Gone Again

Are doctors more flexible with medications in the UK and other countries outside the US? I hear people talking constantly about trying this benzodiazapine or that, then bouncing to and from other medications. If I went into most any doc and asked specifically to try a certain prescription as an attempt to curb my tinnitus (or depression, or pain, or whateve), that seems the most assured way of not getting it. On my wife's most recent trip to a new doctor regarding a foot injury, coupled with chronic back pain due to curvature of the spine, her request for pain meds was catagorically denied. Basically, they want you to return several times, incurring outrageous costs, then maybe see a specialist, before even considering prescriptions that have any real effect. Sorry... frustrated with the medical profession!

 

Hi Paul D:

I live in the US and here is my perspective.

Part of the problem is that there are no FDA-approved drugs for tinnitus. So necessarily, any prescription will be off-label. Of course, if the tinnitus leads to anxiety or depression, as is sometimes the case, then a doctor might feel more justified in prescribing Xanax or Lexapro to treat the these secondary disorders.

As for experimentation and off-label prescriptions, I think it depends very much on whether the doctor has experience with the drugs in question. I suspect that a doctor will generally be reluctant to prescribe medications without having developed a degree of familiarity with them.

I occasionally see someone who specializes in "psychosomatic medicine" who is very comfortable with benzodiazepines (e.g. Xanax), antidepressants (e.g. Lexapro), and even certain anti-epileptic drugs (e.g. Trileptal and Gabapentin). However, when I asked whether Flexeril (a muscle relaxant) would help, he said that this was beyond his area of specialization. My neurologist, on the other hand, was more than happy to let me try Flexeril!

-Golly

 

Don't think any ENT is going to solve anything related to T. They are way too bounded by pre-recorded "knowledge." We have to relate to scientists working with neurologics in labs, testing stuff! Finding solutions. Working the problem. My experience with so called ENT specialists and GP's have been terrible. As a matter of fact we know out T better then them. I would presume that some of the people that's been curious bout their condition for a long time has more general knowledge than docs.

 

I second that. I got mine overnight. Went to bed fine. Woke up with LOUD and constant tinnitus. Just like that. The brain works heavily at night, I've had a lot of nightmares since my T appeared from the blue. I've also experienced a super fast flash of some sort, it woke me up. Almost like my brain had a stroke.