Did Antidepressants Help You to Habituate?

I think my problem is that I have incredibly terrible anxiety and depression and can’t relax ever to get used to my tinnitus.

Please keep this post positive and a safe space for those of us in a fragile state of mind right now.

 

From my own perspective positive attitude definitely can help with tinnitus. When I'm trying to stay positive I just think "okay, it is here, it is loud but it's just noise, I can live with it". I 'habituated' (I hate this word like many of you) once wery well so I can do this again.
I personally know about 10 person with tinnitus and they are all very calm and positive people and for them tinnitus is just 'annoying' sometimes even if 3-4 of them have T as loud as mine.
I really wanted to try antidepressants because it could be easier than fighting with T without them. I never take AD because I'm affraid about possible side effects and worsening tinnitus because a lot of them are ototoxic.

 

I’m worried I will never get used to this reactive high pitched tinnitus. I only get a break from it in the shower. I feel sick. I wake up and I could vomit from all the anxiety. When will the anxiety go?

 

Have you tried CBT? Have you tried any (natural) supplements? @another sean has been using supplements to help with anxiety to success.

 

Try a good quality CBD oil... it might help take the edge off with no harmful side effects.

 

Habituation can be achieved via lots of support, modification in lifestyle and exercise and overall positive thinking. It takes lots of work to get there but you CAN get there and it is very possible to achieve this.

I use to have tons of negative people around me. Lots of people that had no hopes or dream, but just brought drama and foolishness.

I got rid of all of that and was able to take my life/ways/thoughts into more productive ways. How you think and approach your life MAKES A HUGE difference. In my opinion meds are possibly ok for short term usage, but not for the long run. I can relate to majority of the issues this board has, so I come and offer my 30 years of experience with what we call tinnitus......

PS- A med can work wonders for someone and bother another person. Side effects are a reality of meds and I will not touch them due to that....

 

This is a good suggestion. If you haven't tried CBT yet, it's probably worth a shot. The nice thing about it is that it doesn't involve any meds, so not much of a side-effect risk (unlike ADs).

 

I don't mean to derail this convo, but what do you do for work @fishbone ?

 

This is by far the most important step. If there is still anxiety and panic you are still in "fight or flight" mode. It is very important to step out of this mode. But if the body is under too much stress (i.e. through constant tinnitus) getting out of this mode is very difficult without medication. I would suggest trying an AD. I had and have again good results with Paroxetin. This in combination with meditation and time worked for me. But it took 6 weeks to feel the good effects. And in the beginning it can cause a restless feeling. So it's important to try to stay positive and active until the effect kicks in. I wish all the best to you, Michelle! God bless!

 

Most anti-depression drugs are ototoxic (no good to ears).
Some of them will be less toxic but long term usage will also have impact to ears
(this is based on my google research when I tried to take AD
but later stopped due to tinnitus spike).
It is like to pick a piece of wood from fire. We need to be very careful.

 

Nope. It’s possible without taking anything. It’s hard but it’s probably better for your overall health.

 

I voted 'yes', but I guess my story is kinda complicated (see my post here).

TL;DR: I am not sure if 50mg of Zoloft triggered my tinnitus, or if I just 'searched' for the sound in the wrong timing. I mean this because the sound did not 'appear' and I had to seek it. BUT, I am now at 100mg of Zoloft and my anxiety and OCD seems much better now, I am closer to habituation also, giving much less attention than some time before. Big cons: libido and motivation. My plan now is to stick to the meds for some more months and try to do a veeery slow taper off, while I deal with my OCD symptoms through meditation and CBT.

 

I take 'Alprazolam'. It's very simmilur to 'Tranquimazin' (medication sold in Spain) but it's got a little bit of antidepressant. I've been taking 0'5mg since onset, and yes it had helped to calm me down, but what really helped is to come to terms with this nightmare and trying to accept it. Taking it step by step. Not habituated, but certainly a lot better when it started 10 weeks ago (Unless this bloody symptom decides to make my life more complicated).

 

Alprazolam is the name of the molecule itself. Tranquimazin is a brand name. The best-known brand of Alprazolam is Xanax. So in essence, Tranquimazin and Xanax are exactly the same thing, because they're both just brand names for the Alprazolam molecule.

