Hello...i have sensorineural hearing lost and severe tinnitus

Hi Karen,

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this for me. I feel a trip to Holland and Barratt coming on. I do take supplements vitamin C & zink combo, B12 and magnesium but that's it.

Take care,

Darren

 

Hi Kenneth,
I went through a spell a month ago when I couldn't get to sleep. I now have a regular nightime routine that seems to work for me. An hour before bedtime a I have a mug of hot milk. Up to a week ago I was also taking some Nytol which you can get from the chemist here in the UK which helps you sleep. I'm sure you can get something similar in the US but it's probably best not to mix it with other meds you are taking. At night I play relaxing nature sounds like rain falling or the sea on the beach. If you have a smart phone there are loads of apps you can download for free. I've invested in some pillow speakers that I connect to my phone but you could just try with your phone at the side of the bed. They say it's best to set the volume just below that of your tinnitus. I have it playing all night. I also read a book when I get into bed and most nights now I find I'm falling asleep with 10 mins or so.
Hope that helps. Hang in there mate and just take one day at a time.

John

 

Hello everyone.... It's 415am....i haven't slept in days...weeks...i just visited my specialist in UCSF last week for update follow up to see how i am doing...told him its bad and i don't freaking get it why it just continue roaring loud in my freaking right ear...i don't know for sure which side because i am deaf on left ear and 80% deaf right ear. It's so horrible...so annoying...i asked him about other medication like Remeron...he told me he never heard of this medication. Also he told me i need seek a psychiatrist ....i got home that day and tried search a psychiatrist...man they all like 50 miles away from my home dam...i have no car right now to get anywhere. I also tried taking Melatonin...it doesn't help at all. I also was taking Lorazepam and i ran out and i need refill because i cannot just quit suddenly...right now i am shaking and scared and crying for days and days. Honestly...i usually take 4-6 mg of Lorazepam at night before i go sleep and it does really helps me sleep...i know i need to get off this medication but i need or probably try cut it down slowly but i am out...i don't know if my doctor will refill because its too early to get refill...i called the nurse yesterday about what happen to my medication that the bottle got crushed when it fell off the coffee table while i was vacuuming....the bottle fell and went inside the vacuum and crush all of the pills...oh my god i freaked out!!!! and she told me she will let him know today..i bet he will not refill for me....if he doesn't...i dont know what the next step..because i cannot take it anymore. I just don't know what else to do. I lost all my good friends and my families...cause of this and what this thing doing to me. I'm sorry everyone....right now i am totally shaking and scared and this noise it's horrible..god i crying so badly and home alone..if i go to ER...i know they will not doing anything and they will tell me go see ENT. Because i been there so many times. God help me!... I wish someone could call him and tell him i need my refill or explain whats happening to me. I can't stop crying. I wonder if anyone here in the bay area in California? Let me know please.




Ken

 

Dear Ken,

I am so sorry to read about your situation. You can always find support on this forum!

You need to get some sleep. All doctors know that this is very important. If Lorazepam helps you sleep, then you allready found something in that regard. Insist on getting the medication. Be persistent. Try different doctors. If this medication does not give you the amount of sleep you need, insist on trying different meds until you find the one that works for you. When you start getting a good night sleep, things will look much brighter!

Secondly, you need to keep searching for something that can relax you. What about hot showers? What about some of the guided relaxation meditation videos on youtube? What about a glass of wine?

Take one day at a time. Things will be better.

Hugs,
Hopeful

 

Hi Ken,

First thing, as others have said, you need to get sleep. This is priority number one. If you're going up to San Francisco for a specialist, I would definitely recommend making the trip to wherever a psychiatrist is. Very humbly, I think this is the best thing to help you sleep. A psychiatrist is who helped me sleep when I had terrible insomnia. I had to try a few different things, but there are many mends other than benzos that will definitely knock you out. A good doctor will help you choose. I grew up in the bay area - where are you located? Maybe I can help you locate someone.

