What Cured Me and May Be Your Cause

Brief background: My tinnitus became bothersome 3 years ago. (December, 2009). I was layer off from my job 4 months earlier. (this is important.) My tinnitus became progressively got worse and worse over the next 2 months. Classic symptoms of sleeplessness, lack of hunger, crying, hopelessness, fixation on the tinnitus, etc. My mental state got very bad. White noise machines, fans, etc. I took a hearing test and found I did have some hearing loss.

Now, before all this happened, I had a slight tinnitus in my ear, but it was not bothersome at all.

After enduring all this agony for several months I was told by my doctor to see a psychiatrist because you could have clinical depression. I was surprised at his suggestion. Sure enough, I was diagnosed with major depression. The psychiatrist said it can be triggered by a life-changing event (my job loss).
And, depression can ENHANCE the tinnitus. (actually, it just seems to.) Or, more to the point, the tinnitus hasn't changed. It is your REACTION to it.

After being on antidepressant for several months, the tinnitus was not bothersome anymore. I didn't obsess about it and while sometimes I am aware of it, I just say, 'Oh yeah, there it is," and it doesn't overwhelm me.
So, some sufferers may want to look into this as a cause. When you're in depression, it is sometimes hard to see that you are suffering from it.

 

Thanks for Sharing Lisa. Yes, tinnitus and depression often go hand in hand. It is said that 60-70% of people with tinnitus also have some level of depression and often treating the depression makes tinnitus much more bearable or a non-issue altogether.

 

Hi Lisa,

I have depression because of the T but am hoping anti-depressants will still help.

Your antidepsressants sound like they did the trick. Would you mind saying which ones you took?

Thanks.

 

Hi Louise,

For me, I was put on Zoloft (generic is sertraline). I started at 50mg and ramped up to 150mg, which I still take as maintenance.
It takes a month or two before the depression goes away. (After a month and a half, I was right as rain again.)
Finding the right dosage and anti-depressant is key. Some people require different anti-depressants and the trick is finding the right one that works for them. I was lucky in that the Zoloft was the first one I tried. I also took low dose clonazapam occasionally for anxiety ( which is a condition that usually occurs with depression.)
-Lisa

 

Thanks Lisa. I tried Sertraline on Friday and I felt ill. It gave me the strangest feeling of my head floating off and then coming back. I also felt very nauseous. It kept me awake too I think. Did any of this happen to you at first?

 

I was nervous when I first took it. But in conjunction with an anti-anxiety medication, it was fine. I did not feel nauseous.

 

Lisa's story sounds like a photocopy of mine. I had two live altering incidents followed by tinnitus which triggered a very steep drop into major clinical depression. I was very quickly racheted up to 300 mg of Effexor and 25 mg og seroquel at bedtime. There is ample evidence linking t and depression, but it's often a blurring line as to which causes which. I am fine being on anti depressants for the rest of my life because there are NO side effects in my case.

 

They all seem to have side-effects for me

Lisa, would you mind saying which anti-anxiety drug it was?

 

I had good luck with Ativan/Clonazepam for panic and anxiety. I have also used Xanax but for me it didn't seem to work as well.

 

louise

i also found clonazepam to helpfull

my major side effect from tinnitus was anxiety, not so much depression, but ive hears the two maybe different sides of the same coin..im no expert

i used it mostly, during the "crisis stages' of tinnitus

been on and off more than once and at one time took 2 or 3 , .5mg tabs in a 24hr period which i considered a lot but my doc said dont worry there are people on much larger doses

in time i worked my way down to splitting one pill and taking half in the morning and half in the evening !

and then even reduced my dose from that ! !

if you taper down slow and are like me then no problem dialing it back down...a cup of camomile tea helps!

ive gone without for extended perriods using exercise and a glass of wine as a substitute and felt well doing it

winter is very problematic for me, so im taking .25mg a day....that is...im splitting the smallest tablet my pharmacy dispenses; which is a .5mg tablet, splitting it in half, and taking just that half, in the evening, and thats it, for a 24 hr period

not to shabby since that dose is one/sixth of what i was talking when i was in "crisis" mode

glad to hear you are doing better
best wishes
mock turtle

 

Thanks for the info Erik & Mock T.

