence. If I was not sure, I'd not write a comment at all. :)
Health and metabolism are serious subjects, and I have more than enough experience to not make any recommendations based on low-confidence information. Otherwise, I suspect that my wife would crucify me with cold blood (she's an MD).
citations let your reader judge your ethos and credibility in the absence of personal knowledge of you.