Getting Depressed / Major, Massive Spike

Hello guys ,

I need some advice / support because I am starting to feel depressed and incredibly frustrated.

My tinnitus spiked badly some months ago and it just seems to get worse and worse, yesterday was a fairly good day, fairly good still means a bad day from before the spike though, today however is just bonkers and the tinnitus is 9/10 and I hear it over EVERYTHING, terrible head buzz that is driving me insane, went for a walk in the park with the dog and that used to calm me down and make me forget about my mild tinnitus but now the head buzz was just distracting me and it just was a terrible experience.

The tinnitus spiked after I took 10 mg of Cialis prescribed by an urologist for prostate problems and after I used a headset at low to moderate volume the same day, it was not so bad but it just is getting worse and worse for some reason.

I had a couple of sessions with a clinical psychologist and an audiologist and the audiologist fitted me with wearable sound generators playing pink noise and that seems to have made it even worse, just my luck, it is since than incredibly fluctuating , my psychologist thinks it is stress related since there are a couple of possible triggers besides the Cialis and headset.

1 : My wife is about to give birth in 2 weeks for the first time and this gives a lot of stress for me as it was not without complications.

2 : Some prolonged stress at work, although the stress has has not really been a problem before.

3 : Unlikely, but the headset and Cialis might have triggered something.

4 : ……


She thinks that there might have been an initial physical trigger to spike my tinnitus the stress has passed a certain level, coupled with negative feelings resulting in loss of habituation which in turn makes the tinnitus spiral out of control.

That is all good for theory but the reality is that my tinnitus is through the roof, at first I had hoped it was only temporary but it has been months now (with ups and downs).

I was prescribed Xanax, been taking that for a week before I go to bed but yes, that seems to make it worse as well, so they switched to clonazepam, going to start taking that tonight to have some good nights sleep.

This whole thing is quite a mess and off course I can not support my wife in the state I am, is it ok to switch to clonazepam after being a week on xanax?

My apologies for the negativity but I just needed to vent :-/

 

hi @Bart I cannot help with what is causing your spike, but I can tell you that I am in the same situation.

Wishing you well and all the best with the coming birth!

 

Hi @Bart,

Sorry to hear how things have piled up on you; and I can certainly understand your desperation. -- Taking any kind of benzodiazapine is a BIG step to take, as it can work well for some, but not for others. Given what seems to be your sensitive nature, my guess is it's not likely to work better for you than xanax.

Before trying another benzo, you might want to consider trying a CBD oil. I started taking some recently, and feel it's a much better choice than taking a benzo (which I have a lot of experience with). Here's a LINK to a post I made on some of my experiences with it. I made a post later on that thread re: the brand I'm taking

I awoke this morning with a feeling of anxiety and desperation because t was much louder than normal. 12 drops of CBD oil had me back to baseline in about 10-15 minutes. The day before, I had about my best day since this all started for me 5 months ago. -- So, CBD oil is definitely giving me hope--the most I've had since all of this started.

Take Care!​

 

If you read the forum, lots of people here having spikes right now including me.
A suggestion and only that is try to live your life as normally as you can. Distraction and being out in ambient noise works best for me.
Choose hope, your spike will abate once you remove what you believe caused it aka the benzo.

I am hoping my spike subsides too shortly.

Good luck to us all.

 

Switching off Xanax after a week of small doses is not a big deal at all. Keep in mind Xanax is faster reacting and shorter half life than clonazepam . Where Xanax is effective for about 4 hours clonazepam is effective for 6-8.

 

Trying to get good sleep and sleep patterns might be a good idea to get more relaxed feeling and to give your system possibility to adapt to the situation.

 

how you doing now @Bart? Has it settled?

 

No it has not , I am slowly starting to accept that it probably will not settle though , kind if sucks but but I can and will habituate again to this new situation , what else is there to do really ?

Maybe it will still settle, who knows, but I am not counting on it, and if it does, well, that will be a nice bonus

Live and learn, right ?

 

All the best and Good bless to you! How was the birth? Did everything go well? I'm a proud father of four kids . They bring joy and (mostly positive) chaos .

 

You stated that the spike began some months ago. How many months ago? The reason I'm asking is that I experienced a terrible four month spike and severe H for the first time in 2014.

It was definitely brought on by stress. Three very stressful situations occurring simultaneously in my life. The fear that it would remain that way for the rest of my life sent my anxiety and fear levels through the roof. In fact, I think that they were the reason that the spike lasted so long.

Prolonged severe stress and anxiety can exacerbate a pre-existing T condition much like pouring gasoline on a fire.

There's a good chance that once your anxiety from the stressors that you mentioned begins to ramp back down, your spike will gradually diminish and your T will return to its previous baseline as did mine.

 

The baby is still holding out, not arrived yet , thanks

@jimH Thank you for you encouraging and kind words , it started about 3 months ago , but it was not too bad untill another spike about a month ago , when I first got tinnitus some years ago it was pretty loud the first 6 months but than slowly started to fade in the background untill it was barely audible and I only heard it in a silent room , maybe I habituated or it did indeed fade away, I don't know, and frankly, I didnt care as long as it was gone most of the time. It remained very stable over the years, with some spikes here and there , but not really anything to worry about .

However this past few months is/was a whole new ballgame, it has been very unstable , ranging from mild to severe , sometimes from hour to hour or less, it seems to come in waves, very odd but there really is no patern in it . unstable waves

I noticed however, since I am starting to accept it more and try and look at it with an open mind and more 'positivity' I get more and more good moments, the severe waves are getting less and the milder waves are increasing so to speak, still sucks but I am more confident that it will fade abit more, and if it does not, I can live with it .

 

That's exactly what I meant, that when your anxiety and stress levels begin to ramp down your spike situation will begin to improve. However, it's not usually linear. That is, but rather, more and more good moments and days with occasional bad ones.

Whenever I have a bad spike for a couple of days, I just tell myself, "So what, I've been through this before and I know it will pass this time too." This way, I manage to keep my anxiety under control.

That said, I wish you and your wife the very best of luck with the birth of your first child in the near future!...

 

Bart what an exciting time for you and your wife. The birth of your child. I hope you let us know when the baby arrives.

This must be stressful for you. So glad to read your last paragraph in your thread.