A Possible Medication That "MIGHT" Work for Benzo (Klonopin, Xanax, Ativan, Valium) Induced Tinnitus

I'm not a doctor or scientist here so I don't know exactly how the brain works. From what I understand though, benzodiazepines such Klonopin or Xanax work on the GABAa receptors and enhance the receptor along with GABA itself. So basically, GABA and the benzodiazepine work together to get a "calming" effect. I read a while back I think that over time the body will produce less GABA due to chronic benzo use or downregulate the GABA receptors, to maintain homeostasis. I have no idea if one or both of those are true but if the amount of GABA production is reduced then a GABA reuptake inhibitor may help. If the receptors are downregulated, then I don't know if it would. The problem though would be, if the GABA reuptake inhibitor would help, would the body produce less GABA after a while? I have no idea but ideally it would be great if we could all get off drugs.

However, for the time being I wonder if something like it would work temporarily and if a doctor would recommend slowly withdrawing from benzos and see if the brain can repair. I don't know and it is something you would have to ask the doctor about. The GABA reuptake inhibitor drug is called Gabitril (Tiagabine - generic name) and it went generic in April 2016. I don't know if many doctors are familiar with it and I would assume that it may be because it used to be so expensive and many doctors may have prescribed something cheaper to achieve a similar outcome for the patient. If anyone does purchase the medication without insurance, you might can save some money by looking up a coupon code on goodrx.com, wellrx.com, or something similar.

I believe long term klonopin caused me to get a static type hiss sound over time. However, before I started taking it, I had a whistle and a loud tone. After Klonopin I got noise damage which added a different sound. I ended up taking the Gabitril twice a while back and if I remember right, it seemed to reduce the static sound and tonal sounds that I had and was very sedating like a benzo which is bad because I don't want anyone to live life sedated if possible. I don't think it worked on noise induced damage and the reason I stopped is because it increased the whistling tinnitus I had. Keep in mind though that the whistling sound was completely unrelated to benzo use and I had it way before.

This drug is something you "MAY" want to look into and ask a doctor about it and of course consider the side effects to weigh the risks. When I was prescribed it, I asked the doctor for a small dose to avoid more side effects or changes. The other thing is, I have no idea what the drug would do in the long term because it is interfering with a natural process. Anyways, just thought I would put this out and also post this video about GABA and benzodiazepines. I'm not sure if its 100% accurate but it kind of explains the gist of it.

neurotransmitter gaba

If anyone tries it for a bit please post back and let people know what happened.

 

Almost certainly, that's how drugs work.

then why on earth would you want to take other GABA-target drugs?

 

Good question. I am not doing it now. My thought was that klonopin "enhances the effect of GABA" but if the GABA could be increased, less klonopin might be needed so that klonopin may be easier to withdrawal from. My idea was to use gabitril at a small amount and gradually lower klonopin. Then lower the Gabitril slowly over time in the hopes that GABA would eventually be produced more by the body even though it would still take a lot of time and probably unable to escape all withdrawal problems. That was just my idea, it may not work at all. I was only sharing the above information in case it might help someone who is suffering really bad. I have no idea if it would work or if it is a good idea.

 

Someone had mentioned they got tinnitus after slowly tapering off of benzos. It makes me wonder if sometimes people's hearing deteriorates while they are on benzos (for various reasons), but the medications masks their tinnitus until they quit.

I know benzos can cause tinnitus if you quit them too quickly. Just a random thought that popped into my head.

 

I got a static type tinnitus after a couple of years of benzo use but I can't remember if it happened with regular dose or when I decided to cut the dose in half. I as taking .5mg and then I think I went to .25mg. It doesn't seem like much but for me it was a bad idea since I already had T to begin with. It could have also been some stress to. I'm not sure if the static was caused by a "glutamate storm", lower GABA production, downregulation of GABA receptors, or something completely different. I'm just thinking if some of us could pool some information and experiences together, maybe we could have a little better understanding.

 

I think this is a very interesting idea which I'd never considered before.

It's also worth noting that while slow tapers generally avoid medically dangerous withdrawal effects, many people (including myself) experience all kinds of excruciating symptoms and bizarre physical problems during even very slow tapers. So, since a slow taper is in no way something that prevents horrific symptoms, it seems to me that insofar as tinnitus is a relatively common withdrawal effect, its emergence during a slow taper isn't really that novel. That said, I think it's quite possible that what you're suggesting is a factor in some of these cases - and since I have spent so much of my life understanding and philosophizing about benzo withdrawal, it is quite novel to me to bump into an entirely new idea.