Hi, I went to my family doctor general practice who is 67 years old, but at least he has an open mind: he said he did some reading and that tinnitus is the same as a chronic pain disorder, just the cochlea has been injured, and this results in loss of feedback to the cortical neurons, which no longer have nerve cells to inhibit them, so they start to fire, the same way that any other nerve injury will result in what is called neuropathic pain. As a result of his reading, he suggested that I can try carbamazepine, because this is a chronic pain medication. I already take pregabalin which is also a chronic pain med, as well as mirtazapine and Seroquel and imovane. so I am on quite a bag of medications.
My main issue is that I cannot sleep, and I need meds to get me to go to sleep, and the side effect of carbamazepine is drowsiness which for me is a good thing, because it promotes sleep. I showed up in the emergency room of the hospital 2 months ago after I had had some noisy dental work done, which resulted in a very bad spike of tinnitus, due to about 5 days of absolutely no sleep and just going nuts, feeling that I would be probably in a pine box very soon, or something drastic.
They prescribed imovane for me 15mg at bedtime, which at least put me to sleep, and then with sleep my tinnitus gradually started to improve.
I started taking the carbamazepine 2 days ago. the first night it seemed to help me, but yesterday I had some few seconds of noise, and it spiked my tinnitus again so I am in the suffering mode again.
I am so happy that my doctor has been doing his own reading and research. Question: is he on the right track by calling this a chronic pain disorder, and is it good to treat tinnitus like chronic pain - and should I be optimistic.
My main issue is that I cannot sleep, and I need meds to get me to go to sleep, and the side effect of carbamazepine is drowsiness which for me is a good thing, because it promotes sleep. I showed up in the emergency room of the hospital 2 months ago after I had had some noisy dental work done, which resulted in a very bad spike of tinnitus, due to about 5 days of absolutely no sleep and just going nuts, feeling that I would be probably in a pine box very soon, or something drastic.
They prescribed imovane for me 15mg at bedtime, which at least put me to sleep, and then with sleep my tinnitus gradually started to improve.
I started taking the carbamazepine 2 days ago. the first night it seemed to help me, but yesterday I had some few seconds of noise, and it spiked my tinnitus again so I am in the suffering mode again.
I am so happy that my doctor has been doing his own reading and research. Question: is he on the right track by calling this a chronic pain disorder, and is it good to treat tinnitus like chronic pain - and should I be optimistic.