Tinnitus and Anxiety Medications

I'm a 21 year old male. I've suffered from anxiety for the last ~3 years. It's become better and worse in a lot of aspects. I'm feeling the constant restlessness that I'd like to stop. I've been to several psychiatrists and have been told to go on SSRIs. Now here is the kicker, I also have a mild tinnitus. I've been to ENTs and they have all said my hearing is perfect, I have mild TMJ, and a lot of sinus issues. I'm not sure if the tinnitus is due to the sinus issues or the TMJ or what but it's perfectly fine. The ringing is VERY low and I can only hear it if I plug my ears or sit in complete silence and even then it's tolerable and not always present. I get spikes of it here and there when I wake up but I listen to music for about an hour and it's back to its normal quiet volume. I want to start medication for the anxiety but I do NOT want to risk the increase in tinnitus that I've seen a lot of people report with starting SSRIs. I've also seen that in some people it has become a permanent thing, this scares me more than anything. Being that it scares me even if the meds don't legitimately cause the tinnitus to spike the anxiety likely will. Are there any medications that people can recommend (preferably based on personal experience) that will help with anxiety but not worsen the tinnitus?

I've done a bit of research and things like Remeron and Effexor have come up. With Remeron I see very few cases of the tinnitus increase. With the Effexor I see less than other SSRIs but mainly during discontinuation of the effexor. I've looked at so many different threads and research studies and I've basically just been getting conflicting answers from them all. Of course I'm sure that comes down to how different medications affect different people but I feel like the risk of the meds worsening tinnitus is too high.

Side note, if there really aren't any and I will be stuck taking meds and possibly increasing the tinnitus, how hard is it to cope with the increased tinnitus? Is the tradeoff between the decreased anxiety and increased tinnitus worth taking the meds?

EDIT: I am VERY much so open to natural remedies, not only drugs as my post my suggest. Sorry about the confusion there. It's just that only drugs have been recommended to me for the most part so I guess I have that in my head.

Thanks, Joe.

 

It appears from your above words you're focused almost exclusively on drugs. Are you open to more natural remedies to anxiety? There's quite a few out there. There are natural ways to stimulate the vagus nerve which can do wonders for reducing or even eliminating anxiety (it does for me).

All the Best...​

 

I'm open to anything, actually I should have made it clear that I'm more open to natural remedies than I am with drugs. I'd love to hear anything you can recommend. Thanks.

 

You could try Inositol or Glycine. Inositol seems to works best for me against anxiety and has no side-effects. I take around 6 gram a day. You can buy 500g pure inositol for only $15.95 so it is not expensive. Glycine is even cheaper.

You can google Glycine or Inositol against anxiety and you will be surprised. It works great agaist my OCD also.

 

I'll look into this, thanks. Money isn't an issue with treatment, if it'll help then I'm more than willing to spend the money. I'll give the Inositol a go. Just to be sure, the anxiety isn't caused by the tinnitus it was pre-existing. This will still help in the same way, right?

 

I think a very good starting point when approaching anxiety is to do research on the role of the vagus nerve (which orchestrates the parasympathic nervous system), until you get a good understanding of it. Here's an excellent 10-minute video which describes the function of the vagus nerve, and 3 powerful ways to stimulate it (which calms the body and mind). 1) Cold, 2) Bitters, 3) Coffee Enemas (which he says is the most powerful of all). THIS POST of mine expounds a little bit on the above.

This video "How to Heal the "Vagus Nerve" to Heal Your Mind & Body" is about 47 minutes in length, and gives a more thorough explanation of its role in our overall wellness. Some of the diagrams show the different parts of the body that are connected to the brain via the vagus nerve. So we can have multi-system dysfunction if our vagal tone is out of whack--which of course can cause anxiety.

Also, if you're open to a spiritual orientation, THIS LINK will to you to a 3-min. video on how to sing a simple (yet powerful) spiritual mantra (which can have a very calming and uplifting effect). It's essentially an introduction to the Song of HU.

All the Best....​

 

I'll take a look at all of this. That's actually really ineresting, a bit odd on the coffee bit. I definitely want to look into this more, sparked an interest in why that works. Fillings, I do indeed have fillings. How could I determine if that is the cause of the issue or maybe a contributing factor. I have quite a few actually. Is it just a thing where I'd have to get them all removed or is there an actual diagnostic way of checking that? Thanks for all the information, you've been a huge help already. Just seeing that there are other viable options is quite calming in itself.

 

P.S. If you have any metal in your mouth, such as amalgam fillings, that could easily be the source of your anxiety. Here's a remarkable story I read online several years ago. The last paragraph is particularly provocative.

