Joeyan

Hello,

My name is Joe, I was brought to this site because I recently developed tinnitus, mainly in my right ear, although it permeates to the left at times. Anyway, It started for me in February the 2nd of this year. When I had a throat infection, which led ibs, which I probably already had, just intensified by the zpak I was given for the infection. So after constant visits to the doctors office, every which one, it seemed like. I kept coming up A ok on all test. Upper scope, stool, ct scan, urine, blood panels, you name it. At that point I had convinced myself that my vagus nerve had something to do with all of this. My symptoms were sever anxiety, abdominal pain, back pain, sever bloating and a very low tolerance for fatty foods. So I went to the neurologist and explained to him what I was going through, he took one look at me and asked, are you having hot flashes? I said yes and many other feeling and sensations that I just can't figure out why they are happening to me. He looked in disbelief and said " it's not your vagus nerve. I could tell just by looking at you. You look like your nerves are out of wack, and we need to get them back under control." So he gave me Lorazepam 1mg, to break down into 2 quarters and one half. He said " take one piece in the morning and another in the afternoon and the half to go to bed." I walked out of there feeling like what a waste of time. At that time, I was not getting any sleep, just the few hours that I could manage from the gabapentin that I was given at the ER in one of my three visits. I tried the Lorazepam only in pieces and only as a sleeping aid. It worked, but I know how addictive that drug could be so I used it very sparingly. From 2/15 to 3/28, the onset of my tinnitus, I only maybe used it 5 times. After a round of Lorazepam, I started getting tension around my head and ears, days later I had an accident with an air compressor, the house was accidently disconnected from the compressor while the compressor was compressing air. Of course, I was standing right beside it, I could feel the piercing of the hissing sound reverbating in my head. I didn't think much of it till later that week when my ears started ringing. I told my PCP about it and he said it was caused by my nerves and gave me an Ssri... Celexa 20mg. I started taking the celexa and it just made my ears ring even louder. So I stoped taking it And went back to my Doctor, he said that that is my brains way of telling me I don't need that stuff. He is a good doctor who truely shows concern for his patients so I take his advice to heart. He told me to be strong and cope with the anxiety, which I have but the tinnitus is kicking my butt. I fight not to take the Lorazepam but just last night, I was up till 3:34am and I just had to take one. I slept for about two hours and woke up to the ringing again. I took another .25mg and slept maybe an hour, got another .25mg but this time it did nothing for me. I am afraid that I am building up a tolerance to this stuff way too fast. I have only used maybe 7-8 pills from a 30pill bottle and am already immune to 1 to 1 1/2 mgs of this stuff. I wanted to try valerian root but fear the interactions between it and Benzos.

Any advice would be welcomed
Thank you