Tinnitus of Unknown Cause (Stress? Sertraline? TMJ?) for 5 Months — Deeply Hopeless

Hi there everyone!

I have had tinnitus for 5 months now and can't imagine living a life with this shit. I have multiple tones and recently new ones have arrived, I think because of stress, anxiety and depression caused by the tinnitus.

I have a tiny hearing loss in the less affected ear so that doesn't seem to be the cause. I already had an MRI and everything is okay. I think my tinnitus is stress induced, Sertraline induced or related to TMJ but I'd like to ask you some things:

1. My tinnitus onset was 6 months after starting Sertraline 50mcg, I quit it 15 days after the tinnitus onset and I didn't noticed any change, does this discard the idea of ototoxic induced tinnitus?

2. My jaw is misaligned and I grind and clench my teeth and night (now I sleep with a gum), but I've never felt pain in my jaw and face muscles and when I move my jaw, my tinnitus doesn't change in the minimum way. However, when I clench my teeth, in my left side I can create high pitch sound, is it normal? How can you relax the jaw muscles without Xanax and meds?

3. Does the type of sound indicates the possible cause or is completely random? I hear a high pitch, a electrical random shock, a buzzing and the sound of a "neighbor's vacuum cleaner"... I'm so depressed I think I don't even have energy to worry about it longer and they are so loud I don't even try to mask them at night and I don't know why but I fall asleep normally with all the orchestra playing (blessed?)

4. I had a terrible 2019 talking in mental health terms, I started Sertraline in October but despite of it, my anxiety was still VERY high in December until the tinnitus onset which made it worse. I was having suicidal thoughts in January and the tinnitus of course exacerbated them but to be honest I don't want to die...

I've tried acupuncture, curcumin, magnesium and Zinc, own blood injections, Ginkgo Biloba for one week, craniosacral therapy, homeopathy, diet change, and they improve my wellbeing, but nothing have changed my tinnitus, the only thing that change it is stress.

I have had two nice days where I see habitation possible but then I can't sleep well one night and the day after is a nightmare and I feel suicidal because if this will be my life what is the point of staying around? However I still believe this can improve and in eventually I can habituate as millions do, or improve with time, but while waiting for that what the hell could I try?

Please someone help me with alternative treatments or answer based on your knowledge and experiences.

 

I'll try answer this, others may try correct me.

There are medications which have tinnitus as a side effect, and there are ototoxic medications that damage hearing, usually the cochlear.

Sertraline has tinnitus listed as a side effect, plenty of medications do.

However, I've not read anything even hinting on a pathway where Sertraline could be ototoxic.

I have read of possible medical pathways that could increase Tinnitus, however these should revert after discontinuation. There are some side-effects / withdrawal effects of SSRI that don't revert, such as sexual dysfunction, but this is very rare.

Anxiety and Tinnitus being comorbid - this is far more common.

Did you used to wear headphones, got to rock concerts, work in loud environments, or anything like that, when younger?

What does you doctor say about this?

 

Hello Sebastian - any update on your situation?

I ope you are doing better and would love to know how you are getting on.

Best wishes.

 

I hope you're still doing alright. Just in case you're still reading this forum, I'll offer some advice that helped me.

Before I had what I have now, I suffered primarily from a mild somatic tinnitus.

Pertaining particularly to TMJ, I was able to drastically increase the volume (modulate) of my tinnitus by opening my jaw wide or clenching my teeth. While this alone doesn't necessarily mean the tinnitus is entirely muscular in nature, it does tell us that it can be affected by the muscles, or at least one layer of it can be if nothing else.

I found a lot of relief simply by correcting my posture and very gently stretching plus massaging my neck and jaw before going to sleep and after waking up. Emphasis on the gently, because I overdid it initially which just made it worse very briefly. But I do still believe stretching helped release a lot of the built-up tension, thereby drastically lowering the volume of my tinnitus.

This might only be one layer to your tinnitus, however, but any improvement is worth pursuing so long as you cling to life. Know that you're not alone -- I'm presently struggling to sleep with the myriad of noises haunting my conscience also.

 

You got nabbed by antidepressant. The serotonin got you. I got screwed by amitriptyline. Read this:

Increased Serotonin Levels Spiked by Antidepressants May Exacerbate Tinnitus

 

Has this gone away for you Sebastian? I'm on the same boat as you and I feel hopeless each day. I feel like it's getting worse and worse.