My Mercury Story

In the mid 90s, despite being athletic and energetic, I began experiencing various health ailments. These ailments worsened and grew in number year-by-year. By 2000, I had acquired 17 specific physical ailments ranging from fatigue to immune weakness to constant ringing in my ears. I could only work about 4 hours per day and had to take daily naps. I knew that something was seriously wrong.

I finally stumbled upon the cause of my problems while speaking to a friend about her health issues. She told me she had Chronic Fatigue and had healed herself after 5 years of visiting doctors and getting nowhere. She told me that she had her amalgam ("silver") dental fillings removed one-by-one, as she could afford it, and it had changed her from a bed-ridden state to a normal, working person. She told me something no dentist ever had:

Amalgam dental fillings contain mercury, the world's most toxic, non-radioactive metal.

I started conducting research on the Internet and found that I was not alone. Many other people were suffering just as I was and they had determined the problem was their dental fillings as well.

After spending numerous hours researching this issue, I had my amalgam fillings removed in couple weeks and my life changed forever, and it happened virtually overnight. A few years later, I realized that not only had my physical symptoms gone away, but a number of phobias vanished as well. My relationships improved, I became more social, my memory improved dramatically, and I realized how life is supposed to be lived.

Now, looking back, I realize that I lived most of my life with a number of negative personality traits and emotional ailments that were actually caused by mercury. My bad memory, extreme shyness, very low self esteem, fear of commitments (especially in relationships), history of suicidal thoughts and fear of confrontations is now gone, not to mention horrible depression, and all of these changes have dramatically improved the quality of my life.​

 

Yes Inositol works for anxiety or anxiety disorder. But you need to take around 6 gram - 12 gram to work. Normal people take 500mg but for anxiety you have to take more. I take every 2 hours 1 gram. It tastes a bit like sugar.

 

Are there any serious side effects if any at all? Also is there any risk of it increasing tinnitus? If you don't know off the top of your head that's fine, I'll look into some more but this sounds pretty promising. Lately hope has been a wishy washy thing. Every time I think I find a possible solution or help to my problems, something comes out that shuts it all down.

 

Here a link which will explain it better https://www.nootropedia.com/inositol/

 

I'm getting ready to turn it in for the night, but wanted to give you a link to THIS POST I did on my HBOT experiences. If I could do one thing at this time to help my overall sense of well being, I would buy myself a mild HBOT unit I could set up in my home. Unfortunately, I can't afford it at this time. But HBOT had some of the most profound calming effects I've ever experienced from a physical-based therapy.​

 

Have you considered therapy for your anxiety? I myself have dealt with anxiety my whole life. And went on an SSRI and got tinnitus from it. I started to go to therapy and this actually helps a lot. I am currently looking into CBT for anxiety as it proven to do wonders.

 

I spoke to a therapist ONE time after going through a month long process (it wasn't a private therapist) and their times were insane. They wanted me to come in for each session around 7 AM and that was just not going to be possible. I did however speak with the psychiatrist and they recommended me for CBT. I just schedules an appointment with a private therapist and hope to start this soon. I hear the outcome of CBT without medication is almost as effective as with medication so I'm hoping that's true. As for the SSRI causing tinnitus that is the sole reason I REFUSE to start SSRIs. I'd much rather live with the anxiety and do therapy and other things to take my mind off of it than have bad tinnitus. My anxiety is MUCH better than it was in terms of I don't get the racing thoughts etc however I get a huge surge of adrenaline all the time. I find gaming and exercise makes this a lot better however I tend to be a sort of lazy person. I'm trying to overcome this right now and do what I need to do to get better. Thank you for your words!

If you don't mind my asking, has your tinnitus improved? Are you still on the SSRI? Is your tinnitus tolerable?

 

Yes my tinnitus has improved quite a bit since the onset 11 weeks ago today. Or I’m simply more used to tbe sound. I can still hear it everywhere but honestly I am very much to a point that I don’t care about it as much. I find keeping busy pushes the noise away and I don’t hear it. So I have a glimpse of what habituation looks like. I’m also not scared that it won’t go away like I was before or that it’ll get worse. I just tell myself that if it guess worse I will learn to habituate again and go on with life. That’s what CBT will cover. Through my journey I learned that my dad has it my grandma my grandpa my uncle my aunt and my husband have it and they live absolutely normal lives. And that helped a lot. And no I am not on the SSRI (lexapro) anymore I was told to quit cold turkey from my dr. I was on it about 5 weeks at 5mg 1wk and 10mg for 4 wks. the dr wanted me to go on another bc I had sooooo much anxiety because of the tinnitus. But decided against it. And I’m feeling g much better about my anxiety and life than before I went on the AD.

I find therapy to be really effective. But you’ve got to do the work. It’s the whole fake it until you make it. My biggest component to my anxiety is that I like to Catastrophize things in my life. I’m a worrier. But what I’ve learned is that these are just thoughts that hold no meaning. The mind is a very powerful thing and we can change the way we think to overcome anxiety and depression.