Please be careful with it. It is a very effective tranquilizer, but it is also highly addictive, and one of the side effects of withdrawal is even more tinnitus. Make sure to take it strictly as prescribed and check in regularly with your doctor.

 

Thanks for your info. When you mean 'even more tinnitus' you refer to temporal intensive tinnitus due to withdrawal?

This is all I needed...

 

How can I get off the drug without any side effects? I've been taking it for more than 2 months now.

 

Don't get scared, Xanax for 2 months is perfectly OK!! Everything is fine. I just wanted to make sure you're aware of the risks so that you don't go on taking this stuff for years and encounter all the bad effects.

Are you taking it under a doctor's supervision? If so, do what they tell you.

If not: the best thing would be to get in touch with a doctor and ask for their advice. Or if you want to do it alone: the key thing is to NOT quit cold turkey, but do a taper. (That is, don't suddenly stop taking the drug, but decrease your dose very gradually.) This will make sure you avoid side effects. Xanax is very popular, so there are many tapering plans available on the internet, just do a Google search for "xanax taper".

Really, 2 months isn't a long time on Xanax, you'll be just fine, just please read up a bit on the stuff. The alprazolam (Xanax) molecule is in a medicine family called "benzodiazepines", you might want to search for that.

 

Yes I'm under doctor's supervision. Here in Spain you can't get aprazolam without a prescription from the doctor. There has been the odd day where I was more stressed than usual and took instead of 0'5, 0'75.

You got me worried for a moment! I have to see my doctor next week and see what I can do get off this medication gradually.

I've got a brochure where it puts all ototoxic medication that can cause hearing loss and tinntus and yes this med is on the list! My T wasn't caused by aprazolam because I started taking it after onset...

Thank you very much for your advice and I will follow your precautions. T is such a delicat symptom...

 

Great, the doc will know what to do.

Sorry about that! I have a buddy who has been a serious Xanax addict for years (he was taking 10 milligrams a day - I didn't believe him until I saw him swallow a handful of tablets before my very eyes) and he has fucked himself up very seriously. So I try to warn people about benzos wherever I can. They're great stuff, I take Xanax occasionally, too, but they must be treated with great respect.

 

If I didn't have anti depressants I'd sink completely. They are the only thing stopping me from going under. I'm so sick of this tinnitus and this 7 week 'spike' I'm just at a loss.

 

I live in Maine too. I got tinnitus in May and it was off the wall. My happy home with five children turned into a horrible nightmare. I was either screaming and crying curled up in a ball or staring at the wall like a zombie having no idea what I was ever going to do with myself. If it's that bad for you I would find a good med management specialist and take Clonazepam.

My tinnitus went from a 9 to a 2 within a day. I took 2 mg for 2 days and then just went way down after two days to just half a mg twice a day, before I was hooked. My life is very manageable now, I don't hear the tinnitus during the day and a fan is sufficient at night. Before a fan would do nothing. You can try the two day thing and if it doesn't help, well, it was well worth a try and wouldn't give consequences of dependence.

Look up Clonazepam and tinnitus, works very well for some people.

 

Are you still taking it?

 

What kind are you on? I'm worried about making my tinnitus worse TBH. I was on one of the tricyclics for a headache and it just made me gain weight and worsened my mood.

 

Can you take it long term without it losing its efficacy?

 

I take Venlafaxine twice a day but now, after speaking with my doctor, I'm moving to one Venlafaxine in the morning and Mirtazapine at night to help with sleep.

 

My tinnitus fluctuates from a 2-4. Depending if I trigger it from stress or alcohol. But first, I've habituated, knowing it will decrease, the spikes no longer scare me. And second, I have not needed to increase my dose for tinnitus, I just completely appreciate where I'm at today. My tinnitus does not get 'used' to the clonazepam and get loud randomly. And if it is raised, when it is raised due to stress the medicine takes it down.
The only thing is coming off of clonazepam can cause big spikes but when the time is right I will go very slow. I think my therapist is just glad I haven't asked for an increased dose so she allows me to stay on since it helps.

 

Alex M... my started 2 months ago, SAME cause, heavy stress, bamm, tinnitus... what has worked for you the best so far?

 

Where have you been??