I have Clonazepam. It took one (0.5mg) one night. It reduced the actual T noise right down and I felt like me again that night. When it was back to normal the next morning I was really upset and so didnt take anymore because I couldnt handle feeling normal again and then back to reality. But, seeing as you use it (with discretion) fairly regularly Mock T then I will talk to my doctor about it next week. Panic and anxiety are the worst things for me too.

When you say 'crisis stages' is that at the beginning and then it goes away or do they keep cropping up? I am in crisis and cant see that I ever wont be.
If I didnt have the Valium (doctor gave me that short term to help my fight the claustrophobia in the HBO chamber) then I'd be in hospital by now I think. Thank God for Benzodiazepines, I dont care how addictive they are, I could not have got through last week without them.

 

Louise

Yes talk to your doctor but you can use it daily until you get your anxiety under control, then you take it as needed....

 

Thats good to know Erik, thanks.

 

louise...yeah i agree with erik

so hey, see what the minimum therapeutic dose is for you

by that i mean, how little can you take in the morning and the evening such that the ringing and associated stress is reduced to a level you find tolerable

i can lower my tinnitus 75% with .5mg twice a day if chased with one beer ! ! (note alcohol is extremely un advised in combination with benzos so i rarely if ever do this)

but i did find that half a pill in the morning and half at night made the stress level so low and the tinnitus kind of medium volume such that i could handle it

and in the summer when i was riding my bike 25 miles a day and climbing on mt rainier up to 10,000 feet every weekend i could get by with one half pill only in the evening and sometimes i forgot to take the meds and felt ok due to the exercise

so my suggestion is to see what you can do under doctors supervision to take the lease amount of medication necessary

btw there are foods that for me, aggravate tinnitus and almost double the volume and these are common ingredients in jars and cans and processed foods...msg and aspartame are two big ones but there are others, including excess sugar and salt

best wises
mt

 

Hey MockT good advice! Nice to see a fellow Washingtonian. I see you are on the west side. I am in Spokane.

 

Thanks MT. When I took the Clonazepam the T reduced by about 80%. It was back in the morning though and that devastated me. I'll be speaking with the doctor about it to see about tolerance to it etc.

Its good that you are doing the things you enjoy and that they are so healthy. I find myself unable to do anything right now. So strange (and worrying) for me as I used to be a person that fired on all cylinders. I am hoping that this is a phase, like acceptance that I've got it (and that I gave it to myself). Then that there will be another phase that is better than this. Unconvinced by that right now though

I like your method of exercise and wine in your other post too

 

hi all
as i am going through a bad time just now a friend suggested taking ether alprazolam, kappra, temazepam or Clonazepam which you've covered has anyone any experience of them <sorry if its been covered before >
thanks

 

Hi Andy,

I have experience with Temazepam and Clonazepam.
Temazepam is a sleeping pill which does work but you quickly build up a tolerance to it, needing a higher & higher dose. Also, even if you've only taken it say 2 nights in a row if you dont take it on the 3rd night you get 'rebound insomnia' where you cant sleep. Maybe one or two a week spaced out is ok.

I only took Clonazepam once and it got rid of the T noise almost altogether and any panic feelings. The next morning when the T was back to normal I was so upset and didnt take it again. Its a Benzodiazepine and so is highly addictive. I am going to talk to my doctor about using it regularly though. Mock Turtle has a good post about how he uses it, earlier on this thread I think.

 

Karen, which brand of Ear Ringing Formula are you using? Thanks.

 

Thanks Karen. I just asked you again on another thread what brand it is (I thought the first post must not have made it but I realise I had put it on the wrong thread). You can ignore that other one

 

, thanks, Louise things are so tuff right now T much higher than normal
Thanks again

 

I know exactly how you feel Andy. I am in the same boat, honestly.

 

hi Louise,

It's interesting that you have said that you'd rather not take the Clonazepam because this takes away the T temporarily.

