Please Help. I Think I'm Losing My Mind with My New Tinnitus.

I know there is an amazing army of people on this forum and I am looking for your thoughts and ideas.

Here is my T story:

I was on Diovan for about 15 years, I am 44 now, when my insurance company forced me to move to the generic Valsartan, and one year later my body started to reject the Valsartan. I was having pains all over my body, chest pains, back pains, leg pains, feeling of inflammation, and then it got really bad with a few hallucinations where I would wake up in my back yard staring into my wood fence. My BP was generally fine with the drug all this time, but I got so scared and my doctor put me on Benicar.

My switch to Benicar started rough, but it was probably related to getting all the Valsartan out of my system. 4 months after starting Benicar, no more side effects but I got a painful kidney stone which cost me 10k to get removed. 2 months later I started to develop symptoms of Celiac Disease, so what needed to be a dark color was now white. I stopped drinking yogurt and wheat products and have not has the 'white' return;

Slowly still recovering from that kidney stone month-long event in late 2016, and about a year into Benicar (not generic), I am just sitting on the couch and Tinnitus shows up full blast and has not gone away in 3 months. My Resting BP is stable at low ~120s / Low 70's. I don't know if the tinnitus is related to the Benicar, but I am now having hyperacusis, so a microwave door, driving, or water running causes me to feel like things are too loud.

I am now having trouble having conversations, listening to music, or even TV due to the hyperacusis. I am putting cotton in my ears for 80% of the day and while driving which helps.

My doctor and I have agreed that I should see if another med helps reduce the Tinnitus, and so I have an order in for Cozaar (brand name) to see if it will make a difference. Although I know Cozaar is on the list of drugs which are ototoxic, but the generic form of this drug appears to have more claims of ototoxicity.

I have never had so many major issues come about when taking a medicine, so I am thinking Benicar might be related. I take a generic vitamin pill, some Omega-3 fish oil, and some red yeast rice for minor cholesterol.

I am going back to reading instead of noise making activities, but this is also hard because I lose my concentration because of the T.

Small note: Sometimes, my T becomes pulsating, like a heartbeat, when I goto the bathroom, or try to lift something heavy. Also, If I turn my head, I feel a slight pain maybe muscular and this will increase the T, but go back down to normal T once I turn my head back to center.

Perhaps the Benicar, but I still will randomly have days where my face feel a little swollen, and other days my legs. This tends to go away if I have a light workout at night.

I just don't know anymore. My Cozaar should be here in a couple of days.

 

I dont have experience with your condition but you are in my thoughts.

In the meantime youtube tinnitus relief videos and wait for your meds. If you are feeling really low, definitely call your doc. Hope you get better <3

 

Update:

So I got the Cozaar and tried it for a week. Unfortunately, it did not control my HBP as well as the Benicar, and I am fairly certain that it was making my tinnitus worse. The tinnitus would ring louder when I slept on my side, but this might be related to the reduced control of my HBP.

Some notes about my Tinnitus:

1. Under normal calm situations, the Tinnitus is just a steady ring which does not pulse.

2. I hear it in both ears, but primarily in my left ear. If I turn my head all the way to the right, the Tinnitus will increase in my left ear, but settle back down once I bring my head back forward. Turning left does not change the Tinnitus.

3. I have halted almost all weight lifting, which i did daily in moderation, as lifting weights will increase the Tinnitus, and sometimes it was taking the whole night to settle back down. I can still do aerobic exercise to about 80% of my previous resistance before the Tinnitus increases.

4. My hyper sensitivity to sound continues, but I wear cotton in my ears unless I am sleeping or reading quietly.

5. Since March 1st 2017, when this began, I originally thought I was losing my hearing in one ear and then it would return. I have not had any such issue and both ears seem to hear the same, aside from their being Tinnitus present.

Given that my Tinnitus came on so suddenly, while on Benicar, should I get an MRI to rule out a tumor?

I am next going to start researching over-the-counter drugs to see if anything reduces this Tinnitus. I realize I can learn to live with this, but I feel like it is reducing my quality of life. It is quite depressing.

 

I sympathize, I have ultra high hearing loss which is piercing in both of my ears at times. Stay strong, we are all in this together!! It will get better..

 

Try vitamin B12, NAC, and Magnesium.

There is hope that eventually your T's volume and/or pitch will change for the better
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-did-the-severity-of-your-tinnitus-change-over-time.22707
Note that the poll above is biased since people who get better are less likely to be active on this forum and to vote in this poll.

 

my mom has tinnitus in both ears...she puts a radio and a fan on high to drown it out.....
my strange water behind the ear thumping...can only be drowned out but thunder and rain sounds...its too late for me...cause no one wanna help and think im crazy....wish i can put this in everyones ears ..

 

You are less than one month in. You need to wait another two years before you could say the above. There is a relatively high chance that you will experience an improvement, but it will likely be months before you do.

 

@Bill Bauer

 

@Christophe_85 N-Acetylcysteine
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/n-acetylcysteine-nac.395/

 

Ok thank you Bill !