Is the Tinnitus Fading? Or Is It Just the Valium...

So last night, in desperation for some good sleep, I took one of my (prescribed) valium. It was a small dose, just a 2mg pill. Needless to say the volume of my tinnitus went down & I didn't care about what was left of it about an hour after I took the pill, and it was a great feeling.

I woke up and if I remember clearly... It was back, just not as drastic. I had also put on a pink noise sound while I slept throughout the night. So here I am, about 20 hours after taking the valium and it SEEMS like the volume & frequency of my Tinnitus has decreased...

Before the noise spiked very rapidly and raised and lowered frequency like this ^^--^--^^-^^^-. Almost like a cricket...

now its more like ^______^^_____^_______^ and is, from what I can tell by covering my ears ( I know I shouldn't do that) much quieter... or at least im perceiving it that way.

It's been about 10-ish days since this all started, and I know it's probably not realistic to think it's fading away... But could it be? Or is this still just the valium silencing it a bit. From what I know, Valium has a very long half life, but the effects almost completely diminish after 10 hours, and this was a very small dose.

I hope I didn't jynx it by even posting this...

 

Also... I'm very aware that I developed hyperacusis after the concert I went to as well. Maybe as the hyperacusis fades, I'm simply becoming less sensitive to the high pitched Tinnitus? That would make sense to me.

Or it's just the valium and I'm an idiot for having hope

 

You're certainly not an idiot for having hope. Always have hope, but take it day by day. I'm over 30 days in (second time around with T) and. Still have hope that with I habituate or it goes away.

 

You´re never an idiot for having hope! i hope this is the beginning of the end for you, i think i´ll get some valium, even just for a slight relief, thanks for the tip.

 

Storch- how is T today ?just wondering if it settled down .

 

definitely not an idiot for having hope. valium never did that for me, but klonopin made mine quieter in the beginning. even if it is the valium, think about it this way - if something is making it quieter, then at least it's possible for it to be quieter and possibly for it to heal! some people take medications and get no relief - so that's great that something is changing for the better in any circumstance.

If it really does help you out, you should give a regular yoga practice a shot (in the long term), or other GABA increasing practices. That's the part of the brain that benzos work on and yoga has been proven to have a GABA increasing effect over time also without the benzo side effects.

Here's a really interesting article on how tinnitus can be caused by damaged hair cells emitting excess excitatory neurotransmitters. GABA is inhibitory and can calm down the tinnitus to a degree, so if you're sensitive to the valium, it could definitely be making it quieter: Arches Tinnitus Formula | Excitotixicity & New Medications for Tinnitus

 

Yeah, I really really don't want to take Benzos if I can avoid it... I just hadn't slept in two weeks and was desperate. The funny thing is, the ENT I went to wrote me a prescription for Xanax almost immediately after I told him I had tinnitus... Doctors give that stuff out like candy, yet the withdrawal & addiction is worse than Heroine. If anything, my anxiety is terrible right now, to the point where It's hard for me to even go outside, and it was like that before the tinnitus... now its just... uncontrollable.

Today I've definitely noticed my tinnitus, but it seems maybe a bit quieter than usual? I can't really tell. It's still got me really depressed right now.

Last night, the strangest thing happened though. I was laying down about to sleep, and my tinnitus got extremely loud and went into both ears, similar to what happens after hearing a gunshot. It diminished back to normal after about 5 seconds, but made me sit up and panic for a second...

 

You probably experienced so called fleeting tinnitus. Everyone has it, but we didn't pay any attention to it before we got real tinnitus. All of us have been where you are now with T, you'll be ok.

 

I have decided to try a daily dose of 10mg of Valium to see if it relieves my Tinnitus. At this point the ENT hasn't recommended anything so I guess that I am on my own. Wish me luck.

 

Valium has a potential half life of 200 hours because of active metabolites. So it's probably the valium, or normal variation that you're reading too much in to.

2mg is not much. I took twenty times that for many years. If you can get relief from that dose, enjoy it while it lasts...

 

Also anecdotally.. As someone who has withdrawn from both benzos and narcotics, yes, benzos are much, much worse.

 

Did you use campral to withdrawal from benzos?

 

Yes. It did essentially nothing.

 

Hm, that's odd. It's meant to at least beneficial for withdrawal from benzos. For tinnitus, it does nowt.

 

yes..but valium. If you do get addicted, you may wish for T again...no I'm serious. Valium will not cure your T so it will continue in its severity when you stop the valium. Hence, you may feel it is ok to keep taking it. Then insomnia sets in. Now you can't sleep without it. Trust me...life can sux more than T. It maybe hard to believe, but life can really sux so bad that T is actually a nice state to be in.

I'm happy to be off benzos, Z drugs, anti-depressants. All that shit was no good and just made it worse. In the end, you just have to habituate and take supplements. There may be some treatments that will help and not be as bad as benzos.
I just finished a 10% taper of mirtazapine. Never again. It nearly destroyed me..I mean that literally..like death.

 

Yes, I will echo this. Benzo dependence was worse than my tinnitus.

 

Hello,
Can I ask how much Benzo you were addicted to?

 

I took 2mg/day of Clonazepam for a number of years. A couple years later, I took Phenazapam for a year or so, and then used Valium to taper off it.

To suppress my tinnitus to a meaningful degree, I believe I need to take about 8mg/day of Valium. I would consider that if I believed it would work at that dose for a period of decades, but I suspect I would need to escalate the dose significantly over a period of time, and the side-effects (let alone the withdrawal!) make that an unappealing option.

 

How did you get your tinnitus?

 

It got significantly worse in 2010 following an obvious acoustic trauma, however, why I got it initially in 1999 is as much of a mystery as the visual distortions that I acquired at the same time. Possibilities include: 5-ht2a agonist drug use (SSRIs, handful of recreational substances); neurological damage from virus (acquired cold sores for the first time in the months leading up to this, and HSV lives in head nerves); generally fragile sensory system from years of anxiety / premature birth.

I will be surprised if I ever get much clarity on this issue

 

did it make you suicidal?