This is what Mike and I (and others who have variable T) are constantly experiencing.
My T screams & buzzes as loudly as any I have heard described and for lengthy periods but then it goes away or goes down to almost nothing... sometimes just for a few hours and sometimes for days.

When it comes back it's devastating, just like it was that morning for you. It's such a huge leap, going from feeling almost normal back to the realisation that your head is screaming again.

I'm not sure but it's possible that I would rather have it 24/7 because at least then, in theory, my brain would have the chance of habituating (maybe ) .

Click

 

Yes, Click it is definitely tougher and devastating having it fluctuate from near quiet to loud and noisy (mine does too) but the fact that it can get to near quiet means that your brain is a least capable of achieving this so there is hope down the road.....

 

Yes, you're right Erik - on the good days I think that too and there are many, many good days now & quite a few excellent ones. I still live in hope that my brain will get rid of it...

but I don't think there's much hope of habituating

 

erik

thanks, yep, we got the PNW well represented...best wishes

Andy

most if not all of the benzos are noted for having anti epileptic properties and are GABA agonists (that is they help the function of the calming brain chemical called GABA)

but clonazepam has a couple of things going for it...its less "spikey" than say lorazepam and others...that is, it starts working slower, lasts longer and drops off more gently so some theorize it is potentially less addictive

and

clonazepam has a positive track record for lessening tinnitus as reported by some clinics and doctors, for example one of the first docs to figure this out was abraham shulman (Lechtenberg R, Shulman A. Benzodiazepines in the treatment of tinnitus. J Laryngol Suppl 9:272-277, 1984.)...the track record is not perfect and some smart people dispute clonazepans efficacy in dealing with tinnitus

and some people who have been on benzos, who dont have tinnitus, but been taking benzos to deal with anxiety ptsd etc , report that upon discontinuation of benzos they get ringing in their ears...but this usually goes away after a a few weeks or months

im no doctor and im not an expert so dont do anything based on what i say

you should do your own research AND talk to a medical professional , doctor etc.

best wishes
mock turtle

ps

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry doi:10.1136/jnnp-2012-302273

Clonazepam Quiets tinnitus: a randomised crossover study with Ginkgo Biloba

1. ( my note) this research was done by the department of internal medicine, kangwon national university republic of korea and harvard medical school

Abstract

Objective To assess the effect of Ginkgo biloba and clonazepam, a γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-receptor agonist, upon tinnitus.
Methods This was an open-label, randomised, crossover study. 27 men and 11 women (aged 16–80 (mean 58)) with tinnitus for more than 2 months were enrolled. Participants were randomised to either clonazepam or G biloba for the first 3 weeks. For the next 2 weeks of washout no medication was taken. For the final 3 weeks, subjects were given the other drug. The initial dose of clonazepam and G biloba was one tablet daily (clonazepam 0.5 mg; G biloba 40 mg). Subjects were instructed to increase the dose by one tablet every 3 days to a maximum of four tablets daily until they perceived a satisfactory decrease in tinnitus loudness or intolerable side effects. Tinnitus was assessed with pitch and loudness matching, tinnitus handicap inventory, and visual analogue scales of loudness, duration and annoyance.
Results Comparing before and after each drug, clonazepam significantly improved tinnitus loudness (74% of subjects), duration (63%), annoyance (79%), and tinnitus handicap inventory score (61%), whereas the G biloba showed no significant differences on any of these measures.
Conclusion Clonazepam is effective in treating tinnitus; G biloba is ineffective.

(mt here, btw i dont believe that ginko is always ineffective...i suspect it is ineffective when taken short term AND by itself...some drugs medicines require a synergy with other substances...must be taken along with other nutrients etc and for a long time to show positive impact...this i suspect is the case with polyphenols in ginko and others...ginko is just not a pill you can pop at 8am and have tinnitus go away hours later, but i suspect that niacin, ginko, b12 magnesium and others long term may be of modest help)

 

hi there

for people who re using or have used clonazepam,is there any risk of being dependant to it? and does it make disappear t or only reduce it?

thanks in advance for your replies