 

Hi @Joe123,

If you didn't find the coffee bit a little bit odd, then you would be in a very distinct minority. When I first heard of them about 30 some years ago, I couldn't believe anybody would do such a ridiculous thing. But as I searched for various health remedies, I kept running into references to them, and how they help the body detoxify, and much more. I finally did one. Unfortunately, I didn't use organic coffee, and it made me feel pretty bad.

A few years later, I ran across a particularly good article on CEs, and was finally able to get a better understanding of what they did, and why people do them. But I still researched them extensively before trying one again. When I finally did start doing them properly, I began to experience many benefits, including significant pain reduction, improved skin and complexion, and perhaps most important of all, an ability to relax in ways I'd had a hard time doing.

For the longest time, I thought this ability to relax was because of how I was able to detoxify my body better--and I think that was hugely important. But I've now come to believe the relaxation was more likely because the CEs stimulate the vagus nerve, which results in a complete relaxation of the areas of the body the vagus nerve extends to (which is practically every important part of the body). -- Interestingly, because any kind of enema stimulates the vagus nerve (because it ends in the bowel), some people are unable to do them, because they are too stimulating. This can lead to various kinds of heart arrhythmias, as the vagus nerve runs through the heart.

I have a much different take on the whole topic of depression and/or anxiety than most people do. Whereas the general consensus is that it has to do with some kind of pshychological manifestation, I believe most forms of depression and other "mental illnesses" are most often caused by non-psychological factors, such as environmental exposures, incompatible foods for our system, nutritional deficiencies, various kinds of focal infections, etc.

I once read an account of nutritional efforts that were made at a mental institution that specialized in treating schizophrenia. Astoundingly, they discovered that 90% were able to be released from the institution after supporting each one's unique nutritional requirements. --- Interestingly, the mineral lithium that is often successfully used to treat various forms of "mental illness" is not effective because it changes brain chemistry, but because it has the ability to detoxify the brain.

I've in the past experienced brief periods of almost incapacitating depression and/or anxiety [usually upon awakening in the morning]. But instead of feeling like "I'm depressed" or "I'm anxious", I take the perspective that MY BODY is depressed and/or anxious. I've found a number of energetic and polarity modalities that help me restore my balance when this occurs. It's amazing how I can go from almost paralyzing anxiety, to a state of balance and harmony within just an hour or so. --- I think it helps that I had all my amalgams and other metal crowns (and one root canal) removed over ten years ago.

Joe, this may be more information that what you were looking for, but this is a topic I've explored for literally decades, and feel I've learned a lot. Below is a post I made on another forum a few years ago that includes s a little more history of coffee enemas. Be assured, I'm not necessarily encouraging you to do them, but I firmly believe having a good understanding of them, and knowing how to do them in emergency situations can be very useful.

All the Best​

-

... sorry to hear you're going through such difficult times. All those toxic, sluggish, depressed, miserable, suicidal feelings can be very hard on the psyche. Whenever my body feels this way, I almost always get instant relief by taking a coffee enema. I realize most people would prefer not to think about doing them, believing they're just a bit too bizarre. But they have the ability to increase glutathione levels as much as 7-fold within a matter of minutes, and can cause significant alleviation of depression.

I can at times pinpoint the exact moment when doing a coffee enema (usually around the 10-15 minute mark) when I was able to lift myself (and psyche) out of a the deep fog of depression/anxiety, etc.. For me, I don't believe I have anything that would come close to being classified as clinical depression; I believe instead that my body becomes depressed from so much toxicity floating around my system which is unable to be disposed of efficiently.

Interestingly, coffee enemas to treat depression was the topic of a 1922 New England Journal of Medicine article. CEs had just been discovered a few years earlier during World War I when the Germans discovered they had a remarkable ability to reduce the pain of wounded soldiers. Their medical conditions necessitated regular enemas.

Apparently, a medical unit ran out of clean water, and since emergency surgery was required, resorted to doing an enema using coffee that was available. They noticed the soldier healed remarkably well, and got significant pain relief as well for up to several hours at a time. From that point on, they used coffee enemas instead of regular water enemas, as they were so much more effective. -- Here's reference to that NEJM article.

Regarding my reference to energetic techniques, here's one that is incredibly easy to do, anytime, anywhere. Just interlock your fingers as shown. It may not work for everybody, but it works for just about everyone I've shared this with.

