Little Desperate Now, Some Advice?

My T is very much related to anxiety. In the past four months I have programmed my brain to react with anxiety. I have had good days, the T just became noticeable in the evening. Now: it has never been worse. It changes every day, even every hour. The pitch, the loudness... It is driving me mad. Now there is a new "low electric buzz". I know I shouldn't care and just move on to do what I was doing but it is SO hard to ignore it.

Problem is that my reaction to it is probably causing this all. And the most annoying part is that I cannot do anything about it right now, as it is my subconscious deciding how to react, not me.....
A psychiatrist gave me some Xanax, but I am anxious to use it, as I have read some negative stories about (addiction etc..). Bought some weed today (live in NL), but it's been a while since I have used it and it has the tendency to enhance your dominant emotion, so not such a good idea...

I am going to take a long ride on my bike now, to get rid of all the adrenaline. I am already a little anxious for when I come home... I will have to mask the hell out of it. Which is pretty hard with many different tones...

Hope you guys can give me some advice....

 

The fact that you recognize that it's anxiety related is pretty huge, and in my opinion increased your chance of habituating.

I remember experiencing exactly what you described, the sounds completely changing (while always having a very high pitched static sound in the back), but sometimes a very low hum, followed by constant fleeting tinnitus.

I took benzos on the nights that were really bad too, which I feel is fine if you are literally only using them at unbearable times. Coming from experience as I have had debilitating anxiety as well, that is not a drug you want to mess with. They will lessen the sound, but they do not help you habituate. If on the off chance you get addicted, the withdrawals are WORSE than heroin. 1-2 pills a month is not going to hurt you, however, and I completely understand needing it at times.

In my opinion, noise therapy (white noise, fans, tinnitus tamer, notch therapy) were the biggest key in helping me start to forget I had tinnitus at times. When I think about it, sure, it's still there. But the difference is night and day now.

 

Hi st0rch,

Thank you for your reply. What did you do when you were anxious?
I actually am not sure whether I am anxious now. All I know is that adrenaline is rushing through my vains, I can almost feel it being created in my underbelly...
Riding the bike did not help me much this time. I am really in doubt now, to take a Xanax pill or not.

Are you habituated to the T now btw?

 

There are natural alternatives to Xanax or doctor prescribed benzos for anxiety, such as Lemon Balm, Valerian, Hops, Catnips, Passion Flower, Chamomile, Lavender, Kava, etc. You can 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 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

I think any masking will help distract the brain and the audible system to focus on T. Even for multi-toned T, you don't have to block off all T sounds completely. In fact, TRT requires the masker should be set at a level lower than the T sound just to let the brain get used to or habituate to the T ringing. I have ultra high pitch dog whistle T. I also had severe H soon after T started. Because of that I could only mask my T partially to the volume my H could tolerate. I have to use really high pitch masking sounds such as showers, waterfalls, torrential rain, even squeaky faucet sounds and even that sometimes would not cover my T. I could hear my T above the jet noise in my recent flights and above the raging rapids in the wild salmon rivers I fish. So I have empathy for your pain dealing with your T. Give masking a go, even if just partially. Treat this as a new normal and stay calm and positive as much as you can. Take care. God bless.

 

Hi billie48,

Thank for for your reply. Sorry to hear you have H too. I will certainly look at those natural alternatives. I tried Valerian so far but with not much luck, maybe another herbal will help me.
Treating this as a new normal... That's pretty hard but I will try. If only my reaction to T was gone, I'd be so happy.

You take care too!