LindaSchminda

Just signing up for the first time to see if there are any new treatments. When I was first diagnosed in August of 2002 I had great health insurance. The high pitched ringing kind of like when you hear those secada 'tree frogs' 24/7. It started at the time I was given antibiotics for a sinus infection. I had ALL the tests done... Neurologist, MRI of my head, sonogram of my Carotid artery, and I swapped out the cholesterol medication I was taking even. No help. Bam! " Learn to live with it". So, I read somewhere that Valium would help relieve the noise in the morning if you take it to sleep. So my primary doc prescribed me valium for 12 years I took a 10mg, split it in half, took .5 at bedtime, and the other .5 middle of the night. Worked like a charm. It didn't disappear, but I had morning relief. Okay, I'll take it!

THEN, about 1.5 years ago, the valium was no longer working well. You get to a point on that drug where you need more, and I was not going there. I had a pulmonary embolism the year before because of lack of oxygen while I slept, (drugged by the valium), thank God I lived. I had a sleep study done 2 months after the embolism, and this is how I found out, relaxed muscles & lung function = lack of oxygen to your system! Yikes. So I detoxed from the valium for about 1.5 years now, and I have to use a cpap machine. Argh! Now, I've had insomnia for 1.5 years, due to training myself to wake up in the middle of the night for 12 years, and, now, sleeping with that cpap hose is tough!

I've been working with a psychiatrist for about 9 months now. I went on Remeron for 6 months, it seemed to help a bit, but I got terrible Restless Leg Syndrome from it, so I'm now 3 months off it. I came here to this site to see what's new.