​

 

That's was actually quite a good read. Your perspective on anxiety and depression is actually interesting and I feel like it's actually quite accurate. I definitely feel like my environment plays a HUGE factor in my anxiety. I basically live in chaos living in the city. Everything is messy, crowded, busy non-stop there is no relaxation. I definitely feel like when I'm away in a more rural area that I am definitely relaxed and can enjoy myself a lot more. I definitely feel the paralyzing anxiety part. The first week after my first major panic attack I was stuck on my couch not able to move. I tried leaving my house and felt like I was in a fog and almost walked in front of a truck but luckily I brought someone with me. As for the amount of information I love it. I'm more of the type of person that just knowing things relaxes me. It's when I don't know something that it bothers me, so I definitely appreciate you taking the time to provide me with all this information. Sorry for the delayed response. I'll take a look at that article, thanks again!

 

There is also MCBT which i am about to enroll in the fall. It has proven itself time and again to work for anxiety.

 

Hi @Joe123,

Thanks for putting my mind at ease, as I didn't want to overwhelm you with too much of my own personal health orientations. Since you appreciate information, I will paste something (below) I wrote recently on another forum. The article I reference reflects some of my own perspectives on health, and explains why I find our drug-obsessed health care culture incredibly bizarre. But find other natural remedies that sound bizarre to others quite sensible.
---

I ran across a very interesting article on the "Flexner Report" that was published in 1910, and had a huge influence on how modern medicine developed in the 20th century. I'd never heard of the report before, but the content of the article fell in line with things I'd long believed about conventional medicine.

I fully realize modern medicine has brought us many wonders, but I've long been aghast at some of its barbaric practices and inhumanity. Most of us are aware that pwME/CFS have long been "out of favor" with conventional medicine because we don't fit within the narrow confines of its training and practice. I think this article goes a long way in explaining how it came to be that we've had to confront so many untenable situations in our search for better health.

It appears, and I believe, that people with tinnitus and/or hyperacusis also face untenable situations as a result of the Flexner Report. Below is part of the introduction. --- BTW, I think the Cancer Tutor website has a lot of great information for anybody trying to discover more about natural ways to treat cancer.

How the Flexner Report Hijacked Natural Medicine - Cancer Tutor

""If you’ve ever wondered how modern-day medicine got to where it is today, you should begin by learning about Abraham Flexner. He’s probably one of the most influential men no one has ever heard of.

In 1910 he published the book-length report Medical Education in the United States and Canada which is now known as the Flexner Report. And, the rest, as they say, is history.

Abraham Flexner was not a doctor, but this school teacher and educational theorist from Louisville, Kentucky, has had a more significant impact on modern medicine than just about anyone else.

Though institutions such as Johns Hopkins were already implementing “modern principles” into their work, most medical schools had yet to subscribe to these paradigms.

So what Flexner did was to attempt to align medical education under a set of norms that emphasized laboratory research and the patenting of medicine — both of which would serve to further enrich the estates of the entrepreneurs who funded Flexner’s 1910 report: John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and others.

Sounds like a win-win, right? … Well, not exactly.

In fact, chances are that if Flexner had not submitted his report that audited medical schools in the United States and Canada, we would not have a society heavily biased in favor of many inhumane and unnatural medical practices that we have today.""​

 

I was on effexor 150mg for about 5 years. It was a real pain to come off of. However, during that time, I more or less forgot about my tinnitus. I tried taking it a second time a few weeks ago, and had a spike on day 2, so I stopped. It went down after a couple of days. At the moment I take remeron and am fine. I would definitely look into taking remeron, if you are considering medications.

 

Hi everyone!

I've had tinnitus for about 2 and a half years now. Noise exposure, but my tinnitus is pretty mild. I habituated within about 3-6 months and it only bothers me now when I'm stressed. Due to other stress factors, I am thinking about going on anti anxiety medications. Then I remembered, they can make it worse.

I was prescribed Zoloft in the past, but I hardly took it, not long enough so it would work. It was a very low dose.

I would like to hear anyone's experience with anti anxiety medication and their tinnitus? Specifically noise induced, but I'll take what I can get.

Thanks!

 

Beware many people on this forum are benzo addicts.

 

It's a minefield, almost all anti anxiety medications have tinnitus as a side effect. Have you considered CBD oil (no THC)?

 

Hi @alyssalee97 - not sure how helpful this will be, but I have mild noise induced T. Last week my ENT prescribed me thirty 0.5mg tablets of Alprazolam (Xanax) for when I am feeling severely depressed or anxious, as there have been a handful of days since my re-aggravation where this has been the case. Yesterday was the first time I tired it, and I took half a tablet. I didn't notice any worsening of the T - in fact I felt that the volume and annoyance was actually brought down pretty notably, and I felt very relaxed. This is only one instance so I am not sure how much stock you should put into this information. I plan on being extremely conservative with the medication, saving it for absolute "emergencies," as I do not want to become dependent on it. If there is another time when I try it, I will let you know how it is again. Best wishes to you!