The Cause Was Generalized Anxiety Disorder — I've Recovered from My Tinnitus

Let me start by saying that I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

This diagnosis came to me at roughly 10-12 years of age (not sure of when, exactly). I was bullied throughout my entire school life, which is what caused (and worsened) the condition. I've since been in and out of hospitals for panic attacks mistaken for more serious ailments, always had trouble making friends, and I was sensitive at heart. To my peers I was an easy target, and that really messed with my head. In order to cope with the never-ending stress of being a social outcast, I listened to loud music. The logic behind this was: It's not as dangerous as drinking or smoking, and it's not as risky as partying late at night. I thought it was the safest thing to do. With every tune, my imagination ran wild. Music took me to places where I was in control, where no one could hurt me. Music was my safe haven, it still is today.

But come years later, on November 17th, 2017: I developed a loud and viscous ringing in my ears, this comes along with a horrid ear infection on top of it. No one had told me about the horrors of tinnitus until then, and my family never spoke about the condition. It wasn't until I experienced it for myself that my knowledge of tinnitus was obtained. At first, my research destroyed me.

>"It can be permanent"
>"There is no cure"
>"It is often difficult to treat"
>"It can be constant, twenty-four/seven"

Needless to say, I went into a full blown panic. I visited three GPs, one ENT, and even tried finding answers through alternative websites. Their consensus was that I developed an eustachian tube dysfunction and that once I waited it out, it would go away.

I wait two weeks, and despite the significant decline in the volume of my tinnitus, I still couldn't enjoy the silence around me. Now knowing that the previous doctors all failed at relieving my condition, I assumed I'd damaged my hearing, and this would last with me for the rest of my life. My anxiety spiked and I became depressed, for the next three years my life was in shambles with no habituation in sight. It wasn't until I had moved states and got myself acquainted with a more competent doctor who tested my hearing, that I would find answers. She became aware of my anxiety, and prescribed me with "Sertaline" (generic name for Zoloft). She told me to take it every day in the evening and that's just what I have been doing. The good news? I am now three days in, and I've noticed the once brief moments of silence getting longer and longer. This was unprecedented, as I had already come to terms with the fact that this was a life long affliction.

That's when I came to the conclusion, the cause was anxiety.

This isn't to say I didn't have noise-induced tinnitus at first. It's true, I was listening to loud music when this horror-show started. But what I didn't realize then (and am realizing now), was that the physical manifestation of my tinnitus already recovered years ago. I was just so worked up about it that I began to psychologically repeat these sounds. Over and over again, even after I healed during my two weeks of rest. But since I've been on Zoloft, I don't hear it anymore. Provided I am not focusing on it, I don't hear it when I'm plugging my ears, when I'm lying down, or even in quiet areas like my bedroom. I have come to the conclusion that my ongoing tinnitus was caused by severe anxiety, and there is a speck of hope for me if I keep going with this new form of treatment.

With what little time I've spent on here, I hope I have been able to provide fellow sufferers with some insight. Tinnitus can have a variety of causes, and can be a combination of different things at once. It's important that you make the efforts to find yours, because it might not be as serious as you think. I've also learned that it is very important to take care of your hearing! I will continue to protect my ears, no matter what happens. This was an experience I never want to repeat. To whatever god exists in this universe, if there even is a god: Trust me, I get the message.

Thank you everyone for the hope you gave me, even if only for a moment. I may come on from time to time, but not as much anymore. This has been Fire2Flowers and this is my story, take care.

 

Interesting, as I tried Zoloft for 2 weeks and it made my tinnitus significantly worse, which in turn worsened my anxiety and depression. Getting off of it was terrible, as with many SSRIS and similar. But my tinnitus is most likely caused by ototoxicity from Pregabalin, so in my case whether my anxiety is high or low doesn't make too much of a difference.

 

Yeah this is really interesting because there are quite a few reports of Zoloft and other SSRIs worsening tinnitus. These drugs appear to have different effects on everyone though. Happy for you.

 

Thanks @AVIYT for sharing your experience. -- @Fire2Flowers, congratulations on your improvements, and thanks for sharing them with the forum. I would however, suggest you carefully consider the above negative Zoloft experience, which is not an uncommon one. Though you're enjoying improvements now, drug dependent solutions are often not be a good long-term solutions. I'm a big believer in natural alternatives, and have read about MANY that often work very well for anxiety. Sometimes a combination of natural things work best. And the long-term solutions are usually much better.

All the Best...

 

Have you guys seen this?

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(17)31098-7

 

Explain it?

 

So the ringing has completely stopped?

 

Why did you need pregabalin?

 

My doctor prescribed it for GAD. I went to a psych because my neurologist was worried by me experiencing depersonalization. It was probably from a few situational things: Lost a bunch of money ($100K+, $70K in a single week earlier in the year), then fell $50K in debt, had to sell everything I had, had to downgrade my lifestyle, my dog died, a lot of stress and I ended up taking Phenibut to relax me once every few days. For years this was fine. But probably it was too much. All of that stuff ended up with me feeling really out of it in December, random paranoia and anxiety. But you know what? Pregabalin made the depersonalization WORSE ironically.

 

To Agrajag364:
My psychiatrist put me on Zoloft, and my metabolism could not process it. It backed up in my system.
After 72 hours I nearly hyperventilated and lost consciousness.
In withdrawing from it I had such paranoid imaginings that I felt like that figure in Munch's great painting "The Scream."
Given the number of reports of SSRIs and other antidepressants worsening tinnitus (sometimes permanently!), perhaps my failed experience was the proverbial Blessing in Disguise.

 

I feel you. Dealing with GAD myself... Look into glutamate antagonist drugs with your psychiatrist. Attack the problem from another side maybe... leave the GABA side of things alone for now since it took some hits.

And give your tinnitus some time without gabaergic drugs. I saw you posted somewhere that you still take Phenibut and Xanax... hang in for a month and see what happens. If there's no physical damage, the hearing should recover.

 

Thanks this is very interesting and glad you feel better, and your report again confirm my own conclusions, I think I have had this condition since I was young and it followed me for a big part of my life, but it's much better now. I don't take meds, only a few natural supplements like taurine, magnesium, vit D, vit C, l-theanine, ... it's really strange that when I feel well and without anxiety that my T is much better too, so there must be a link and a lot of T sufferers seem to have some level of anxiety too, it's not 100% ear related, there is something else going on too.

 

Did you have muffled hearing at all?

 

I realize this thread is 3 years old but it still got me thinking. Fantastic that the anti-anxiety med cured his tinnitus. There seems to be endless causes and cures. What a crazy problem.

How many people have suffered for how many years unnecessarily because they haven’t stumbled upon their individual solution?