Help Please from Tinnitus Sufferers in the UK

I have had tinnitus for many years and always managed to cope. However, it has now accelerated and the volume and high pitch is so loud am having difficulty to sleep. The days are therefore getting worse. I have approached my doctor for some medication but he just says ' nothing can be done for tinnitus'. I pressed for some sleeping pills and he grudgingly sent me 7 tablets. Taking these have really helped but the doctor is obviously not going to help me again. If you live in the UK has your doctor helped you, do all doctors have the same attitude to tinnitus. It appears we now under National Health cannot change our surgery. What can I do to get help? Thanks in anticipation.

 

@Philbey

Hi Philbey,
Sorry to hear you are having a difficult time with tinnitus at the moment. Ask your GP to refer you to ENT as you are in a lot of distress and need help. Keep going to the surgery every day if you are not feeling well and he will take you seriously and give you something to lower the stress but I don't think you'll have to got that far.

Doctors are sometimes reluctant to handout sleeping tablets as one would like and there’s probably good reason for that. Don’t give up and keep going to back and he’ll realize something will have to be done. The NHS is good and much better than private care when it comes to treatment and long-term aftercare for conditions like tinnitus so persist.

Click on the link below as you might for the information helpful.
Best of luck
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/an-introduction-to-tinnitus.12100/

 

Asides from the prescribed sleeping pills from the doctor, you may want to try the natural alternatives. These products can help with sleep and calming the nerves. They are also less chance to addict to them or have bad side effects. Try natural products such as Melatonin, Lemon Balm, Valerian, Hops, Catnips, Passion Flower, Chamomile, Lavender, Kava, etc. You can do google search or check Amazon.com for each of them to know how people review these products, and see if you can take them as a supplement. Check out this site too on using natural herbs for helping to sleep or to calm the nerves.

http://www.christopherhobbs.com/lib...ealth/herbs-and-natural-remedies-for-insomnia /

Have you been doing masking since the spike? If the new T level triggers much anxiety, it is best to use masking sounds to help block out T. If you haven't done so, here are some suggestions:

1) Mask at bed time so you can sleep better. Find whatever sounds/music that are soothing to you. You can use a sound machine or sound pillow for this, or a computer with speakers.

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds.

3) If you have computer and speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds too:

TT's audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: http://mynoise.net/

or download this free sound generator ‘aire freshener’: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

Finally, can you identify the cause of your sudden spike? There are many causes which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including drug reaction or side-effects, ear or Eustachian tube infection, ear drum injury, fluid build-up feeling pressured, TMJ, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma, neck muscle problems, hearing loss, Meniere's, barotrauma from flight, grief for the loss of loved ones, untreated sleep apnea, elevated stress, anxiety & panic disorder, etc. If the root cause of the spike can be traced down, then it is much easier to treat it and hopefully your T will settle to base line again. Take good care. God bless.

 

Thank you so much for your help. I do have a tinnitus masking sound machine but does not seem to cope with the high pitch buzzing and hissing going on at the moment. However, I am grateful to you for advising the health aids. I have read that many people find Melatonin helpful and I will start off with this. I have got an appointment in a couple of weeks at the Audiology dept in local hospital. It takes time to get appointments quickly in this country so am just grateful for this appointment.

 

I find different doctors within a surgery have different attitudes to giving out sleeping pills. The first doc in our surgery wouldn't give any. The next would give me whatever I wanted.
I have found phenergan (promethazine) to be useful for sleeping. Some chemists sell this over the counter in the UK.

 

You dont need sleeping pills, if you dont sleep 2 days, trust me, you will sleep on the 3rd.

 

What sleeping pills were you given? There are a number of early anti-histamines available that many people find make them drowsy, for which you don't need a prescription. In fact a number of these are marketed as sleeping pills...

 

See a different GP. I found a GP who will give me adhoc sleeping pills to get through tough times, like now. Some antidepressants such as amitriptyline or mirtazapine can help with sleep and GPs are more likely to prescribe them. Find a GP that will listen and be willing to prescribe something to help if you are going through a tough time. Also, as you are in the UK, you can ask to be referred for a mindful mediation course specifically for tinnitus sufferers held at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear hospital in Kings Cross London. Your GP will not have heard of this so you will have to inform them. I told my helpful GP (now unfortunately retired) and he was happy to refer me on NHS. The consultant is Dr Lawrence McKenna. I have been on the course and found it helpful. Others in my Support Group have also been on the course and found it helpful.

 

I'm in Scotland. I just recently changed my GP because I felt he wasn't taking me seriously and just giving me the brush off. I think everyone has the right to do this. Take a look at this page. You just go to a new sugery and register. Thats what I did
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1088.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=158