I can tell from the way you're writing that you're in a desperate place. I commend you for having the courage to write here. When I was in that bad of a place, I could barely function, much less type. My mother had to fly out and try to stop me from doing something desperate. You can be okay again. I cannot imagine the fear and stress of having tinnitus and having your level of hearing loss at the same time. That must be incredibly frightening and isolating feeling. However, if my may be so bold, it seems to me you must be very strong to have even made it this far and this long. I have faith that you can be okay and am sending prayers your way. I know when I was in a very bad place it was hard to get myself going, or outside or doing anything. Everything felt like it took a monumental effort, so I'm going to list out my humble suggestions so things are a bit more concrete looking. That's something that helped me when I was at my worst - having a list of things to do, but if it doesn't work for you then I hope you excuse me . I hope it helps a little and like everyone has said, we are here for you. Hang in there.

1. Get to a psychiatrist as soon as possible.
Getting a psychiatrist is not just about taking to someone - it's more about finding a way to help you cope with your suffering in the immediate future and to have someone to help you manage your medications. It's dangerous to take more than your prescribed amount of medication without direct doctor supervision and it can cause you a lot of anxiety to go off a benzo drug without tapering off over a long period of time. I took just .5mg a day of klonopin and still tapered off of it over seven weeks. If you just stop "cold turkey" you can cause more severe anxiety and potentially cause other withdrawal symptoms. This is not to scare you at all (and I'm not a doctor, just repeating what my psychiatrist told me), but just because I really do care and benzos are serious drugs. If you don't like the first psychiatrist you see, you can go to another later, but don't let yourself go into too much of a withdrawal from the benzo medication. Just see someone soon for now. Be honest with the doctor about why you took it and what happened. This is what their job is, they will help. If they don't, go to another. Even just give a doctor a call, sometimes they can help to a degree over the phone.

2. Go the American Tinnitus Association Website and get a list of their professionals in California or your area. The ATA isn't great for everything, but they do have a good list of people who actually work with tinnitus patients. http://www.ata.org/

3. Check out this Barry Keates (sp?) tinnitus library. I have tried his supplements and didn't get a great deal of help from them (my tinnitus is from loud noise, different from yours) but I have a dear friend with tinnitus caused by a more vascular reason who swears by it. That is beside the point though, he has written a million cited articles on tinnitus and everything related to it. Here is one one what I believe you said caused yours: http://www.tinnitusformula.com/library/sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss-and-tinnitus/

4. Try not to panic. I know you are panicing that that's a very hard thing to stop, I didn't sleep normally for months after my tinnitus started. I did take sleeping pills, there are many, many options out there to help you sleep. A good psychiatrist will help you. But truly, the more you panic about the sound of your tinnitus, the more your brain will pay attention to it. It's not about not hearing the sound, it's about not being afraid of it. If you panic in response to the tinnitus, your body interprets it as a threat and will literally not be able to ignore it. Your brain is thinking of tinnitus as a grizzly bear running towards you in the woods and telling you to run, but you can't. Tinnitus, though truly awful, will not directly kill you and you need teach your brain that this is the case. This is a LONG process. Be patient with yourself, but do start trying to do little things as others have said to distract yourself (like a long walk outside).

5. Know that things can get better. You can get your life back, so many out there have. It will be a journey, but I do believe it is possible. You can live with so, so much more than you presently believe you can. I did not think I could ever be happy again with tinnitus in my life, I wanted to end my life, and now, I am more or less "fine". It is still a daily struggle in many ways, but life is as good as it ever was. My tinnitus is not the same as yours, but I think the ability for human beings to live with more than they think they can bear is rather universal. It doesn't come easily, but it is definitely possible. Like I believe Karen said, over time the tinnitus either A. seems to lessen in intensity or B. not seem so loud (as you teach your brain not to pay attention to it).


Let us know how things go and if you need any California related help or anything at all feel free to email me: hopeblog@outlook.com. I don't know how to do the private message thing on here yet (kind of new to the forum, but of course feel free to message me that way as well if you want!)

Take care of yourself.