No Sleep. Feeling Desperate.

Mine is so loud to the point that I can't hear people and makes me feel sick

 

Insomnia has alway sbeen my biggest problem too. I also hate to take medications. I think they may have contributed to my worsening tinnitus but I would have struggled to continue full time work without meds to help me sleep over these past 6 years. Antihistamines, melatonin and other non-prescription meds do not work for me. Amitriptyline helped me sleep for a while. Mirtazapine helped also. Occasional zopiclone or temazepam also but I never take the benzos for more than a couple of days at a time. My goal is to be med free but working full time and insomnia is bad mix. Dr Stuart's Valerian plus tea is strong stuff and can help. Also try tryptophan for sleep, an amino acid without side effects.

 

AuntSally, I have pulsatile tinnitus in both ears, caused by TMJ and bruxism. If you think yours is stress related, make sure you are not biting down/grinding during the day, and (assuming you do sleep), making sure you do not grind or bind at night. Your dentist should be able to look into your mouth and tell by callouses on your cheek and wear marks on your teeth if you do this. If so you will need a night guard.

As for sleep, I was on Ambien for 8 years before T started (chronic insomnia runs in my family), and after the initial T panic my sleep on Ambien didn't change much. I was also on Remeron (Martazipine) for a while for T depression+sleep aid, but it made me too drowsy in the morning. However, it did allow me to lower my Ambien for a while, so am considering using it sporadically as a sleep aid.

 

Can you use mirtazapine ocassionally as a sleep aid? I was prescribed this as im suffering terribly with anxiety and terrible insomnia now 5 months into T. I tried it but I think it caused a new electrical static kind of noise in my head that wasn't there before and it frightened me off staying on it. All meds, even nytol, which didnt work, seem to have a knock on effecton my T and I'm left sleeping so poorly. Just 1 hour again last night. Also, because im 58, I'm really scared of ending up stuck on medication the rest of my life, with detrimental effects. My life is ruined.

 

Meds or not? Having read around, success stories and the like. I wonder if just pushing through with the insomnia, assuming that sleep patterns will right themselves naturally in time will get to habituation in a shorter timescale. I don't work or anything. After five months I'm just amazed I still know what day it is. I don't know. This is the biggest challenge I've ever faced.

 

@AuntSally the first weeks were so bad for me I got prescribed lorazepam. It did help me sleep and I'm thankful for it. I tried not to take it unless I had really bad anxiety. After a while I noticed it gave me bad withdrawals, not sure how if I only took it as needed. Anyway what helps me sleep. .. I bought some sleepphones and connect my phone thru bluetooth to some white noise or anything to mask my tinnitus I put it really low and sleep all night with them. I also just bought a homedics sleep machine at target and I've been trying to not use my sleep phones and just use the homedics on low. I've tried melatonin it helps me sleep quick but it doesn't keep me asleep. I drink tea to promote sleep any brand like yogi or traditional medicinals. Hot water with lemon is also great. I can sleep longer with my sleepphones I get about 5hrs to 8 hrs of sleep. Mostly 5 but it's improving. Waking up in the morning is the worst feeling knowing tinnitus is still there reason why I can't go back to Sleep. Went from a happy girl to a girl who is always anxious and avoids going out because of tinnitus.

 

When I first got tinnitus, I used an app called Relax Melodies and cranked up the volume quite loud for masking, and I also had 3-4 shots of bourbon directly before bed. Until you habituate you just gotta do what you have to in order to get some sleep. Don't let your life fall apart from a ringing ear.