Time for My Success Story (and About Time)

As many of you may or may not know, I have had tinnitus (some pulsatile, various other tones) in both my ears since April 2014. I just woke up with it, nothing I did in those past days could have triggered it.

I went to any doctor that would listen. I tried a gigantic list of medications both relevant and irrelevant to tinnitus, both chemical and natural remedies, without thinking how my future would be after all those meds. Trobalt, Flupirtine, Benzos, I did everything and then some. It looked as if it was going to stay.

Finally, after much thought and consideration I decided I would go for stem cells in Thailand, like 2-3 other people in this forum had done. I did my research, I reached deep into my pockets and made the journey in August 2018. I would say that after my trip, I had zero warnings that something was happening. But after 7-8 months, I started getting some long periods of very low tinnitus. After a year, I can safely say that 85% of my tinnitus has gone. Like they told me in Thailand, I watched out for the quality of my blood cells doing mild exercise, drinking lots of water, getting enough sun and clean air.

So now what. Tinnitus caused the loss of my job, back when it was hardly manageable, I got divorced due to it and now I'm left with little to do but my tinnitus... I can hardly hear or be bothered by it.

It was a win, a success or a total failure. Tinnitus robbed me out of some things in my life which were extremely crucial to my well being. What's the point of not having tinnitus if you can't celebrate the occasion with the woman you love.

Tinnitus has been a double edged knife for me. I'm glad that most of it is gone but on the other hand I wish I handled things differently.

Learn from my story. Having tinnitus is a nightmare but not having tinnitus and nothing to do is also not a good thing. And it has left me with a bit of a dependency on benzos which I'm finding rather easy to drop and maybe a bit of AD dependency, a habit which might be a bit more difficult to stop. But going one step at a time will get me pill free and that is my current goal. I'm still having trouble sleeping after all those drugs.

For all of you out there still suffering, after 5 years of continuous, varying tinnitus with multiple tones, all I can say is have patience. It took me five years to get to this point, maybe the stem cells did something or they didn't do a thing (I have a broken foot which seems totally fine, maybe that's what they fixed). Also look out for a drug called Olanzapine, it is an anti-psychotic. I believe most people with tinnitus are a bit psychotic about their condition (thinking about it 95% of your time may be categorized as a psychosis) and discuss it with your doctor.

Well, that's about it, I wouldn't call mine a success story, just a post-traumatic happy ending where some decisions were correct and other decisions were totally stupid. When you have tinnitus, at least keep a hold of your life, don't let it interfere with it, just say to yourself that's it is a horrible condition and everything else - well, get a psychiatrist and vent there.

I wish all of you reading to someday become tinnitus free, there's no contract being signed as to when it'll go away (it took me five whole years), be patient and don't let it interfere with the rest of your life. Soldier on with a happy smile even if you don't feel like it and the day will come. I was on vacation at Bucharest the previous week and I went to all those crazy bars in the old city playing 100 dB music with my earplugs half in. I don't think it matters anymore and hopefully, one day it won't matter for you as well.

 

First of all - Congratulations! Thank you for sharing your story.

???
I have no words.

I love it how you haven't learned from your own experiences. Your woman had abandoned you (it sounds like she would have done the same thing if you were to get cancer, or if you were to experience career trouble), demonstrating the value of "a woman that you love" in the process.

Now, if it is the case that both of your hands had been amputated, then I DO understand where you might be coming from.

I think that it's an incredible success story. You got better after five years! I have never heard of this happening to anyone else. And in due time you ought to succeed in securing a woman (or, even better, buying some masturbation aid).

 

@undecided I do not know if I have understood it well. So you listen to the silence now? Are you 100% tinnitus free now?

 

Thanks for your story, I have some points that look alike and I think I should change them. and regarding antipsychotics? did you take them?
Thanks again. a hug

 

I thought the Tegretol helped cure you.

 

@undecided

It is a great success story, even if it is not perfect as you said. I have a few questions for you:
1) The cause of your T is “unknown”: Did you have any measurable hearing loss especially in the high frequencies? Is your hearing improved after the stem cells treatment? Do you have any hypothesis about the root cause of your T?
2) I checked the StemCells21 website a few days ago, and they do not mention the treatment for T in the list of conditions as they used to. Do you keep in touch them?

 

Olanzapine is ototoxic.

 

He will never respond. If I was done with tinnitus and post a success story, why login ever again after that?

Even attheedgeofscience logins seldom. It's amazing that with their consistent strategy they managed to overcome the impossible.

So do we know why SC21 doesn't list tinnitus/hearing loss on their website anymore?

Have they ceased treating tinnitus patients?

If I had the money I would definitely go down that route. I wonder how come only 3 people we know from the forum did it.

 

You said yourself already that and many think it's a risky thing to do that probably won't have any results.

 

Risky in which aspect? Apart from wasting that much money. For example undecided's case is remarkable. He did get well after 5 years. How random can that be? He got well several months after his SC treatment. I remember him reporting in the beginning less spikes, before eventually reach to the point of healing. It seems that the particular type of stem cells in Bangkok, carry a potential to provide results.

In any case, I assume that that clinic doesn't treat tinnitus anymore(?). They have not included the condition on their new website.

 

They officially treat hearing loss, not tinnitus. If you email them they will confirm possible benefits regarding tinnitus that are secondary to hearing recovery.

IMO systemic administration is a crapshoot for $25k+. @DebInAustralia and others have noticed more modest improvements in tinnitus compared to @attheedgeofscience and @undecided.

 

Yes I am aware of that, however keep in mind that DebInAustralia was provided with different kind of stem cells, in comparison to the ones of the latter members mentioned. I think adipose if I recall correctly?

 

BTW is that on the website?
Thank you for the information.

 

Not anymore, but I reached out to them and they confirmed it. They’re fairly quick to respond. They’re also developing IPSC’s now, likely $40+ k though.

 

That's interesting. Where can I sell my kidney to pay for this treatment?

 

Lol it’s still a major gamble IMO. ATEOS credits most of his improvements to a quick ramp high dose of Trobalt. Undecided was kind of unclear with the figure of 85%. Too much money to throw at a chance of improvement. FX-322 should be way more effective and way cheaper, it’s just a question of how quickly it will be available.

 

If it's working. So far there was no improvement on audiogram test results. Another concern is how you will convince an ENT to give you the shots in case the drug make it to the market and in case you suffer from loud tinnitus while performing well on an audiogram test.

 

I've been taking Olanzapine for 18 months already, do you have any proof of this? I've already checked with the pharmacy where I buy them and they say it's not ototoxic.

 

Yeah, there was. There was a 10dB increase on the 8kHz range.

 

Ok, I did some digging and I found Olanzapine in an article about ototoxic drugs. I'm really worried now.

 

In that case we are talking about Nobel price.

 

I struggle to see the connection between your tinnitus and your divorce, though. Are you saying your wife left because you were suffering and depressed? I mean, that sucks balls man.