I Had a Combination of Depression, Anxiety, and Tinnitus Which I Believe Caused PTSD About Tinnitus

For years, I had been one of those guys that ruminated on negative things until I could fix them. Well, after I got tinnitus, I couldn't cure it but I was able to take klonopin to reduce it and turn the volume down and that calmed me down to tune it out.

After the effect finally started to wear off and I had a very stressful time and went through a bad depression, my tinnitus increased I was put in a very quiet area at work that was void of many people, required no real critical thinking to get my mind off of tinnitus and my depression was bad most of the time.

I put my hope in a drug called Remeron which helped some with depression but it increased my type of tinnitus. I was having nervous breakdowns at work and had to resign. It created such a lasting memory on me that I think it gave me PTSD about working with tinnitus.

I thought, could I handle a job? Could I stop thinking about it. I had to be tranquilized a lot and went through a cycle that usually had 3 okay weeks and then 1 bad week. I tried getting of klonopin over the period of a year and failed mostly due to tinnitus.

When I got down to half a dose I started having derealization and depersonilation issues and had to go back up. Finally I was put on Lamictal to help stabilize my mood. It helped a lot but I still was trying to cure my t or reduce it to where I didn't hear it in most places.

Finally, a couple of days ago, I decided to accept the T, not be scared of it and not be depressed about it. I believe the medicine has allowed my brain to be able to tell myself that and deal with it. I think there are many people that don't like T but they accept it because of their brain health and chemistry which could be due to genetics, healthy eating, or just not having a brain injury. Once they accept it they tune it out more. Kind of like a fan blowing in the background. I found myself not noticing my T probably 90% yesterday and not much today.

The Lamictal may be leveling me out, but I also have to work on it mentally and when I notice it, I just say whatever, and think about other things. Will it bother me again in the future? Probably, I have to remind myself that the bothersome thoughts and feelings will eventually pass. In fact, I was actually in a library and tuned out my tinnitus!

My advice to people is to see if they can rationalize to themselves to say "I am going to accept this tinnitus and not going to let it bother me and ruin my day." If your brain won't accept it then you may need supplements, medication, hearing aids, or lifestyle changes such as diet, sleep cycle, or not isolating yourself at home.

Also, try to remember that emotions can come and go. Its possible you might get cured in the future or it will decrease over time or when you quit ruminating about it but try not to let it worry or bother you.

I hope this can help some people. I know it might not help people with severe tinnitus but I figured I would share this.