Agony of Tinnitus...

I have had tinnitus since the 80's when my TMJ and clicking left jaw revealed the ailment. I now have acute tinnitus which was aggravated by a medication I got from the VA. My ears were screaming during May and June and it was hell on earth: little sleep, anxiety, crazy thoughts, etc.

I am on Temazepam with a booster at bedtime of two 10mg Hydroxyzine. I have been on benzos for 30-years and the VA tried to get me off in May-June, that's when it grew worse, so the rehab 'unmasked' the tinnitus that my previous medication, Flurazepam, masked extremely well (no symptoms at all) but the VA doesn't carry it anymore.

So I'm back on a benzo no matter the cost since I absolutely could not survive without them, unfortunately.

I quit the Hydroxyzine (6 tabs a day), except at bedtime when my specialist said that could be making the tinnitus worse, as well as the ibuprofen. We'll see. I'm day-to-day now. Was dysfunctional for most of the summer.

 

Oh man sorry to hear about it. Hang in there. If you don't know about it there may be some relief coming from new treatments that can possibly regrow the hairs in the ear. First stage of the trial has been completed. In about 6 weeks they will be having a conference to update the public on the results. Apparently some of the people that got the treatment got improved hearing. Stage two will be started in the fall. Here is a thread about it:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/frequency-therapeutics-—-hearing-loss-regeneration.18889/

It may not come to market, but at least it gives us some hope. There are other labs around the world working on similar approaches.

 

Thanks for the info. That part of the thread is from 2016 or 2.5 years ago, so I hope they've gotten somewhere with this. I've emailed them for more info. They offer "clinical trials" but Massachusetts is too far away for me. Thanks again.

 

I have a clicking left jaw as well but no real pain. Do you have pain in your left jaw?

I took 1 mg of Clonazepam this morning and seemed pretty much normal for the rest of the day until I took a nap and awakened with hissing in my left ear. Hard to tell if it is TMJ caused or brain awakening caused. I know I’m disgusted with it.

Did you get your TMJ disorder looked into? I do have an oral appliance that was custom made but not sure it really helps my awakening tinnitus much.

Sorry to hear you have dealt with tinnitus for such a long time.

 

There is a device called Lenire - Neuromod which I have signed up to. Shows some promise in trials - there’s a thread in here.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/lenire-—-bimodal-stimulation-treatment-by-neuromod.34566/

 

No pain since I had braces thirty years ago to straighten teeth and align jaw. Woke up this AM with very little ringing, but took a nap in recliner and had the ringing start again. I was so encouraged to wake with little to no ringing but it's back this afternoon. Thanks for contributing.

 

Same here. I fell asleep this afternoon /evening and woke up to loud hissing/ringing.

I can only get 1 mg clonazepam/day, so I don’t know how to stop the noise. Dr. Abraham Shulman called me back yesterday and he mentioned brain mapping to find out where the noise is coming from. I may have it done to see if it can locate the source of my noise. In the past he recommended gabapentin/clonazepam combo taken together.

I see quite a few places do the the QEEG/LORETA brain scan. It may be a good place to start. I believe they use nuerofeedback.

Dr. Shulman’s presentation:

Functional Brain Imaging and Tinnitus

 

Do any benzos lower the tinnitus noise?

 

I took 1 mg of clonazepam this morning for my static hiss noise but it just made me sleep. I called Dr. Shulman and left a message today. He said he will call back within 24 hours on his answering machine.

I will update when I hear back from him. He may want me to have a QEEG/LORETA scan of my brain. I have a crunchy, sometimes clicking left TMJ that may or may not be related to my noise.

You could talk to Dr. Shulman yourself as I could give you his preferred number. He seems like a kind man.